ABSTRACT
Too often it is assumed that Britain is and has always been an inclusive space, tolerant of all ethnic difference. The vernacular used to describe or define this inclusion is interesting, as the term becomes consumed within whichever applicable rhetoric or discourse suits the narrative at the time. This term has also been conferred to suggest that Black communities are problems to be theorised by White intellectuals, consequently placing ethnic minorities on the periphery of British society, unable to verbalise their experiences of residing in Britain as a minority. The cost of this neglect is the portrayal of a phenomenon that is not entirely inclusive nor accurate, resulting in an historical amnesia that ensues when reciting and extolling the virtues of the politically turbulent and drug-fuelled excesses of the 90s. The opening chords to this introductory chapter in Cool Britannia and Multi-Ethnic Britain: Uncorking the Champagne Supernova offers a story of how racism unfolded in the 1990s against the backdrop of Cool Britannia. The chapter focuses on attempting to dispel the myth that this period was inclusive of all British residents at the time by exploring how ethnic minorities had to circumnavigate the landmines of racism throughout the decade within a societal and political context.
This introductory chapter begins by providing a biographical outline of the time which situates myself as the author, oscillating between the paradigms of inclusion and exclusion regarding the Cool Britannia phenomenon. Considerations within the chapter then move to the advent of New Labour and the subsequent impact on multi-ethnic Britain. This chapter transports the ethnic minority discriminatory plight regarding inclusion, exclusion, and marginalisation from the periphery to the centre, providing the stimulus for further considerations of race and racism, belonging, cultural diversity, and integration throughout this book.
