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Well thank you very much. I appreciate the responses. It is as I hoped it would be but wanted to be sure. My family is very excited to be in a huge melting pot. America is supposed to be a melting pot but here the races typically quarter themselves off whether through gentrification or just an unconscious location choice. No place is ever perfect....but just someplace with no stress, small little flat relatively close to the tube would be perfect. Although I assume everyone is looking for that.
Am I right to avoid the housing projects? Or is that no big deal? For example in America if you're even remotely close to a housing project, you're sure to hear gunfire, lots of police, and occasional screaming. The complex behind my place here is like that. But I can walk down the street and not really have to worry about anything (but then again we drive everywhere here in California, U.S.)
It's worth pointing out that London does sometimes give the impression of being slightly less mixed-up than it actually is, because shopping streets/'highstreets', as the middle part of the market has been taken up by big supermarkets and online retailers, have tended to become polarised, with some particularly catering for the low end and for ethnic/cultural groups who are off the big retailers' radar, and others for high-end consumers who want an 'experience' of going into an independent shop.
And of course there are all sorts of divisions along cultural and class lines - sometimes these happen to coincide with ethnic/'racial' lines, and indeed, sometimes ethnic/racial difference can be a site of division or occasionally even tension in itself, or highlight other divisions - but it's class and cultural background that principally determine who you mix with. So, as a black American working in a particular professional field and home-educating (as people tend to say here) your daughter, I think it's much more likely you'll mix with other people who work in your field or also home-educate, or even other American ex-pats, than it is that you'll mix with other people because they happen to be the same colour as you.
I have been in a 'mixed' relationship for about 14 years now and neither myself, my girlfriend or the kids have ever suffered anything 'racial' (that we know of). We don't live in London but in Crawley (about 30 miles south of London), Crawley itself though is a fairly racially mixed town. I am not saying that there is no such thing as racists in Britain because racists are everywhere but I am saying that it is unlikely you will have any issues because of your race if you moved to London, also it won't make much difference which part of London you move to either because although the percentage of black people or Asian people or white 'East European' people will vary from borough to borough there is not really such a thing as 'black' or 'Asian' areas in the city, generally West London is considered the 'poshest / nicest' part of London while the East and South tend to have a 'grittier' image but I don't think there are any real 'no go areas'.
I've lived mostly in London since 1982, and in many parts of it. I've been at the sharp end of crime a few times too. It's clear that if you make yourself vulnerable in a black area like Brixton you are looking for trouble, do the same in a muslim area area like Shadwell / Whitechapel (were I live) and you are also looking for trouble.
If you don't turn your home into fort on any housing estate anywhere in London and you'll soon be burgled. London is not a melting pot...it's more like a Pizza..blacks here, asians there, Italians here, Chinese there, and a sprinkling of everything everywhere. The tendancy for races to stick together is helped by 'white flight'...when enough, say asians move into a street, whites move out a lot faster than they move in. The persistant smell of curry and noise from the Bangladeshi's downstairs wll help to explain why I seem to be living in a foriegn country...most of the white minority in my area are east Europeans, the British are a tiny group who all seem to know each other.
I've lived mostly in London since 1982, and in many parts of it. I've been at the sharp end of crime a few times too. It's clear that if you make yourself vulnerable in a black area like Brixton you are looking for trouble, do the same in a muslim area area like Shadwell / Whitechapel (were I live) and you are also looking for trouble.
If you don't turn your home into fort on any housing estate anywhere in London and you'll soon be burgled. London is not a melting pot...it's more like a Pizza..blacks here, asians there, Italians here, Chinese there, and a sprinkling of everything everywhere. The tendancy for races to stick together is helped by 'white flight'...when enough, say asians move into a street, whites move out a lot faster than they move in. The persistant smell of curry and noise from the Bangladeshi's downstairs wll help to explain why I seem to be living in a foriegn country...most of the white minority in my area are east Europeans, the British are a tiny group who all seem to know each other.
LOL 6/10 for effort but only 2/10 for quality, sorry
Edited to add: seriously, though, your info is way out of date, if indeed it ever had any validity. I live in Southwark, one of London's least white boroughs, but I would say the single most prominent incoming group at the moment are middle-class white British people, moving here both from outside London and from other, more expensive parts of the city (as everywhere becomes more expensive). It's true that there is a decline in established working-class communities (not all members of which are white, incidentally), but while cultural and ethnic tensions may play a small part in their departure, the missing combination of decently-paid working-class employment and decent affordable housing dwarfs these. Even someone not given to fitting into a multicultural city - or whose Bangladeshi neighbour does happen to be somewhat anti-social in their cooking habits - is unlikely to uproot themselves if they are economically secure.
Last edited by George & Bill; 12-19-2013 at 06:42 AM..
Well thank you very much. I appreciate the responses. It is as I hoped it would be but wanted to be sure. My family is very excited to be in a huge melting pot. America is supposed to be a melting pot but here the races typically quarter themselves off whether through gentrification or just an unconscious location choice. No place is ever perfect....but just someplace with no stress, small little flat relatively close to the tube would be perfect. Although I assume everyone is looking for that.
Am I right to avoid the housing projects? Or is that no big deal? For example in America if you're even remotely close to a housing project, you're sure to hear gunfire, lots of police, and occasional screaming. The complex behind my place here is like that. But I can walk down the street and not really have to worry about anything (but then again we drive everywhere here in California, U.S.)
I wouldn't "avoid" the council estates (= the projects), but tread carefully and do your research as they vary massively in terms of safety. It massively depends on where the estate is and how affected it is by the gangs. For example, a nice little tidy estate in central London (for example, the Spa Green estate in Clerkenwell) is a totally different proposition from living on the Pembury estate in Hackney! Or some crime ridden hellhole in outer London that is miles from anywhere experiencing gentrification. The former I'd have no trouble living on at all, and if anything would say it makes a perfect way of living in a very central, cool neighbourhood at an affordable price. I'd think more carefully about the latter!
There is very little racism in London(lived here in greater London on and off for 9 years) In parts of England racism can be extreme, but those are usually towns where the population is very white.
There is very little racism in London(lived here in greater London on and off for 9 years) In parts of England racism can be extreme, but those are usually towns where the population is very white.
May I ask what 'exreme' racism there is in say Bath or Sevenoaks (very 'white' towns that you know about?
There is very little racism in London(lived here in greater London on and off for 9 years) In parts of England racism can be extreme, but those are usually towns where the population is very white.
Yeah right, cause white = "racist"
No blacks or muslims are capable of that
England wouldn't even have a race problem if the traitors running the country didn't transform the place into something that looks like a mix of Africa and Pakistan.
May I ask what 'exreme' racism there is in say Bath or Sevenoaks (very 'white' towns that you know about?
That's just been my experience, I can't comment on Bath and Sevenoaks as I've never been to those places. Here's a post I wrote in the past about racism In Britain:
England wouldn't even have a race problem if the traitors running the country didn't transform the place into something that looks like a mix of Africa and Pakistan.
Didn't say that.
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