Another Black History Month has come and gone nearly 80 years since the Windrush landing at Tilbury Dock. Yet more people in the black community feel their experiences of racism in all strands of society have worsened. Why do they feel this way?
The rhetoric in this country has made them feel like the contribution they have made to this country has been ignored or conveniently forgotten. My recent visit to hospital left me shocked and disgusted by the racism I witnessed in the short time I was there. People at there most vulnerable dependent on nurses for their basic needs subjected them to racist and abusive behaviour. Some accepted it as normal and continued their work; others refused to be dehumanised and challenged the disgusting behaviour. ‘Don’t speak to her like that! You are being rude!’ Immediately, the patient had to recognise that this foreigner they despised was helping them to get better. ‘Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to be.’
I remember my mum telling me stories about her work in care homes in Bradford in the 80s being told ‘get your black hands off me!’ How she endured it I will never know.
Conversations around immigration show that the goalposts are shifting again. The colour of your skin determines your Englishness/Britishness. Citizenship can be revoked, settled status has become meaningless. Racists are called ‘patriots’ and ‘protestors’. children with parents stand on the coastline shouting, ‘let them drown!’
There is some hard work to be done to reverse all this.
