“Multiculturalism: the great divide”

I read an article called “Multiculturalism: the great divide”. This very interesting article deals with the phenomenon of segregation that is taking place in Great Britain. This issue is explored from the point of view of a black British girl who shares her experiences and opinions. She starts saying that the school which she attended was racially mixed having white, Asian, and black students. At first, everyone socialised freely, but then groups started to form according to their races and ethnics. A girl who she was used to talk to began to ignore her. A close friend of hers told her that her mother had hinted that it was time she began to socialise only with people of her own culture. Similarly, a neighbour asked if he could buy her house so his sister could live next door to him because it’s a Pakistani tradition for families to live in the same area. The British girl sees these cases as self-segregation cases, cases in which the same groups of people separate themselves from the rest of society.

At the end of the article she makes some suggestions to improve this situation. She says that black and Asian groups could join with the government to hold forums on multiculturalism, and that the government should make more use of certain organisations specially developed to improve intercultural communications skills and strategies, and to prevent conflicts in diverse societies.

From my point of view, people should try to overcome this issue, first, by thinking that everyone is a human being, and they can settle in a society and join people from other cultures without losing their own origin. Secondly, people should try to get rid of prejudices and stereotypes because they often represent obstacles in cross-cultural communication. Finally, people should think that by separating themselves from other groups of society, they are losing the opportunity to learn and know new things which could be learnt if they established communication with them.

Kite.