At 2.30 pm on April 20, 1968, exactly 50 years ago this week, Enoch Powell, member of Parliament for Wolverhampton, shadow cabinet member, spoke to an audience of few hundreds at a hotel in Birmingham. A Cambridge scholar of classics, he used his vocabulary skills to predict that unless the black (non white) immigration is stopped immediately, and those already arrived not repatriated, he saw the “the River Tiber foaming with much blood”.
In his dramatic imagery of racial conflict and predictions of rivers of blood, he also added that the “black man will have the whip hand over the white man.” This 30 minute speech predictably made waves in the following hours and days. Conservative party leader Edward Heath immediately sacked Powell from the shadow cabinet, stating, “It had to be repudiated.” Margaret Thatcher was one of the very few defending voices. The Times newspaper described its shock by saying, “This is the first time that a senior British politician has appealed to racist hatred in this direct way in our post-war history.”
50 years back, nobody at Radio Four had said “This is a really bad idea”. Then again last week, it rebroadcast the 30 minute speech using an actor to read it. Originally, only a small part of the speech was recorded. In the immediate days after the speech, opinion polls gave Enoch Powell a backing of 70 per cent or more people. Two days after his highly provocative speech, hundreds of London dockland workers marched in his support. Over 10,000 letters were delivered at his doorstep in the following two weeks. For the uninitiated, Enoch Powell had served in the British Indian army in India, between 1943 and 1946. He had learnt Urdu and Hindi languages. He was of the belief that India was unfit for independence.
I was in our shop at the time of the speech. Media in those days, was not as now. However, by evening I could feel that something strange has happened. Evidently, my usual warm-hearted customers (predominately white working class) grew to become reserved. There were few taunts, but I did not understand much back then. Over the weekend, I heard several shopkeepers cry in agony and pain, as perhaps dozens if not more, shops were smashed into putty. I can go into lengthy details about the violence, verbal abuse, as well as some physical attacks endured by the immigrants in that period. Most of the hue and cry from the press were about the 'immigrants'. Back then, only 2 per cent of national population was non-white, today the statistics have grown to about 13 per cent. This is a credit of both, British people and their values, as well as the immigrants themselves who carried on with their lives, worked hard, and progressed not only themselves but their offsprings as well.
In Great Britain today, there are some 50 if not more members from ethnic minorities in the House of Lords and House of Commons. There are some very well known Indian journalists like Sadnam Sanghera, whose parents had migrated to UK from Punjab around that time. Today, he is a leading journalist with The Times. The Member of Parliament from Wolverhampton is also a Sikh. The Superintendent of Police in Wolverhampton is also a Sikh, Harvi Khatkar. The so called 'immigrants' are now deeply rooted in every nook and cranny of the society.
We can talk about Health service, transport, financial services, many other professions; both, blue and white collar works, these people are actively present in all. There have been no racial stripes even remotely comparable to the Rivers of Blood. Yes, there were some ugly incidents costing several dozen lives, mainly of blacks and browns, but overall, Britain today, is a shining example of a peaceful co-existence perhaps much better than many countries as a multi-racial and multi-cultural society. Sadly, even after 50 years, there are times when the after effects of the tremor can be felt.
Following World War II, Caribbean immigrants were invited to UK. Enoch Powell was a member of the government then. Opportunistic advert was placed in the Caribbean press offering “cheap transport” for those who wished to work in the UK. 'The Country Needs You', banners read. The HMT Empire Windrush, was the ship used to bring in a large number of migrants from these countries. Theresay May, current Prime Minister, who was home secretary six years ago, recently made some jiggery pokery in the press about the Windrush Generation, as the 50,000 something immigrants are called, being “illegal” even today. Home Secretary Amber Rudd apologised on Monday for the abhorrent treatment. Well, Better late than ever. However, I can't get over the pain these immigrants have been going through for ages. One black MP told me on Monday night, that they were invited to come and work in the factories and transport and health services. This was a stark contrast between them and the “colonial masters” who went to other countries, conquered them, ruled, and exploited over a very long time.
Today, the average Briton is much more enlightened and alert. It is the politicians who are exploiting the colour complexions for their own selfish needs. With much more settled communities, there is also increasing number of new Britons of what we call, mixed race. May be in the next 50 years, not only Enoch Powell but any similar ilk will be completely repudiated and denounced. Now, looking at British media now, on one hand Enoch has been completely proven wrong , while in the other, migrant communities have been proved to be a boon to Britain in all aspects of life.
