Monday, February 17, 2014

Black in London

I was privileged to be a guest on Adrian X's "Just My 2 Cents" show on Blogtalk last week - and a very great privilege it was. The topic for discussion was "What Is It Like to Be Black in London?"  Scroll down to listen to it.  

We were joined by Adrian's panel and guests including Nia Imara of the National Association of Black Supplementary Schools (NABSS).  

There was a lot of common ground - which is something I have said repeatedly over the years.  African people all over the world are facing a lot of the same challenges.  We have economic difficulties.  Our children are denied the best-quality education.  

Our communities, and particularly our men and boys, are targets for violence, including state-sponsored violence.  

Another issue we almost always face is internalised racism - the particular kind of self-hatred with which we were indoctrinated during the enslavement era.  Nia made the point that, although slavery has ended, mental slavery continues. And we see it everywhere.  It is in all of us.  

In order to combat mental enslavement, we first have to acknowledge that we have it.  Mental enslavement is like a disease, and we have all been infected.  In order to cure ourselves of it, we first need to acknowledge the problem.  

Harriet Tubman said, "I freed a thousand slaves.  I could have freed a thousand more, if only they knew they were slaves". 

A lot of the origins of mental enslavement were depicted in the BAFTA award-winning film 12 Years a Slave, and I shall be writing more about this soon.  

Nia made the point that the film did not depict Black people banding together to fight their oppressors, and this is a fair criticism.  However, we need to remember that this was one man's story.  What 12 Years a Slave showed very clearly were the reasons why some Black people, in some situations, did not fight back, at least not overtly.  Because of the daily brutality they experienced, they were too beaten down, physically and mentally, to fight back. 

Click here for Samuel L. Jackson's comments on 12 Years a Slave.  

You can listen to the show below.  Please post your comments below.  Thanks.  


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