In fact, I was interested in everybody but never particularly, or interested in white people in a special way at all. The result is she is ambivalent about who she is and knows that she is identified as ‘black’ but this doesnt sit comfortably with her as she knows next to nothing about even her own family heritage on the ‘black’ side of the family and for her formative years, there was little interaction on the part of the Asian side of the family who never forgave her dad for marrying a black woman as black people were slaves and beneath them!!! She has a daughter now with a wM and I can see that there will be a struggle going forward as to how she will expose that child to their own unique personal identity. Having said that, I have a friend with the same ethnic mix and whilst her parents empowered her as a woman, there was NO grounding for her in terms of her ethnic identity. London is supposedly the melting pot of the UK so whilst her ‘mix’ may not have been common, would this have been deemed different enough to make her feel alienated to that degree? I take on board what you say about family though as this is where we want/need crave acceptance. True, its possible that she may have not had a strong sense of identity but it seems that of the people that came forward as her ‘friends’ and those who were alluded to in the article, that she would have been surrounded by a diverse and multi ethnic group of individuals. Who knows, she may have been bullied and shamed about her Indian-ness by black people AND white people, despicably ignored by both as well as being excluded by other Indian people? Joyce’s Asian family may not have ‘owned’ her, and her black family may have been ambivalent, at best. In contrast, there are very, very few who are of South Asian and African mixture. In England, most mixed race people have one white parent and one black parent. How a mixed-race person perceives and defines themselves is a very personal thing – opinions and experience vary so much. Secondly, she may have had a shaky sense of identity. I saw no mention in the article of how or why she came to be in this type of accommodation – I can only assume there was credence to the type of accommodation she was given but, having said this, in my own experience, my first ‘housing’ experience was a flat which housed many people with mental health issues – I can be a ‘crazy cow’ but of course, this is no official diagnosis I can understand how one or two days might pass without any contact but this woman lay undiscovered for 3 years!!!! If, as is stated, she was in ‘safe’ accommodation, there would have been someone assigned to check on her surely? What on earth happened in this situation? Someone who has to flee and go undercover so to speak, would be working with some kind of ‘case worker’ who presumably would have had a duty of care for Joyce. This struck me and kept niggling at the back of my mind but I wasnt sure why until now. I don’t have any inside knowledge about domestic violence, but it’s clear that in order to gain support like this, a woman – or man – who is abused by their partner have to be perceived as innocent victims who suffered at the hands of particularly deviant men (or physically violent women). Anyone who qualifies for that provision has to really need it. On Mon Jan 23rd 2012 at 16:32:14 the report said that she was living in ‘safe’ accommodation given to her as a battered woman.
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