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Teenagers shunned
• LAST night on the number 19 bus I ended up sitting just in front of five “hooded youths”. These boys were about 17 and all wearing their hoods up. For some reason all the seats around them were utterly empty, even though there were people standing elsewhere.
I sat down and as we went past St Mary’s Church listened to these boys debating the meaning of the sign “God is poor” on the side of the building, my favourite comment being “maybe God is poor because he can’t deliver”.
They then went on to make up song lyrics to their mobile ring tones.
I enjoyed that journey home and want to say that, though these kids could have looked intimidating to some, they reminded me of the hope in all of us.
They were just teenagers, they were talking about the same things I was doing 20 years ago when I was 15.
We hear lots of scare stories about teenagers. But it is a form of racism the way society feels we can shun and exclude them, treat them differently, because someone is visibly under 21.
Peter Brooks
Turnmill Street, EC1
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