Coming of Age : 1976 and the Road to Anti-Racism

Bourke cited detailed studies of the psychological impact of the Vietnam War on veterans
which found no relationship (or even a negative relationship) between violent crime rates and military
participation. Bourke’s study of twentieth-century ex-combatant letters and diaries found
that veterans were not ‘numbed’ by killing, even when distanced from the enemy by technological
development; on the contrary, … combatants themselves consistently raised issues of personal
responsibility. 9 While this point is well made, it is important to remember that while ex-service
personnel may not have been brutalized by war, their experiences and years of service left many
disillusioned and prepared to organise and protest in large numbers against their peacetime lot.
General demonstrations of post-war resentment across many sections of British society
were in the large seaports specifically focused on the twin issues of job and housing shortages.
National Identity, the Imperial Agenda and a ‘black Atlantic’ perspective
The seaport riots and their aftermath posed a challenge to the nature of Britain’s imperial rule
and raised questions about the identity and status of colonial peoples both within the metropole
and in the colonies. Divergent interpretations of national identity emerged from metropolitan
and colonial opinion during the 1919 riots. ‘Britishers first’ was the overriding sentiment during
disorder in the ports, particularly when rioting broke out when sailors confronted each other
directly in the hiring yards of merchant marine shipping offices. However, those on opposing
sides during the riots held different opinions of what was meant by being British. An article in the
Times written at the height of the rioting poked fun at the allegiance black Briton felt towards
the Empire. “The negro [sic] is almost pathetically loyal to the British Empire and he is always
proud to proclaim himself a Briton. 10 The seaport riots highlighted contested meanings of
national identity: black British sailors protested about the employment of foreign white sailors;
white sailors (including foreign-born) campaigned and rioted against the employment of black
African, African-Caribbean, Arab, Chinese, and South Asian sailors, many of whom were British.
The broad concept of British identity can be summed up in the phrase “civis Britannicus
sum. This notion was derived from the Latin phrase “civis Romanus sum. Not everyone
in the Roman Empire held citizenship: it was a privilege enjoyed only by a few (and could
be inherited, merited, or won after long service). Many Roman citizens lived hundreds
of miles from the city but still claimed the privileges of their status. In the British Empire,
the phrase came to denote the rights and residence privileges of all British subjects under
the British crown no matter where they lived. The rights given to British subjects were
built on the confidence and feeling that subject status was an honour bestowed by British
rule, it allowed any British subject right of entry into Britain. This status was reinforced
in law in 1914 in the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act which stated: “Any person
born within His Majesty’s Dominions and allegiance [is] …a natural born British subject. 11
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