‘Is together really better?’: a multi-racial British society

Today’s Britain is by far a multi-racial international society. Communities of Indian sub-continental, Caribbean and African origin can be seen in many cities as exemplified by London, Brighton, and Manchester.

As I read Ian R.G. Spencer’s book, the fact is that when the Roman emperor Claudius Caesar invaded Britain in AD 43, the history has recorded that the black soldiers were part of the Roman armies. With the development of British shipping industry later on, many transient seamen were recruited from Africa, the Indian sub-continent, China, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Malaya to work in the UK ports.

However, the making of multi-racial Britain has experienced a series of unrest in the past and has hidden stories behind the scenery. Being the labour working class, those who physically and culturally different to the British inevitably face racial discrimination, finding themselves difficult to integrate into the local society, especially during economic depression period.

It not only happened to the Asian and black, when the Irish moved to London to serve as seasonal labourers in the late eighteenth. There is already an anti-Irish sentiment in the Anglo-Saxon culture.

This Sunday, I stood in front of York Minister looking at two marching bands in the streets. I see multi-racial members within them acting as a team. I wonder such a racial issue has been truly mitigated right now. ‘Is together really better’ for interpreting the image of the Englishness? Or multiculturalism is just a necessity for creating a ‘generous’ Western society in the global era?

今天的英國是一個多種族的國際社會。印度次大陸，加勒比和非洲裔的社區可以在許多城市看到，例如倫敦，布萊頓和曼徹斯特。

正如我讀Ian R.G. Spencer的書，事實是當羅馬皇帝Claudius Caesar在公元43年入侵英國時，歷史上已記載，黑人士兵是羅馬軍隊的一部分;隨後英國航運業的發展，許多臨時海員從非洲，印度次大陸，中國，中東，加勒比和馬來亞被招募到英國港口工作。

不過，過去多種族英國的形成經歷了一波波動亂，背後有著隱藏故事。身為勞動工人階級，外表和文化上與英國不同的人,無可避免地面臨種族歧視，發現他們難以融入當地社會，特別是在經濟衰退期間。

這不僅發生在亞洲和黑人身上,當愛爾蘭人搬到倫敦擔任十八世紀晚期的季節性勞工時。盎格魯 - 撒克遜文化中已經有反愛爾蘭人的情緒。

這個星期天，我站在約克大教堂前面，看著街上的兩個行軍樂隊。我看到他們有多元種族成員組成的團隊。這樣的種族問題現在真的被減輕了嗎？“在一起真的會比較好”用來闡述英國人的形象嗎？ 或者多元文化主義只是個在全球化時代創造一個“有雅量的”西方社會的必要條件？