It is my view that the British is not good at multi-culturalism at all. Afterall, it is tough enough just asking them to try another country’s food.
Heard on the news that the Labour Government is considering a British Day. This is meant to deal with the home grown terrorist problem. I applaud the idea. Coming from a multi-racial country, my patriotism is nurtured by watching the celebration of our national independent day on TV since I was young. However, it is worth noticing that all the races in my country are featured in this celebration. In addition, all the races’ important holidays e.g. Christmas, Ramadan, etc. are public holidays.
They also talked about granting immigrants applying to be British Citizen “more points” for doing community work. This I think is disrespectful towards “immigrants” like myself. I work hard and I pay National Insurance, income tax, council tax, and adhere to every other “citizen” obligations. This is obviously not appreciated by the British Government otherwise why the need of extra points for community work. To make matter worse, my economic contributions are used to help the “spongers” who this country’s incompetent and unfair social benefit system has nurtured. These people, even though making no contributions towards the economy, don’t need to “earn points” to be “British” simply because they were born in this country. They sometimes even tell immigrants like myself to “piss off back home”, a proposition I am considering sometimes under hostile conditions. But for all my sweat and the matter of principle, I would only ever leave after I have squeezed enough money from this economy! I don’t see the need to be kind to people who are unkind to me. The British certainly don’t, so why should I?! Notice the retaliation and hatred here? This is the insight into the mind of home grown terrorists, if the British Government is at all interested.
I am not just going to slate and not expressing any constructive opinions. My suggestion is to educate the children about the culture of every race in the curriculum. Kids are the future and they need to be guided to harness the right racial attitude since a young age. Re-education of parents would help too, even though it might be more difficult to deliver. It is through understanding that human beings establish respect for each other. In addition, teach history honestly. Slavery, the Empire are all in the past; feeling shameful about it today is out of context. Children today needs to be taught the mistakes of the past to avoid repeating painful history unnecessarily. When the country knows where it came from, its present and future, irrespective of everyone’s ethnic origin, the work of multi-culturalism is truly done. In the meantime, have a British Day, showcasing all the races in the country, doing a same dance routine perhaps, or just doing something as a single body.
Due to what was said above, events such as the Black History Month are very good idea, no matter how much it is merely paying lip service currently. There should be a similar event for every race. TV programmes such as C4’s God’s Waiting Room (about Muslim funeral service) are very valuable as well.
