Imagine this... Re-imagine this

Imagine this scenario…

A young man from migrates to the UK, he doesn’t have anywhere in particular to live when he arrives, so stays in different places and uses his network of friends to find work (cash in hand). He drinks and is physically violent towards his partner when he does. He has several romantic relationships with different British women, these result in an array of children to different mothers up and down the country, he never pays any maintenance for these children. He eventually he settles down in one place long enough to meet a young woman, a migrant from his home country, she doesn’t speak any English. She came here speculatively with nowhere to live either or any contacts she was just looking for a better life. They take jobs in the UK, they rely on the NHS but they don’t claim any additional welfare. They have a son and eventually get married. They only speak their native language at home and spend most of their time with others from their religious and cultural background at the large religious centre their community set up in their city they don’t integrate into the British way of life. As he grows up their son doesn’t speak English either, so when he gets to school he needs help learn the language as well. As their son grows up his mother can’t read is school books with him or help him with homework, his father doesn't really care. Later in her life despite living in the UK for many years the woman still doesn’t know more than a few words of broken English and relies on her husband has his own small business for work. When when she is widowed she relies on her teenage son to communicate with important stuff like taxes and bills…. You get the picture need I go on?

Are you niggled by this story? 

What is it that bothers you?

The people who arrive in the UK with no plan?

Their use of an NHS, which they haven’t paid taxes into?

The fact that they cannot properly support their child’s education?

Do you worry that this is going on now all the time?

That this is an increasing problem which we can't stop?

That our boarders are going to be flooded by people who have no intention of integrating into British life?

Then Re-imagine...

How do you feel if I reveal that the year that these migrants came to the UK was 1945/6? And although I took some small liberties with the facts that essentially this story describes my grandparents?

My grandfather was stationed in Perth, Scotland during WWII and never went home to Poland. My grandmother was brought to the UK by the British army when she was released from forced labour when Germany was liberated. She too was Polish.

When I read this editorial via my friend +Andy Pakula on Thursday of this week. I was not surprised. I was pretty used to racism by the time I was at school. When you’re white the prejudice is pretty insidious anyway and a great number of people convince themselves that it isn’t that bad, because it’s not like you look that different so they can say what they like.  Since “They’re not racist but…” you have a weird name… where were you born… when did you come to Britain… will you ever go home…. why do you celebrate those odd festivals… what is that strange food in your lunch box?

No child deserves to be bullied. Full stop.But the constant stream of bigoted and racist rhetoric in the media and by certain sections of society is affecting the lives of vulnerable children today.

Children repeat what they hear at home. When was I trainee teacher in 2008 my classes generally struggled with my foreign name, but I would tell them about my cultural background and some of the history of my family knowing that there were now again first generation British Poles like my father in classrooms in our school and it was important that these children were welcomed. One day I had a really memorable conversation with a child I will call Ryan. Ryan was 10 and White English/British, his family had emigrated to Australia and then subsequently returned to the UK. He was “local” he was a nice kid, but what came out of his mouth still haunts me. It went something like this:

How is it being back in Hometown Ryan? My dad’s still not got work Miss, he dad says it’s all people who come over here Miss, like the Polish, Miss… coming over here taking the jobs, not paying their taxes.

I was dumbstruck. This child was barely 10 years old. And here I was listening to the insidious racist line that has been repeated in this country generation after generation. Replace the nationality or race of the “incomer” but the message is always the same. I remember my response was something like, “Excuse me Ryan but I pay my taxes” To be honest having attempted to teach Ryan percentages the week before I’m not even sure he knew what taxes were. But most importantly despite, all my training and experience, I had no idea how to challenge him.  If he’d said something about another students skin colour, or used some identifiably racist slang to describe a particular person or group … I had a protocol for that! My brain would have kicked into action and something would have been done. But in between my ears was a small voice that told me I had no right to question the “God given right of the English” to be masters of their own land.

You see it’s not just about what we say to our children. It’s the way we pass on our insecurities, here was a child whose whole identity was wrapped up with defending the home of his ancestry and that message is getting stronger. It’s in the media, the government use it to spread fear and hatred. And I occasionally pause as I write my name and nationality on a job application form. I’m British, I was born here, but what if they don’t believe me, maybe they’ll assume I don’t speak very good English, maybe I made up the qualifications, my grandparents were aliens after all.