Brexit in Brixton, the Afro-Caribbean district of London

Text by: Patricia Blettery

While the challenge that Brexit represents for domestic and foreign business has often been mentioned, trade, security, the Irish border, Scotland, the concerns of minorities in the UK, especially blacks, have been little mentioned. Report just a few kilometers from the British Parliament, in the Afro-Caribbean district of London, Brixton.

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From our special correspondent in London,

Less than 20 minutes from King's Cross station on the Victoria Line, on the eve of a historic moment for the UK, the people of Brixton are no exception. Here too, people are tired of the Brexit saga. Like many Britons, they were divided, angry. And they will have to move forward without fully understanding what tomorrow will be like. A fifteen-year-old girl with a somewhat sad look regrets this division that has settled among the population: " There is no longer any unity ". A sadness shared by many people met in the neighborhood where the Black Brits, often of Jamaican origin, voted in 2016 against the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union -78% in the district of Lambeth to which Brixton belongs- .

Exasperation towards politicians

It must be said that London's cosmopolitanism is a trademark. Donna, a Briton of Jamaican descent, is very attached to it and hopes that this will not change the image of the British capital vis-à-vis the outside world. “ We have to stay connected to each other and learn to live together. We do not have a choice. And it is this diversity that gives energy to a country, a desire to move forward together, economically as well . ”

African market gardeners, sellers of wax fabrics, Jamaican restaurateurs answer without conviction to our questions about the consequences that Brexit can have for them. Often, they no longer know what to think about it. “ We will see, explains Jason, Jamaican living in the United Kingdom for 40 years . We don't know if they're telling the truth. European workers, especially the Poles, will leave. There may be more work for us Africans, the Caribbean. But we don't know if it will really happen like that. The hardest part is really understanding who is lying, who is telling the truth . ” This distrust of the political class which gave voice for almost 4 years in the House of Commons or in the media is palpable.

A nationalist discourse that is no longer hidden

Debates over Brexit have remained largely silent on the concerns of ethnic minority groups in the UK. And yet it is on this argument of immigration control and on the return to national sovereignty that Brexit was built and finally convinced. Jordan Jarrett Bryan, journalist and founder of the platform It's All Blakademik is worried too. The Windrush generation scandal resurfaced last year when the government announced its intention to deport about 50 people to Jamaica. Jordan Jarrett Bryan is convinced of this, the United Kingdom, with Brexit, is installing the idea that we must return to a "whiter" Britain with fewer immigrants. An Ivorian woman tells us that she wonders how she will do now to see her family settled in France. What papers will she need? As for family reunification, it is hardly optimistic. Bringing your family may not be made easier by the new immigration laws.

No way to party so for the people of Brixton. Life goes on. Some are even convinced that the saga is not over. And who knows, the UK may one day fall in love with Europe.

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