Reading about this and seeing stuff on local news about segregation should probably be shocking, but it’s hardly a new thing, is it? There’s areas of Brum that are heavily populated with asian famliles, and areas where there’s more white families. It’s not like this has suddenly happened since September 11th/July 7th (which seemed to be one explanation on the news). Hell, back in junior school in Ladywood I was the only white guy in my class throughout. Not that this is a bad thing; I really didn’t/couldn’t care less whether my schoolmates/friends are black/white/yellow/purple (I’m sickeningly liberal), but like the article says it’s not good, is it? I dunno how it’s like in other places in Brum, I’ve pretty much spent most of my life in Ladywood.

I’m in Bearwood now, and there seems to be a lot more white familiies. The schools are full of blonde, white kids, and whenever my Indian or Chinese mates come round they actually get stared at. I shit you not. Perhaps my road is just stuck in some weird Twilight-Dickhead Zone.

And yet walk ten mins down the road, and BAM, nothing but asian families. It’s bizarre.

Standing by the bus stop about an hour ago, and some old lady is spouting off some random crap about how the bus driver wouldn’t stop for her but would for some ‘nigger man’. Eurgh. I would’ve done something, but I feared being rushed by her five elderly friends. That, and I promised the police I’d stop attacking old ladies.

What can you do, eh? All I can say is that despite the above, my friends have never (to my knowledge) been racially abused, and I never saw much of it back when I was in school. My mother works in a junior school in Ladywood, though, and she tells me some horror stories about the self-segregation and the fighting and abuse all the kids get involved in. It’s mostly poor Iraqi kids that get picked on, and I was told about a seven year old girl who wanted to kill herself because of it.

Something’s gotta be done about this, but it doesn’t seem like anything will.