A very thought-provoking read. Classism continues to be a rife evil that will not stop rearing its ugly head in the UK, even now, and is the basis of so many issues. It can be as problematic as racism, but a major issue in the UK is that classism and racism often go hand-in-hand This is because:
1. White people in most of Europe, particularly the UK, have already deemed those of darker skin tones lower than them and when they have been present in recent centuries, they place or treat these individuals in lower positions.
2. While white slave-owners received compensation after the abolition of slavery, Black people received nothing and had to build from scratch, lowering their wealth and therefore their class.
3. When invited over from the Caribbean, Black people were usually hired for low wage, menial, working-class jobs, not getting any of the wealth they were promised or should have been entitled to as part of the Commonwealth.
As a Black person myself, from an upper-working class family (or whatever the classes are these days), I have seen the difficulty and know I will continue to experience it, particularly in the fight to make more money to get myself on the housing ladder, which will result in me sacrificing part of myself and a lot of my time as an artist. I don't have the wealth of an upper class, or even middle class family behind me, and as a Black woman on top of that, I will always have to work twice as hard to not only get half as much, but even to have my artistic voice seen as valid in certain poetic spaces.
A very thought-provoking read. Classism continues to be a rife evil that will not stop rearing its ugly head in the UK, even now, and is the basis of so many issues. It can be as problematic as racism, but a major issue in the UK is that classism and racism often go hand-in-hand This is because:
1. White people in most of Europe, particularly the UK, have already deemed those of darker skin tones lower than them and when they have been present in recent centuries, they place or treat these individuals in lower positions.
2. While white slave-owners received compensation after the abolition of slavery, Black people received nothing and had to build from scratch, lowering their wealth and therefore their class.
3. When invited over from the Caribbean, Black people were usually hired for low wage, menial, working-class jobs, not getting any of the wealth they were promised or should have been entitled to as part of the Commonwealth.
As a Black person myself, from an upper-working class family (or whatever the classes are these days), I have seen the difficulty and know I will continue to experience it, particularly in the fight to make more money to get myself on the housing ladder, which will result in me sacrificing part of myself and a lot of my time as an artist. I don't have the wealth of an upper class, or even middle class family behind me, and as a Black woman on top of that, I will always have to work twice as hard to not only get half as much, but even to have my artistic voice seen as valid in certain poetic spaces.