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Mangrove was such an arresting film. Among the many threads it exposed that don't ordinarily get a hearing or much analysis is the link btw race and class (and migration)
A common way to deny or minimise the persistence of racism in Britain is to say 'it's all really abt class'
A common way to deny or minimise the persistence of racism in Britain is to say 'it's all really abt class'
Putting to one side that many such claims are no more likely to propose policies to address class inequalities than they are to acknowledge race inequalities
What Mangrove showed is that for many Black people, their class position was in no small part determined by racism...
What Mangrove showed is that for many Black people, their class position was in no small part determined by racism...
Black people actually owning or operating a restaurant was utterly unacceptable to the racist police officers, but more generally racism expresses itself as the denial of economic opportunities and resources - and so it is reproduced. This is also to say that 'but class' is *not*
an objection - or at least not a very good objection - to the argument that racism explains economic inequalities in Britain. *Why* is it that Black ppl - people who went to university, who were barristers able to argue convincingly and devastatingly in a courtroom, denied access
to the salariat, to middle class jobs? It is not widely understood enough that migrants generally - & Black migrants specifically - are *more* likely to hold a university degree, or otherwise to be qualified. In the academic literature this is referred to as 'positive selection'
The migrants in Britain , as migrants everywhere, are not a *random* group of people, but are those most likely to have particular educational and social background. The other feature here then is *downward* social mobility for migrants, in the Mangrove case for ppl from the...
Caribbean. Many of those working as labourers or in public transport had qualifications that werent recognised, in large part because of racism
One particularly compelling moment was when Darcus Howe questioned PC Pulley why he was still a constable, why he hadn't progressed...
One particularly compelling moment was when Darcus Howe questioned PC Pulley why he was still a constable, why he hadn't progressed...
It turned out he hadn't passed the exam to progress further in the police. The laughter of those accused was a way of ridiculing the claims of white supremacy, that Black ppl had inferior intelligence and skills. PC Pulley was evidence of the falsehood of that claim
However...
However...
the film also did a good job of puncturing the supposed intellectual and moral superiority of the white middle classes too, or at least the wigged judges and lawyers
One further thought here is how this all overlapped with the unwinding of Empire. Many others like PC Pulley...
One further thought here is how this all overlapped with the unwinding of Empire. Many others like PC Pulley...
had been sold a story that the ppl in the Empire were inherently inferior, that British ppl's superiority explained and justified the inequality of the Empire. When they interacted with people who were not just full of humanity, but full of intelligence and ambition, they were...
faced with the obvious falsity of their belief in racial inferiority.
A final point is how this links to the Windrush injustice. One reason that the victims of this injustice couldn't provide evidence required by the Home Office is bc they were less well off. They had worked...
A final point is how this links to the Windrush injustice. One reason that the victims of this injustice couldn't provide evidence required by the Home Office is bc they were less well off. They had worked...
for decades, but in jobs that didn't pay them enough, that didn't allow them to save, and so also meant they didn't have the means to travel, the need or means to obtain a passport, or indeed savings or mortgage documents that would prove their residence. The cruelty here is
striking. Ppl who experienced worse labour market outcomes in no small part due to racism, who earned less in their lives due to a discrimination that was perfectly *legal* until 1968, were now being told that bc of the conseqs of this racism they were no longer British in 2018
It's worth relfecting that one reason the Windrush cohort is smaller than some might expect is bc the better off members *would* have been better able to produce the necessary documentation. But that, obviously, doesn't mean Windrush injusitce was really abt class. Instead, as...
Mangrove showed, racism is both a source of, and a justification for the denial of economic opportunities and resources to Black ppl. Or, racism is part of the explanation of the class position of Black ppl in Britain. Saying 'it's really abt class' is just you showing you dont
understand the past and present of racism in Britain (and elsewhere)
Among the many things Mangrove reveals to Britain about who we are, the nature of race and class is particular salient still today
Among the many things Mangrove reveals to Britain about who we are, the nature of race and class is particular salient still today
