.... He said: “The evidence is Blackburn has become more segregated in terms of where people live, work and go to school in the last ten years.
“The Panorama programme is right and this will build up problems and tensions for the future. More needs to be done to tackle this divide.”
.... Gulistan Khan, a community activist, said he and other Asian Muslims faced constantly speak out in the aftermath of terrorism:.
He said: “We’re having to justify our allegiances with the country that we live in, but why is it that we have to do it every time. We’re having to apologise for others and it has a huge impact on Muslims.”
Despite this he said: “I do not see Blackburn as a racially segregated town. People may live in geographically different areas but they all come together when it is needed.”
[TOP RATED COMMENT 44 votes] The crux of the matter, as I see it, is that many older (Pakistani-heritage) people never really left Pakistan......they just brought it with them and expected that they would be able to live here exactly as they lived there. Now you would think that the passage of time would erode this and that, slowly, integration would happen.
Yet I see little sign of that, and transcontinental marriage must be a factor in all of this. Many of the young Asian-heritage people that I meet (and I spent years teaching them in a Blackburn high school) do not identify as British. They identify as British PAKISTANIS. There you have the problem.
[2ND 35] One thing stuck in my mind. A lady? Could have been a man I couldnt tell they were wearing a face veil. Said she was upset about the state of relations between whites and Muslims apparently she was crying, but how could we tell? She could have been laughing, sticking her tongue out, or any range of emotions for all we viewers could tell.
Humans communicate not just with words and gestures but importantly by facial expressions totally absent by people covering their face. There is no religious or practical reason to wear a face veil in everyday situations.
[4TH 23] Wearing a face veil is nothing but sticking two fingers up to western society.
[3RD 24] Our children don’t grow up together because of this insistence on faith schools. What do you expect that will lead to??
[5TH 20] Of course Blackburn is divided.
Only an utter moron - or a politician, same thing really - would think allowing muslims into a liberal western democracy would actually work.
[ANOTHER] Too right - faith schools ( and I mean ALL faith schools ) are the wrong way to educate children.
All children should go to the same type of school - ie., no religion whatsoever. Ideally, I would like all religions banned by law but failing that, if parents want their offspring to be indoctrinated with the fables and myths of a particular sky-fairy, then it should be on their own time. [Lancashire Telegraph] Read more
