Title: She Shall Not Be Moved
Author: Shereen Pandit
The story is about a young mother and her daughter Mariam who witness discrimination against a Somali woman on a bus in London. Two white women refuse to give up fold-up seats meant for people with prams, and the Somali woman is left standing with a pram in one hand and a toddler in the other. The narrator suggests that the women move to empty seats opposite them, but they ignore her. The bus driver, who is black, yells at the Somali woman for standing in the aisle.
The narrator feels upset for not standing up for the Somali woman, despite teaching her daughter to stand up against wrongdoings. Mariam wants to say something, but the narrator is not brave enough to confront the bullies. The Somali woman is constantly bullied by white passengers and is in danger of losing her balance and falling off the bus with her two children.
The characters in the story include the narrator, a young mother who is against racism and violence but not brave enough to confront it, Mariam, her daughter who is brave and wants to stand up against bullies, and the Somali woman who is strong and fierce but does not stand up for herself at first. The white women on the bus are racist and intolerant, while the black bus driver is violent and aggressive towards the Somali woman.
The themes and conflicts in the story include courage, fear of speaking up, ignorance, intolerance, trying to fit in, pride, social pressure, and thoughts of children. The author, Shereen Pandit, is a lawyer and political activist from South Africa who had to flee to the UK in 1987. She started writing due to her journalistic work and has won several prizes for her writing on racism in daily life, standing up against bullies, social pressure, and courage.
