Migrants, Welcome Home

I often see posts on Facebook trying to flood the site with music, or superheroes. There's one doing the rounds at the moment asking people to post 'then' and 'now' photos of their relationship. They're all fun, but I think, at the moment, Facebook in the UK probably needs to be flooded with something different.

There's a tide of racism sweeping the country, with some people thinking the Brexit vote legitimises the voicing of torrid, vicious, nasty views. I hope it's just the media publicising these things more widely at the moment. I fear it is not. Even so, if these views are *not* being expressed with more force, volume and frequency at the moment, they *are* still being expressed, and that scares me - *especially* so if this is normal (or the 'new' normal).

I believe that staying silent whilst this is happening is to be complicit. If I do not speak out, how can I expect others to do so? If no-one speaks out, then there is no challenge to this stream of bile, and it will engulf us.

Racism needs calling out, or it grows.

To my friends of other faiths and nationalities living in the UK, born here, or abroad, I want you to know, that I do not believe this is *my* country. I believe it is *ours* - yours *and* mine, and I value your contribution to it. You make it a better, more friendly, more loving place. I don't want you to go home; you *are* home. 

I want minorities to feel safe in our country, and I want to do what I can to counter the racist views and images I have seen over the past few days.

I have seen some foul graffiti. I'm no artist by any means, and this is my only wall to adorn, but this is an attempt to put into view an image in my head. Immigrants, and children and grandchildren of immigrants, *welcome* home. In true British style, the kettle's just boiled; let me get you a brew.




If you like what I have written, please share it (very easy and quick to do), or copy and paste it (still pretty simple), or rewrite it (a bit harder). Credit it as your own if you like, and steal the image if you think it's any good. I'm not precious about this, I'd just like to see an anti-racist trend of hope on Facebook. Thank you for reading this far!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Response to the Riots

Image
This sermon was given on the morning of Sunday 11th August 2024, after a week of riots and counter-protests in the UK. The New Testament reading was Ephesians 4:25-5:2 . This morning’s Gospel is about bread. When we get to August every third year, we get John’s Gospel, and for about 6 weeks, we go through John Chapter 6, during which we talk a huge amount about bread. If you come to church in August this year without having had your breakfast first, you’re going to get hungry! I’ve actually preached in this slot both times over the last six years. Today marks my third sermon with these same readings. So, I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t actually preach on the gospel at all today?  Don’t worry, Caroline is preaching next week, and I’m sure she’ll cover the Gospel – unless she throws in a wild card? Instead then, for today’s sermon, I’d like to turn to our New Testament reading, from the letter to the Ephesians. There’s all sorts of scholarly thought about this letter that I don’t...
Read more

On Unity and The Primates

Image
This sermon was preached during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity , and in the aftermath of the primate's statement on The Episcopal Church . It was given at an Evensong service on 24th January. About 10 years ago, a website called The Ship of Fools held a poll to find the world's best religious joke . The winner was one written by the American comedian, Emo Philips: Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"  He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Bapti...
Read more

National Poetry Day 2024

Image
Today is National Poetry Day. I first put a compilation of my poems over the last twelve months together last year , and thought it would be nice to do the same today!  Each poem should open in a new window/tab so you can come back to this page easily if you like - hope you find something you enjoy, and please let me know if you've got a favourite! November Memories God is Sleeping The Battle / An Evening to Myself / Trauma / Disgust Free Reign Little Wins Promises, Promises Into the Dragon's Lair A Boy's Best Friend It'll Never Catch On Hope Street
Read more