Q&A: Are there second class citizens in the UK?

One of the things that came out of the recent saga (no I am not going to talk about it for now, but simply refer you here if you haven't already heard) was this whole discussion about being a second class citizen, something I had already discussed earlier this year. But actually, I did come across some people this week on a train which I suppose one might use the term "second class citizens" if one was being politically incorrect.

I was on the train when I saw a a mother with her two children who were in their late teens. The mother was probably in her 40s I suppose. They were all as white as they came - fair hair, blue eyes and yes they were English. They were having this conversation about why the older son couldn't get a job and their brand of English sounded like Vicki Pollard.... Here's a youtube clip to help you with the accent if you're not familiar with Vicki Pollard.

You get the idea. I looked over at them from my periphery vision. They were your pretty typical lower-working class family in London, I couldn't quite place the accent as it was a mix of Cockney plus a hint of black English - what one would expect of people who grew up on a council estate. Their track suits were a dead giveaway to their social status. These teenagers were clearly English and British - yet their command of the English language was pretty poor. They were the kind of kids who simply did not receive the kind of education they needed to enable them to gain the right language or numeracy skills that would enable them to get a well paid job.

There is definitely an issue of social mobility in the UK - the poor stay poor, the rich stay rich. With this family I encountered, I don't think the mother is guilty of not pushing her children - as I eavesdropped on their conversation, I learnt that she clearly wants to see her son in work and is putting pressure on him to get a job. It was clear that she is working hard but she isn't exactly well educated so isn't in a position to help her children with their studies. She was speaking in non-standard English (eg. the use of double negatives) "you ain't gonna get nowhere" and that is probably why her children were both using double/triple negatives as well. This other Youtube clip comes to mind...

What I am describing here is hardly a situation unique to the UK - in any country, parents who are poor and not very well educated will struggle to give their children the kind of education they need to get ahead in life. Rich parents who are not in a position to help their children with their studies have the luxury of hiring tutors to help their children - poor parents who spend long hours working to make ends meet have neither the time or resources to spend on their children's education. This cycle replicates itself generation after generation and whilst some manage to break out of it, many are trapped in this vicious cycle which keeps the rich rich and the poor poor.

Instead of focusing on their education, some working class folks dream about shortcuts to becoming rich - many young men dream about becoming a professional footballer and earning obscene amounts of money doing something as fun as playing football. Others dream about going on a problem like Britain's Got Talent or X-Factor and becoming famous overnight. Why study to become a nurse or accountant when you can become rich and famous through reality TV?

People like that family I encountered on the train will never call themselves second class citizens and it is actually quite risky of me to even suggest that they are because it is just very politically incorrect to do so! Working class is just about the only politically correct term I can use to describe them - but think about it. What is the difference? Those two teenagers had the odds stacked against them from the time they were born. Compared to other children who were born into rich families and have had a much better education, what kind of chances do they have in finding good jobs that will enable them to break out of this cycle of poverty they were born into? What are their chances of making it to Oxford or Cambridge? Now, how is this any different from being a "second class citizen"?

Are there people from poor British families who do break out of this cycle of poverty? Of course there are, but not many. One such success story is MP Dianne Abbott - born to Jamaican immigrants, she went to Cambridge and enjoyed a great career in politics. Her mother was a nurse, her father was a welder - respectable jobs but clearly working class. Let's compare that to PM David Cameron's background: Cameron's father was a stockbroker and his mother was a justice of the peace. His family was fabulously wealthy and he is related to the Queen (and he is descended from King William IV). He is as posh as they come! You couldn't get a greater contrast between the backgrounds of Abbott and Cameron - yet they are both educated at Oxbridge and are successful politicians.

In Apartheid Africa, the classic second class citizen is your black South African citizen who was discriminated against by the white Apartheid rulers and were victims of the system. It is clear in the case of Apartheid when you have someone to blame.  However, these two teenagers on the train are victims of their circumstances: who do you blame for the hand that these two teenagers have been dealt? Their mother? The government? Society? Is it fair that the odds are stacked against them? Nobody wants to take responsibility for their predicament, so we all claim "they are not second class citizens, how dare you discriminate against these working class folks! Look at people like Diane Abbott who went to Cambridge and became so successful, if she can do it, anyone can do it." You can dress it up all you want - people like this family on the train are (for want of a better word) effectively second class citizens in modern Britain.

And guess what? There are plenty of white people like them who are just as disadvantaged in life and it boils down to this: it's not the colour of your skin, it is how rich your parents are. The amount of money (and time) they can dedicate to your upbringing and education will play a huge part in determining what kind of adult life you will have - be it that of a rich, successful professional or a someone struggling on minimum wage, unable to make ends meet. So the rich stay rich, the poor stay poor - looks like first and second class citizens to me.

Are you familiar with the British social class system?

What irks me though is that many Asian people in places like Singapore and Malaysia still do not understand what it is like in modern Britain: they have this ridiculously out of date notions of racist white people being nasty to black and Asian people in Britain, thus they imagine that the white people are first class citizens and the blacks and Asians are second class. Boy, if only they could meet that family on the train today, I would say, "see? You want to see second class citizens in Britain? There you go - and they're white and English and they're second class. Even amongst white British people, they have a very clear pecking order, a very clear sense of hierarchy that is called the class system and this goes back centuries, way before black and Asian immigrants arrived in Britain."

Let's look at the origins of the term "second class citizens" - the clue is in the word "class", it is a term that originated in the English language in reference to the social class system in Europe before it was then borrowed to described other situations (such as in Apartheid South Africa). Asian immigrants need to realize that they are stepping into a social system that goes back centuries and understand this concept of social class that forms the framework of European societies, rather than just focus on racism per se.  After all, you're far more likely to be discriminated on the basis of your class, rather than your skin colour.

That is something Asian immigrants will never admit! After all, one makes snap judgments to determine a person's social class within moments of meeting someone. It boils down to the way they talk (do you sound well educated?) and the way you dress (do you look like a lawyer or banker or do you dress like Vicki Pollard?) - these impressions are formed within a few seconds of meeting someone (such as with that family on the train). To admit that you have suffered 'classist' discrimination means admitting that someone did think you spoke like a poorly educated person or that you dressed like a chav/chavette, They'd rather play the race card instead - but that's misleading because unless you know what kind of discrimination you're facing, how are you ever going to do anything constructive about the situation?

As for Asian immigrants, well, how well you fit into this system depends a lot on the kind of education and upbringing you've had. If you had  parents who bludgeoned you through the education system and made sure you got into a top university, then you are in a far better position than those two teenagers on the train because you have acquired the skills to get you a decent job which enables you to use your brains to earn money (eg. bankers, accountants, designers, architects, journalists, university professors, lawyers etc).   If however, you did not get the education you needed and/or if there was a language barrier, then you'll be facing the same problems as that family on the train and will be reliant on your muscles to earn money (ie. any kind of unskilled labour such as a cleaner or maid).

Do you use your brains or muscles to make a living?

So that's my definition of modern day first vs second class citizens: whether you have the luxury of using your brain to earn a living or if you have to resort to using your muscles. Naturally, the accountant is going to get paid a lot more for his services than say the woman whose job is to clean the accountant's office. Whether you end up as the accountant or his cleaner is pretty much dependent on the start you have in life.

Maybe the cleaner is happy doing what she is doing - maybe she doesn't see herself as a second class citizen and takes pride in her job. But it doesn't change the fact that as a cleaner, she will be paid the minimum wage and that means that she will not be able to afford to buy her children the kind of education they will need to get a head start in life. By virtue of her earning power, her children will have the odds stacked against them. Second class citizen or just poor people? Is this just a choice of finding the right politically correct term to describe the same situation? You decide.

What are your options when you want to find a job?

Is what I am describing unique to the UK? Hell no. The same could be said about any country in the world: the more educated your children are, the better their prospects in life. Perhaps that's why Singaporean parents spend so much on tuition for their children because they don't want their children to be lose out when they enter the job market in the future - it is important to give your children a good start in life, to maximize their chances for a bright future.

So yes, there are second class citizens in the UK, though they'll never admit that to you because it's too politically incorrect to talk about it. It's not racism that is creating this divide, but something that goes back a lot further (centuries in fact!) - way before black and Asian immigrants even appeared on Britain's shores, there was already this class divide which has been around for centuries and is not going to go away. By that token, there are first and second class citizens in any country you go to because there will always be a gap between the rich and the poor.

Some people are born with the privilege to get ahead in life.

All this focus on racism is a red herring as there are plenty of underprivileged white people with the odds stacked against them. By the same token, there are rich black and Asian people (like Diane Abbot and myself) who are lucky enough to have had parents who did make sure we did get a good education so we are able to access much better job opportunities as adults. Likewise, black and Asian people who do not have a decent education are left on the scrap heap of society not because of their skin colour but because of their social status. This is evident when we look at the situation in Asian countries where well educated Asian people rise to the top of their society and poor, uneducated Asian people suffer the same predicament as that family on the train - there is no difference, really. I could have just as well encountered a very similar family on a train in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Seoul or Taipei.

So at this point, upon reflection, maybe I have been giving the British society too much credit and not giving my parents and myself enough credit. After all, it's not this absence of racism per se that allowed me to achieve everything in my career - it was my education, training, talents and range of other experiences that gave me the skills which made me employable. Heck, I worked bloody hard to get through school and university, to get the results I needed, to acquire a wide range of skills such as speaking many languages. Surely I deserve some credit for all that, rather than just celebrate just how progressive British society is because really, British society isn't that progressive for working class families with the odds stacked against the - such as that family on the train. Good luck to them.

Any questions or comments about the issue - don't be shy, please leave a comment below. Thanks!