Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 11:01:29 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: My culture, right or wrong?


Eric

I agree with you that the culture of the immigrant can
play a big part in his or her acceptance. However,
race is an element that can not be ignored. A Muslim
coming from Lebanon who possess more European features
will be more readily accepted then a Muslim coming
from Pakistan, whose origin is clearly defined by his
features and skin colour.

You also make a big mistake when you say

> But by 2000, their children or grandchildren will,
> to all intents and
> purposes, except for the genetic colour of their
Ø skin, have become British.

This sentence assumes  that ÔBritishnessÕ is something
fixed and never altering and that the ofspring of the
ethnic minority fuse into this fixed notion. 

The Asian youth in Britain are not becoming like their
Anglo-Saxon counterparts entirely. The Asian music
scene for example draws influences from music
generated by African-Americans and adds its own spin.
The two cultures (Asian and Anglo-Saxon) are meeting
like titanic plates and interesting things are
happening in the ensuing friction. 

--- Eric Dickens <eric.dickens-AT-wxs.nl> wrote:
> 27th July 2000
> 
> Dear Pocolisters,
> 
> I think a fact is beginning to emerge, especially
> from Josna Rege's
> thoughtful and informative pieces about Bradford and
> Manchester Moslems,
> etc., about the interplay of cultures with regard to
> immigrant communities
> in Britain. It struck me that what Josna Rege says
> about "East is East"
> shows how crucial the ethnic background factor is as
> opposed to race and
> colour. In other words, culture plays a large role
> in the acceptance or
> otherwise of immigrants.
> 
> The fact that there are now several generations of
> immigrants from South
> Asia in Britain today, with some achieving
> prominence (e.g.  as I believe,
> the actress who plays "Milly" in the rather
> well-produced soap "This Life" -
> anyone watch it?) shows that much of what is at
> stake when countering racial
> prejudice is a question of culture, rather than race
> per se.
> 
> By the year 2000, there will be rather a lot of
> people who are ethnically
> South Asian, but cultural very British, bringing a
> new dimension to the
> issue.
> 
> If a white saw an "Indian/Pakistani-looking" person
> on the street in the
> 1960s, that South Asian would often speak with a
> foreign accent, dress
> differently to the white majority, have different
> body language, gestures,
> etc. Especially white working class people, with few
> insights into other
> people's cultures, would find it burdensome to have
> to cope with so many
> different factors. Skin colour may merely have been
> a signal for "this
> person's going to be difficult to communicate with".
> Hence their shutting
> out South Asians from their lives wherever possible.
> Plus also the worry
> about  "they're taking our jobs". Asians were surely
> brought over after
> World War II when the factories and woollen mills
> needed filling up, but
> once whites had had a few kids who would end up
> later on the job market,
> these people who looked and behaved differently were
> not so welcome any
> more.
> 
> But by 2000, their children or grandchildren will,
> to all intents and
> purposes, except for the genetic colour of their
> skin, have become British.
> Not coconuts but say, 80% British with some aspects
> of their ethnic
> background intact. Maybe some religion, food habits,
> etc. But accent,
> gestures, clothing - these have now become all the
> same as their white mates
> and counterparts. They may still look different, but
> all the rest of, at
> least,  their public behaviour is the same. Such
> people cannot be seen as a
> threat by all but the most nutty racialists, since
> they have "become"
> British. When a normal British white person sees a
> brown person nowadays,
> the expectation is that this person speaks and
> thinks more or less the same
> as the white does. So apart from the gangs of
> racialist thugs and elements
> within the Metropolitan Police (London), I would
> imagine that the average
> Briton has had 30-40 years to "get used" to people
> who look as if they come
> from India or Pakistan.
> 
> Will people from South Asia on this list, and who
> live in Britain, please
> say whether I am being too optimistic in this.
> Because obviously as a
> British white I am much less sensitive to the
> everyday dimension of being
> singled out as "different".
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Eric Dickens
> 
> 
> 
> 
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