The Context:
The 70s and 80s in Britain were a time of political turmoil and economic struggle. Many of us will have heard about the ‘Winter of Discontent’. At times of political discontent and financial struggle within a country, it is common for the population to look for people to blame for what they perceive to be the downfall of their country. It is no coincidence that at times of political unrest, we see that hostility and racism towards ethnic minorities increases. In the early 1970s, Britain saw the rise of the National Front which is a far-right, fascist political party in the UK that has never had its representatives elected to British Parliament nor European Parliament, but it still had and has supporters to this day. In 1972 the National Front began to focus on concern about South Asian migration to Britain, and its membership and vote share increased specifically in East London and Northern England. East London was where my family and many other South Asian families moved to, and many racists will have seen large numbers of ethnic minorities moving into the area as a threat to their ‘way of life’, whatever that means. The 70s were also a time that skinheads were commonly seen. These were “the sort of lads that used to congregate around the Bethnal Green Road end of pre-hipsterised Brick Lane selling National Front newspapers and shouting abuse at the local Bangladeshis.” (The Guardian, 2014)
The Discussion:
Whilst I had a set of prepared questions, the interview was very conversational, so this will not follow a typical ‘question and answer format’, instead I will write some direct quotes amongst a summary of the conversation.
Q.1 When were you first made aware that you were different- a minority in your new country?
“When we came to this country in December 74” is how my Aunt opened her answer. The fact that she was able to almost instantly answer this question really brings home the idea that people from different ethnicities were rarely made to feel welcome on arrival to the UK. She proceeded to say that “People looked at you in a funny way” and that “People didn’t want to sit next to me”, and this would have made school and education very difficult, particularly at such a young age when all you want is to be able to fit in and make friends.
Q.2 What is one of your experiences of racism that is particularly poignant, or sticks out to you? Did you experience both physical and verbal racist abuse?
I felt that this was an important question to ask again in this, the second instalment of ‘In Discussion With’ as I believe it is really important to hear individual stories that otherwise would have never been heard. My Aunt spoke about one instance that scared her so much that she never ate lunch at school again, even though this meant only being at home for 15 minutes in the middle of the day to quickly eat something:
“The older boys (in the canteen) started banging their knives and forks on the table and chanting ‘National Front! National Front!’…”
For context, the National Front is a far-right, fascist party that at the time had a huge following in East London where my family was living, focusing on concerns surrounding South Asians moving to the UK and making it their home.
My Aunt also spoke of being “spat at, kicked” and having her hair pulled. In honest confusion because our family is Indian Punjabi, she “couldn’t quite understand why I was called a Paki”, but of course this is in fact a racial slur that is directed towards all South Asians, with no regard for what their cultural heritage actually was or is. This word is unfortunately one that has not died out, with many still not realising quite how offensive and outrightly racist it is.
The common theme among those who grew up at this time and suffered racial abuse was keeping quiet. My Aunt said that “you didn’t tell your parents what was happening to you”, and this became clear to me when conducting both of these interviews, when my Grandmother was clearly unaware that their children had experienced such bad racial abuse in school and growing up.
Q.3 What was the most difficult thing for you about settling in a new country?
Simply “fitting in”.
Q.4 Were you ever embarrassed of your identity?
My Bhua Ji felt “embarrassed wearing Indian clothes” and told me that “on a Sunday going to the Gurdwara I would run from the porch to the car hoping that no one could see me”, to save herself from being picked on by other children. She touched on how “sequins on your slippers and Mendhi were very alien things” when she was growing up, and I find this painfully ironic now when people from Western cultures become so excited at the prospect of having a ‘henna tattoo’, when in the past the cultural significance of Mendhi would have been overlooked and people were made to feel embarrassed for having Mendhi stains on their palms.
Q.5 Do you feel that racism in the UK has improved or do you feel that it is even worse?
When asked, my Aunt remarked that she feels “it is now more subtle” but also spoke of how she has been recently been made much more aware of how bad the experience still is for Black people after hearing stories that have been shared on social media since the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum earlier this year.
Q.6 In the post 9/11 world, did the racism you experienced being South Asian change? In what way?
I felt that this was an important question to ask, as we are very much still living in a time of heightened Islamophobia as a result of senseless attacks carried out by terrorist organisations that do not represent Islam as a religion. But of course, bigotry is blind, and racists are often unable to tell the difference between a Muslim and a non-Muslim. For those who hold and act on their discriminatory views, having brown skin can simply be enough of a reason to believe a person to be a Muslim, and bigots seem to be unable to understand that Muslims are not terrorists.
My Aunt felt that racism towards South Asians “definitely got worse” and told me of a time when she was out with my Grandfather and my cousin who were wearing a Dastaar (turban) and a Patka (another type of head covering) respectively, were “called Bin Laden” in our local marketplace. When she challenged the man, who shouted this at them, she told me that “he got quite aggressive” so she understood that she had to back away from the situation.
Closing Remarks:
Hearing my aunt say “It took me a long long time to feel comfortable in my own skin” and that “your differences weren’t embraced” really made me realise how far we have come or perhaps how we have started to care less about what other people think, as I do now feel comfortable to embrace my culture and heritage whether that is through speaking Punjabi or wearing cultural clothing in public. We finished the discussion with my aunt commenting that “you could not embrace your differences then, you wanted to fit in”.