202008 - Am I Still Welcome Here?
London raised me, but lately I feel like a stranger in the city that made me
Letter ID: LON-202008
Dear London,
I am 41 now. I moved here from Genoa with my family when I was a kid. I do not remember the journey clearly, just the feeling that we were starting again somewhere bigger. London raised me more than anywhere else. I went to school here. I learned history here. I learned how to carry myself here. This is where I became who I am.
Lately I keep noticing flags going up. On houses. On cars. At protests. England flags. And I will be honest, it has been confusing. Not in a political way. Just in a human way
When I was younger, that flag did not feel aggressive. It was just a flag. Something you saw at football matches or outside pubs. I was taught to respect it. I was taught that it represented this country and the values people liked to talk about. Fairness. Order. Opportunity. I believed that. I think part of me still does.
What stays with me is learning later on that the flag itself did not even start as English in the way people talk about it now. That it travelled. The flag was used by other nations. It was used across seas by English men going into other countries. Moving freely. Sometimes welcomed. Sometimes not.
And now I watch that same flag being waved at protests against people like my parents. Against people like me.
Most days I just feel tired when I think about it. Unsure about where I am meant to stand. This city made me. I have worked here. Paid into it. Built my life here.
I just do not know when a symbol stopped being something I was taught to respect and became something that tells me I do not belong.
I am still here though. I still wake up in this city. I still walk these streets and stand at these bus stops like everyone else.
I am not asking for permission to be here. I just want to understand how a place that helped shape me can sometimes feel unsure about having me back.
From a Londoner… apparently
Occasionally we shape real stories into letters, so every voice is heard.
Source: Letter sent by writer
Photo Credits
Images are sourced to enhance the reading experience and do not depict the original writer
•Letter image: iStock.com/ioshertz
•Flag image: istock.com/JohnnyGreig