Society
Urban life - Darcus Howe refuses to be British
Published 30 January 2006
I was born British. But I knew even in boyhood that this did not make me a Britisher
Gordon Brown's proposal (or is it a command?) for a Britishness day when the Union flag will be flown from every home confuses rather than illuminates. Once, during an election campaign, Peter Mandelson walked along our streets, bulldog in tow, shouting the virtues of Englishness. Add Scotland and Wales, replace the dog with the Union flag and, hey presto, we have Britishness.
I was born British in 1943. That was my nationality, but I knew even in boyhood that this did not make me a Britisher. Oxbridge graduates who taught me at the prestigious Queen's Royal College in Port of Spain, Trinidad, made that clear. They were never offensive in so doing. We natives were just different. We had our own history and carried instincts which flowed from that.
By 1947 India was independent. Ten years later Ghana was about to be. In Trinidad the slogan "Massa day done", meaning the rule of the white master was over, filled the air. We were on our way to nationhood and I was about to become Trinidadian, although 44 years in England had established very English influences on me. I hold dual nationality and two passports, one British and one Trinidadian. Emotionally and culturally I am both, and so are hundreds of thousands of citizens of this country who originated in the Commonwealth.
This state of being is not negotiable.
Gordon Brown asks me to ignore a fundamental part of my life and declare my Britishness. This I can't do and, more so, won't do. I speak for many. Some will wave the Union flag enthusiastically, others half-heartedly, and some not at all.
Mass postwar migration has created a unique social personality, one not locked into a specific national fervour. We are not a problem to be solved with flag-waving.
We are not fixed for ever in this category. We are in the process of change, and so is the definition of Britishness. In time, both will merge in what can be a pleasant place.
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