Brexit and Belonging: The Impact on BME Young People in Wales
Rocio Cifuentes, Director of the Ethnic Youth Support Team, looks at whats changed for young BME people in Wales since the vote to leave the European Union.
Plenty has been written about the impact of Brexit on the UK, but this has mostly focused on the practical and economic. Not enough is yet understood about the social and even existential impact that this has had on the sense of identity and belonging of a large section of the population living in the UK and Wales. Ethnic Youth Support Team works with young BME people, families and individuals living in Wales, and most especially for young BME people, the impact of Brexit has been seismic. As one young Welsh Bangladeshi female put it:
“Before Brexit, I felt quite happy living in Wales, and felt as much Welsh as I did Bangladeshi, but after Brexit, it’s like everything’s’ changed, and like nobody wants people who aren’t’ white, or who weren’t’ born here living here, so I don’t know if I’ll every be able to feel truly Welsh or British again. I hope I will, but I’m not sure”
Brexit: A Shock, but not a Surprise
In a presentation made to the Third Sector Partnership Council in February 2017, I argued that while Brexit had been a shock, it had not been a surprise, and that Brexit should be viewed more as a symptom of an underlying creeping racism, Xenophobia and Islamophobia which could be traced back over for more than a decade since 9/11 in New York and 7/7 in London, and the ensuing so-called War on Terror which had in effect become a war on Islam and Muslims. These feelings have been allowed to foment in a vacuum where there has been no effective counter-narrative to an increasingly virulent Anti-Muslim and Anti-Immigrant rhetoric, amplified by the media and opportunistic politicians.
The’ 3 R’s’: Racism, Refugees & Religion
Furthermore, young people in schools have not had the necessary education on the 3 R’s of Racism, Refugees and Religion to equip them with the necessary skills and understanding to be able to critique and question these messages. In a world where these are the most hotly contested issues of our day, young people deserve and have the right to be informed at the very least about what these terms actually mean – in EYST’s work with thousands of school children every year, we find that children and even teachers rarely know the true meaning of the word ‘asylum-seeker’, for example, believing it mean immigrant or benefit scrounger, rather than someone who is seeking safety. A 45 minute lesson and a chance to meet and talk to Muslims, Refugees and Asylum-Seekers completely changes that, and Welsh Secretary for Education Kirsty Williams has recently visited EYST to commend this work.
In Wales we also have unique legislative opportunities to implement these changes through the new curriculum being developed as part of the Donaldson Review, through the Future Generations Act, and the Children’s Measure.
Never Again?
With the far-right gaining power across the globe, from the USA to France - and who knows how UKIP and other far-right parties will fare in the recently announced General Election of 2017 - there has never been a more important time to redouble our efforts to equip children and young people especially with the facts and information they need to make important decisions in the future. After all, any democracy is only as good as that country’s education system. With 25% of Cardiff’s and 10% of Swansea’s school-age populations coming from non-white non-British backgrounds, diversity is here to stay, whatever we vote for. Surely it is in everybody’s interest to ensure that all our futures are harmonious, healthy and happy. After the Jewish Genocide of the Second World War, we all said ‘Never Again’- I hope we meant it.
