"No Blacks, No Irish, No dogs”. Imagine making a journey from your homeland in search of a better life and this was your greeting? You’d be mistaken if you think this form of overt racism from the 1950s has disappeared when you see the right-wing press frothing at the number of refugees crossing the continent to secure a better life in the UK. It’s not people arriving in boats who are making our lives unmanageable it’s the ones arriving in private jets.
As we celebrate Black History Month, we need to reflect not just on how far we have come but how much work is still needed to eradicate the “othering” of immigrants in an attempt to blame them for the precarious situation the vast majority of us find ourselves in. The Runnymede Trust has done excellent work on an evidence-based approach in tackling the causes of the racist riots, including that the government must put in place a long-term, cross-departmental anti-racist strategy that seeks to identify and address deep-seated racial inequalities in society and action to address structural inequalities facing people across society. This also means properly investing in, and devolving powers to, communities who are the best people to decide how money is spent.
My experience growing up in a multi-cultural society in London was made all the better by the influence that immigration had given the city. For centuries the docks of London were the arrival point for just about every different colour, creed and religion from a.
