I literally just thought about my grandfather Alfred Johansen, arriving from Norway with his family, being faced by a baying crowd. “Send him back, send him back.” Then, I thought of my mother Neeltje Johansen, nee Verburg, arriving on the boat from the Hook of Holland. “Send her back send her back.” Then, they walk down the street, shouted at and abused by the Stephen Yaxley-Lennons of the day and are confronted by a far right snake oil salesman – let’s call him Nigel Farage, just for the sake of argument – standing in front of a poster, full of people like my grandad and mum, which is headed ‘Breaking Point’.
I am not exempt from any of this. When Donald Trump addressed a rally in America, he stood silent as his supporters chanted “Send her back, send her back” to four American politicians, all but one of whom were actually born in America and all of whom were US citizens. This is not just how racism starts: this is how fascism starts.
I am as English as the next woman and man, except in my bloodline. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is as American as the next woman and man, except in her bloodline. None of this matters to those who peddle fear and loathing, who dream of pure ethnicity, something that is very hard to find, not least in the Good Old USA.
My grandad and my mum contributed to our country. I appreciate good fortune has a lot to do with this but no one in my family has ever signed on at the dole office. They have all, without exception, worked hard, uncomplainingly, paid taxes and adapted to their new country, accepting its culture. The fact that neither of them were ‘of colour’ should be of monumental irrelevance, but who can be sure it is, even in our country? They were still migrants, after all. And I am the son of migrants. Can I expect a rousing chant of “Send him back, send him back” from those who see migrants and indeed the daughters and sons of migrants as Theresa May put it, “Jumping the queue” or “Citizens of nowhere”.
Like it or not, Trump and Brexit are two sides of the same coin. Both are projects driven by nationalism, in our case English nationalism. and you do not need to look far to see where nationalism ends and fascism begins. The gap between Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who is an actual fascist, and Nigel Farage who stands on the very edge of it is a slight one.
That is not, of course, to suggest that all supporters of Donald Trump and Brexit are hardline racists and from the far right. The point is surely that all racists and those of the far right support Trump and Brexit and that is for a reason.
We can but hope that love will save the day but I doubt that it will for a while. Today, we in the UK have a new prime minister, a liar, a charlatan and a populist who talks the language of the right, hidden beneath the veneer of an apparently bumbling, loveable fool. And the ugliness that Brexit has inflicted on our green and pleasant land is here to stay until we decide to change. The same applies, in its own way, to the USA.
I’d say the odds are against those of us who want to end the hate and division because if Brexit goes ahead, we have at least another decade of it to put up with. Pity the poor immigrant, the scapegoat of the 20th and 21st century. She or he will attract more blame than most, as will her/his children.
