Lenny Henry writes poignantly about issues of identity with which many Black Britons have had to wrestle (Integrate, my mum said, so I did. But Eric Morecambe helped me find my Windrush self, 22 June). I am surprised, though, that he still needs to understand why his mum “wanted us to integrate rather than celebrate who we are”. It may look less puzzling if we remind ourselves of the orthodox racial thinking of the time.
In 1960s and 70s Britain, people often used the terms “integration” and “assimilation” interchangeably, despite their differences. Integration connoted acceptance and equality (albeit imperfectly), whereas assimilation required a deracinating self-abnegation. A musical footnote illustrates the point.
