Tendentious article by Symeon Brown in the New Statesman earlier today entitled: Jimmy Mubenga: What kind of society can treat the death of an immigrant so casually? http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/08/jimmy-mubenga-what-kind-society-can-treat-death-immigrant-so-casually
One does not doubt the sincerity with which Symeon Brown writes, although it might have been a more cogent article with more facts and less hyperbole.
However he does put his finger on the essential problem when he writes: "BME Britons can feel like they only have the status of 'visitors', not citizens."
Let us just pause for a moment and remind ourselves of the three salient features of post-war migration into the United Kingdom: it is a major social change that has never been put to the electorate; in every test of public opinion since 1945 the majority have said they want it to stop; attempts to discuss this on-going social change have been met by mendacity, bullying and incessant accusations of "racist" (accusations that have been so mechanical and repetitive that the "racist" epithet has largely lost its meaning, as Symeon Brown points out).
Given the lack of democratic legitimacy to inward migration how can the status of BME people in the United Kingdom be anything other than "visitors"?
This is not to say that BME people should "go home". There are several ways in which post-war immigrant communities could acquire democratic legitimacy. But carrying on as we are and shouting down anyone who questions on-going immigration is not a viable option (mainly because it is not working anymore - and here Abraham Lincoln's famous saying comes to mind).
One does not doubt the sincerity with which Symeon Brown writes, although it might have been a more cogent article with more facts and less hyperbole.
However he does put his finger on the essential problem when he writes: "BME Britons can feel like they only have the status of 'visitors', not citizens."
Let us just pause for a moment and remind ourselves of the three salient features of post-war migration into the United Kingdom: it is a major social change that has never been put to the electorate; in every test of public opinion since 1945 the majority have said they want it to stop; attempts to discuss this on-going social change have been met by mendacity, bullying and incessant accusations of "racist" (accusations that have been so mechanical and repetitive that the "racist" epithet has largely lost its meaning, as Symeon Brown points out).
Given the lack of democratic legitimacy to inward migration how can the status of BME people in the United Kingdom be anything other than "visitors"?
This is not to say that BME people should "go home". There are several ways in which post-war immigrant communities could acquire democratic legitimacy. But carrying on as we are and shouting down anyone who questions on-going immigration is not a viable option (mainly because it is not working anymore - and here Abraham Lincoln's famous saying comes to mind).
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