Colour DOES matter

I have been recently working from the UK, where I was once there for my post-graduation. Things haven’t changed in six years and everything remains the same. It is like the time is stood still, but the only difference is that I now stay on the other end of London, called Kent. It is lovely typical British town. People are generally friendly and I use public transport to commute to work. It is one of those instances where the colour of skin does really matter. IT was a typical bus journey with people of all sorts travelling. Two buggies and one wheel chair user were also in the bus. The first half of the bus were mostly elderly people and the second half were mix of all age groups, including me.

A group of three boys got onto the bus and two of them showed their passes (Oyster cards) to the machine and walked in. One Caucasian and one of African origin and the third one was also of African origin. It was obvious by their behaviour that all the boys were teenagers and were all born and brought up in the UK. The driver asked for the pass of the third boy to check on something and did not return and ask the boy the leave the bus. The boy argued as to what was the problem. The driver explained and asked him to leave, but he did not return the card. There was a heated argument between the driver and the young African boy delaying the journey. People in the bus were getting restless and at that instance, one Caucasian woman, a mother of one of the babies in the buggy, screamed abusively and asked the boy to leave the bus immediately. He said, ask the driver to return his card as he would leave. The driver did not budge and the argument grew between the boy and the lady. Out of the blue, the lady said, ‘you niggers, why do you come and trouble us? Why don’t you go back to Nigeria and live there’. The young boy was furious and became abusive saying, ‘don’t be racist, I am a British and I have a British passport. I am born here’… the argument continued for 15 minutes stalling the bus and calling all the undue attention, and ultimately the boy had to give up and get out of the bus. There were talks about all sorts. One of the elderly gentleman said, ‘I know the law, the driver is right in doing what he did’.

It just crossed my mind that this happened to the young boy today, it may happen to me tomorrow. We are after all people of different colour and definitely ‘COLOUR DOES MATTER’. It is sad to learn such things happen even now as it is more of human nature and cannot be completely eradicated. Would I have behaved in a different way than the mother in the bus, if I were to be her, was the question that was going on in my mind? There were all talks about what happened and what each of the person could have done till the end of the journey.

I guess, I have gotten to used to the shouts and taunts you get on the streets, for your appearance and for your way of talking and have learnt to be okay with it. I am amazed at the strength of human mind to be okay