The Narratives – Mohamed Miah

Mohamed Miah | The Narratives

Kemi Badenoch recently said, “If I wanted to keep my Nigerian values, I’d have lived in Nigeria.”

At first glance, it sounds like a personal choice. A preference. But beneath it lies a troubling truth, when people of colour hold onto their culture, it’s seen as disloyal. When white Britons do it, it’s celebrated as heritage.

This isn’t just about one minister’s words — it’s about the larger narrative. A Britain where some cultures are preserved, while others are pressured into extinction.

Pubs in Spain vs Biryanis in Birmingham

Let’s take a look around.

Falklanders and Gibraltarians are fiercely British — and rightly so. They’re applauded for holding onto their identity, even while living thousands of miles away.

In Spain, you’ll find entire British communities — flying Union Jacks, sipping ale, opening pubs, naming shops after British cities. No one tells them to “integrate.” No one mocks their accents or labels them foreign. Instead, it’s patriotic. Romantic. A love letter to Britain.

Now zoom into a suburb in Birmingham. A Bengali family opens a restaurant. Keeps the language alive at home. Teaches the kids about Bangladesh, Islam, the culture of grandparents.

And suddenly, the talk shifts,

“Why don’t they just integrate?”

“Why are they so insular?”

“This isn’t multiculturalism, it’s segregation!”

The message is clear, cultural pride is only acceptable when it’s white.

You Don’t Leave Your Identity Behind

What Badenoch suggests — that to be “British” you must abandon your “Nigerian values” — is colonial logic repackaged in a Tory blazer.

The truth is most of us don’t want to live in one box. We carry the smell of our mother’s kitchen, the language of our grandparents, and the faith in our hearts — and we also carry passports stamped British. But for people of colour, that balance is never enough.

We are made to feel that we must choose, either be fully whitewashed and accepted, or be yourself and constantly questioned. That’s not belonging. That’s conditional citizenship.

Dianne Abbott Was Right

While Badenoch disowns, Dianne Abbott was vilified for doing the opposite, standing in her Blackness, and saying the uncomfortable truth.

She said racism hits people of colour first — because our skin shows difference immediately. And she wasn’t wrong.

A Polish man in Britain may face discrimination — but often only after he speaks. A Black or Brown woman? She faces it before she even opens her mouth. We wear our visibility.

So when people equate all immigrant experiences, they erase this very real difference.

In all cases racism is abhorrent, and should be left buried in the past.

English by the Sword — Not the Spirit

We’re told to speak “proper English.”

To leave behind our mother tongues. To sound less like Lagos or Lahore and more like London.

But let’s be honest, no religion in the modern era has been spread as violently and forcefully as the English language.

Entire civilisations had their languages criminalised. Children were beaten in schools for speaking their native tongues. English wasn’t adopted, it was imposed by whip, war, and Western superiority.

So when someone says, “You’re in Britain, speak English”—

They forget the reason so many of us speak it in the first place. It wasn’t education. It was empire.

Heritage Isn’t Just for the Powerful

This is the double standard at the heart of Britain. A man opens a pub in Benidorm, and keeps his culture, he’s a proud Brit abroad.

A woman wears a hijab in Bradford and speaks Bengali, she’s “failing to integrate”. A white chef making tikka masala wins awards. A Pakistani chef making the same food is just “another curry house”.

Same action. Different judgement. Because power shapes the narrative.

We Belong Completely, Not Conditionally

To be British should not mean to erase your past. It should mean that your culture, your roots, your faith, all have a seat at the table.

We are not a threat because we remember where we came from. We are not less British because we still carry our parents’ accents in our hearts. And no, we do not need to choose between pride and belonging.

Because real belonging allows both.