These Parents Were Not Being Racist By Singing To Their Child On A Bus
If you ever thought you were merely annoying other people by singing or humming to keep your baby calm I can guarantee it was nothing like what happened to this British couple. They were singing to help calm their Autistic toddler on a city bus and were kicked off the bus after being accused of being “racist”. The reason? They were singing the Peppa Pig theme song and imitating the character to entertain their child. A Muslim woman on the bus decided they were taunting her, as Muslims do not eat pork. The bus driver agreed and threw them off the bus. And this is where I sit with my jaw dropped that anyone thought these people were being racist by singing to their child on a bus.
From The National Review, we have Nick Barnfield and Sara Cleaves, parents of a 15-month old daughter, riding a city bus after a trip to the hospital:
According to the couple, a woman then complained to the driver that their behavior was clearly a racist reference to the fact that Muslims cannot eat pork.
”She was saying, ”˜You’re irresponsible parents teaching your child to be racist. You shouldn’t be singing that to your daughter, it’s a song about pigs and it’s racist,’” Barnfield said.
Barnfield said the driver then ordered them to leave the bus, even though they were still two miles away from home. When the family tried to get onto another bus, he said, the driver immediately told them to leave.
”The driver from the other bus had obviously radioed out to other buses and told them not to let us on,” he said.
Let’s break this down. On the say-so of another passenger, a couple and their baby were booted from a city bus and forced to walk home (the article later states it took them over two hours) all for the innocent act of singing the theme song from a children’s television show. The mere act of mentioning pigs is racist? I am genuinely confused. Would this woman have been offended and kicked someone off the bus for taking a ham sandwich out of their lunch box and eating it in front of her? Would it have been a problem if someone laughed and unintentionally snorted like a pig (as I am wont to do)? I have all the sympathy in the world for those oppressed for their religion or race but isn’t there a point where we would all agree it is being taken too far? Have people become too sensitive? I am starting to wonder.
I will totally cop to singing the Olivia theme song constantly for about a year of my daughter’s toddler-hood because she freaking loved it and would do this adorable little jig whenever she heard it. Olivia is a pig. If we happened to do that in the middle of Wegman’s would someone seriously think I was taunting Muslims and being racist? It’s just too ridiculous to believe.
Unless news emerges that this couple were getting into the faces of the Muslims on board and snorting like pigs I refuse to believe they were doing anything other than trying to calm their baby and make her happy. There is video footage of the incident and it does not sound like anything of that sort occurred although the driver denies that racism accusations were a factor in their unceremonious dismissal from the bus. There is probably more to this story and maybe they were kicked off for being obnoxious in some other fashion but I very highly doubt these parents were taunting Muslims on board by simply singing a TV theme song. It is stories like this ending up in the news that make us immune to true tales of religious oppression and racism in the world. Now please excuse me while I attempt to get the Olivia theme song out of my brain.
(Image: Christian Mueller/Shutterstock)
