I believe that the home is where the heart is love, loyalty, and values of respect, it doesn’t matter what your background is or even your culture or religion. These days it seems like more and more young people are losing the respect to their elderly. I think it’s partly to do with children not be-in sent out the room when big people’s talking, When I was little no way could I sit in the room when big people’s talking their business.
And talking with my mum about the attitude, kids have towards there parents, she says when she was little she would of got the look the look alone tells you ‘nah bother open your mouth’ you would have been getting what you’re asking for and more. How things have changed from a look to being challenged by a child of phoning child line on a parent.
A child is only going to do what he or she sees other people saying or doing. A child learns from us, the adults and not being guided in the right direction or even given the understanding of the problem at hand makes it harder for a young person, to take responsibility for their own actions.
We are only human at heart I know that but I hate the way how we repeatedly do wrong to our self and people around us. We are the brainiest species on Earth and we still get it wrong. Although I do believe things are started within the home, many things around us affects the ways we do and see things too. So with this in mind an old African saying comes to mind,
‘It takes a village to raise a child’.
Meaning the people you’re around and environment has an affect on the way a child grows up. But how do we apply this old African saying to today’s modern world, what has happen to African values are they important or are they just traditions that keeps fading away with every new generation.
Many Black British young people (the ones who were born in Britain) don’t appreciate as much as they should what their parents or grandparents had to go through to establish a decent living in a country of colour bars restricting where to live and where to work. It sounds unreal now but it is true. The opportunities available to young Black British people to date are wasted compared to the opportunities available 40-50 years ago. Black people have been in Britain for centuries but not acknowledged as much as they were 40-50 years ago.
West-Indians were sent for and came over from the time of ‘The Windrush’ ship in 1948 to help build the country back up in the years after the 2nd world war. It wasn’t until that ship arrived in England that the issue of Black people’s identity began to be acknowledged.
As the black population was steadily increasing there were more fears about black people living in Britain. (Gerzina, 1999.p29) African communities in Britain has grown over the past 50 years in the UK but the older smaller communities where already there in Bristol, London and Cardiff (Killingray 1994, p12)
Black sailors where employed in the 18th century alongside white sailors because there wasn’t enough white people to do the jobs on the ships. More and more Africans where employed on ships, as trade with Africans grew for this reason temporary black sea mens’ homes appeared in the dockland areas of London and Bristol. After slavery was abolished KRU seaman who came from west-Africa was very important in the era of legitimate trade. KRU seaman helped to transport product like timber, coca, rubber and diamonds, to european ports like Bristol. (Killingrary, 1994, p90) Television was not around centuries ago but 40-50 years ago, it was. It was a mass means of communication so typically there was a lot of stereotyping from the news on television about other cultures because not enough time was taken to get to know other cultural values.
Why is it that the prejudices of those generations still linger to the next when today’s Britain is more multicultural than it was then. There is still little understanding of other cultural backgrounds.
The Black people during the 60s -70s didn’t mind hard work they were the ones that was reliable to work for next to nothing. And it’s a shame because it’s the young Black people of today who don’t value the opportunties that those Black settlers gave to us in Britain today. So with all this in my mind ideas are generating to see on how to reach out to young people. Can they give back appreciation to the elderly and be more respectful? Or is it a thing of the past and therefore old or young just get with it because they accept it as the times we live in?
I came to think about getting an elderly group and young people’s group together and having them take time out to listen to each other. I want to find out how we pass down our identity of being African, West-Indian, British, and Black. Do role models have a part to play and if so who should those role models be?