Pause
for Thought
19-2-02
Broadcast
at 9.15am on Radio 2 as part of the Terry Wogan Programme.
I
want to talk about a new TV programme, ‘The Jury’, that started on
Sunday night. Its story line is about the trial of a 15 year old Sikh
boy, who is alleged to have murdered a white class-mate. As you know
Terry, we’re generally an easy- going lot. But this programme has upset
lots of Sikhs. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
It
insultingly, shows close- ups of the boy at a barbers shop, having his
hair, a religious symbol, cut to hide his Sikh identity. How
insensitive can you get? Another Sikh symbol, the sword, is shown as the murder
weapon, although the religion teaches that it should never be used in
anger, but as a simple reminder of our duty to protect the weak and
innocent So Terry, nought out of ten for the Jury!
Ironically,
the programme pretends to be concerned about racism, but I believe
it will simply make things worse. Sikhs have good reason to believe
that even the most absurd comments will be taken as fact, because of
the high level of ignorance and prejudice about other ways of life.
We saw
it after September 11, with attacks on Sikhs, particularly in the USA,
simply because we wear turbans. That same week, (as I got out of
the London Underground at Victoria), I saw a couple of building workers
eying me in a threatening manner. Then the older one said to the younger,
‘he’s not a Muslim; he’s a Hindu!’
It
gets worse. A few days ago an MP complained in the Commons about a Muslim SIKH(!)
inciting terrorist activity. I think he must have meant, a
‘Muslim Sheikh!’ But there we are. What can we do about such ignorance
in our interdependent, multi cultural society.
Indarjit
Singh OBE JP
In
his comments after this piece Terry Wogan said, “these sort of
programmes assume a level of intelligence which doesn't really exist!!!”