The debate on race relations in Britain continues as British MP Margaret Hodge whilst admitting that white working class racism is becoming more overt and on the increase, calls for immigrants to integrate.

"Immigrants to the UK must be given the absolute duty to integrate. They must learn to speak English, while cultural practices such as forced marriages that are unacceptable within Britain must be banned"…..

The context of the speech centers on Faith Schools which she says must be open to accepting children of other faiths. 

"We should insist on admissions policies that do not exclude those of other faiths from attending a particular school"

She goes on to say

"if we want to avoid education drifting into contributing rather than solving the problem, we must be prepared to close down faith schools that do not conform in these key areas"

I don’t quite understand this as the whole point of faith schools is that they adhere to a particular faith so why would a Hindu student wish to attend an Orthodox Jewish school, or a Catholic attend a Muslim one? What would be the point here?  Just because a school belongs to a particular faith does not mean it is supporting ignorance and intolerance.  This whole argument on faith schools is something that is surfacing now that Muslims and Hindus are having their own schools.  When the only faith schools in existence were Catholic, Church of England and Jewish, they were not seen as problematic except by a few educationalist who believed all schools should be secular which is a completely different issue altogether.

By conflating the issue of faith schools (by which she really means, Muslim and Hindu) and the integration of immigrants (non-white ie Asians, Africans, Muslims, Hindu) she is encouraging people to associate faith schools with non christian religions and people of colour and to see them as encouraging separatism as opposed to integration.  This kind of argument promotes racist attitudes towards non-Christian  faith schools and immigrant communities. If the discussion was really about faith schools it would include Christian faith schools as well.

The basis of Ms Hodge’s  demands is the rising racism amongst Britain’s white working class whose perception of generations of immigrants living in Britain, is based on  complete myth and one which is forever being developed by sections of the tabloid press.   The solution for Ms Hodge is not to combat the racists or  educate this section of British society on the realities of immigration, asylum seekers and immigrants but to pander to the racists by implying that racism is the fault of the mainly Asian but also Black communities for  not integrating. The word integration means that immigrants (in Britain the term refers to all non-white people no matter how long they or their families have actually lived in Britain, whether they were born there or whether they hold British nationality or not)  must adopt the dominant morals, values and language the host culture.   

This is particularly interesting to me living in Spain.   By far the largest group of "immigrants" to Spain are British, many of them white working class.  From my observation  this group of people, never integrate into Spanish society.  There is far more integration from African immigrants who because they have to find work, quickly learn Spanish and Spanish culture, otherwise they could not survive living on the margins of Spanish society.  The Brits on the other hand live in enclaves and socialise strictly between themselves.

So the very same people who are demanding that Africans and Asians integrate into British society are the ones who refuse to integrate into the countries to which they have emigrated.  Language and culture are the two most important parts of a persons identity and it is important that these are not lost. Part of maintaining this identity is socialising with people who share that identity.  This does not in any way prevent you from mixing with other people of different backgrounds.  Difference should be celebrated  not denigrated.   The reality is that as more and more children are born to immigrant parents there will be more integration of British culture into their lives.  But at the same time let us hope that they will not loose or forget the language and culture of their parents and ancestors.

Ms Hodge claims the white working class in her constituency of Barking in East London feel displaced being stuck living in high rise buildings because there is a lack of social housing and no affordable homes for young poor whites.  On the basis of this she makes the following absurd statement:

Today with only one in five living in social housing we cannot use that tool. There are no affordable homes for young poor white working families stuck in high-rise blocks in Barking. They feel displaced. Until we build decent homes that they can afford - and they cannot afford to buy - they will scapegoat the black and Asian minority community."

Again she is conflating two arguments that should not be connected.  This kind of insidious argument does nothing but reinforce  racism and shows that despite all the struggles and contributions of Black and Asians in Britain over the past  50 years, they are still being used by politicians to make political gain.   Instead of addressing the real issues which  are about economics,  housing and  employment Ms Hodge is diverting the  attention from those to immigration which has always been an easy target.

In a related story, the mother of murdered Black teenager Steven Lawrence, has accused the British police of still being racists.   

In Doreen Lawrence’s first wide-ranging newspaper interview for years, the 53-year-old race relations campaigner said she still considers the police ‘institutionally racist’, seven years after a detailed inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Stephen’s death produced a far-reaching framework for reform

Tags: Britain    Racism   Immigration Faith Schools