jasper123

Yes trotty its really hard for me to believe that Ive been home for almost a year, its been a learning experience, the biggest difference I see in the U.K. of 2011 compared to the U.K. of 1974 when I left, is the multi races that make up our population now, I think this is good, its good for the British people, because of all the different races of people here now it has brought in more culture to the country, now we have culture from all over the world,

But I do also see that there is quite a lot of prejudice against them from the whites, its more of a quite soft kind of prejudice though here, not like the kind of in your face prejudice that is still in the U.S. to this very day,

a few years after I arrived in America I married a U.S. citizen, the year was 1979 and my wife was black, in those days the prejudice was not unlike the kind that you would experience in the late 60,s when the civil rights movement was still young, we were living in Reno Nevada, it was quite bad,
it was still a novelty to see mixed race couples walking down the street and we would experience lots of hateful remarks from people in there cars as they were driving past us, they would shout out many vulgarities and abuse,

I remember once that we had just finished grocery shopping at the store and we were waiting outside with about six brown paper sacks of food for the taxi that we had phoned for, the cab drove up alongside us and took one look at us and he Just sped off, ------ I quickly wrote his cab number down and company and I gave the company a call and reported him immediately, I told the supervisor exactly what happened and he did take care of it which was good and he also sent us a whole bunch of fare vouchers for free which was nice of him to do,
anyway the next day I phoned the same supervisor and asked him what he did with this driver, he told me he is no longer working there, he was fired, ----- so a couple of days later I called the cab company and just got through to the dispatch and my Wife got on the phone and pretended to be a friend of this cab driver (we were told his name by the supervisor when the incident happened) and she asked if she could speak to him and they just said sorry this man is no longer working here,
So thats all we wanted to know, just that he was indeed fired and we were not just given a snow Job.
In the U.S. its much better these days with prejudice between the whites and the blacks especially, but they still have a long way to go yet.
Rodney.

between two worlds

Rodney I just love how you appreciate the English climate and find it interesting and pleasurable after all those years in Las Vegas...as you've probably found already, the Brits just can't believe you when you say that all that relentless sunshine got boring!

I'm just in UK for a short visit, back in France next week. Where apparently it has also become autumnal, cold and rainy. Ah well, seasons make life interesting!

Tina

chriswinter

Rodney...I can so relate.
When I was young married, my husband (American) and I would talk about England (back in the 60's). And how I often wished we could live there. He was all for it. But I didn't have the heart to tell him why it just couldn't be. My fear that he would be called a 'Wog' in England, since he was Mexican-American and dark complected. Plus the fact my very white English extended family members at that time, would never have accepted him. Today that has changed entirely. A few of my English family members have married non-whites.

My husband is now gone, but I never did tell him about the 'Wog' thing.

To this day, I worry about this (discrimination) when I discuss a possible move back to England (some of my adult kids want to go too, as well as 2 of my adult grandsons)...as my adult children favor their father and some of my grandsons favor their father and grandfathers. May seem silly, but I often think, would they be mistaken for Mid-Eastern? Personally, I don't have anything against Mid-Eastern people...but seems a whole lot do.

Chris...Who is still contemplating

sallysimmons

Really? It's not something you hear very often over here - although you do get it from people with an axe to grind.

For example, Fox News and right wing news sites will slip in things about the President's mixed race as a way to delegitimize claims of racism against them and to undermine his claim to history, the implication being that hey he's as white as he's black, so there's nothing all that special about him and obviously we can't be racists.

Perhaps the sensitivity to it here comes from the delicate history of race in this country and the gradations of color that used to separate different classes of African-Americans. I really don't know, just speculating.

Whatever the reason, it's hard to imagine someone describing Beyonce or Halle Berry as 'mixed race.'

sallysimmons

Wow, Rodney I had no idea you went through all that!

I so agree with you about the way immigration has improved the UK, but also how racism is a problem there. Hopefully things will smooth over as the years go by.

Beedubya

My niece in London lives with her fiancee who is Indian, he is very light skinned and probably looks more Middle Eastern than Indian, but I've never heard of him having any problems.

My nephew is married to a girl who is English born but half Mauritian (her dad), she's quite dark Indian looking and she told us a few months back that she was crossing the street and she almost caused an accident and the driver shouted out of the window:

"Get back to where you came from!"

and she shouted back

"What, Warrington?!!"

She and my nephew have twin little boys so cute and they are as fair skinned and blonde as their dad and everybody thinks she is their childminder.

chriswinter

A Polish woman neighbor said almost the identical thing to my husband once.

Polish woman: I'll have you deported!!
Mexican-American Hubby: Back to Texas??

She was pissed that's for sure....my husband laughed out loud at her, because of her ignorance and because more than likely she was an immigrant herself from Poland or her parents were. It's all about the skin-color...that I know for sure in the good ole U.S. of A. America was built on the backs of immigrants. Anyway...I was the 'immigrant', I had the 'green card'....not dear ole hubby. But no one would question me...why? Because my skin is white, my hair was blonde with blue eyes.

Still I worry...racism seems to be very much a part of human life. Always has been, doubt it's going away any time soon. I just worry for my kids and grandkids. But thanks Bee for sharing with me...is good to know, one way or another. These are the things I think about should I return to England and if any one of my children or grandchildren should join me.

Chris

Beedubya

Wow Rodney how many more wives do you have up your sleeve??

We'll be hearing about your Aussie bride next.

cheers

She's trying to find him and when she does.........

Mummy in the foothills

You are both talking in centigrade right?
Cause 19 and 20 would be super cold other wise

Mummy in the foothills

cheers

Good job he can't hear us.

trottytrue

This is a really good 'homes for sale' website. If you scroll down the map it will take you all through the UK and show you houses for sale with lots of other information. For someone like me who is not sure where they want to live it gives you a good idea and if you put in a price all the houses that come up for sale in all the areas will be in the range. You will see the difference in size and quality from one county to another and compare.

http://www.nestoria.co.uk/hay-on-wye...5/property/buy

I watched a program about Hay on Wye and as its got the largest amount of book stores I was really drawn to it.

jasper123

Barb I told you and everyone thats been on here a while about my Australian love of my life, Theresa, we were engaged, she was 18 I was 24 we both wanted to live in England together, the plan was I go home first from Oz which I did and she would follow in about 6 months after I had secured a Job and a flat, 4 months past back home in Portsmouth I had a Job, we were writing to each other constantly back and forth ( I still have all her letters from way back then in 1969)
Anyway it was winter and I was riding my bike to work and it was light snow and drizzle and the streets were all like wet and slushy, a car skidded out of control and hit me at high speed, I was in hospital for a little over six months,
While I was in hospital a few weeks after my operation my Father and Mother came to visit me, My Dad was not very happy, I could tell by the look on his face that there was something wrong, he handed me this opened letter that he had read, so i read it and it was a letter from Windang N.S.W. Australia where Theresa's parents lived, it was from her Mother explaining that her Daughter was too young to marry me, and to come all the way to the other side of the world to live, and they will not allow there daughter to marry me, they said they were sorry and that was that, I never did hear from Theresa again,
So as you can imagine I was absolutely shattered, after I recovered from my injuries it took me a very long time ----- years to get over the heart ache,
Well look at me now the memory is as sharp in my mind now then it was then in 1969, ------ and I will never forget my four years in Australia 1965 to 69, I was young and I loved life, and I loved living in Oz back then, I had a blast!!!!!

between two worlds

Why is this hard to imagine? I always think of Halle Berry as mixed race. She--one of the most beautiful women in the world in my opinion--has one white parent and one black, I am pretty sure. Beyonce I don't know about.
I think it's wonderful that all shades of ethnicity are appreciated these days and actually the mixed race "look" is super-fashionable now, which may be a comfort to kids who in the past may not have felt they fit in anywhere. In the past mixed-race kids sometimes felt they didn't fit in either community; I hope that is evaporating now, as we all become more accepting (and boy has it taken some time!! as Rodney's experiences show) of mixed-race marriage and mixed-race children. No-one of mixed parentage should feel they have to identify as either "white"or "black" if they are a bit of each--and I understand that the US census form finally allows you to check more than one racial identity box--again,it's high time!

Yes, the history of race in the US does make it a sensitive and difficult topic...

oops, am I off-topic here, speaking of topic? Well, we've all been saying Britain is now a very diverse place so perhaps it is on-topic...it seems to me I see far more mixed couples and mixed-race children in the UK than I did in the US, which is encouraging...

Tina