Time and time again, this issue crops up. I’m not sure if it’s because I had a sheltered upbringing (which, from my point of view, I did not), because I was simply younger, thus unaware, or it was less prominent when I was younger/where I lived (maybe due to the view towards racial diversity only just beginning to change)… take your pick. I have recently moved away from London to live with my partner and complete my A Levels in their company, and have come across a good deal more racism than I have anywhere else (yes, even in comparison to North London, which I thought was one of the most undiverse (and due to this, the least inviting) part of London) in my travels (local, albeit travels nonetheless!). In my opinion, it was strange being in a place so different when the only real divergence was a couple of hours by train!
That’s not the most prominent source of my worries; I am nearly eighteen (in May), so it will soon be high time that I add my name to the voting mix in order to (hopefully!) change the UK for the better. I can definitely assure you that I will not be voting for the likes of the BNP or the EDL – Nick Griffin, and the individual who came up with the chant ‘We hate Muslims,’ I am afraid to say that you will not gain another follower in me! How long have these governing states been around? Why can they not live in peace with their own race? (Because I’m not sure if they’ve noticed, but people of different nationalities – or faiths, in the EDL’s eyes – are in fact the same race as any white British civilian!) Just because people of the Islamic faith have come into a bad light in the press recently, does not mean all of them should be alienated from Britain. Everyone says that human sacrifice should not be allowed under any circumstances, yet it is not just prominent in the Islamic faith, but in many walks of life; look at Christianity – their whole religion is steeped around a man’s offering of himself up to his God (and all for ‘his people,’ at that), as well as the death of five year old José Luis Painecur, who was sacrificed when an earthquake and tsunami struck in the 1960s (Lago Budi community). Regardless of someone’s colour or racial background, there are always going to be extremists in every culture/religion, so how and why is it, then, that the EDL is so adamantly anti-Islamists!? And what constitutes as ‘British’ without the diversely rich land that we live in? I once tried to name a British dish, but could not, so decided to stick with the bland old fish and chips, which England are so well known for. That’s just the thing: we’re so boring and lacking in flavour, so to speak, that in my opinion, we need other nationalities to add their different spices and textures to the melding pot, creating a new taste altogether!
I know intolerance and discrimination will always be prevalent (and I’m pretty sure it’s due to ignorance, at that), but the thought of someone having such a great aversion simply because of one’s skin colour both confuses and upsets me; hierarchies are in no way needed, least of all because of someone’s cultural inheritance. I’ve found that in college, I have had to keep myself to myself, and feel nowhere near as safe as I would in London, of all places, which apparently has one of the highest amount of pickpockets and thieves!
So rant over, and to all you BNP lovers out there, open your eyes so others don’t have to suffer, please!
Writing Table 