Race Relations in the UK and Ireland

By Chaminda WEERAWARDHANA
The murder of Kodjo Yenga, a Black British youth in London on March 17, was the fifth of its kind in a few months. According to news reports, the origin of the murder apparently lies in armed youth gangs, which are increasingly becoming perpetrators of mass violence in the city of London. This phenomenon of young people taking up arms and turning extremely violent can be quite understandably linked to the considerable degree of aggressiveness among many young people. This apparent aggressiveness often tends to take racial, xenophobic and even homophobic dimensions. In many parts of the country, mixed couples and coloured people tend to note that they are seen in a ‘different’ eye, distinguishing them from mainstream society. An African living in Derry recently informed the writer that his five year-old son had already reached a degree of race consciousness as the child’s schoolmates referred to him as a ‘black’ boy. It is a widely accepted fact that children of that age hardly distinguish skin colours. The origin of the observation then seems to stem from the families they grow up in, where ethnicity and skin colour tend to be considered as ‘dividing’ factors. In the context of Northern Ireland, the important question to be raised is ‘What are we to do if the young man murdered in London was your own child?’

Recently, the writer, a PhD candidate at Magee College, was asked to ‘f**k off’ at a club in town by a white individual. When asked for the reason for that statement, the reply was ‘we don’t want you black lads in here’. How can this attitude be explained? Both UK and Ireland today are rapidly becoming cosmopolitan, internationalised societies. Inter-racial coexistence in the purest sense of the term stands as a core factor in this transformation process. Reactions of this nature are suggestive of the fact that young people here are in need of some form of intensive inter-cultural education. It is all about coexistence and reaching out, about learning to see ‘the other’, i.e. coloured people, as one’s own. Negative assumptions of ‘foreigners’ or coloured people as a whole need to be explained and eradicated.

State legislation can play a crucial role in the development of race relations. In continental Europe, a large number of non-nationals are stranded by immigration law, which tends to marginalise non-Europeans living in Europe. The European Race Bulletin is a seasonal journal which focuses on ‘the rise of racism and fascism in Europe’ (http://www.irr.org.uk/2007/march/ak000019.html). The Spring 2007 edition focuses on the limited rights given to children of immigrants in almost all the EU member states, which, quite paradoxically, happen to be signatories to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A similar situation can be observed in the Republic of Ireland, where, immigrants are required to register at a so-called ‘Alien Registration Office’ of the Garda Siochana. The very word ‘alien’ is highly suggestive of the attitude of the State towards newly arrived non-nationals. Right from the outset, they are categorised as ‘aliens’ and therefore clearly ‘different’ from those considered as ordinary citizens of the State. This prevents the State or interested parties from making the immigrants play an active role in the socio-political life of the state. Wordings of this nature inevitably lead to rather a ‘cold’ and unwelcoming attitude towards immigrants, and they do not suit the modern era of globalisation we live in. It is an era in which people keep on crossing national borders, continents and oceans for a plethora of different reasons. In such a context, it is extremely futile to categorise people on the basis of skin colour, accents, culinary habits or other similar demarcations.

Coming back to the case of the United Kingdom, certain observers have noted that immigrants and ethnic minority groups have been forced to lead ‘parallel lives’ due to impartial treatment in housing, infrastructure and other related factors. The polity has made numerous attempts to change the situation, especially in places such as Brixton. Brixton was long classified as a 100% black part of London. After the riots, the government took measures to allocate more funds and change the racial mixture of the area, and today’s population in Brixton does include people of all colours. Yet, much more remains to be done, especially in changing peoples’ attitudes towards race and ethnicity. The War on Terror and the post 9/11 terrorist threats that swept through the West constitute yet another crucial factor which has had a strong impact on ethnic relations in the West, especially in the UK and Ireland. A young Irishwoman interviewed for this article on grounds of anonymity had an interesting story to relate. She went out with a student from a Muslim background at university; when she informed her parents that her boyfriend was a foreigner and a ‘Muslim’ their immediate reaction was ‘Get rid of him!’. This attitude underlies contemporary western views of the Islamic world as one of hatred and violence towards the west. International terrorism and the struggle to cope with it have had a detrimental impact on the development of healthy race relations in the west.

In this context, what can be done in order to make our society a more ‘accommodating’ one, where no community would be marginalised due to their skin colour, religious beliefs, ethnic origin or for the simple reason of being ‘recent immigrants’? The light at the end of the tunnel can only be reached through a consistent effort to change peoples’ attitudes concerning race. This especially concerns children, young adults and youth, who need to be ‘trained’ in inter-racial co-existence and harmony. If we all determine to make it happen in the best of our means, horrific crimes like the one mentioned at the beginning of this article can be prevented from occurring in Northern Ireland. In the North West, we live in a society recovering after protracted conflict and civil strife, which is increasingly transforming in all aspects, especially on the path to multiculturalism. The new faces, the ‘different’ faces can only enrich the diversity and the potential of the community, and this makes inter-ethnic coexistence all the more important.

Copyright The Global Village Newsline 2007