The irony of Robert Jenrick’s “white-faced” comments about Handsworth | Robert Jenrick
I woke up Tuesday morning and saw the news about my neighborhood. I hoped it would be positive – in terms of our wonderful community organisations, our wonderful faith groups, and our brave voluntary associations. However, the news was that the shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, said my neighborhood was “the closest I have ever come to a slum in this country” and that he was concerned about “not seeing another white face” (Robert Jenrick accused of fueling ‘toxic nationalism’ with Birmingham claims, October 7).
It’s unfortunate that Mr Jenrick fails to see beyond his own nose, although I’m sure the real narrative doesn’t fit the social media sound bites he’s after. British pound shop J.D. Vance strolls through the neighborhood, sees some fluctuations (yes, we know it’s a problem), spots a couple of faces and then makes sweeping statements that would fail the simplest logical checks.
My grandmother came to Handsworth in the 1960s. Many people have arrived before, and many since. Many who have made their lives, built their businesses, and contributed to our society and country. I’m committed to Handsworth.
The irony is that the Conservative government, of which Jenrick was a key part, has thrown the neighborhood and the city into neglect. Disinvestment, destruction and destitution. Now he has the nerve to come back and talk about the issues.
With all this said, I would welcome Mr Jenrick back to walk the famous Soho Road, enjoy some food (I recommend the samosa chaat, dosa and shawarma), and learn some positive values about society, which he clearly lacks.
I’ll see you on Soho Road, Robert, and I hope you leave a better man.
Shuranjeet Singh
Birmingham
Because I am somewhat older than Robert Jenrick, I understand very well the racist language he did not invent but has used ably. When Jenrick says he “did not see another white face” in an area of Birmingham, and therefore it was not “properly integrated”, he is saying that non-white people are not truly British.
I grew up in rural Lincolnshire, where I was unforgettably impressed in direct and indirect ways that I did not belong in this country, the only country I had ever known.
Ostensibly, the result was that I got free health care and education, got my bachelor’s degree, got a PhD scholarship, wrote my thesis and left the country as quickly as possible. Internally, the effect was that I had no friend, home or career in Britain. And now, somehow, the racist expectation has been fulfilled: I am not British.
In a deeply cynical scheme for his own petty advancement, Robert Jenrick is sowing the seeds of tomorrow’s bumper crop of racial hatred and misery.
Edward Lyndon
Taipei, Taiwan
What a delicious irony that Robert Jenrick chose Handsworth because of his racist talk about integration. As well as Benjamin Zephaniah (I know the real Handsworth – he’s a much better place than Robert Jenrick’s toxic vision of Britain, October 8), Handsworth can also claim one of her sons, a Jamaican teenager called Bill Morris who arrived there in 1954 and rose to become one of his followers. Secretary General General Union of Transport and Communications Workers. He is now known, of course, as Baron Morris of Handsworth. How much integration does Jenrick expect?
Warwick Hillman
Penner, London
When I visit the somewhat stately village in Essex where I grew up, I rarely see any faces of colored people. Does Robert Jenrick think it’s “one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been”? Or does he not care about that?
Janet Walmsley
Sheffield
I recently went to Newark, Robert Jenrick’s constituency, and was dismayed to find no other black people there.
Darrell Tillis
(St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex).