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56
WORK WITH IMMIGRANT FAMILIES
(Miss I. O. D. Harrison, S.S.D., Assistant Principal Social Worker)
Perhaps I should preface my report by saying that unfortunately I had an accident early in January
which made it impossible for me to attend the office until late summer. Although unable to attend
the office, I arranged for correspondence to be sent to my home and was able by this means, and by
telephone, to deal with certain aspects of my work, thus keeping my finger on the pulse of events.
During the year I was perturbed to sense increasing symptoms of resentment and mistrust,
particularly on behalf of English working people. Although there were few overt incidents I
gathered the impression that latent prejudice could easily erupt. Certain people with whom I was
concerned made no secret of their hostility towards overseas workers.
This situation may seem strange in view of the fact that with the passing years people from
overseas have become increasingly adapted to the English way of life, and particularly because of
the establishment of Government sponsored and voluntary organisations to assist with the problems
of integration and discrimination. However, as we know, prejudiced and discriminatory behaviour
is influenced by a variety of things, a number of which at first glance would appear to have no
relation to the problem. Economic crises and automation can engender feelings of insecurity and
apprehension among people who are required to make almost overnight changes and to adapt to
new situations and techniques which can be bewildering and frightening. Redundancies, cutbacks
and mergers were front line news throughout the year and these were understandably
interpreted as threats, particularly to the lower socio-economic (though affluent) groups of
indigenous people, many of whom, as history has shown people frequently do, turned round to
find a scapegoat. Many workers from overseas have patent differences no matter how long, or by
what right, they are here, and it is very easy for the already prejudiced to single them out when
apportioning blame.
The implementation of the Race Relations Act had the anticipated repercussions of creating a
certain amount of tension in some quarters, while easing it in others. The biased misconstrued its
aims, and others felt that it was not comprehensive enough which meant that pockets of resentment
developed. On the whole the press did not appear to see the importance of its role in creating a
climate of tolerance by disseminating facts rather than emotion. This was particularly unfortunate
because the working class of this country, in whom lies the key of acceptance or rejection of
immigrant workers, generally only read papers which, unfortunately, display a sensational emotional
bias. All of these things played a part in hardening attitudes, and this hardening was apparent in
many people whom I interviewed and visited.
Although more people became interested in race relations and a great deal of worthwhile work
was done formally and voluntarily, unfortunately this is a field which attracts people of varying
motivations, and inevitably among them were those who assess the work as very largely political
or academic. This meant that not all the energy which was expended was directed towards what
I feel are the grass roots of the problem, that of conciliation. This entails concentrated work in
informing and persuading not only biased, and perhaps bewildered groups of people, but also those
with influence through their everyday lives and professions, to examine facts without emotion and
appreciate the tremendous dangers in allowing a situation to develop where we may become
helpless in the face of prejudice and resentment on both sides.
With this in mind, I continued to spend a great deal of time giving addresses and joining in
discussions with various groups, meetings and conferences, particularly when it is remembered
that a very large number of such meetings are held in the City of Westminster. Naturally a number
of these were conducted in my own time.
During the year I continued to receive complaints from people who felt that they were discriminated
against, particularly in housing (private) and employment—two fields which were not at
that time covered by the Race Relations Act. Discussions with employers in relation to immigrant
problems revealed that prejudiced and discriminatory behaviour is very frequently not because of
the policy of the high echelons of management so much as the prejudiced attitudes of one or two
people "cloaked in brief authority". As an example, on one occasion criticism was made against
a certain company who were not employing coloured employees at all although they were constantly
advertising vacancies for unskilled workers. Investigation by the management revealed that the
keeper at the factory gate, whose responsibility it is to direct enquiries to the engaging officers,
was himself highly prejudiced and turned away any coloured enquirer. This illustrates how far
prejudice in one person can have a strong influence.