Breaking the Mould of Race Riots 

The horrific scenes of people being dragged from their homes and their houses burnt down in Belfast has shocked the world. 

Race riots are a terrifying ordeal for the victims who are unjustly targeted for no fault of their own. A spirit of mob-madness takes control of normally sane people and drives them to do unspeakable atrocities. 

All the inequalities and injustices of living in an urban industrial society which are throbbing beneath the surface of many people’s lives are suddenly triggered by some unexpected action of a ‘foreigner’, which releases all the safeguards and constraints of sanity and allows the suppressed tensions to break loose.

It only takes two or three people armed with their mobile phones to trigger a riot in some inner-city area and soon people from outside the area come to join in and happily face their common enemy – the police – who represent all the forces of law and order that oppress the poor, the weak, the deprived and the statusless in society.

I thought that we would never have such terrifying scenes of uncontrollable madness again in Britain. However, I was wrong.

It is a terrifying experience to be there, as I was in the Notting Hill riots of 1958. I moved from West London to Tottenham, and 50 years later I witnessed the same thing in the Tottenham race riots of 2011, but I thought that we would never have such terrifying scenes of uncontrollable madness again in Britain. However, I was wrong – it is there in Belfast. Why is this?

An island mentality

Race relations have frequently been on a knife edge in Britain since the arrival of the ‘Empire Windrush’ with the first West Indians in 1948. Before that, there were virtually no black people in Britain. I was born in London in the 1920s and I never saw a black man until the Second World War, when some came with the American army. We are an island people who have defended our land against all invaders for a thousand years. 

When I was a boy, a common weather forecast would say: “FOG IN THE CHANNEL: EUROPE CUT OFF”.  We believed ourselves to be in the centre of the universe and all maps of the world showed Britain in the centre, with the British Empire straddling the world. We proudly owned or controlled one-third of the world’s land surface and we dominated much of the seas with our Navy, and we were prepared to use gunboat diplomacy to settle disputes.  

Of course, in those days there were no boat people arriving on our shores. If anyone attempted such an entry, their boats would have been sunk before they reached Dover! We were a proud people and we did not welcome those from outside our shores, in the main. I am ashamed to admit it, but we used to say, “The Wogs start at Calais!” We were different, and we loved our island home which we would defend against all comers.

The Windrush Generation

The West Indians broke the mould with the advent of the ‘Empire Windrush’ in 1948. They were not foreigners – they were from the British Empire and they had British passports. They spoke English, they attended the same churches as we had in Britain and their education had been British. In history lessons, we did not teach them about colonial slavery – we taught them about English kings and queens! So, when they came to Britain, they said they were ‘going home’! 

The one thing they did not have was a white skin. We tolerated them to drive our buses and underground trains so long as they did not date our sisters or daughters. But we never really accepted them as one of us.

The children in our schools, however, were usually colour-blind, playing with each other regardless of race. Gradually, more and more people welcomed them as neighbours, but  an undercurrent of social exclusion remained in many areas.

The people of Ulster, however, have had very different cultural tensions – but migration from outside of the British Isles has been very limited there until very recently.

Sorry – No Coloured!

My first church was in West London where the first West Indians settled and I warmly responded to their needs, helping them to find jobs and accommodation even when most of the local adverts said, “No Coloured”. My home became locally known as the ‘Jamaican Labour Exchange’ and I married them, christened their babies, visited their homes, and I even had one homeless young Jamaican couple whom I married spend their week’s honeymoon in my home! 

We were attacked by the British National Party (BNP), who painted the words ‘NIGGER LOVER’ on the pavement outside our house. They meant it as an insult, but we took it as a great compliment.

When we moved to Tottenham, we had the largest multifaith congregation in Britain and we were attacked by the British National Party (BNP), who painted the words ‘NIGGER LOVER’ on the pavement outside our house. They meant it as an insult, but we took it as a great compliment.

An issue of deprivation

There have been race riots in many areas of Britain such as Brixton, south London, and the St Paul’s area of Bristol and many other inner-city places of deprivation. These are typically the areas where migrants come to live because, with a few exceptions, they would never be able to afford to live among the middle and upper classes in Britain. The only place they can find accommodation is among the poor working-class Brits who do simply not have the clout to keep them out. They come to live in the areas where the residents already feel deprived, and oppressed. The middle and upper classes who control the legal system hand down savage penalties to those who are caught in the riots, but that does not solve the social issues that have led to the riots. 

The middle and upper classes who control the legal system hand down savage penalties to those who are caught in the riots, but that does not solve the social issues that have led to the riots. 

Of course, there have been a few professional people who have tried to make major social changes, but in my experience very few have actually lived and worked among the poor and the deprived to be able to present creative solutions to those in decision-making positions of authority in the nation. 

Five-o’clock Shadow

In the 1970s, when we lived in the East End of London, Monica and I and a few other clergy were the only middle-class people living in Newham. 

The Director of Education lived in Sevenoaks, 
The Director of Finance lived in Guildford, 
The Director of Social Services lived in Leigh on Sea 
The Director of Housing lived in Leamington Spa!

 We used to say that the East End of London suffered from ‘Five- o’clock shadow’ – all the directors left at 5 o’clock on Fridays and were not seen until Monday morning. They did not have to send their children to local schools or live in the social housing they controlled. 

I have spent much of my life trying to deal with the issues of deprivation that lead to riots – so, it causes me great sadness to see the same issues that we have faced breaking out now in Belfast. 

Tackling social deprivation is a necessity

The central issue is that the British middle and upper classes in every part of the United Kingdom do not really care about the working classes and they never have cared, since the days of the Industrial Revolution when they annexed common land and built walls around their own properties, erecting hidden social fences to guard their security.  

We never will solve the problems in our inner-city areas that generate the riots, until we are prepared to tackle the social class and differential value system issues that control British society.

We never will solve the problems in our inner-city areas that generate the riots, until we are prepared to tackle the social class and differential value system issues that control British society. The majority of immigrants end up in these deprived areas which are already facing significant challenges. It is no wonder that tensions become high, especially when some of the more recent arrivals come from differing cultures and warzones. So, it is deeply saddening, but not surprising, to see another outbreak of violence among the poor and the deprived whose existence we choose to ignore. 

Future Hope 

It is no good expecting the churches to solve the problems – because they too are usually middle-class institutions! That said, there are individual churches who are doing fantastic work in deprived areas, but they are still few are far between. 

I am sorry if this all sounds like the rambling of an end-of-life disappointed old man. But what I am saying, you may hate to hear – but it is truth. And as Isaiah and Jeremiah both said – “Truth has stumbled in the streets” of our cities.

But it is my urgent prayer before the Lord that someday some brave little group of believers – true followers of the Lord Jesus – who was crucified for our salvation – will come together in the Name of the Lord and really tackle the big issues in our society.

Notes
Image above taken in 1962 when Clifford and his wife Monica were ministering at that church. 

Clifford's books on this topic include, "Black-and-White in Harmony" which was published in 1958 at the time of the Notting Hill riots, and "FREE AT LAST? – The Tottenham Riots and the Legacy of Slavery.” (2015)