Sauntering Vaguely Downward

The final installment of Mixed Race Britannia, presented by George Alagiah, aired last Thursday. I couldn’t watch it then, so I viewed it on iPlayer. My notes from the first and second episodes are here and here.

( Mixed Race Britannia: 3 of 3 )

Conclusion of the series: The famed pragmatism of British people (“Oh sit down & have a cup of tea, love.”) has thus far largely won out over rabid racism and xenophobia. George Alagiah clearly thinks it’s likely to continue to do so as Britain becomes more racially diverse.

I was left wondering why it seemed that, in cases where one parent was opposed to a mixed marriage, it was usually the father, while mothers were mostly quite sanguine. Possibly this was the effect of Alagiah’s choice of interviewees? The ones who weren’t adoptive children were largely in long-lasting mixed marriages. Or is there some weird psychological thing about wanting grandchildren that obviously resemble you?

I should have liked it if the series had covered more mixed communities in the UK. It seemed mostly to be focused on Liverpool and London - places which have a long history of successful integration. But surely there are stories to be told - perhaps ones in which racial integration has foundered - about Bradford, Sheffield, Birmingham and Manchester. There were hints of this in Clement Cooper’s story. I suspect this might have spoiled the rather rosy conclusions of the programme.

Last night I watched Part 1 of 3 episodes on the history of mixed race people in Britain. Behind the cut are the notes I wrote while watching it.

( Mixed Race Britannia: 1 of 3 )

I have long wondered why Britain, especially in the cities, seemed to be better racially integrated than a lot of the US. Britain is still majority white, while the US is much more diverse. From this programme I inferred that, at least in the early twentieth century, it was because the first group of persons of colour to arrive in Britain were pretty much all male, and their numbers tiny in comparison to the overall population. When they decided to settle, they had to integrate. The only ladies around for them to date/have sexy tiems with/marry were white girls. So the second generation were pretty much immediately mixed-race, and immersed into both cultures directly through their family. Since the proportion of persons of colour was small enough to be fairly non-threatening, integration was a good deal smoother than in countries where communities were larger and already organised into families. Those tended to stay segregated for longer.