‘England’s Green and Prejudiced Land’.

Did anyone read the Sunday Times Magazine cover story feature ‘England’s Green and Prejudiced Land’ last Sunday?

I was disappointed, saddened and angry at the tone and style of this article, written by an experienced and respected journalist and ST columnist (David James Smith). Certainly the people of Lewes are very 'stirred up' (if I can use such a weak descriptor) by the article and its implications for both the town of Lewes and the 'race inequality' agenda: http://www.lewes.co.uk/Forum/Post/is_lewes_racist/67099#1

My concern is that Mr Smith has aligned himself as part of the problem ('race' - and therefore victim?) and not part of the solution ('difference' - and therefore celebrate diversity) and yet he has the power to facilitate change starting with his own family's opportunity to influence local understanding of race and difference.

I have written to the editor of the ST magazine (a journalist friend gave me the direct email) with a request that I (along with others?) be commissioned to write a 'response' to Mr Smith's article. His feature was subjective and emotional to say the least. I, as well as others on our network, deal with these issues in explicit and implicit forums - we get consulted by Local Strategic Partnerships about race/equality/diversity, and we help shape the way local voluntary and community sector groups build inclusivity and celebration of diversity into thei own service delivery.

The Big Society agenda is all about shaping change from the bottom up. Maybe Mr Smith had not read the Conservative paper Big Society :-) Not Big Government :-(... (can be downloaded here: http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/03/Plans_announced_to_help_build_a_Big_Society.aspx) where the concept of being taking responsibility for change at grassroots/local level rather than waiting for governement/authority to come and tell us all what to do is outlined as a big party policy. Yes I know this has been happening for years, but clearly (it would seem) Mr Smith is representative of part of middle class educated society who think that the 'government' should do something...surely, as we are at pains to tell every newcomer to this country, change and taking responsibility for ourselves as contributing citizens of this democratic and open society, begins at home?

I await a response form the ST magazine editor (who is on annual leave until Aug 16) and will update this post when I receive it.

In the meantime I'd be interested to hear what the local voluntary sector thinks to this feature on Lewes as a racist hotspot!