Dear Suella: I was born in London and raised in Oxfordshire. What do you reckon – can I be English? | Nels Abbey

The former home secretary has joined a debate that serves the right – and leaves England’s minorities feeling they don’t belong here

Here’s a thing: Black and brown people can be born and bred in England, can do and become just about anything in and for England (including making the ultimate sacrifice for their country). But for some, we can be of England, we just cannot be English. Capisce? Because, as they see it and say it, the main ingredient of Englishness is whiteness.

For wisdom on this, as in all things, we turn to the former home secretary, would-be once-upon-a-time Conservative party leader Suella Braverman. Referring to non-white, largely non-Christian communities in England, of which she appears to disapprove, Braverman said: “Some in these communities may hold British passports and be born here. But does that make them English?”

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Dear Suella: I was born in London and raised in Oxfordshire. What do you reckon – can I be English? | Nels Abbey

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