Thus it permitted white Commonwealth citizens from the West Indies and South Africa originally from England to immigrate freely while restricting black and Asian Commonwealth citizens. British politicians defended these immigration laws in the name of British nationalism. Before the 20th century, there was no legal definition of British citizenship and nationality-all British subjects enjoyed citizenship. British nationalism came to embody the ideas of culture and biology. West Indians face a dilemma because they are perceived in racial rather than cultural terms.
Culture is fluent, flexible, and changeable while race is absolute and fixed.