The struggle to belong

They pay their taxes and have made a tremendous contribution to this country. Asylum seekers on the other hand claim benefits and are unable to work". Not content with blaming the asylum seeker because the Government doesn't allow them to work and pay taxes, Wedderburn's rabid attack continued, claiming, 'they'-asylum seekers 'will affect our-the Black communities- living standards'.

Wedderburn is sadly not alone. Choice FM's Geoff Schumman lamented on his Saturday programme that he was in earshot of a group of Black men talking about asylum seekers as if they were vermin. Schumman explained, 'I thought I was listening to BNP thugs but when I turned round they were Black.'

So, what is going on when the historically oppressed take on the clothes of the oppressor, often long after the oppressor stops wearing those clothes?

I sense that Wedderburn and others who rush to wear their oppressor's former clothing do so with a desperate and ultimately fatal desire to belong. They believe at the very least, you must not disagree with even the worst aspects of your peer group, and at best you must become the loudest advocate of what you think they want. Then somehow, they cannot fail to accept you as one of them.

I remember with regret my own peer group pressures whilst growing up in Leicester in the early seventies. It was a time when Idi Amin expelled Ugandan Asians from his country, it also paralleled a time when there was greater acceptance of Black youths by white classmates - due in no small part to our sporting prowess. But when the first wave of Asians arrived racism towards them was at fever pitch. My white friends would turn to me and state: 'You're ok you're one of us. It's those curry eating smelly bastards we don't like'.

To my eternal shame I confess I said nothing. I didn't agree with the pack mentality but as an eleven-year-old I wanted to belong. I'd have to wait until my teenage years before I had the confidence to effectively and at times aggressively challenge racism that wasn't necessarily directed at me.

But to see it today, particularly in adults, leaves me with a feeling that in many areas the Black community is still seeking acceptance from the dominant society which sometimes extends to mimicking racist attitudes and attacking the less fortunate.

Mimicking can also take the form of aping characters from a bygone era. Even character types that may also have been oppressors. Here former boxing world champion Chris Eubank sadly takes the top prize. Dressed in jodhpurs, a cravat and sporting a monocle and cane, Eubank struts around with no hint of irony as if he were an aristocratic country squire. But who is Eubank fooling other than himself.

Watching Eubank on a number of cheap TV programmes leaves many in the Black community to ponder how a strong and valiant warrior in the ring could seem to be so weak and culturally insecure outside it.

I guess the challenge to accept and love who we are is not confined to Wedderburn or Eubank, it is a challenge we all must face. There is no doubt that we in Black communities must belong to institutions such as the Conservative Party and many others. It's also true that we must see ourselves at all levels of the socio-economic spectrum, but not at any price. Certainly not at a price that devalues our history, our culture, and our journey through adversity.

When we pour scorn on asylum seekers we do so on our mothers and fathers, who, in the 1950's and 60's were also subject to vilification with such things as shop signs that read, 'No blacks, no Irish and no dogs'. When we mimic bygone gentry in a way that some do we are in danger of unconsciously stating that we are ashamed of our own rich cultural heritage.

Finding a place to belong in a society that has historically oppressed, and is predominantly white is never easy, but positive change is afoot. Black history month, for example, gets bigger and better every year engendering self-knowledge and self worth that brings pride to our Blackness.

In the struggle to belong, we need a space in which we can be truly proud Britons. But a proud Black Briton is also a proud Black Caribbean, African or Asian. Then when we join the many institutions and establishments we stand with dignity in no ones clothes but our own.