London – June 15, 2025Home Secretary Robert Jenrick is defending his recent comment that he did “not see another white face” during a visit to Handsworth, a historically diverse neighborhood in Birmingham. The remark, made during a June 12 interview on GB News, has sparked national debate about representation, integration, and the lived reality of Britain’s multicultural communities. Jenrick insists his words were observational, not judgmental but for many in Handsworth, they echo a deeper unease about who belongs and who is seen.
According to 2021 Census data, Handsworth’s population is over 70% from Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority backgrounds making it one of the most ethnically diverse wards in the West Midlands. Jenrick’s comment came as he discussed immigration policy and community cohesion, but residents say it overlooked decades of local history, resilience, and contribution.
On Handsworth’s Soho Road, the scent of cumin and frying plantain drifts from corner shops that have stood since the 1960s. Elderly men gather outside the Masjid Al-Furqan mosque, sharing tea and memories of arriving from Pakistan and the Caribbean to rebuild postwar Britain. “We didn’t come to take,” says 78-year-old Gloria Thompson, whose family settled here in 1958. “We came to build. And we stayed even when others left.”
Rahman, who leads a local youth initiative focused on interfaith dialogue, says Jenrick’s phrasing felt like erasure. “It’s not that there are no white people here it’s that this place thrives because of its mix. To reduce that to a visual tally? It misses everything.” Her group recently painted a mural on the side of the old Handsworth Library featuring faces of all backgrounds, with the words: “We Belong Together.”
At Handsworth Park, teenagers from the Handsworth Unity Collective rehearse spoken-word pieces about identity and home. “Politicians talk about us like we’re a problem to solve,” says 17-year-old Malik Khan, gripping a notebook stained with rain. “But we’re the solution they just won’t listen.” Their open mic nights draw crowds of all ages, turning grief over misrepresentation into art that pulses with pride.
Jenrick has since clarified that his comment was “not intended to cause offense” and emphasized his support for “strong, integrated communities.” Yet in Handsworth, the words linger not as a political gaffe, but as a reminder of how easily decades of coexistence can be flattened into a single, careless sentence. The real story isn’t about skin color; it’s about who gets to define belonging. And on Soho Road, that story is still being written by the people who never left.
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