Was asked to discuss an event that resonates deeply....7/7

7/7-The London Bombings

Disturbing a dancer mid pirouette is a dangerous feat. A power surge on the underground was to blame, well that’s what I and the rest of the capital thought on the morning of the 7th July 2005. First reports suggested that a surge in the Underground grid had caused explosions in the power circuits.

We, all in our peachy pink tights and bondage black leotards were baffled, ‘can everyone go ring their parents!’ echoed through the studio.
‘Bombs’ ‘Crash’ ‘Attacks’ were key words polluting the air like thick black Victorian smog.
I dived for my mobile buried beneath jazz shoes, dancewear and pumpkin seeds. It took me several times to get through to my dad; I was relieved to hear his voice. My father is a detective inspector for the Metropolitan Police and that day was at the Old Bailey Criminal Court. The mobile went dead as he had predicted because as a security method the court blocked out phone signals.
Students who lived locally were sent home and the handful left continued in a bizarre Musical theatre school bubble for a few more hours. Throughout my Singing class my phone received about 30 texts, during 90 minutes even for a self confessed text addict that was vast. The peculiar bubble burst when The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair stated the explosions that he believed that they were ‘probably a major terrorist attack.’ He announced that police had found indications of explosives at one of the blast sites, though he would not speculate on who might have carried out the attack. The investigation thus concentrated on possible terrorist suspects. We nervously huddled around the radio in the school’s office.

Meanwhile my younger brother had set up a newsroom in our house’s longue. Relatives from the North of England and as far as the Caribbean rang to make sure our London based family was safe. Rolling news coverage of the attacks broadcast by both on BBC One and ITV1 ran uninterrupted until 7pm. ITN confirmed that its coverage on ITV1 was its longest uninterrupted on-air broadcast in its 50 year history.
The Directors of my school put me in a taxi and a 30 minute drive turned into a 3 hour mission as traffic around London hit record levels. The radio stations played ‘sombre’ music it was like a soundtrack to an eerie Hollywood blockbuster.
The BBC website received some 1 billion total hits on the day of the event; I reckon a million of those were my brother retrieving updates to distribute.
It struck a deeper chord when my father returned home, seeing his reaction to the graphic news images gave me a tremendous sense of reality. On his way to Court he could have so easily had shared a carriage with the Edgware Road bomber.

The 7th July 2005 was the most surreal day of my 24 years. Islam is such a beautiful religion, I have many Muslim friends, and these wronging named ‘Muslims’ had the audacity to proclaim that their murderous acts were in the name of Islam.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world with over 1 billion followers. The 2001 census recorded 1,591,000 Muslims in the UK, nearly 3% of the population. Their horrendous crimes hindered race relations and enhanced barriers within communities all over the world. The word Islam means ‘submission to the will of God’ and is derived from the Arabic word for ‘peace: ‘Salam’.
Stereotypes are everywhere; they are preconceived ideas that take on certain generalised characteristics. They form the basis of prejudice, highlighting real or imaginary differences due to race, gender, religion, ethnicity, socio-economic class, disability and occupation. They are terms used mainly with negative connotations. Muslim stereotypes, for example, are perpetuated within society accompanied by gross misinformation about Islam.

What resonates most deeply in regards to the poignant events is how quick society can label and judge. Chav, snob, gypo, terrorist, WAG, geek...
On Tuesday 12 July the far-right political party, the BNP, released leaflets showing images of the blown up Number 30 bus with the slogan ‘Maybe now it's time to start listening to the BNP’. Charles Clarke, Home Secretary at the time, described it as an attempt by the BNP to, ‘cynically exploit the current tragic events in London to further their spread of hatred’

The bombings killed 52 commuters and injured 700, and caused disruption of the city's transport system and the country's mobile telecommunications infrastructure.
There were unfortunate consequential warnings regarding our national identity. How could four British citizens blow up themselves and kill innocent commuters? The events unfortunately undermined contentment about the British model of multiculturalism. If we can take only one thing from 7/7 maybe it should be that there must be positive acceptance throughout society and never negative tolerance.