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Now, I realise that I may be opening a can of worms here, and I really don't want to come across rude or derogatory, but I was most upset today with the lack of representation from the Ethnic Minority communities at today's rememberance. My kids are in the St. John's ambulance and so did the march throught the highstreet with the cadets and the scouts etc to the war memorial where we listened to the bugal, observed the silence and had the jolly gun fire. We then marched back to the parish church for a 20 minute service and then marched again through the high street, complete with marching band etc etc.
Now, I completely understand why members of our ethnic comunities would not want to join in the service in the church, but just to turn out and observe the silence as a town together? We have a large ethnic community and I started to really look, and yet i did not see one single member in the crowd today. We are all living under the banner of freedom that came for a price, the price of our service men's lives, a freedom that means we can be who we like, when we like and yet I feel as though a large part of today's community don't give a monkeys about our old boys and don't feel it's anything to do with them??? Aren't we also recognising service men who have died more recently in more recent wars also? We all enjoy the freedoms of this country, I would have thought everyone would have wanted to pledge their allegience and mark their gratitude...
Am I being harsh? Is there something I've missed? If I have, please explain and then I can stop feeling so sad. Today's service has been really sorrowful for me because of this.....
No best answer has yet been selected by mimififi. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I couldn't go, I was working, and as a train driver, (London Undergroud), took a lot to the service, but I think the main reason, is because, in this country today, they don't instil a sense of pride or belonging, and not forgetting that with this present goverment, our history is being whitewashed. All these things need to be addressed most urgently.
I belong to my local British Legion, and was out with a tray of Poppies, and where I live, and it was noticable, it was mainly white people who bought them.
I think, mimfifi, that your post will prove to be a very contensious on, but one that needed to be said.
It may just be that ethnic minorities didn't have much to do with the war themselves. Most of them did not live in Britain at the time - most immigrants from the Caribbean didn't come till after the war, brought out to man the buses and the NHS. Those who did contribute, for instance the Gurkhas, don't seem to be specially well treated now by the UK government.
So they may well feel no sense of community with those who died in the war, just as, if you emigrated to the USA, you wouldn't think US Civil War commemoration ceremonies had anything to do with you. (Indeed, you might even feel they were a private thing that specifically excluded you.) Those who actually lost family members in the war will doubtless remember them, like everyone else.
To carry on from mimififi's point, and shaneystar, thats a very good link, I repeat what I said earlier, I believe that pride and history of your country, is not taught properly nowadays, and a majority of 2nd, and 3rd generation immigrants do not look on this country as their home country. Its been said before, if you ask a young man, say, of Jamaican decent which is his country, for the most part, even though him and hi children were born here, he'll probably say Jamaica, but if you repeat this in America, he will say American.
And to repeat original point, these people, or their parents, chose to live in this country, the country whose freedoms they enjoy, which was bought in the blood of soldiers of all clours. The very least they could do, would be to show some respect, and buy a poppy.
Many posters have stressed that without our brave fighting forces we would not enjoy the freedoms we now have but in the very next sentence criticised people for exercising those same freedoms - while a agree that rememberance, learning and understanding our history is important i really don't think you can expect everyone to act / show their rememberance in the same way e.g. attendance shouldn't be compulsory...
As an ethnic minority I am saddened but not at all suprised by what you say mimififi. The asian communities older generation are more concerned about their country back home so don't really appreciate the history of this country.
The younger generation in this country as a whole, regardless of ethnicity are not educated very well on the subject. Many don't even know what the poppy stands for.
I am proud to say I am british and I appreciate this country, the culture, everything about it. I wanted to go to a remembrance ceremony in my town but had to go somewhere else which I couldn't avoid.
We used to have a one minute silence at school, but I don't know if this happens anymore.
Gef, I think what mimififi is saying is referring to those who have lived in this country for years, take advantage of all there is to offer and are happy to complain about it without thinking of what people had to and still are going through to keep us all safe.
mimififi, don't worry about offending poeple. I think that's why this country is the way it is nowadays because everyones afraid of offending minorities.
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