[quote=roberto;130246]
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Originally Posted by LEGALEAGLE
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Substantiate
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Just my two-pence worth... Black and Irish people in the 50s and 60s found it very difficult to live anywhere where there was a middle-class white community and this is substantiated by first-hand accounts. My grandfather and many others of his generation - and not only blacks and Asians either - found it difficult to find anyone who was even willing to rent to them, as many landlords/ladies specified "No Irish, blacks or dogs." A lot of Irish ended up living with Asians and West Indian immigrants because they could not get housing anywhere else.
If that was the situation simply with regards to renting, imagine how it must have been when it came to buying a property. Most immigrants at that time did not own their own homes for precisely this reason.
While I don't agree with everything Enoch Powell said, I think it's unfair to hold him solely responsible for ghettoes and limited housing opportunities. You have to remember that these were views also held by ordinary people - it was part of the social and political climate and we can't expect everybody to be able to detach themselves from their social context, along with all the preconceptions and ideas that come with that context. Remember, the Race Relations Act and other anti-discrimination legislation didn't even come into being until the '70s.
In conclusion, it seems there are 2 separate topics brought up in this thread;
one is the rights of immigrants to have equal access to public services, health and housing.
The other is the question of cultural diversity vs conformity, in other words the pros and cons of multiculturalism.
Let's not conflate the two.