Ethnic minorities can't use racial tension to justify theft

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Thursday 11 August 2011

It was a lovely afternoon spent with friends in our local café, enjoying the gentle Scottish summer breeze and a good ol’ catch up, when my husband ordered a very retro bitter lemon. It brought a very random flashback to my childhood days and I decided to share the story.

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Hamira Khan

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I was one of the few Asian pupils in my Glasgow school: the other was my sister and the third ended up being an adopted cousin. Having just moved from Birmingham, not only was I the only brown kid in my class; I had a funny accent too. Sounds like a segment from the film East is East I know, but that was my life.

There I was, this eight-year-old, when my teacher asked if I would like some “ginger”. I remember thinking "Why is my teacher offering me a spice which my mum uses in her curries?" I was new in Scotland and not up to speed with the local jargon.My husband and our friends could not stop laughing when I explained my haphazard reply: “No thanks, I don’t like ginger.” A kid who doesn’t like fizzy drinks, that was probably the first time Mrs Cowan had heard that one. As we ordered another round of lattes, the conversation went on to the cultural identity crisis while growing up, for me in the East End of Glasgow and for my husband Ali, in Balloch. Both predominantly white areas. We shared story after story, quickly followed by tears of laughter. Almost all Asians have heard the question -- where are you from? Most of us reply: “From here in the UK, but my parents are from India/Pakistan.” Many of us feel compelled to add a second comment to justify our acceptance and our belonging. I was born, brought up and educated in the UK -- so, as far as I’m concerned, I’m British. My first language is English, I think in English and I live a fairly western life. Some Asians feel that integration means sacrificing a part of their cultural identity and for many others, including me, it’s about having the best of both worlds. I love that fact that I can speak other languages and I particularly love the fact that I will have interesting stories to tell my children. Including the story of how my great uncle walked in the 1940s from a small Indian village and ended up in Fife three years later. There I am each day embracing and promoting multiculturalism and then, over the last few days, I have been heartbroken while watching the news, listening to and reading many views on the UK riots.Working for a youth organisation, and being from an ethnic minority background, my compassion went out to these angry young people, who I thought were simply reaching out to get their voices heard. They’ve been so disillusioned by mainstream politics, youth unemployment is increasing and these young people have very low aspirations. I really thought that this was the only way that these young people knew how to express their frustration and all they wanted was for the government and decision-makers to listen. However, my opinions soon changed when I heard that those out on the streets were not all young people. Of course some were, others were older, many unemployed, but quite a few were actually employed individuals, who you and I would probably class as professionals. Out on the streets, they all had one common goal: to get what they could and pay nothing for it.They are all thugs who should be ashamed of themselves for not only stereotyping a community, which is already faced with continuous age discrimination, but for also having some fun at the expense of their own communities.These people aren’t crying out to be heard. They are simply thieves. Obviously there are historical underlying issues and tensions within the community, police and mainstream society. I was brought up in Birmingham and witnessed first-hand riots in the 1980s. However, there is no excuse for walking down the road with an empty bag to loot your local Adidas store. You cannot say it’s down to racial tension; sugarcoat it all you want, but as far as I’m concerned that is stealing and nothing else.A major contributing factor to the problem has to be the reduction in perceived authority. Whether this is in the classroom, the police services or at home, questions of authority, respect, discipline, attitudes and boundaries must be discussed. But first: the world is watching us, let’s get some law and order on our streets and start protecting the vulnerable.

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Ethnic minorities can't use racial tension to justify theft

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