Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Britain’s expansion into other territories intensified. However, after the Second World War, Britain decided “empire no more”, and instead of gaining territories, these countries started to become independent. Britain then, instead, started have the number of immigrants entering their country grow, causing outrage for many. In The Waiter’s Wife, a chapter in Zadie Smith’s book White Teeth, we are met with married immigrants from Bangladesh trying to make a living in London in the mid-1970s.
Alsana, the protagonist in The Waiter’s Wife, learns she is pregnant with twin boys after she and her much older husband Samad move to London. Samad fought in World War II, where he met his good friend Archie, whose wife, Clara, befriends Alsana after the two married couples go out a few times together. Clara is from Jamaica and also learns she is expecting a girl. Readers learn that Samad is a waiter and that he occasionally despises the position as he thinks to himself “I AM NOT A WAITER. THAT IS, I AM A WAITER, BUT NOT JUST A WAITER” (3061).
|
Notting Hill Carnival 1976 - Hatfulofhistory WordPress
|
In a podcast done by Dr. Christopher Prior, the history of Britain and its Postcolonial times is unraveled. In it, Prior describes how the first large groups of immigrants that arrived in Britain was in 1948; about 500 Jamaicans and others from the Caribbean. He later explains that although immigration increased as time went on, Britain remained “largely racist” and many Brits considered themselves superior to other races. Prior cites Sonya Rose, a historian and expert in the role of gender identity in British history, who states that “for the first time [after World War II], a key contradiction to do with British attitudes towards race was brought out into the open.”
|
In 1968, the famous “Rivers of Blood” speech was given by Conservative Member of Parliament Enoch Powell, addressing how Britain was “slowly dying” due to all incoming immigrants. According to an article published by History & Headlines, this speech was responding to the then pending Race Relations Act of 1968, which claimed that it was illegal to refuse housing, employment or public service because of race, religion, and national origin. Powell’s speech caused much divide in the country; in a Gallup poll, 74% of those polled agreed with Powell’s general message. Protestors went to the streets with signs reading things such as “Back Britain, Not Black Britain”.
|
Epoch Powell- Newstateman.com
|
Following the speech, in the early 1970s, colored youth rioted against police harassment and unfair treatment, calling out institutional racism. And in 1981, similar riots erupted, focusing on socio-economic policies that Alsana and Samud may have faced in White Teeth.
The Brixton Riots 1981- Hatfulofhistory WordPress