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