‘Past or recent migrants share in our national pride’ says Tim Newark (Image: Getty Images)
Reject the left-wing doing-down of our great British history and teach our children to take pride in it – that’s the majority view of the UK’s ethnic minorities from Caribbeans to Indians to Chinese.
Research by think tank Policy Exchange found roughly two-thirds of each minority group said children should be educated about all the good aspects Britain has brought into the world, from fighting for freedom in two world wars to the Industrial Revolution and the abolition of slavery.
Some 72% of those polled believe we should not be ashamed of our past but teach our children to be proud of our considerable achievements. And it’s a view held by myriad ethnic minority groups, with 67% of black Caribbeans, 63% of Chinese and 57% of Indians insisting we should take pride in our nation’s past.
So why should this come as a surprise? Because it is contrary to the view of left-wing agitators who insist on portraying Britain’s ethnic minorities as “victims” of our past who need left-wing academics to explain our “crimes” to them. Too often, the view of Britain as a repressive, racist nation is allowed to be parroted unchecked. As the new research shows, this is simply not the case with many of our past or recent migrants sharing in our national pride.
Most praise, in fact, goes to Britain’s role in the Second World War with wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill considered a hero – not the damned culprit of supposed wrong-doings as some have claimed in recent years.
In every group polled, with mixed races being the exception, more than half considered Britain a country where race was not a determining factor in how well you get on in life, judging class to be more of a barrier. That is not to say that many had not experienced racism, but they did not consider it a defining problem.
The faddish idea we are a country divided by our past is clearly not true.
Seeing thousands of pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protesters on our streets week after week, it is easy to believe we’re now home to a recent migrant population that does not share our values. But drilling down, as this poll does, there is much that minorities can rally behind in our history.
The problem is that left-wing academics sow discord by constantly focusing on supposed ‘black marks’ in our past. They want to undermine faith in our national story so as to rock the establishment – but now that establishment is made up of those self-same middle class lefties and they’re doubling down on their critique of our past.
From the BBC to our universities, the National Trust and even many of our splendid museums and galleries, we’re bombarded with the view we should be ashamed of our past because it is racist or colonial or, in the case of the Industrial Revolution, produced too much carbon emissions. Really! It was Britain’s ingenious industrial drive that brought modernity to the rest of the world and generated the unprecedented wealth that has lifted most people out of dire poverty.
The Marxist view is that our past is all bad news, for which we should all pay penance. But there has always been a huge dollop of white, middle-class guilt that many other cultures within our country do not recognise.
They see instead a powerful, influential nation that has shaped the modern world and has provided swathes of opportunity for many hundreds of millions of people.
Our history should be used to unify our diverse nation, providing a society that we can all take pride in and contribute to each and every day. The Labour Party should understand this, but many in their ranks prefer to rule by division, aggravating the culture wars by playing up the alleged victimhood of certain minorities.
As this report shows, it is a myth.
Rather than taking down portraits of some of our greatest historical figures – including Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh – from the walls of No. 10 Downing Street, Sir Keir Starmer should hang them with pride. Perhaps he will also reconsider his decision to remove a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from the wall of his study.
It’s gladdening to see ethnic minorities seeing past divisive anti-British propaganda to recognise our real achievements as a nation. They want their children to be taught the best of Britain. After all, this is the nation they have committed themselves to, and hope to share in its successes, from culture to science and sport to its glorious past. Doing it down takes everyone down with it, regardless of race.
We should make the most of our rich history to bring us together, not divide us, and this recent poll proves there is a real basis for that. Pride to be British is something we can all share.
