Racism

'Racist' school bus drivers 'refusing to stop for young Muslim girls who are wearing the hijab

'Racist': Bus drivers have been accused of ignoring girls wearing the hijab(scarf)

School bus drivers have been accused of racism after failing to stop for pupils wearing Muslim hijabs.

Young girls have claimed they are being bullied on board for dressing in the traditional veil which covers the head.To avoid trouble, ‘cowardly’ drivers are allegedly ignoring pupils who wait at bus stops wearing the headscarf.Following a police investigation, officers will now be drafted on to board the buses to protect the students from ‘racist’ taunts of other passengers.

The problems centre on Merseytravel and pupils attending West Derby's Holly Lodge Girls' College in Merseyside, where 10 per cent of the 11,274 11 to 18-year-old students are from ethnic minorities.

Members of the Muslim community said the issue was a long-running one.

Amina Ismail, who works at Liverpool John Moores University, was approached by the victims.

She said: ‘They said people driving past were being abusive because they were wearing the hijab.’ 

Ms Ismail said bus drivers refusing to stop were ‘cowardly’ and that ‘they should not push their own personal prejudices on young people’.

She urged people to ‘see past the scarf or skin colour and look beyond this’.

Holly Lodge has previously won praise from Ofsted for its ‘promotion of equality and diversity’.

Headteacher Julia Tinsley said: ‘There have been a small number of cases where ignorant people have directed racist comments at our pupils while they are on buses.

‘It is completely unacceptable and very upsetting for those involved and we have provided support to those affected. ‘We welcome the assistance from Merseyside police in tackling the mindless minority who think it is acceptable to make racist comments.’Merseyside police has produced an action plan to prevent any further incidents, including looking at how victims can pass on anonymous information.A spokesman said the force was committed to tackling racism, adding: ‘We will be putting police community support officers on public buses during the periods these incidents are happening to reassure passengers and deter would-be offenders.‘CCTV will be routinely checked following allegations of any criminal offence.’ 

However, Colin Carr, regional adviser for Unite - whose members include bus drivers - said he would be surprised if they were failing to stop.‘The union would condemn this kind of action, and equality and diversity is something we promote across the spectrum,’ he said.Merseytravel said it condemned ‘all acts of racism’ and, after probing the claims, has ‘now drawn up an action plan to deal with and prevent any further incidents’.

Media

What people do and see affect the way they act!

Movies and Television have influenced Teenagers for years. Whether it is a matter of seeing a movie character doing drugs, drinking alcohol, or even smoking a cigarette. In fact Medical News Today has done a study with 600 films and 5,000 students and has found out that movies play an important role in a teenager's decision to drink at a young age.

"Each year that kids delay experimenting with alcohol can help them avoid some of the serious consequences that drinking at a young age can contribute to, including drinking and driving and alcohol dependence," said the lead author of the study Dr. James Sargent, professor of pediatrics at DMS. "This study is aimed at the prevention of early alcohol use and our hope is that parents of young children become more aware that drinking in films is common and that seeing these depictions can lead to early experimentation with drinking."
This really shows how a two movie or even a 30 second commercial can really make an impact on a teenager growing up. They know drinking underage is wrong but when they see it in movies or on TV they think it looks fun.

Alcohol isn't the only problem that results from movies. Smoking is also a big problem as well. Even when it is in the movie as casual as can be it can still implant a message in the viewer's brain.
According to WebMD, "teens are twice as likely to have early sexual intercourse as those who are rarely exposed to sexual content" And the movies try to put sex or sexual situations in their movies as much as possible because of the term "sex sells".

It is a matter of pop culture. Teens decided what they wear, what music they listen to, how they talk, what kind of people they hang around, what they drink(alcoholic or not), what they eat(or in some cases don't eat), and many other factors. They can see their favorite fun loving pirate asking "why's the rum gone?" and suddenly start thinking "I love pirates a lot. Maybe I should try rum if they do" This is just one example of the media's influence on teenagers. Teenagers seem to be brainwashed from either movies or television.



http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00811/music.html
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