IN REPLY to Jenny Flintoft's letter 'enormous cultural differences' (20 March) I would like to take issue with several points which I consider to be divisive, dangerous, and contrary to the interests of black liberation.
While it is true that the state oppresses West Indians and Asians through different tactics, the overall effect of that oppression is the same — it produces a group of people who are super-exploited and for whom the minimum of services need be provided.
Black people have long since realised the need for black unity to combat their oppression and black youth particularly are experiencing that unity. The Bradford Youth March for Black Freedom; the Black Socialists Alliance and Organization of Women of African and Asian descent are but a few examples of this.
What good does it serve for whites (and from the tone of Jenny Flintoft's letter I can only presume she is white) to glibly quote their personal (and no doubt ideology-induced) impressions of Asian/West Indian relationships? Doubtless, the police and the Home Office would like to believe what she says about Asians feeling 'loathing' and 'contempt' for West Indians. However, I do not believe that to be the case, nor does Jenny Flintoft provide any evidence to support her claims.
The overriding impression I get from fellow black people is one of hostility to the forces that oppress us and anger (dare I say contempt?) at people like Jenny Flintoft who so imperiously tells us what we think and what we feel. Comments like hers serve not to the interests of black liberation, but rather those of black domination.
And then, to top it all, Jenny Flintoft states: 'Asians have tended to arrive in Britain full of hope (otherwise why come?)'. Admittedly many Asians believed in the myth of Britain as the home of democracy, but those illusions were surely dispelled on arrival at Heathrow and on confronting British immigration officials. For the real reasons why Asians came to Britain, I can only advise Jenny Flintoft to read up the terms 'imperialism' and 'under-development'.
Lastly, might I just add that if black people are expected to see the Campaign Against Immigration Laws as being an organisation campaigning for our rights, it would serve well for other members to take up the points made by Ms Flintoft.
Rashid Meer, Brighton