Doctor Who - BBC The Doctor is an alien time traveler in a BBC TV series started in 1963 und has been running until now. Frequently, Dr. Who & companion(s) visit famous moments or persons of earth history (e.g. in the past: Moon Landing, Vincent van Gogh, World War 2, Queen Victoria, eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Shakespeare, Signing the Magna Carta, Robin Hood, London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, Winston Churchill – just to name a few) – usually to prevent some alien emergency, interference with history or an attack on earth.

The combination of a difficult (and changing) personality of The Doctor, the relationships to the companion(s), the (authenticity) of the historic (or possible future) moments in combination with science (fiction technologies), a lot of action and (preferably) non-violent solutions made the series a cult for many – not only in Britain, but increasingly all around the world. I recently got addicted too and added it to my list of best TV series of all times. But to describe its fascination and increasing complexity is not the scope of this article. I want – after this very short and very simplifying introduction – focus on a synchronicity that has happened last week.

Doctor Who: Rosa Recently Doctor Who series 11 has started and last Sunday (10/21/2018) it’s third episode aired. It led The Doctor into 1955’s Montgomery, Alabama (USA). One day before the famous 1st of December when seamstress Rosa Louise Parks would refuse to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. Creating one of the most historic moments in US history.

It was a great episode – exciting and entertaining. It described the 1955 situation in the US very realistic, bringing this threatening and oppressive times to life in just a few short scenes. So far, TV at it’s best. But I would not write about it here, if there wasn’t far more there to that! I write about it, because something happened in real life (not on TV):

Nearly 63 years after Rosa Parks courageous refusal and just two days before the airing of this Dr. Who Episode about it, something very similar happened. Not on a bus, but on an RyanAir plane.

David Mesher (75) - the ugly face of British racism

David Mesher (75) – the ugly face of British racism.

77-year-old Delsie Gayle, recently widowed and handicapped, a British citizen of Jamaican origin was already seated on her RyanAir flight from Barcalona (Spain) to Stanford (GB) when David Mesher (75) entered the RyanAir airplane. His was the window seat in the same row Delsie Gayle was seated at the aisle. After Mesher had passed her and taken his seat, he started insulting her in the most cruel and racist way, demanding loudly she should be seated elsewhere

“I will carry on as far as I can with this ugly black bastard,” he screamed, also threatening to kick Gayle.

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

To understand the similarity to 1955 we should take a look at the 1955 segregation rules:

The first four rows of seats on each Montgomery bus were reserved for whites. Buses had “colored” sections for black people generally in the rear of the bus, although blacks composed more than 75% of the ridership. The sections were not fixed but were determined by placement of a movable sign. Black people could sit in the middle rows until the white section filled; if more whites needed seats, blacks were to move to seats in the rear, stand, or, if there was no room, leave the bus. Black people could not sit across the aisle in the same row as white people. The driver could move the “colored” section sign, or remove it altogether. If white people were already sitting in the front, black people had to board at the front to pay the fare, then disembark and reenter through the rear door.

Quelle: wikipedia

David Mesher, who lives in Birningham (GB, not US) basically demanded in 2018 that the 1955 US-segregation rules would be applied on his flight to England.

AryanAir Ryanair

aryan = arisch

Now you may say, that there are some stupid assholes everywhere and the problem was surely easily solved by throwing Mesher off the plane. But if that would have happened, I still would not write this blog post. Instead the RyanAir employees responsible for this flight gave in to the racist demands of David Mesher and made Delsie Gayle take another seat.

But David Mesher was filmed insulting and threatening Delise Gayles and the video also documented that RyanAir gave in to his racist demands.

David Lawrence, the London-based musician who filmed the incident, told CNN on Sunday: “When you watch the footage, you’ll see it starts to unfold where this man starts a torrent of abuse, absolutely disgusting, despicable words thrown at this elderly black woman.”
Lawrence said the captain could have called the police or had the man escorted from the flight.
Source: CNN

RyanAirThe video went viral. Mesher’s name and hometown was made by the British press, reporters visited him and questioned his neighbours and relatives. He has become the ugly face of British racism. The police is investigating his behaviour (but probably nothing will follow from it). He has done damage, but we will be much more careful next time. So at least this has changed in the 63 years since Rosa Parks.

What has not changed since (and why we need more stuff like like Doctor Who episode) is the reaction of companies like RyanAir.

RyanAir has drawn public criticism and some calls for boycott, but their misbehaviour will probably have not lasting effect on the company. So far RyanAir has (to my knowledge and ongoing press reports) not taken any steps to apologize publicly or in private to Delsie Gayle. Nor have they banned David Mesher from flying with them. So far no one could get the impression, that RyanAir considers the racist actions of its FR015 board crew to be wrong. They could and should have reacted differently – the law would have been on their side.

This ad by air line potugesa shows, how RyanAir should have reacted:

For me companies like RyanAir are the real problem here.

'Doctor Who's Rosa Parks Actor Vinette Robinson

‘Doctor Who’s Rosa Parks Actor Vinette Robinson and some reactions from the audience. Click picture for larger view.

Thats why we need more stuff like the Rosa-Episode (seen by at least 6.39m viewer – compared to 1.4m who saw the video)

I am not The Doctor. I can only guess what he would do. Making sure this will not happen again. And mostly visiting Delsie Gayle to cheer her up. Letting her know that the universe and The Doctor are with her. The Doctor is/was that kind of gall/guy. Maybe even offering Delsie Gaylea guest appearance on Doctor Who. That would be sooo strong.

What still remains a mystery is the synchronicity of this: How the BBC can air an episode – filmed weeks or month before – that so clearly comments on what happened on RyanAir flight two days before.  Maybe they actually have a Tardis? 😉

 

 

Update 16.102018: What To Do If You Witness Racist Abuse In Public – And How To Report It

 

Scene from Rosa:

Scene from Rosa

 

Keinen Neun-mal-Sechs Beitrag mehr verpassen: Das E-Mail Abo nutzen.

 

Other english articles here:

Happy Birthday Farrokh Bulsara

To my US-Friends: How to increase your life expectancy by years

Burning Man Festival

 

English Poems by Arthuro de las Cosas:

Silence of the sheep

in music

crazy me

There is more to life

w/ and w/out you

Murder my Sweet

memories of the blazing sun

Trump hurts