The destruction of cultural identity in the UK

Cultural assimilation can be described as the process by which ethnic minorities and cultures assume the values of the dominant group in society. As an African girl who has lived in the United Kingdom for sixteen years, I admit to never having known the phrase cultural assimilation. However, I could feel it. It was so evident in society and within my own home that the culture that my parents cherished so much was being watered down as it passed from their generation to mine. What I never seemed to understand, and what I still don't seem to understand, is why this phenomenon seems to happen almost naturally.

As the daughter of Zimbabwean immigrants (and being a first-generation immigrant myself, having moved to England when I was two years old), I have grown up in a home full of rich culture dating back thousands of years. At home, my parents speak our language, Shona, and cook a number of amazing Zimbabwean dishes. They always taught me to know where I come from and who I am, and I always listened intently to the numerous stories of their childhoods and old proverbs. When I left the house and went to school, I felt...different.

I live in a predominantly white city in the east of England. I would say that the first time I truly experienced cultural assimilation and began to fall victim to the dangers of it, was in junior school. I was the only black girl in a year group of about fifty-six. In a group of fifty-six, I was 1.78%. I cannot begin to express how difficult for me as a nine-year-old child, to struggle with my identity. I admit, my friendship group was probably the most ethnically diverse in my year, perhaps even in the school, since it consisted of the one black girl, the only two Asian girls and four white girls. As you can see, each ethnic group here is made up of more than one person- all except mine. It seemed like everyone else had someone to relate to. Someone who understood them on levels the rest of us could not. And so as I grew older, I found myself losing the cultural sense of identity I was taught to have, and adopted the cultural norms of this society. A culture built from the backs of others.

From a young age, ethnic minorities are taught by society to adopt the culture of the majority. Failure to do so results in remarks such as, "go back to your country", "you people", and derogatory names such as "freshie" and the n-word that so many non-black people desire to say. Young children are being subject to the standards of western society, whether that be in cultural activities or beauty standards. In 2020, I shouldn't have to hear my five-year-old sister crying to have blonde straight hair or lighter skin.

As a society, we don't do nearly enough to embrace the many different cultures that make up our society. Cultural assimilation is destructive, and not talked about nearly enough within our society. We all need to do better in educating ourselves and educating each other in our cultures. If we fail to embrace our cultures and let them fade away over time, we will lose our identity. What makes us different. In any case, regardless of if we start celebrating our differences or not, ethnic minorities will still be the victims of prejudice in other areas of our society, and that's on institutional racism.