[steeljack]

Don't think its a Black on White , or Brown on White or (here in the US) a Bronze (hispanic) on White issue , just think its a culture/lifestyle issue , more and more White Northern Europeans , including North Americans and Australians are seeing the traditional cultures they grew up with disappearing at an alarming rate and are fearful of it , think primarily the folks most affected are the skilled and unskilled working class groups who see themselves on the front line ,since they live in closest proximity to new immigrants, these are historically the folks who have allways been the first to welcome needy strangers into thier midst . providing the newcomer made an effort to adapt to their new surroundings , and many see that this no longer happens .

Going back to the late 50s and early 60s their was never any animosity to Asian immigrants in the Lancashire mill towns , young guys came over , got jobs in the mills, drank in the pubs and were known to their neighbours , same as the Poles who came over after 1945 , inside their homes they lived their "own way" but outside they were like the rest of the community . there was probably more bigotry in most homes against Catholics , they had their own Schools and Church 'walking' days than the rest of us .

Think it would be interesting to hear from someone from the Asian community who came over in the early days and hear what they have to say what their thoughts are about how community relations were then and how they compare to these days ( just using 'Asian' as an example since Accrington never had a big West Indian community)