Immigration Laws Part 1

1980-10-26
26m

Why do our Britain's migration laws disproportionately penalize Black and Brown immigrants?

What logic underpins British immigration law? LWT's multicultural series Skin explores the position of government: that the regulation of immigration will lead to improved race relations. The consequence of the rise of racist parties like the National Front was the mainstreaming of restrictive immigration policy that sought to restrict the amount of racialised migrants in Britain, which was conducted under the guise of approving community relations and 'encouraging racial harmony'.

In this first of a two-part report, Skin moves through a series of personal interviews with victims of those caught in the shifting approaches to immigration. The impact of these policies on Black Britons and the changes in our legal system are critically analysed.
This episode is one of many multicultural programmes on immigration that would functionally analyse the government's approach and reveal the mainstream effect of the rise of right-wing racist, nationalistic movements in Britain.

The burden of British racism is placed upon the immigrant. The consequences of this philosophy are shown here in immigration raids and immigration law. Victims of the system are suddenly forced to understand the intricacies of immigration law, as people are arrested and deported because of often arbitrary and cruel changes in the law intended to punish Black and Brown immigrants.

Our immigration system still functions in this manner, as shown by the deportation of Black British citizens of Caribbean descent after the 'hostile environment' policy was introduced by then home secretary, which came to be known as the 'Windrush scandal'.

Multicultural TV

This collection covers programming that emerged from specialist multicultural and Black broadcasting units.

A multicultural Britain was forebodingly cast as an oncoming social issue. Only at the behest of campaigning by the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (established in 1965) did the programming introduced begin to frame Asian and later Black Britons as part of British society and cater directly to their needs. The earliest examples were programmes broadcast by the BBC Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye (1965) and Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan (New Life), which helped improve the English skills of recent Asian migrants. Targeted programming initially emerged regionally, and franchise holders in the midlands who feared the impending reallocation of franchises reacted quickly, leading to multicultural programming such as Here Today, Here Tomorrow (ATV, 1978), Here and Now (Central TV, 1978). In London, London Weekend Television produced Babylon (LWT, 1979), and the London Minorities Unit produced Skin (1980), an extensive focus of our collection. During the emergence of Channel 4, Black programming was in-built into the new channel. Black commissioners, researchers, and presenters emerged, leading to Black and Asian-led series like Black on Black (1982), Eastern Eye (1982), Bandung File (1985), and Black Bag (1985). These programmes catered not only with increasing specificity to their respective audiences but also took on an increasingly globally connective approach centred around acknowledging the intricacy of diasporic relations.

25 videos in this collection

Bob Marley

1981-05-31

Black Actors

1981-04-05

Attacks on Asians and West Indians

1980-10-19