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The story of the Ugandan Asians inspires us to fight racism
50 years and on the resilience and resourcefulness of Ugandan Asian refugees who settled in my community should encourage us to redesign the asylum system along the principles of solidarity and decency, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE MP
Ugandan Asian women, among the first to arrive, disembark from the specially chartered aircraft carrying their life’s possessions, September 1972

THE identity of my home city of Leicester is forged from a proud history of immigration and welcoming those seeking asylum, with Jewish Russian migrants arriving in the mid-1800s followed by European Jews fleeing persecution and Nazi barbarism in the 1930s.

After the second world war, Leicester welcomed migrants from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent. In the late 1960s and 1970s, thousands of Asian refugees arrived from East Africa, notably those fleeing persecution in Uganda, and this century we have hosted refugees and asylum-seekers from all over the world.

This is what makes Leicester special. We are the city where the minorities make up the majority. And we are richer for this vibrant exchange of cultures.

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