Email exchange with Hilary Benn on Whites Becoming Ethnic Minority in UK

From: Roger Hicks <rah@spaceship-earth.org>

Subject: On becoming an ethnic minority and the paradox of race does and doesn't matter

Date: 15 March 2013 07:51:00 GMT

To: hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk

Dear Mr. Benn,

I've heard both you and your father talk in London (Redbridge) on different occasions in the past, but didn't get the opportunity to put the question I wanted to ask to you. Thus this email, which you might like to forward to your dad, as well, since I couldn't find his email address.

My question is simply this: how do you both FEEL about native Britons, like ourselves, having become an ethnic minority in our capital city, and being on course to become an ethnic minority in the country as a whole long before this present century has run its course?

I appreciate what a difficult question this is to give an honest answer

to, due to the massive ideological and psychological pressure, especially you, in your position, are under to dismiss such a question as only being of interest to bigots and "racists", and don't expect one from you. But I, who am neither a bigot nor a racist, do ask you to consider it in your own mind, and if you feel so inclined, to get in touch with me, so that we might discuss it privately at your convenience when you are in London.

The point is that no matter how much we may deny it, race and ethic origins ARE important; not in the way that genuine racists believe they are, but because central to any deep and meaningful sense of both personal and group identity, and with profound implications for national identity and politics.

In overreaction to the Holocaust and the criminally insane racial ideology with which the Nazis justified it, we went to the opposite extreme, denying the very existence of race, dismissing it as a "social contract", only of interest to evil racist, like the Nazis. Such an overreaction was understandable in the aftermath of the Holocaust (in the context of which "race" really was a social, or rather, ideological, construct), but it was quickly consolidated into an extreme ideology of its own and exploited to economic and power-political advantage. It has effectively taken the place, in our more secular times, of medieval church ideology, with its notion of "original sin", which the individual could only be saved from eternal damnation for by submitting to church and state authority. Now it is "racism" (= racial prejudice, i.e. the natural human inclination to identify with and favour members of one's own race or ethnic group) which the state is determined to save us from, in order to assert its authority and power over us . . .

I have produced this blog on The Paradox of Race Does and Doesn't Matter, if you fancy taking a look.

This is a very important issue, which we have to recognise and face up to as such if we are to deal with it in a rational and civilised fashion.

Best regards

Roger Hicks

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From: "BENN, Hilary" <hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk>
Subject: On becoming an ethnic minority and the paradox of race does and doesn't matter
Date: 15 April 2013 11:02:57 BST

Dear Mr. Hicks

Thank you for your email.

Being the son of an immigrant, but also being very British I think our great strength as a nation is our ability to overcome difference and live alongside each other.

I will pass on your best wishes to my father.

Kind regards

Hilary Benn MP

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From: Roger Hicks <rah@spaceship-earth.org>
Subject: On Native Britons becoming an ethnic minority
Date: 16 April 2013 07:44:06 BST
To: "BENN, Hilary" <hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk>

 Dear Mr Benn,

Thanks for responding to my email. Only, you didn't answer my question about how you FEEL about becoming an ethnic minority in your own country (already a reality in London and predicted to become a reality for the country as a whole within about 50 years).

You mention being the son of an immigrant, but not from the third world, I'll wager. Your mother was a European American returning to her ancestral homeland in Europe.

Please, don't do a Gordon Brown (as with Mrs Duffy) on me, i.e. dismiss me as a bigot for being concerned about mass immigration and becoming an ethnic minority in the country/continent where my ancestors have lived for 1000s of years. I'm sure that you would not dismiss a Native American or Aboriginal Australian with similar concerns about his people's future as a bigot - or would you?

You may find this issue, and me for bringing it up, tiresome, but be that as it may, it is a hugely important issue with profound implications, because a very large number of Native Britons and Europeans are not going to sit back and watch themselves become an ethnic minority on their own continent without putting up a fight - which might prove to be very costly.

There is still time for us to avert such conflict, but only if we recognise and face up to the issue, which you seem to want to dismiss as only being of interest to bigots and "racists". But there is nothing bigoted or racist about wanting to preserve the ethnic identity and majority of one's own people. Native Americans and Australians struggling to do this are not bigots or racists, and neither am I.

If we are to avoid bloody conflict, we must talk. This is why I'm writing to you. You have children, I presume, for whom, like most fathers, you want a peaceful and prosperous future. But if Parliament continues to show such contempt for the interests of Britain's native (white) population, the future looks very gloomy.

I want a peaceful solution to this issue, but not at the price of seeing native (white) Britons reduced to an ethnic minority in their ancestral homelands. If you and the political elite you are a member of continue to deny that there is an issue, even that there is a native British population with an interest in remaining this country's ethnic majority, you are the ones who will be responsible for the bloody conflicts it will eventually give rise to. Thus my appeal to you to address (start discussing) this issue now, while there is still time to avoid unnecessary conflict.

Best regards

Roger Hicks

P.S. It is not just about skin colour, but about the importance of race and ethnic origins for any deep and meaningful sense of both personal and group, i.e. national, identity.

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I'm still awaiting a response - but not holding my breath.