In the UK today 40% of London’s population are from diverse backgrounds, so why is it so hard for a large community to find their sense of belonging? The word diverse can have so many different meanings, and often in the past the shared name for this community has been decided predominantly from a white voice.
Belonging, can mean different things to different people. For our young people of diverse ethnic backgrounds their belonging can be moulded by their heritage but they are not always made to feel accepted. Belonging runs much deeper than where you are born and is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as:
“The feeling of being happy or comfortable as part of a particular group and having a good relationship with other members of the group because they welcome you and accept you. A sense of belonging is one of humanity’s most basic needs.”
Our We Belong Here report found that our young people are often met with questions such as ‘where are you from?’ as though they are not British – this doesn’t stop them being confident about their heritage but they often have to navigate their day-to-day lives to avoid experiencing racism.