Your say / immigration
‘As an immigrant, I currently feel unsafe in Bristol’
As an immigrant living in the UK, I currently feel fear, anger and disappointment.
I don’t want to speak in my native language on the bus; I don’t want to speak at all because my accent will give me away; I don’t want to smile at strangers any more.
There’s a whole list of ‘I don’t wants’ that have been wrapped around my head in the last few days.
is needed now More than ever
In Castle Park and in Redcliffe on Saturday, an angry mob chanted slogans inciting violence and hatred against so-called illegal immigrants.
They stormed onto the streets, hungry for people who have done nothing wrong.
The far-right mob need a lesson in globalisation. They need to understand facts about how much immigrants contribute to the UK. We are not stealing anything.
On Saturday evening, as havoc erupted in Bristol, I read what Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer said. She spoke about uniting against the hatred to make sure those that feel unsafe are supported.
I appreciate the starting point – that conversation is needed.
And yet here I am, admitting that I feel unsafe in Bristol. Sadly, there’s little I can do.
I cannot avoid getting to work. I cannot avoid having conversations.
And I cannot avoid my mind thinking, what if they don’t like me? What if they are one of ‘those’? What if an innocent hi to a stranger causes an angry reaction?
I come from India, a country that’s rich in culture and diversity. But I also know that the picture is grim when it comes to unity. There are flaws and there are shortcomings – just like in every country.
There will always be people on the other side. There will be people who have a different opinion. And we’ve always been taught to allow that.
Curtailing someone’s freedom to have an opinion is not the point here.
The point is inciting hatred with the intention of causing harm to others. The violence that started in Castle Park on Saturday did not come from uniting for a cause. It was an organised form of hate and violence against certain communities.
It was about ending a culture of coexistence – something that is the very essence of Bristol.
Bristol boasts of being a friendly and welcoming city. As an immigrant, I have truly felt this.
I felt an instant warmth when I first got off the bus in Bristol. A warmth that can only come from people; a joy that is made up of the energies of those who live here; a sense of calm that is difficult to find everywhere.
Bristol had that. I say had in the past tense because since Saturday, I have struggled to find that warmth.
Every time I walk outside my front door in Bedminster, I have a looming cloud of fear. I have received worried messages from family members on the other side of the world.
While I am new to feeling fear in Bristol, I have known someone who has felt this fear every day in the UK and Bristol for the last 20 years.
I met Ahmed Abdala near the cenotaph in the centre where he sits and prays every day. He told me he does this because years ago, when he asked for a place to pray at his workplace, he was denied.
His protest is simple. He feels unrest, fear, anger and everything that all the anti-immigration protesters are feeling.
He also is peacefully fighting for his own rights.
While I do not want to make the direct connection, I still keep wondering: how can the revenge for the lives of three innocent young girls be the lives of hundreds of other innocents across the world?
It is important that as people living in this country – residents, immigrants, refugees, no matter what – we take collective responsibility.
Responsibility that this anti-immigration ideology that has now resurfaced has probably been in the making for years. It could have been hidden, or more likely just masked under white lies and other connotations.
It is important that we acknowledge that together, we have let this wave of negativity breed in our communities.
I hope there is rational reasoning, a genuine conversation and a surge of empathy that can squash this brutal reality that has surfaced in Bristol.
And to the people of Bristol, my adopted home, who choose to love one and everyone: you are the real Bristol.
This is an opinion piece by Bristol24/7 reporter Karen Johnson
Karen Johnson moved to Bristol from India to study a masters’ in journalism at UWE
Main photo: Rob Browne
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