What immigrants can teach us

The British press and some of our politicians are intent on decrying immigration and blaming it for the ills of society. The image constructed of immigrants is a negative one, the portrayal of foreigners as the problem is one that needs to be turned on its head. What can we learn from immigrants?

 Celebrating citizenship with friends

 In 2012 I was privileged to be invited to the British Citizenship ceremony  of some friends from Trinidad who arrived in the village a few years ago and, from the outset, made a huge contribution to the life of the school and the community. It took them more than 3 years and £12,000 to become full British Citizen, not to mention the Citizenship test which many of us born Britons would fail. At a time when small businesses have been struggling one of the nicest florist shops I know has been started in my local town by a Lithuanian business graduate who has come looking for opportunities and found one. Waiting in queues in shops I have heard elderly people discussing how hard she works and how much of a positive contribution she makes to the town. A far cry from the negative reports in the press that rejoice in the ghettoisation of communities,whilst conveniently ignoring the tendency of ex-pat Brits in other countries to stick closely together.

In March, Kavita Puri presented a fascinating programme on Radio 4 about immigrants from India who came to the UK in the 1950s with no more than £3 in their pockets. Andrea Levy in Small Island tells the story of Jamaican immigrants coming to the UK after the war. Friends, immigrants and children of immigrants tell their stories to me. The picture is consistent. The immigrant spirit is dynamic, a willingness to endure living conditions that are far from ideal and work at jobs below their qualifications to earn enough to save. Importantly the immigrant spirit has a focus on medium and long term goals, that make putting up with problems in the short term tolerable.

Of course no-one should have to share a room with six other people, or occupy a bed in shifts. No-one should be paid such appalling wages that they have no other choice but to do this. But there is something to be taken from the willingness to endure this kind of hardship to fuel the desire to change and improve the situation. Viewing life as a series of opportunities to be identified and seized is what has taken many of those immigrants from having less than a week's wages in their pockets to being home owners, business people and successful members of society.

I grew up at a time when working class culture perceived the value of education and had visions for change, whether through learning a trade, gaining qualifications or politicisation. That was a time when, arguably, there were more diverse opportunities for employment than there are now. Before many of the major manufacturing industries in the North and Midlands were decimated in favour of a service led economy. Times are tough, and this is not to decry or deride the working classes but how might that culture of self-improvement and aspiration be rediscovered?

We should add immigration to the citizenship agenda in schools. Encourage schools to invite members of their communities to tell young people about how they got to where they are today. Whether their stories are about the careers or prosperity that they have built or the issues that drove them to leave their home countries to seek a new and better life here. Let them hear from the children of immigrants who, encouraged by the hard work of their parents have gone on to be dentists, doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs. Let young people hear the stories of people driven from their homeland by war, prejudice or poverty. Let those stories be beacons of determination, endurance, aspiration and that encourage even those born here that change is possible, that destinies can be envisaged and forged through  hard work and the support of communities. Let us use immigration to rediscover the strengths of this country and its people and silence the divisiveness of the British press.