MarcusAu wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:27 am
VickyCaramel wrote: ↑
Incidentally I wasn't really complaining that it is Jewish propaganda, it's now in fact part of their religion. Of course they are going to milk it for all it's worth, it's their people's history... it isn't my people's history. I don't have any more guilt for the holocaust than I do for slavery. Do you have any element of introspective guilt?
Which sort of begs the question - Who are your people?
You mentioned the Peasants Revolt earlier (and I'm sure you know Wat you are talking about) - but even earlier that you are of Huguenot decent (probably meaning that your ancestors arrived a littler afterways), and also that you had some interaction with WWII veterans (including German ones) - which may indicate a Saxon kinship.
Are you English or British and are the colonials still your people?
You don't have to say anything if you don't want - but for all I know you may wish to be Frank.
(nb I am not having a go - and in fact double checked to make sure the words in my head were consistent with what you actually wrote in the post...this time).
On my father's side I am firmly of Huguenot stock, I have traced every example of my family name that I can find and created a heat map. My family barely strayed more than 30 miles from North London in 300 years. They slowly spread out North and East, but seemed reluctant to go south of the river. Almost all of my family moved out to Essex and Hertfordshire, the bulk leaving during the racial tensions during the 1970s.
On my mother's side, things are a little more complicated although by luck they have unusual spellings of fairly common names which makes tracing them fairly easy. One strand can be traced back to the clan of King Soot, but their fortuned waned and they ended up a small lowland clan who fought for the English before becoming notorious outlaws in Southern Scotland and the North of England. It seems this branch of the family found it hard to give up their outlaw ways and it is rumoured that my great, great grandfather's sudden wealth came from fencing goods for the Jewish Mafia. His family essentially lived as Jews within the Jewish community for a couple of generations despite not actually being Jewish. My Grandmother's sister married a Jew who seemed a decent chap, although over the years we have read about that branch of the family in the newspapers in association with some of the UK's most notorious con-artists and gangsters.
However, the bulk of my mother's family are very respectable which brought my grandparents within regular bowing distance of the heads of the Church of England (Bishops and royalty). It is largely this branch of the family which began to travel and marry into foreign families. So I do have family and family friends as far apart as Germany and Hong Kong... speaking of which...
One of my Great Uncles was in the UK when war broke out, his family were murdered by the Japanese so he joined the Royal Engineers and became an assault engineer seconded to the Canadian Army. On returning from leave after being wounded on the beaches of Normandy he did a tour of concentration camps as a demolition expert.
Another of my ancestors was a Marine and served with the West Africa Squadron in the 1820s. So my family does have a history with the holocaust and slavery. My family has had quite a few soldiers, sailors and even a few spies which has brought them into contact with some of history's most important events, which of course my children will be made aware of.
However, my family's role in events from the Boxer Rebellion to The Troubles in Ulster are my family's history. When I said "My people", I meant the English/British.
My family rubbed shoulders with the Jewish community for generations. It is slightly subjective and a question of perspective, but I have a shared history with them to a point, for example the Luftwaffe's bombs fell on us all, we all suffered the poverty of the Victorian era, and we all cheered on the Lilly Whites when they won the FA cup. If the holocaust is their history it is for reasons that have nothing to do with me and mine though.
As for the colonials... I have relatives in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia. Some of them have slanty eyes, they are family but they aren't really 'my people'. Vicky don't surf and I have never thrown a shrimp on the barbie! I'd be far more at home in Stamford Hill so I am more likely to call them 'my people'.
I guess that what you want to know is do I consider Indians, Pakistanis, West Indians and Africans to be 'my people' because they were once part of the empire? Quite simply no, we do not have the same culture... unless they adopt British culture. A few years ago I was in a situation where I was meeting Nigerians immigrants who most definitely did not share my culture or values and treated me (and just about everybody) with animosity. At the same time, most days I would stop and chat with a black gentleman and a Turkish fella in the cafe... the latter was well on the way to becoming your typical cockney cheeky chappy and the latter had fully transitioned. They are my people... even though one of them was an Arsenal supporter.
Which reminds me, some of my Indian friends are very much into cricket, national and county. Sport seems to be an important step in integration.