David Olusoga is right about not only a lost generation, but lost generations of black, Asian and minority ethnic people (David Olusoga: racism in British TV has led to ‘lost generation’ of black talent, 24 August). The only surprising thing about his MacTaggart lecture is the headlines it has attracted.
I joined the BBC in 1986 on its graduate training scheme, alongside a certain Nick Robinson. I remember the day I told my family that I was going to work for the BBC – it was like all our Christmases had come at once. I had relatives from India, people I’d never set eyes on, sending congratulations, marriage proposals, and my parents handing out traditional sweets to family friends and strangers. To have a son working at the BBC – wow.
My parents didn’t really understand the level at which I was entering, just working at the BBC was a sign that all their sacrifices of leaving India for Britain had paid off. My mother was illiterate. She’d never put a foot inside a school. Like my father, she worked long, back-breaking hours in noisy, polluted factories in the Midlands to earn a pittance in order to put food on the table and a roof over our heads.
I didn’t attend a posh school – I went to the local comprehensive – but my parents, my mother in particular, had always said: “Work hard to earn yourself a good education – it’s the only thing you earn that no one can take away from you.” With this ethos, I became the only person from my family to go to college and be awarded a degree.
Then the BBC: I was shocked at the racism I was confronted with. Of course, I’d had to deal with this all my life, but the most hurtful bigotry is when you don’t expect it. And the venom of it from the staff, both those behind and in front of the cameras, was sickening.
The BBC isn’t isolated from the outside world. People who work there bring with them the same values as any other people. Racist jokes, stereotyping, bullying – you name it, it was there. I battled on and reached the level of senior producer. But the years of abuse and no support took its toll. I had a nervous breakdown and my GP put me on tablets to help me cope with life.
I joined the BBC a happy, highly motivated person full of life, I left it a broken person, unable to live without being medicated, with no sense of purpose and fearful of the future.
Lakviar Singh
London
