Bradford is also home to a lot of other people, and until today, I honestly believed I lived in a tolerant, multicultural society. I am proud to be from Bradford. I am proud to call myself a tolerant individual.
Tonight, I watched the channel 4 documentary "Make Bradford British" and I have never been so ashamed of the people I share a community with. Of 111 people who took the citizenship test, 11 people passed. That means 100 people who call themselves british, under any circumstance other than birth would not be permitted to reside in the UK.
I was disgusted that I live among such bigoted, racist and hateful people. Every single human being has a right to live in a safe place, has a right to feel welcome wherever they go. The colour of someone's skin does not make them any less human.
I watched people who are my parents age, who are my age, who are my grandparents age, from different cultures and backgrounds show little to no understanding of any culture but their own, and I am appalled.
Some things I identified the most were:
An older lady suggesting that she simply could not just go and ask a Muslim person about their culture and religion. Why the hell not? When I lived in BD2 (central Bradford, clearly), I lived next door to a lady who had the most interesting, tolerant and intelligent little boy for her grandson. He is being raised Muslim as his father is also Muslim, his mother however is not. I won't name him, but he had chosen to follow his fathers faith. He came to visit his grandmother on a regular basis and as a group (him, myself, his grandmother and my mother) would sit in their garden and he would tell us what it meant for him to be Muslim. He would tell us about his faith and what he was learning every day.
It is by no means difficult to ask someone about their faith, about their culture. Look at yourself for a moment, would you be happy to tell someone what it meant to be you. What your view on faith is? What your holidays mean? Of course you would, you should be proud of your heritage. Why not take an interest in someone else's?
Then, whilst in a stalely home just outside of the centre, a lady of mixed race, and I apologise here as I do not know her faith or heritage, but she was referring to herself as 'black', was looking at portraits of British people in the 1600's and complaining about the lack of black people in said paintings. If you cannot see the idiocy in this then I suggest doing some history lessons on Britain.
I watched a man, so narrow minded that believed that calling someone a 'black bastard' as a joke when he had known them for 3 days acceptable. Who believed that the term 'paki bashing' was acceptable. He was an older man from a suburb of Bradford which is populated exclusively by white people.
I am ashamed of every single one of those people on that programme. Except one, a young Muslim girl who had accepted every background, colour, religion and heritage as the same. Who understood that faith is not about going to your place of worship all the time. Who understood that tolerance is easy.
That is my point. Tolerance is easy, we just need to see past every single bit of racism that is hiding within us.
I saw someone who I would call a friend suggest that calling someone a 'paki bastard' is acceptable. Someone who had little to no grasp on the English language. How dare someone who clearly has no respect for their own culture make such awful comments on someone else's.
This programme is on again next week, and please expect another post on this.
Bradford is British, and we are not all intolerant, uneducated, bigoted fools. I promise.
