PSALM OF RACE

Every now and then we seem to have racially motivated attacks (even deaths) in this country, and we often seem to want some way of thinking about our reactions to them. I've always assumed my origins to be Scandinavian, a long

way back, and we are all happy to cheer on black British athletes, to say nothing of footballers, who may come from anywhere!

1. Britain has always had a mixture of peoples:

the Angles and Saxons were immigrants, and the English are their children!

2. New Commonwealth immigrations were nothing new:

different coloured skins make differences more obvious.

3. In coming, they faced many changes:

the original community has been changed as well -

4. are the English more racist than others:

are white people more afraid of other races?

5. There's still a rich variety of British people:

with Chinese, Indian, African and European cultures;

6. give us courage to welcome our differences:

and to rejoice in our common heritage.