Are we a contradicting nation? One must take pride in being a part of this multicultural society, where everyone is welcome to practice their own religion and be the person they wish to be. Well, this may seem farfetched and slightly exaggerated, but after all the struggles that the first generations of Asians had to bear, they were truly welcomed in an alien land, consequently, making it their own. However, due to all the mishaps that have been happening in the UK and around the world, many British Asians have had to face the brunt and pay a price of a crime that they have not done. But were we ever really welcomed? Were we ever considered as a Briton? One may have been born and raised in the UK, yet they may be questioned, “so, where are you from? You don't look like you're from here.”
A modern day example of unwillingness to integrate and an unwelcoming society is of Parmjit Dhanda; the first British-born Indian MP as well as first Sikh MP in Britain who faced many hostile people and horrific incidents due to their ignorance. Parmjit Dhanda faced many difficulties as an MP in Gloucester. He would constantly be bombarded with hate mails, referring to him as a “paki” and telling him to “go home”. But what annoyed Dhanda further was when a Conservative Councillor shouted to some Labour activists about him. They shouted, “I'll bet your candidate's grandad wasn't at Dunkirk.” Dhanda states, “that did get under my skin because my grandfather fought with the Royal Bengal Engineers in Burma.”
Another round of “unwelcomeness” came from the late Margaret Thatcher in 2007. Dhanda introduced himself to Thatcher as the MP of Gloucester, to which Thatcher looked around the room and then back at Dhanda, replying, “so, which country are you from?”
But what was a final straw in politics for Dhanda was when he found a severed pig's head outside of his house in 2010. From then on, Dhanda turned his back on politics. The racist demonstrators mistook Dhanda to be a Muslim, hence, the pig's head incident. Nevetherless, had they even sent a severed pigeon or sheep's head, the impact would have been the same. The message from these racists protestors were loud and clear.
Many Muslims believe that the stereotypes that have been associated with Muslims have led to many radicalisation. They feel that many terror related news get highlighted, and deservedly so as the world ought to know what has been going. But they feel that they are being looked at with suspicious gaze.
If one practices their religion in the open, especially if they belong to the Islamic faith, they are deemed as “extremists”. There have been many such cases, such as the Oxford grooming case, where the gang was publicly called a “Pakistani grooming gang” as the majority of the members were of Pakistani ethnicity. However, with the case of Jimmy Savile and his savage behaviour with children, not once do we hear of him being a “white paedophile”. Arguably, it is the way that these crimes have been addressed in the news which makes many believe that Muslim children are further isolated, forced into radicalisation as they are not being welcomed by the Western mainstream; neither in society and neither in the news.
Now, if we talk about immigration in the UK, many people will have their own personal views on this topic. While some believe we ought to encourage people into the country for better prospects, others may be hellbent against anymore “others” coming over. At one time, there were issues regarding the economy of the UK and how bringing in immigrants may affect it further. However, it only showed fruitful in aiding the economy of UK. Now the issue is more regarding Britain becoming an overpopulated country and something needs to be done about this. But what could be understood is that with the negative depiction of Muslims and Asians in the news, maybe this is the government's attempt to control who comes into this country in order to keep it safe. But is it fair to be painted with the same brush and be discriminated against because of your ethnicity? Will these undercurrent segregations and prejudices create further feuds and lead to more radicalisations against the “West”? After all the progress society had made, it seems as though we have all taken several steps back, making the atmosphere as unamiable for one another as it may have used to be in the 1950s or 60s, when maybe your first generation of Asian family came over to the UK.
