Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Immigration has completely changed the city. There’s a thriving community of Asian people.
- If you say Easterhouse to someone, the first thing they think of is normally gangs, violence and drugs.
- There was a family on my floor: a mum, dad, sister and two brothers. None of them made it out.
- The land was just sitting there and the idea came up about making an allotment on the bog land, so that the people in the community could grow their own fresh food.
- Living a life that is affected by austerity feels like a judgement from a Tory government of who I am. I don’t feel that there’s anybody looking out for my interests as a human being.
- When I first found out I had MND, Steph had just given birth to Ralphie, so we went from that amazing high to being told that I’d got something that could potentially kill me in two years.
- I felt like a little invisible shadow. People knew, but I couldn’t tell anyone, as I was so scared that my child would be taken away. I thought if I kept my mouth shut, then at least I had my daughter.
- Even as a kid going to school, I felt like teachers had a handbook on how to deal with particular kids when it came to race. They’re so quick to kick us out of school.
- Campaigning with DPAC – Disabled People Against Cuts – gave me direction. It kept me going when I would’ve given up.
- The cranes are like big guns aimed in on us. We are surrounded.
- I feel the country is more divided. Maybe because of Brexit, but it feels like the gap has widened between left and right.
- Emergency accommodation is supposed to mean anything from a week to six months. But I ended up being there for over a year.
- I think we are a great example that you can start your life over again at any age.
- A supervisor was bullying me, and when I confronted him he told me women are only here for having children, and called me a donkey.
- I think the EU got blamed for things it wasn’t responsible for, not that it was perfect. Some farmers saw the referendum as an opportunity to have change.
- There were nine of us, all musicians. I was the only one who could speak English, not good, but better than the others, so I volunteered to speak about asylum.
- It always seems to come down to money nowadays. And actually, what should be more important is what children need.
- I’ve been in trouble quite a lot in my life. Nothing too serious, and somehow I’ve only been to prison once.
- We don’t have to accept this attack on our living standards, we don’t have to accept the demonisation of the various minorities, be they disabled, poor, single parents, immigrants or refugees.
- I try and bring a sense of love, belonging and family to the women. I believe in every one of them and I will never stop.
- I’m passionate about young people knowing that everything is political.
- I just couldn’t move. I was on that many different opiates, my body couldn’t cope with it.
- The biggest thing for me about being a single parent is the fact that people do seem to think that it defines you in some way.
- Being a trans woman in the 70s was exceedingly difficult. We weren’t breaking Queen’s Regulations by being transgendered, but the military police thought that it could be used against us.
- Am I accepted because I’m the token black woman to make up a percentage of black artists, or for my hard work and talent?
- When I was selling drugs I was always thinking about the money. I didn’t actually see the effect it has on the users.
- Some people even say we might need a third referendum. What they really mean is we should keep voting until they get the answer they want.
- We need to look more widely at the contribution that black people have historically made to British society.
- The word ‘Islamophobia’ was something I learnt sometime after 9/11. Until then, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know that it was called Islamophobia until it formed into this thing that had a name.
- The state of the country is terrible. Don’t even get me started. Theresa May, she gets on my nerves when she goes on.
- I struggle every day. I struggle to get up and even make myself food, and so I skip meals quite often.
- At first I thought it was a good thing to go on strike, but it became clear that Maggie Thatcher was going to close us down all the same.
- We’re still dealing with feudal law when it comes to housing, so we’re really up against it.
- I’ve heard it described as a battle, but for a battle both sides had to be armed. They had riot gear, helmets, padding, gauntlets, shields, three-foot batons. There was only one side armed.
- At the Edinburgh Festival they did a play set in Govanhill called ‘Govanhell’. Why would people in Edinburgh even know about Govanhill?
- The recession started again, hitting the building trade, and there was lots of pressure trying to keep everything together for the family. Things started to go wrong.
- I think applying for benefits is made really hard just to put people off. It can be the most stressful, soul-destroying thing ever in your life.
- People here don’t want a border back because of all the trouble there was. There were a lot of bombs, over at the garage. The windows of this pub would be put in from the bang of the bombs.
- In my first week at the London School of Economics a student told me I was part of the underclass because my family received benefits, and a lecturer said ‘Poor people don’t come to LSE’.
- Mental illness isn’t universal. You can’t just give somebody one thing and they feel better. Everybody has their own way of coping.
- When you’re an immigrant you feel like an invisible part of Britain. Until you’re ingrained in the culture, you’re not seen or heard.
- Photographers’ Biographies
Immigration has completely changed the city. There’s a thriving community of Asian people.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2023
By
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Immigration has completely changed the city. There’s a thriving community of Asian people.
- If you say Easterhouse to someone, the first thing they think of is normally gangs, violence and drugs.
- There was a family on my floor: a mum, dad, sister and two brothers. None of them made it out.
- The land was just sitting there and the idea came up about making an allotment on the bog land, so that the people in the community could grow their own fresh food.
- Living a life that is affected by austerity feels like a judgement from a Tory government of who I am. I don’t feel that there’s anybody looking out for my interests as a human being.
- When I first found out I had MND, Steph had just given birth to Ralphie, so we went from that amazing high to being told that I’d got something that could potentially kill me in two years.
- I felt like a little invisible shadow. People knew, but I couldn’t tell anyone, as I was so scared that my child would be taken away. I thought if I kept my mouth shut, then at least I had my daughter.
- Even as a kid going to school, I felt like teachers had a handbook on how to deal with particular kids when it came to race. They’re so quick to kick us out of school.
- Campaigning with DPAC – Disabled People Against Cuts – gave me direction. It kept me going when I would’ve given up.
- The cranes are like big guns aimed in on us. We are surrounded.
- I feel the country is more divided. Maybe because of Brexit, but it feels like the gap has widened between left and right.
- Emergency accommodation is supposed to mean anything from a week to six months. But I ended up being there for over a year.
- I think we are a great example that you can start your life over again at any age.
- A supervisor was bullying me, and when I confronted him he told me women are only here for having children, and called me a donkey.
- I think the EU got blamed for things it wasn’t responsible for, not that it was perfect. Some farmers saw the referendum as an opportunity to have change.
- There were nine of us, all musicians. I was the only one who could speak English, not good, but better than the others, so I volunteered to speak about asylum.
- It always seems to come down to money nowadays. And actually, what should be more important is what children need.
- I’ve been in trouble quite a lot in my life. Nothing too serious, and somehow I’ve only been to prison once.
- We don’t have to accept this attack on our living standards, we don’t have to accept the demonisation of the various minorities, be they disabled, poor, single parents, immigrants or refugees.
- I try and bring a sense of love, belonging and family to the women. I believe in every one of them and I will never stop.
- I’m passionate about young people knowing that everything is political.
- I just couldn’t move. I was on that many different opiates, my body couldn’t cope with it.
- The biggest thing for me about being a single parent is the fact that people do seem to think that it defines you in some way.
- Being a trans woman in the 70s was exceedingly difficult. We weren’t breaking Queen’s Regulations by being transgendered, but the military police thought that it could be used against us.
- Am I accepted because I’m the token black woman to make up a percentage of black artists, or for my hard work and talent?
- When I was selling drugs I was always thinking about the money. I didn’t actually see the effect it has on the users.
- Some people even say we might need a third referendum. What they really mean is we should keep voting until they get the answer they want.
- We need to look more widely at the contribution that black people have historically made to British society.
- The word ‘Islamophobia’ was something I learnt sometime after 9/11. Until then, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know that it was called Islamophobia until it formed into this thing that had a name.
- The state of the country is terrible. Don’t even get me started. Theresa May, she gets on my nerves when she goes on.
- I struggle every day. I struggle to get up and even make myself food, and so I skip meals quite often.
- At first I thought it was a good thing to go on strike, but it became clear that Maggie Thatcher was going to close us down all the same.
- We’re still dealing with feudal law when it comes to housing, so we’re really up against it.
- I’ve heard it described as a battle, but for a battle both sides had to be armed. They had riot gear, helmets, padding, gauntlets, shields, three-foot batons. There was only one side armed.
- At the Edinburgh Festival they did a play set in Govanhill called ‘Govanhell’. Why would people in Edinburgh even know about Govanhill?
- The recession started again, hitting the building trade, and there was lots of pressure trying to keep everything together for the family. Things started to go wrong.
- I think applying for benefits is made really hard just to put people off. It can be the most stressful, soul-destroying thing ever in your life.
- People here don’t want a border back because of all the trouble there was. There were a lot of bombs, over at the garage. The windows of this pub would be put in from the bang of the bombs.
- In my first week at the London School of Economics a student told me I was part of the underclass because my family received benefits, and a lecturer said ‘Poor people don’t come to LSE’.
- Mental illness isn’t universal. You can’t just give somebody one thing and they feel better. Everybody has their own way of coping.
- When you’re an immigrant you feel like an invisible part of Britain. Until you’re ingrained in the culture, you’re not seen or heard.
- Photographers’ Biographies
Summary
I was born in Toronto, Canada, but grew up in Birmingham and have lived here my whole life. When I was growing up, the area had a lot of elderly white British people. Immigration has completely changed the city. There’s a thriving community of Asian people. They’ve built up shops and restaurants and there’s a particular energy in the streets. Most recently, there has been a growth in Eastern European communities, who have come to Birmingham to work.
As I kid I went to quite a white school in my neighbourhood, so I used to get people saying ‘Paki this, Paki that’. I got used to it very quickly, so it never used to bother me too much. It doesn’t happen so often any more. I feel integrated within the community, as we have all grown up together and we’ve known each other for years. That’s now starting to change; people are moving outside of the area, to build homes, in quieter neighbourhoods or outside of Birmingham.
My dad started Thandi Coaches and I’ve been working in the family business for 20 years. It was set up initially to service the Asian communities in the UK – typically, between areas such as Southall, Birmingham and Bradford.
I feel that Britain feels like a worse place today than when I was growing up. There’s too much crime in the streets. Young kids, just 16 to 18, carrying knives, hanging out in gangs. There’s been an increase in armed robberies; they just grab anything they can for free. As a result of the cutbacks to the police, we have less of them servicing our community, and they aren’t quick enough to respond to crime. It’s sad, it’s become a mindset for these young people and it happens because of a lack of opportunity for them as they are growing up.
I think we’ve had too much immigration in this country for too long. We need to make sure we can help and provide for our own communities in the UK. Of course, it’s horrible what’s happened to the people affected by the Windrush scandal – these people have worked all their lives, settled down with families, built homes, and this is how they’ve been treated.
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- Information
- Invisible BritainPortraits of Hope and Resilience, pp. 14 - 15Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018