This is the unsolicited email I sent to Home Secretary Theresa May shortly after I left the United Kingdom in November 2010

For the purpose of context please note these observations were from the third and fourth quarters of the 2010 calendar year.  And the observations are almost one half decade old. 

Source: http://dancesoftheworldcontinue.blogspot.com/2013/02/this-is-unsolicited-email-i-sent-to.html

 

 

20 February 2013

This is the unsolicited email I sent to Home Secretary Theresa May shortly after I left the United Kingdom in November 2010

My apologies, and I did find some typos. They are staying as this email was sent. I did remove some info safety and sensitivity, and replace it with "-----------. Those are the only changes to the document

Debra V. Wilson

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USA

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Rt Hon Theresa May MP

Home Secretary

2 Marsham Street

London

SW1P 4DF

England

United Kingdom

Dear Home Secretary May,

I am fifty-three years old, Black-American, Muslim and feminist. Over the last twenty-four years I have traveled regularly to the United Kingdom (primarily London) and have occasionally resided in your country for short periods of time. I have traveled to the United Kingdom for a myriad of reasons. I am an uncompromising Anglophile. Next I am passionate about the British Museum and try to visit at least three times a year. And last, but certainly not least I am involved in London's charitable sector with my focus being on women's issues. All this is to say Home Secretary May, I love the United Kingdom, and the welfare of the country is just as important to me as the welfare of the USA.

Which brings me to the reason for this email, for approximately three months I was in Birmingham (September – November 2010). During that time I was repeatedly approached by people in Birmingham with their concerns and fears not only Birmingham but the UK.

I have decided to use both the conversations and my observations in/of Birmingham as a springboard for some additional research leading to a postgraduate degree. This email was written in a format conducive to my research and I trust you will be able to follow it with ease.

Let me again stress that these are my observations based on conversations with numerous Birmingham residents and people in and around Birmingham and should be viewed as such. And the information still requires further research and investigation before coming to any definitive conclusions. Never-the-less Home Secretary May I would be less than honest if I did not say that I was overwhelmed and shocked by the level of fear, sadness, frustration and pain in so many in and around Birmingham.

Lastly, Home Secretary May I do not cover and the vast majority of people who spoke to me were unaware that I am Muslim.

I spoke with 72 people with the demographics as follows – please note all categories contain various ethnic within a specified "racial" group:

White (non-Muslim): 48.61%

Asian Muslim: 27.72%

Black (non-Muslim): 15.28%

Asian (non-Muslim):5.56%

Black-Muslim: 2.78%

Points of observation were: numerous buses, City Centre and Alum Rock, Small Heath, Perry Common, Hockley Circus, Hodge Hill, the #7 bus route, Sheldon, New Bingley Hall, St. Martin's in the Bullring, Birmingham Cathedral, and Central Library

MY OBSERVATIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

General attitude of Birmingham residence:

1. I was repeatedly asked by locals why I was in Birmingham, and then I was encouraged to go back to the States. Locals went out of their way to tell me that they did not feel Birmingham was either a safe or good place for me to live. Many locals believed that Birmingham was 'headed for trouble'. And most locals where desirous of leaving the UK in the hopes of finding a 'better country'.
2. When I asked locals to explain the trouble without exception one person after the other expressed in detail their belief that "they" were headed towards a riot with Birmingham's Muslim community.
3. White, Black, Asian locals (non-Muslim) who talked to me went out of their way to say they felt there were too many immigrants and asylum seekers in Birmingham.
4. White Birmingham residents (not Muslim) overwhelmingly felt betrayed by their government. They felt unheard and unprotected. In addition this group believed their patriotism and love of all things British had been criminalized and used against them. And I was told repeatedly, "If I wave my flag I'm a member of the BNP."
5. I also often heard from White Birmingham residents (non-Muslim), "I am not a racist, but the BNP have got some things right."
6. Black and Asian locals (non-Muslim) felt that the UK has been ruined by Muslims. In addition these groups felt that the collective Muslim community had not only duped the (mostly) white UK government. These groups went onto express in graphic detail their collective fear that when the (mostly) white UK government 'finally woke up' all ethnic minorities would be on the receiving end of the government's wrath.

Without exception Black and Asian locals (non-Muslims) who talked to me felt Birmingham's Muslim community was problematic and threatening to their well being in the UK.

7. White, Black and Asian locals (non-Muslims) who talked to me all expressed their fear of Muslims. And I was repeatedly told, "They are violent." And within this negative collective assessment of Birmingham's Ummah Pakistani Muslims were viewed as the 'worst of the worst'. And I heard (routinely) the following words used to describe Birmingham's, Pakistani- Muslim: Violent, crazy, terrorists, trouble makers, aggressive, benefit- cheats, lazy, nutters and Paki's.
8. For approximately 6 weeks I resided in Perry Common, Birmingham. My neighbor was a young single mother in her 20's of Pakistani* descent with 4 daughters. My landlady told me that when the young mother first moved in a White British woman organized other neighbors to 'get the Paki out'. The neighbors that participated in attempting to move the Pakistani woman out of the community were White British, West African and Asian.
9. I was repeatedly told by non-Muslims in Birmingham that 'they' were taking over. When I asked them to define 'they' without exception I was told – Muslims.
10. Non-Muslims repeatedly overestimated the percentage of Muslims in Birmingham, and non-Muslims often thought Birmingham's Muslim population was at 50% or more.
11. Non-Muslims in Birmingham repeatedly expressed a fear that the Muslims in Birmingham would not stop until Sharia law was in place in the UK, and that the United Kingdom was a Muslim country.
12. Non-Muslims in Birmingham were quite saddened by and fearful of Birmingham Muslim and more than once I had to consol someone on the brink of tears as the non-Muslim reminisced about Birmingham before' they' – the Muslims arrived in Birmingham en masse.
13. As proof of the injurious impact Muslims have had on Birmingham I was often told about Alum Rock and Small Heath two communities that are poor and ill managed and predominately Muslim. In fact I was driven through each of these communities by two local women (respectively). And on each drive as we circled the community I was told again and again, "Look what they have done."

Religions, customs and rituals:

1. There is overt friction between the indigenous population and recent immigrant population on matters of dress. And indigenous Birmingham women (particularly the young) tend to wear form fitting clothing that may in addition reveal their bodies. Immigrant women particularly from Muslim countries tend to hyper-cover in clothing that may reveal only their faces or eyes.
2. On public transportation indigenous men (even elderly) are apprehensive about sitting next to obviously Muslim women. And on several occasions I have seen elderly indigenous men who are frail stand because they appear apprehensive about sitting next to an obviously Muslim woman, and there are no seats left on the bottom level of the bus. Interestingly enough when this has occurred the other indigenous (non-Muslim) people on the bus did not offer the elderly indigenous (non-Muslim) man a seat; instead there was obvious hostile chatter about the obviously Muslim woman.
3. On a regular basis I have noticed when an obviously Muslim woman is also veiled enters a space (bus, building, store etc) amongst mostly non-Muslims there is reaction. There may be chatter from the non-Muslims. There may be hostile stares or some non-Muslims have even nodded their heads from side to side in disapproval. I have also noticed the same reaction when a man appears in such a space in what appears to be Muslim attire.
4. The veiling of women's faces amongst some sectors of Birmingham's Muslim community seems to occur at a higher rate than say London. This veiling appears to be angst producing for many sectors of Birmingham's non-Muslim community. And one indigenous Birmingham resident said the full face veil was frightening for her and others she knows as after the trouble (Irish Republican terrorism) in the UK seeing someone with face covering was unsettling.
5. Once on the #7 bus the driver (White) refused to look at the bus card with picture id of a young Muslim woman whose face was veiled. The driver allowed the woman to ride the bus, but he refused to look at her bus card.
6. Several Christian residents told me they were dreading Christmas this year as they felt they would again be forced by the UK government to tone down their celebration of Christmas so as not to offend 'the Muslims'.
7. On two separate occasions at CE services Muslim and/or Islam were mentioned. In one case the clergyman went out of his way to mention that the Church of England encouraged just as much enthusiastic adoration of God as Islam (St. Martin's). The other occasion on Remembrance Sunday at the Birmingham Cathedral the clergyman went out of his way to tell the congregants of the contributions made by Muslim soldiers in UK wars.

Observations about Birmingham's Muslim community:

1. The community is very visible with a high percentage of Muslims wearing Islamic garb and a high percentage of the men are bearded.
2. The community appears conservative – in dress. Again a high percentage of women fully veil.
3. There appears to be active reaching out to non-Muslims and new Muslims with information on Islam – as there are stands in the city centre advertising classes on Islam.
4. Some young, Muslim, Asian males appear to use the fear of all things Muslim to their advantage. And on several occasions this group seem to not only be aware that some non-Muslims were afraid of them – they used the fear to their advantage, i.e. pushing through lines, spitting near people with impunity, a group of young men not moving out of the way when a lone person walks by thereby forcing the lone person to walk in the street.
5. There are prevalent rumors of marriages involving girls under the age of sixteen years.
6. According to my landlord and landlady in Perry Common the young single mother in her 20's of Pakistani* descent with 4 daughters was brought to the UK at the age of 13 years to marry her much older (and adult cousin). At the time the young girl spoke only Urdu and was not allowed to attend school, by her then in-laws. Instead the young girl's life was centered around cleaning the family home and cooking the meals.

By the time the young girl's marriage to her older cousin ended she had 4 children, but still spoke little English. To this day she can read very little English and relies on my former landlady and her own young children to assist her with completing basic forms and reading her mail.

7. Some in the Ummah in Birmingham feel marginalized and are aware they are viewed as the other by all other groups.
8. The community appears collectively (relatively speaking) not economically well off. The community collectively appears not very educated.
9. There are rumors of active recruiting by some extremist groups. And shortly after my arrival in Birmingham a young Muslim man told me of extremist group efforts to recruit teen-aged Muslim boys in both Birmingham and London.
10. There are some in the Birmingham's Ummah who are frightened and suspicious of non-Muslims.
11. There are some in Birmingham's Ummah who are disdainful of some non-Muslims 'permissive' lifestyles.
12. There are some in Birmingham's Ummah who are angry and saddened that they are not viewed as truly British.

Physical Health of Birmingham citizens:

1. A significant portion of the population appeared overweight or obese. This also included children.
2. Significant portions of the adult and teen-aged population are cigarette smokers.
3. There is a wide consumption of snack foods and fast foods.
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5. The percentage of mothers under the age of eighteen years appeared higher than say London.
6. Parents often resorted to physical and verbal abuse (in public spaces) to discipline their children.

Birmingham International Airport – on Sunday, 28.11.2010

In ------by approximately 7:30am when going through the ------------------------------------ there was a screener who was out in the open. And her PC was clearly visible. She appeared to be looking at luggage on her computer monitor. And then she called over a supervisor for assistance. The supervisor then went on to explain what suspicious shapes to look for. And whilst doing this she was pointing things out on the PC monitor.

We – the general traveling public obviously have been told what not to pack or carry in our carry-on luggage. However I felt that seeing and hearing what appeared to be a supervisor instructing what appeared to be a screener on what to look for and what was suspicious within clear eye shot and ear shot was giving us – the traveling public too much information.

Salaam and regards,

Debra V. Wilson