I was raised by a maternal grandmother; decorated and even celebrated WWII vet' who took it upon herself to join when she turned 17, one year before the country made her do something and she didn't want to be stuck on some factory somewhere. Bombed out twice before she was old enough to join; once in Bermondsey, then again in Clapham, and had to move to Balham in the end... She had a pen pal from her grammar school days as a kid growing up who was German; she said before the war, everybody regarded the Germans in high regard, then when war broke out, she got cut off from her pen pal. Anyway, moving on. I'd get back to WWII because, I'm not finished there with this history my family have of race relations. After the war, she became a school teacher teaching at a comprehensive in Putney first teaching art, before advancing her teaching career to teach special needs in Clapham. She was teaching when the Windrush generation came through her classroom. The Windrush happened giving Black Britain the shot in the arm it needed, the UK at first thought that these kids were retarded because of the racism with even well to do naive school teachers fearing these kids might not even survive the winter, so sent them to my grandmother's classroom since Brixton was around the corner and in her catchment area. My Nan had to tell the school board that some were even gifted and apart from the 1 kid with actual brain damage, the rest belonged in regular class; that was my Nan. Back to WWII, before the Windrush... I believe the first time my grandmother ever saw a black person was in WWII. She and the other young women in her unit (WAAF) would fraternise on weekends, and she remembered and regaled us with the story of how she and her friends took pity on this African American woman upset because her and her African American friends who were barred from a racially segregated party ran by the Americans so they took this young lady and her friends out to party with them to some dance or something they were going to, which wasn't segregated (and most likely ran by the British knowing my Nan). She was on RADAR in Southern England under General Eisenhower's command working alongside the Americans, who were segregated back then; but because this isn't America and they were here, that rule of theirs ended at the door and they had to respect our racial laws, even though saving us or helping us (as we see it) in the war going on that at the time was bombing us out, the Americans still had to be made aware about race relations in the UK and how to behave when out in public in the UK. This was an actual educational video deployed to get Americans ready for the task, one of many no doubt, it's not all about race relations of course, but, it's in there.
Cool story but America today isn't sending blacks back from whence they came now that they got the labor they wanted out of them. Tell us more about your country's dealings with the Windrush people again today. Tell us why blacks are twice as likely to be unemployed and twice as likely to live in overcrowded housing in your colorblind country. Why do almost one in five people in England think that some races are born less intelligent than others and 4 in 10 believe that some groups are born lazy? Perhaps you should worry more about your country's own problems instead of trying to ignore them in the name of We Aren't As Bad As America https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/22/europe/black-britain-systemic-racism-cnn-poll-gbr-intl/index.html
My family might be cogs in the system, but none of the issues you raised have anything to do with my family's own dealings with other races. Perhaps your own family stories might shed some light on the issues you've raised? Unless you tell it, how will we know?
You said, "...but because this isn't America and they were here, that rule of theirs ended at the door and they had to respect our racial laws, even though saving us or helping us (as we see it) in the war going on that at the time was bombing us out, the Americans still had to be made aware about race relations in the UK and how to behave when out in public in the UK." Your race relations are crap.
So? If you're ashamed of America's history, don't cry about it when its in someone else's story. Was my grandmother working for the Brits? Yes. Did she have a say in who she had to work alongside with? No. So she did her job for her country which at the time meant working with yours. Does it surprise you then that the thing you're ashamed of, claim I'm attacking, made it into my grandmother's story? You do know that before WWII Brits like my grandmother never saw a black person before, Jamaican armed forces weren't segregated, so what if she took pity this African American girl in WWII who couldn't attended a party she wanted to go but couldn't because she was black and the American forces were segregated; my Nan and her friends still took this lady and her friends out that night, and said 'you could party with us' and went to a party that wasn't segregated. Now what exactly do you want me to do? Ignore this? No. Because it involves Americans in the UK; America lost that right to be out of the story as soon as you stepped into it making it is what it is, a part of the story, and one my grand mother should have been proud of.
And you continue to rationalize your racist country's race problem with whataboutism about America to the point you added a period training film not about race in to allege it was about race.
You don't get it, you have no roots, you have no family, because you can't even be bothered to talk about race relations in it. Leave my story alone, you want to tell your story? Go ahead.
Hurt that it didn't stay in America and went to the UK, for the segregated armed force to have a private segregated party at the station my grandmother was based, that offend you? Or just hurt that it happened? So you want to attack me for talking about it. You hurt that the video I showed had to remind American troops how to behave in public in this country?
@Chrizton No one cares about anything in this thread that isn't personal family histories of race relations, so if you want to dwell on why this person is down trodden, then you better be talking about an influential family of power here who might have answers to why; I however am not so blessed, my family were just cogs in the machine more or less. I'm talking about our families because they're our roots and history, and what race relations were like for the people who came before us; not to lecture society, but to tell our family stories of race relations.
You continue to not share a family story, why? Do you think you're special? You get to ask big questions about things my story was set in, but you don't get to have a story about your own family's history in race relations? For all we know, your family could have been slave owners now, what race relations stories you got from your family? You're so quick to tare down my story, I don't even see one from you. 'Where's your story?' 'Where's it at?' Oh yeah 'It's missing!' Come back when you can contribute here.
