Long ago, and for a long time, I was a teacher. When, in the 1970s, more and more 'foreigners' began to appear in my classroom, I was initially nervous, but was soon reassured. Kids from Turkey, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Pakistan, China, Thailand, Japan, and Colombia were all just human kids. Sometimes they had no English, and then one could easily burst with pride at the resilience and fortitude they displayed - pride in belonging to the same species as they, soldiering on when deprived of easy communication, and eventually mastering the game. Furthermore, there was much to learn from both them and their parents - a humour that wasn't always caustically dry, a determination to make good, a complete disregard for the English obsession with class, a forthright, unembarrassed generosity of spirit, and much more. Of course there were problems too, but they were minor and not ethnically specific.
But I see a new problem has emerged. There are some - maybe even many - in this country who remain nervous about the 'foreign' influx, both its nature and its size. At the extreme edge are the despicable BNP and EDL, but there are many who have no wish to be extremist and yet are still concerned. However, whenever they voice their concern, they are mocked by those with 'right-on' views. The mockery serves only to increase the tension, as these moderates begin to feel they are disenfranchised, with little say in their country's evolution, and branded as racists when their sole concern is to preserve something of a recognisably British culture in their homeland. Until this fairly large group is acknowledged and accorded some respect - by both the native and immigrant populations - there will be no resolution to the wholly unnecessary ethnic friction in our society. Ridicule is never persuasive - it simply generates more hostility.
But I see a new problem has emerged. There are some - maybe even many - in this country who remain nervous about the 'foreign' influx, both its nature and its size. At the extreme edge are the despicable BNP and EDL, but there are many who have no wish to be extremist and yet are still concerned. However, whenever they voice their concern, they are mocked by those with 'right-on' views. The mockery serves only to increase the tension, as these moderates begin to feel they are disenfranchised, with little say in their country's evolution, and branded as racists when their sole concern is to preserve something of a recognisably British culture in their homeland. Until this fairly large group is acknowledged and accorded some respect - by both the native and immigrant populations - there will be no resolution to the wholly unnecessary ethnic friction in our society. Ridicule is never persuasive - it simply generates more hostility.
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