The Black Experience

what determines your future success

is it hard work is it the color of your

skin

or is it something completely outside of

your control

i want to share an idea with you that if

we want to change the world

we have to invest in other people

people may say as an adult i’ve wiped

out my disadvantage

and maybe that is true but when you are

the only black person

in your village workplace or at social

gatherings

it’s impossible not to feel the

inequality

in society although i have great people

around me

psychologically i can’t help but wonder

what do they think of me

when i go to a job interview and i’m the

only person of color

i can’t help but wonder do they see my

color

when i go into a store and the security

guard follows me around the aisles

i can’t help but wonder what is he

thinking of me

as a black man living in semi-rural

hampshire

over the last 12 years it has become

evident that my neighbors

work colleagues and friends know very

little about the experience of a black

african

living in the uk over the last few

months

i’ve been surprised of the amount of

discussions

in social media that i’ve got into where

i’m explaining

the prevalence of racism in uk society

or when i’m using the phrase black lives

matter

is not to say that there is less

importance in anyone else’s life

i want to share some of my story with

you rather than focus on my successes

i want to focus on how inequality in

society

affects people like me emotionally

socially and psychologically and

i want to tell you what made the

difference first of all

i want to qualify my origin as sometimes

the categories that ethnic minorities

get put into

can sometimes be quite general and often

unhelpful

titles like bame afro-caribbean or

african-american etc

are quite broad and sometimes create a

sort of racial class system

whilst these descriptions are good for

educational study they can sometimes

categorize us

and tell us who to marry where we should

live

what jobs we should go for or who our

friends should be

in my experience these descriptions

strengthen stereotypes and put a

subconscious

expectation upon me an example of this

was when i was at secondary school my

school was 75

black afro-caribbean and there was

definitely an expectation

that the pupils excelled at sports but

less expectation

of academic excellence i was born

of ghanian parents who moved to the uk

in the 1960s

my maternal grandfather was a wealthy

timber merchant who sold to british

companies during colonialism

once ghana became independent in 1957

these types of trade deals ended which

hit my mother’s family

hard financially as a way to offset this

difficulty my parents came to london

to study my father studied law

and my mother dressmaking their

intention

was to gain qualifications and return

my mum recalls the difficulties of the

1960s

of seeing rental ads posted in windows

saying

no blacks dogs or irish

she also pointed out the terrible irony

of coming from a wealthy background

with all the freedom that brings and yet

being told

your skin colour limits your housing

i was born and grew up in lambeth south

london

within the backdrop of racial tension

between the community

and police riots in brixton gained

national attention in 1981 and 1985.

however this type of community unrest

was not

unusual as the heavy-handed policing

towards the black community combined

with high level of youth unemployment

and poverty

creating a feeling of being born into a

prison

with no chance of release

the lawlessness of the community

affected me personally

as my father was brutally murdered

in a mugging when he tried to intervene

with a lady who was being robbed of her

jewelry

i was eight years old at the time i

think it’s evident

that my childhood had very little

aspiration

we were a fearful family living under

the scrutiny of an institutionally

racist police force

those are not my words those the words

of sir william macpherson

in his 1999 report inquiry

to the stephen lawrence murder as i

reached

my teenage years being stopped and

detained by the police became an almost

weekly event

i recall being stopped by the police and

questioned

saying i fitted the description of

someone who commits some crime

but i could actually see the subtext

that to be black

was to be a criminal in this talk

i’ve mentioned three aspirations

or expectations that were put towards me

as a teenager

one i’m only good at sport

two i’m a criminal

or three i was both

i cannot explain to you the impact

authority figures have in the community

implicitly and sometimes

explicitly in giving these messages

to young black people you are told

your skin color is limiting added to

that

many of these authority figures are

white and whether true

or not the black youth feel

that this is representative of all white

people

this leads to social and psychological

barriers

that many black people live with today

my moment of change was when i joined my

local community basketball club

this was run by a man named jimmy rogers

this man’s contribution to the south

london community cannot be measured

his investment in me changed my world

the direction and focus of learning and

playing basketball

with jimmy’s input saved my life and

enabled me

to see other parts of the world beyond

lambeth london

and even the uk my horizons were

broadened by traveling

to other parts of the uk i benefited

from the confidence this gave me

but i also became aware that i was part

of an ethnic minority

and there were people that lived in

communities far away from mine

that lived in places i could only dream

of

it also became evident that very few

people had ever met a person who looked

like me

my story is one of growing up at a

disadvantage

compared to others i had four brothers

and we grew up in a council high-rise

flat with my mum

a single parent we received free school

meals

and my mom worked two jobs the harsh

reality

is my story is not an unusual one for a

black person growing up in the uk

i could name many friends that had it

much worse than me

murdered lost to drugs imprisoned

i could go on i could give a true story

for each one of these situations added

to that

many black people are dealing with the

legacy of colonialism

which creates a feeling of inferiority

and therefore

limiting behaviors and this is not only

a historic situation

but this is still true today

this has got to change

i have been blessed in my life to play

the sport i love

as a professional in spite of my

extremely difficult upbringing

my background has inspired me to help

young people in any way i can

to overcome the barriers that could stop

them achieving

their dreams as a teacher

and a coach i can invest in others

so back to you what can you do to change

the world

invest in others listen learn

be an ally being sincere about equality

requires a pro-active attitude that

encourages

inclusion for all this begins

in social settings if you have a

classmate

work colleague neighbor who is of ethnic

origin

and maybe a bit standoffish or keep

themselves to themselves

invite them to any social opportunity

and keep inviting them

even if they continually say no

the invite is part of the inclusion

it must be remembered that ethnic

minorities have a 400 year history

of being marginalized separated and

excluded

this becomes part of our psyche and we

need persistent gestures

to break this down don’t be afraid

talk about racism and how it impacts us

even if we have to set you straight on a

few things it generally

won’t offend don’t pretend you cannot

see

i am black my black skin is part of my

identity

of which i’m immensely proud so only

identifying me

by my height or by the color of my tie

feels a bit silly and could be offensive

what we don’t want is the color of our

skin

to define our character or our abilities

challenge racism when you witness it to

be silent

is to be complicit except that

ethnic minorities have certain

challenges that affect us

over our lifetime this in no way

is trying to minimize the struggles

other people may be having

but the black experience has many

specific

historical social and emotional issues

that affect us all today

to tackle racism it is not enough just

to say

i am not racist to tackle racism

we have to be proactively anti-racist

you can change the world by investing in

others not just by being nice

but getting involved and giving of

yourself

i think this is an idea worth sharing

you