I know I said this before, but I really am hearing so much about race nowadays... In fact it’s annoying and the more we speak about it, the more it upsets us. On the flipside, the more we challenge existing beliefs and common negative perceptions, the better we become as we progress and openly debate the issues in question.
Let’s face it, the UK is a long way from being a completely integrated multi-cultural nation and I don’t think it ever will be. If there’s not one thing it’s another. If it’s not the old adage that we took all the jobs then it’s the new asylum seeker malarkey – that they strain resources and take what doesn’t belong to them like benefits and housing… but that’s another argument. For the majority, the UK provides a better life, an income and a sustainable future where lives are not at risk or threatened by war and disease. People pay their taxes and abide by the law. Just the other day, I stood in London waiting for a bus when an old man openly spat racial insults at the many black people in the bus queue. I was disgusted. His neck brace was probably funded by my contributions. Maybe I should refuse to contribute and like the Butterfly Effect his neck brace will tighten and retract. Or like the pleasure pain principle I smile as I watch my wallet enlarge and his neck brace tightens – we can only dream. Deep rooted hatred is harmful. It reminded me of a time back in the Midlands (Wolverhampton to be precise) in the early 90’s when a coloured person could be attacked by White louts who didn’t understand democracy and a free world. Their whole existences paid for by the ‘pakis’ who were willing to fulfil their tax obligations and consequently allowed these live-off-the-state bigots to continue with their narrow-minded I-don’t-have-a-clue-but-proud-to-be-white lifestyles in a haze of alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, violence, Staffy’s, pub culture and lack of education. When you were in school, there was always a kid that didn’t actually go to school but always hung about in the playground like a vagabond Oliver Twist pick pocket right? You know that kid, who never wore a school uniform and darted about on his BMX – well in this scenario he would be the offspring of these people! It all makes perfect sense… just like knowing that there was a stray dog that at one point in your primary school life infiltrated the playground and caused mayhem. So it is in my experience that people of this disposition are likely to be more racist because they lack education. ‘Edu-what?’ they ask. They push their Englishness onto ethnics and claim that this country is theirs. They frighten the old Indian lady walking home from the shops carrying her vegetables, intimidating and threatening her with half-wit insults and slurs. They post dog doo-doo into Malik’s shop letterbox, stealing goods when he turns away and laugh at the ‘paki crap’ blaring from his radio behind the counter as he continues with his day serving locals. They scratch and smash Mr Singh’s Mercedes out of envy – ‘they take all of our jobs and rub it in our faces’. A Sikh Vaisakhi celebration in the Midlands is attacked by scores of Asian Muslims who cause riots and force the celebrations to be banned indefinitely.
Talking of celebrations, the West Midlands St George’s Parade was abolished this year over fears of extremist influence. It was claimed that racial tensions were the cause of the parade to be scrapped with no funding being given to the festivities which celebrate the English patron saint in West Bromwich, Birmingham. My neck of the woods… It is farcical that a celebration of the British patron saint can be scrapped because it can incite racism and exclusion of other community groups. Somehow I don’t think the Sandwell Somalis would care too much or the Smethwick Somalis for that matter! Or maybe even the BNP (and that’s the British National Paki Facebook group to you and me!).
Another national tabloid claimed that the parade was scrapped because non-British people found the celebrations racist and pro-Britain. Yes of course they are pro-Britain! The West Midlands has a proud Black Country heritage and I for one am tremendously proud to claim it as my home (my grandfather worked in the Black Country during the manufacturing boom and jobs were aplenty). The people there and everywhere have a right to celebrate their heritage just as Sikhs celebrate Vaisakhi with lavish street processions. If the Sikh community were forced to stop their celebrations it would not go down well and I am sure Mr Singh would be challenging his local MP for an apology, threatening a boycott of some kind and pleading for a re-instatement of all Sikh cultural events on the double. These events are an institution in British-Sikh culture just like St George’s Day is for England. In Birmingham city centre, Hare Krishna followers (I should be politically correct and refer to them as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness as they are known) march the streets and sing praises – does this incite social exclusion and create further segregation between community groups? How about the fanatical (is that the right word?) Christian, who stands in Nottingham city centre opposite the Town Hall (I am well travelled) and chants repeatedly about Jesus; I couldn’t for the life of me ever work out what he was saying! Does he incite or encourage segregation of any kind or is he merely practising his beliefs and encouraging others to follow his lead?
Let’s face it, the UK is a long way from being a completely integrated multi-cultural nation and I don’t think it ever will be. If there’s not one thing it’s another. If it’s not the old adage that we took all the jobs then it’s the new asylum seeker malarkey – that they strain resources and take what doesn’t belong to them like benefits and housing… but that’s another argument. For the majority, the UK provides a better life, an income and a sustainable future where lives are not at risk or threatened by war and disease. People pay their taxes and abide by the law. Just the other day, I stood in London waiting for a bus when an old man openly spat racial insults at the many black people in the bus queue. I was disgusted. His neck brace was probably funded by my contributions. Maybe I should refuse to contribute and like the Butterfly Effect his neck brace will tighten and retract. Or like the pleasure pain principle I smile as I watch my wallet enlarge and his neck brace tightens – we can only dream. Deep rooted hatred is harmful. It reminded me of a time back in the Midlands (Wolverhampton to be precise) in the early 90’s when a coloured person could be attacked by White louts who didn’t understand democracy and a free world. Their whole existences paid for by the ‘pakis’ who were willing to fulfil their tax obligations and consequently allowed these live-off-the-state bigots to continue with their narrow-minded I-don’t-have-a-clue-but-proud-to-be-white lifestyles in a haze of alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, violence, Staffy’s, pub culture and lack of education. When you were in school, there was always a kid that didn’t actually go to school but always hung about in the playground like a vagabond Oliver Twist pick pocket right? You know that kid, who never wore a school uniform and darted about on his BMX – well in this scenario he would be the offspring of these people! It all makes perfect sense… just like knowing that there was a stray dog that at one point in your primary school life infiltrated the playground and caused mayhem. So it is in my experience that people of this disposition are likely to be more racist because they lack education. ‘Edu-what?’ they ask. They push their Englishness onto ethnics and claim that this country is theirs. They frighten the old Indian lady walking home from the shops carrying her vegetables, intimidating and threatening her with half-wit insults and slurs. They post dog doo-doo into Malik’s shop letterbox, stealing goods when he turns away and laugh at the ‘paki crap’ blaring from his radio behind the counter as he continues with his day serving locals. They scratch and smash Mr Singh’s Mercedes out of envy – ‘they take all of our jobs and rub it in our faces’. A Sikh Vaisakhi celebration in the Midlands is attacked by scores of Asian Muslims who cause riots and force the celebrations to be banned indefinitely.
Talking of celebrations, the West Midlands St George’s Parade was abolished this year over fears of extremist influence. It was claimed that racial tensions were the cause of the parade to be scrapped with no funding being given to the festivities which celebrate the English patron saint in West Bromwich, Birmingham. My neck of the woods… It is farcical that a celebration of the British patron saint can be scrapped because it can incite racism and exclusion of other community groups. Somehow I don’t think the Sandwell Somalis would care too much or the Smethwick Somalis for that matter! Or maybe even the BNP (and that’s the British National Paki Facebook group to you and me!).
Another national tabloid claimed that the parade was scrapped because non-British people found the celebrations racist and pro-Britain. Yes of course they are pro-Britain! The West Midlands has a proud Black Country heritage and I for one am tremendously proud to claim it as my home (my grandfather worked in the Black Country during the manufacturing boom and jobs were aplenty). The people there and everywhere have a right to celebrate their heritage just as Sikhs celebrate Vaisakhi with lavish street processions. If the Sikh community were forced to stop their celebrations it would not go down well and I am sure Mr Singh would be challenging his local MP for an apology, threatening a boycott of some kind and pleading for a re-instatement of all Sikh cultural events on the double. These events are an institution in British-Sikh culture just like St George’s Day is for England. In Birmingham city centre, Hare Krishna followers (I should be politically correct and refer to them as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness as they are known) march the streets and sing praises – does this incite social exclusion and create further segregation between community groups? How about the fanatical (is that the right word?) Christian, who stands in Nottingham city centre opposite the Town Hall (I am well travelled) and chants repeatedly about Jesus; I couldn’t for the life of me ever work out what he was saying! Does he incite or encourage segregation of any kind or is he merely practising his beliefs and encouraging others to follow his lead?Just like an onion, this debate has multiple layers and makes us cry with confusion… I just want to live my life my way without having to worry about treading on egg shells (very fragile ones at that), without upsetting others and on my own terms... is that too much to ask? I thought Britain was a free nation, allowing all to live mutually and cohesively alongside each other in a giant melting pot. Like a huge stir fry with onions (can you tell I like them?), mushrooms, chilli, broad beans and sweet potato – each vegetable representing a different person by race, ethnicity and creed and contributing to Britain’s one of 5-a-day – the more vegetables we add the healthier Britain becomes. Can you guess which vegetable is which or is that stereotyping and politically incorrect?
By not allowing people to embrace and celebrate their heritage, we can maintain this mute culture Britain’s decision-makers are adopting by continually tightening that neck brace: not healthy…
By not allowing people to embrace and celebrate their heritage, we can maintain this mute culture Britain’s decision-makers are adopting by continually tightening that neck brace: not healthy…
Posts
Hmm….. I’ve been thinking a lot about St George’s day. It’s a conundrum you see for a white, British, Non Christian, Socialist… you say in your piece of nothing being wrong with celebrating English heritage, well I would agree with that but, I fail to make much of a connection to St George.
ReplyDeleteIf you look into the story of St George you will find he is the patron Saint of half the world including Palestine and of many trades and conditions including Syphilis.
The following extract is from The Independent article by Andy McSmith on St George’s Day
So who was St George?
There probably was a historical figure called George, who was a prominent Christian in the reign of the pagan Roman Emperor, Diocletian, and was killed in 303. One version of his life records that he was an officer who refused to carry out the Emperor's order that all soldiers must make sacrifices to pagan gods, for which he was hideously tortured to death. A very different story is told is Edward Gibbon's Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, first published in 1787. He alleged that George was "an odious priest", a crook from Cappadocia who was chased out of Palestine for selling dodgy bacon to the army, and fled to Egypt, adopted a new and growing brand of Christianity called Arianism, used that to as a lever to get himself appointed Archbishop of Alexandria in place of the genuinely saintly Athanasius the Great, and instigated a reign of such "cruelty and avarice" that he was lynched by the outraged citizens. However, Gibbon may have confused him with a man with the same or a similar name, who also came from Cappadocia.
Where did the dragon come into it?
The story of George and the dragon is at least a thousand years old, and probably much older. It was part of an oral tradition, so its origins will probably never be known. George's image can be found on eastern churches, and he is the patron saint of, among other places, Greece, Georgia, Portugal, Genoa, Milan, Beirut, Malta, Ethiopia, Lithuania and Palestine.
How did he become England's patron saint?
George's fame had certainly reached England by the reign of Alfred the Great, but it really took off after the Crusades, when it was reported back that he had appeared before the crusaders outside Jerusalem in 1099, spurring them on to martial valour. He was much admired by European knights, and began to appear on banners taken into battle. In 1222, the Synod of Oxford declared that St George's Day was a feast day in England. Not being English actually gave him an edge over other saints, such as Thomas à Becket, because it meant his cult was not associated with any particular part of the country, so when English knights set off to France to fight the Hundred Years War, they could do so in the name of St George without stirring up regional rivalries. As Shakespeare put it, in Henry V: "God for England, Harry and St George."
(I have read accounts of the alleged sighting for this band of dissenting crusaders and of the “martial valour” they were spurred on to inflict on the next town on their journey – a blood bath of rape and pillage puts it mildly)
So what do we really celebrate by celebrating this day? I also wonder what the BNP would classify St George as, a friendly “racial foreigner” perhaps – nothing to do with being English or even British.
In our town we struggled with how to present this celebration as indeed we were called to, under a larger duty to present a calendar of events to represent all people. All my life I have felt a chill to see, in particular, the George Cross as it has been claimed by the National Front in my youth and now The BNP. I support the move to reclaim it, and after our family friendly, inclusive, fairly neutral celebrations feel that we have helped to do that by not attracting the association with the far right.
It could have been very different. We had a rogue Councillor getting himself on the front pages of local press claiming we would hold a march of 20,000 led by uniformed scouts, police and TA, all sing Rule Britania and Land of hope and glory. Then we would have some token multi cultural entertainment and have all cultures “stand shoulder to shoulder proud to be English” In one sense his heart is in the right place but his ignorance and vision for the event gave the impression, via a quick poll round my non white (and white) friends and colleagues that our town would be a place to avoid on that day.
The Parade in another town you refer to in your article (One of the largest St Georges parades in England) went ahead, rescued with funding by a local business man and as usual was joined by the leader and deputy of the BNP as individuals, not representing their party and as the organisers rightly said they have every right to be there and are a legal political party. Their presence still gives the negative association and I challenge anyone to say differently to the Asian security guard, I know of, who was spat at by a yob for no reason as the marchers came to their destination. The yob obviously had had his selective Nationalist, prejudiced views reinforced by the march that was praised for being trouble free. Hmmm
Did anyone notice on the BNP election leaflet the promise that any elected BNP MEPs would donate 2% of their earnings to a St Georges Day fund.
ReplyDelete