I feel I can opine on this subject both as a person of an Ethnic Moinority group and immigrant to the UK. Although I have been in this country for 20 years now and have a British Passport, I look upon that little red book merely as a "document of convenience" and no more. The fact remains that I am a foreigner in this country and while I try to obey the laws of the land to the best extent possible, I know that my family and I will be retiringg to India at some stage - where our roots really are.
Trevlad, you are absolutely right in thinking that there is a very strong feeling among the local Anglo-Saxon residents of "our little England" being eroded by immigrant population, including educated one's like ourselves. I understand that feeling and consider it as part of human nature and not necessarily racism - not unless the local person decided to take law into his/her own hands. Active Racism is rare these days, but there is still a strong undercurrent of Passive Racist attitudes (sometimes called the 'Us & Them' feeling) that is prevalent in almost every walk of life. We lived in a little village called Great Glen near Leicester in the 1990s for 5 years and in that time only one of the neighbours ever spoke to us despite our attempts to break the ice several times. We were the only 'coloured' family in Great Glen at the time and we later learned that the local middle class did not want the likes of us to 'spoil' their neighbourhood by moving in from Leicester, which had already been 'overrun'. That feeling is most prevalent in satellite towns near cities that have a large etnic population.
It is not much different here in Wootton Bassett. I can honestly say that I would not recognise any of our neighbours if I bumped into them on the street. But we have got used to the situation now and it does not bother us anymore.
Fraserlynn, I do not think that your comments were, or intended to be racist at all. But there IS a big difference between immigrants to the UK & the USA. UK is an old country steeped in history, including Colonial history. If you discount the present day Eastern European situation, almost all the Ethnic people in this country are related to its Colonial past. But the USA was really a conglomeration of different ethnic groups almost from day one, even though some settlers were not given 'First Citizen' status until the 1960s.
Well, I have said what I wanted to say on this subject. I hope that I have not offended anybody in the process.
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