Race against time
;here can be no denying the anxiety which the est report of the Community Relations 4'uoun1ssion, Unemployment and Homeless will reasonably give rise to, especially in far as its conclusions reflect the alienation r„?In our society of young coloured imsgrants. It has regularly been predicted that be second generation immigrants will Tome disaffected; and there has been a great of argument to the effect that, in order to revent civil strife in the future, they must be ,Ilitegrated into our society. The evidence now "onoggests that a minority, but a minority of consequence, is not being so integrated: the nsequences could be dangerous.
Weyer, the problem is unlikely to be iiated either by such policies as the CRC yogvi e to put forward — mainly policies inth„Ving the extension of state intervention and spending of more public money — nor by to"se advanced by the Liberal Party in a new lirirt, Immigration and Race Relations. dre are two particular areas in which racial coleuntent is increasing on the part of the sci;°11red community. The first is in the 4?°1s, the second in employment, especially domnionised employment. The first can only be th„4It with by teachers, and particularly by co",,se teachers, who at the present time en rage feelings of separateness on the part of Lit children by encouraging them to partake ltrilte cultures they have left rather than in rei:‘,4sh culture (here practically the entire race ilejicins industry is to blame); while it is also theessacY to increase the provision — even for c14.second generation — of English language "ses• The second area of difficulty can be tackled principally by the trade unions: their neglect has verged on the scandalous, and every opportunity ought to be taken to say so, particularly in a period of unprecedented union power. The CRC has greatly improved under Mr Mark Bonham-Carter, but its capacity for doing good at the local level was greatly vitiated by his predecessors, and seems unlikely to be susceptible of increase. Those who have diagnosed the problem are not necessarily able to solve it: other methods must be tried.
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