There used to be overt racialism in the United Kingdom. It was never as bad or as culturally and legally ingrained as it was in places like the United States prior to their Civil Rights Acts, but racialism was still something that existed in the UK.
To a large extent this racialism has now gone. It’s gone the way of putting small boys up chimneys to clean them and this demise of racialism is something that I’ve seen be achieved in my own lifetime. Many Britons, I’d say the majority would no more say that a Black or Brown person could not be a lawyer or a doctor or a politician than would say that women should not drive HGV’s.
Back when I was very young a White man who dated a Black woman would have been something to remark about outside of the mixed, cosmopolitan port area that I grew up in. Now outside of a few extremists, that attitude no longer exists. People can date who they want, take what’s best from other cultures and combine them with traditional culture and build lives where they know they will not be treated adversely because of any immutable characteristic that they may have.
Although I believe that multiculturalism has failed big time in certain ways, it’s difficult to say that multiracialism has not been a success. The colour of a person’s skin no longer determines their life path. Britain has done a damned sight better than some other nations in making true Martin Luther King’s dream that a person should be judged on the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin. If a person works hard and accepts the opportunities that are available then they will progress through life, those who refuse such opportunities will stagnate or fall into poverty, crime and despair.
I believe that the main social dividers are now culture and class. Working class White boys seem to be underachieving but then so do also those Afro-Britons who come from families where they have not had the best start in life which suggests to me that class matters much more than race. There are also cultural issues that hold some groups back and we can see this by looking at what minority groups prosper and which do not.
The only largish group that is keeping the flames of racial division going are the political Left. Leftist groups and leftist individuals consistently claim that the UK is a racist country when it is plain just by looking at those from minorities who have achieved a great deal, that this claim is a lie.
My message to the Left, a left I once supported but can do so no longer, is to look around you and note what is to be seen. Is Britain a nation where there are positions that are barred to those of a different skin colour to the majority? The honest answer is no. The demon that is racialism is almost dead and the only thing keeping it alive are leftists who, for their own political reasons, insist on keeping the idea that Britain is racialist on artificial life support.
It’s odd how many ‘brown or black’ people want to move to the UK – they must not view it as racialist.
But women driving HGVs? Start them off with small cars, reversing around corners, to find the few who are capable of that!
Yes if Britain ws the racist hell hole that the Left say it is why do Black and Brown people see Britain as a place of equal opportunity?
Got a funny story about a female HGV driver when it was not as common as it is today. Did an admin/driving filler job for a few months and one day the warehouse’s stock was delivered in a 38 tonne artic by a woman who had not long passed her HGV test. The delivery bay was in an extremely tight position which involved drivers reversing around a corner into the bay. A lot of the older blokes there were taking bets about whether she would hit any parked cars or ding the trailer on the warehouse bay. This driver did the manouver perfectly even managing to reverse between parked cars with only inches to spare. The guys who assumed that she would fail not only looked very embarrassed when she came in the office to hand over paperwork but never made any adverse comment about women drivers ever again.
Britain is indeed mercifully free of racism at the moment. How long that will be the case is anyone’s guess. We have thousands of newcomers invading us across the channel and as a white man who has tried all his life never to be a racist I find myself accused of white privilege. It seems that every time something happens to anyone who isn’t white race is the reason. If we wish to re establish racism as a fact of life here all we need to do is keep accusing people of good will of being racist just because they are white. I have been refused service in places because I am white and seen cafes with no English signs in the window. Where are my rights not to be offended?
It’s certainly possible that increased social pressures could bring back racism. It’s also wise to remember that racism and racialism isn’t always one way, anybody who has spent time with West Indians and Africans will understand that some members of these two groups will on occasion be racist to one another.
I agree that the over use and inappropriate use of the word ‘racist’ towards those who are not in the main racialist, could end up stirring up shit that should not be stirred.