THE GLEANER-OWNED Voice newspaper in the U.K. recently ran a story on the strides which Afro-Caribbean people have made in Britain over the last 30 years. It noted that a study out of the University of Exeter has delivered the surprising information that more people from African and Caribbean communities have moved up a class than white working class people. And this despite claims that racism and discrimination are still rife.
Racism has been an undeniable feature of the black experience in the United Kingdom and in other countries where people of African descent have migrated. But concerns about racism must not over-ride good news about the solid progress which people of the black diaspora have made under difficult circumstances.
While 80 per cent of people of Caribbean origin in the U.K. were in the lowest socio-economic group in the 1970s, the new study found that people of Caribbean origin in English society had significantly improved their socio-economic status over the last 30 years. The report found that 45 per cent of black British people in the labour force were in managerial or professional jobs. And Caribbean people have a 22 per cent greater chance of entering the professional classes than comparable white, non-migrants.
While this study cannot be the last word on the matter and aspects of it may be open to challenge, it does offer a positive window on progress made by a migrant minority group under difficult circumstances.
The high motivation of migrants in search of a better life to improve their situation, and passed on to their children, is among the more obvious explanations for their strides. But the study itself suggests that many migrants were in the first place downgraded a class as they were constrained to take jobs at the low end of the economy, but their values and work ethic served to pull them up.
The struggle to survive in a less-than-favourable environment, from both a social and climatic perspective, would also be a factor driving the kind of progress the study has noted. The same has been well-documented for migrant groups in the United States. The faith factor is also well worth exploring. The strong religious convictions of many migrants would make success a moral duty.
There is an obvious fillip for their relatives back home in the Caribbean as well. The millions of dollars being sent home as remittances each year have kept many economies afloat, and they sometimes make direct business investments to their personal benefit and the economies of Caribbean societies.
While the socio-economic advancement of blacks in Britain is celebrated, black leaders are worried that the negatives of crime, drugs, and poor education could hamper further progress.
The network of black institutions and their leadership which have emerged now have large responsibilities to curtail the negatives and to build on the positives.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
