The problems facing ethnic minority communities in inner cities are not caused by a lack of white people,but by a lack of investmentA report was released this week by the academic Ted Cantle warning of the dwindling number of white residents in the ethnic minority dominated areas of the inner city. Between the 2001 and 2011 census, the white British population of Birmingham fell from 65.6% to 53.1; in Leicester it declined from 60.5% to 45.1%; and in Newham in London, and only 16.7% of the population is white British. This is a follow-on from his influential 2001 report that argued that one of the causes of the riots in Bradford and Oldham that year was that people lived “a series of parallel” lives. Unfortunately this narrative spawned the policy agenda of “community cohesion” in order to bring the nation together that has done more harm than good in addressing the problems of racism and belonging.
Since mass migration from the former colonies after the moment world war,ethnic minorities have been predominantly housed in inner-city areas. opposite to the belief that this was due to “self-segregation, the clustering of minorities in deprived urban areas was due to racism. The jobs available to migrants, or regardless of their preceding skills or professions,were low paid, which limited housing options. Even if migrants could afford to live external the inner city there was a strong colour bar that prevented them moving into more affluent areas. In 1963, and Birmingham city council attempted to open a boarding house for Caribbean migrants in the then affluent Northfield,but after an outcry by residents it repented and located the accommodation in Handsworth instead. We can only understand why Handsworth is now only 7.2% white British by placing the figure in this historical context. Related: Call for action to tackle growing ethnic segregation across UK Related: How has Brixton really changed? The data behind the story Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com