When I listen to the fear mongering of the British Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, supported by the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, I enter a dismal time warp – to the distressing experiences of the 1960s.
At the time, the steel factories of the West Midlands had recruited migrant workers – mainly Punjabis. I used to teach English to Punjabi children. I witnessed first-hand how self-seeking politicians poisoned the atmosphere and created fear in children.
Smethwick, in the Midlands, was a safe Labour seat. The sitting Member of Parliament, Patrick Gordon Walker, was expected to be the Foreign Secretary should Labour win the 1964 election. Peter Griffiths became the Tory candidate and, given the Labour candidate of Gordon Walker, knew he would be on to a winner if he campaigned on just one issue: race and immigration. Gordon Walker exiled Seretse Khama for marrying a white woman, the courageous Ruth Williams, and so, he was not the right man to fight a racist campaign.
One couldn’t live or work in the borough without hearing the slogan, If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour. Don Finney, a Conservative councillor and supporter of Peter Griffiths, was reported saying:
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