Freedom, Independence and Liberty

On our What U Need to Know show Saturday, we continued the theme of freedom, independence and liberty.

What does the 4th of July mean to you as an African American?

Are African people truly free?

Click here to listen.

One thing I didn't know was that Crispus Attucks was a community organiser, just like Barack Obama and Diane Abbott MP. We talked again about the importance of researching the truth about our history and not just accepting what we are told.

Click here to listen.

Click here for my Amazon Author Profile.

The Power of a Black Skin

Further to my previous blog about the BNP on the BBC, many people have said that when the head of the BNP appeared on Question Time lately, he came across as a bumbling idiot.

However, around 100 viewers phoned the BBC to complain that he was treated unfairly and even “bullied”.

I still say we need to learn the lessons of history and stop giving these people free publicity.

I felt torn about blogging about this issue and giving it more energy. Although there are other, better ways to overcome difficulties and create the things we want, sometimes we have to engage and directly confront.

Mr. BNP Head himself said that he had been treated unfairly because there were too many African and Asian people in the audience as the programme was broadcast from London, which had been “ethnically cleansed”.

It’s useful to know that we can “ethnically cleanse” an area – just by turning up! That’s the power of a Black skin.

But the final word has to go to the folks at the quiz show Have I Got News for You the same week as the broadcast. During a photo quiz, when asked to identify a photo of Mr. BNP Head, Ian Hislop, Paul Merton and their guests all shook their heads and said “We don’t know who he is”. At which point the host, Martin Clunes, moved on to the next item without identifying him either.

In other words, treat this man as the nonentity he should be.

Black History Films

Spent Saturday afternoon watching another excellent Black history presentation by Tony Warner at the Imperial War Museum. To listen to my interview with him from last October, visit the Success Strategies Radio Show.

On Saturday, Tony showed a film of interviews with African Caribbean war veterans, talking about the way they were treated when they settled in Britain after the war.

He then screened another film, titled "Playing the Race Card", about how successive Labour and Tory governments brought in legislation to prevent immigration from Africa and the Caribbean in the '60s and '70s, but did nothing to support the Black people living here.

The film pointed out thtat there were not measures to slow down or curb immigration from Ireland, which was not a member of the British Commonwealth.

In the 1970s, many people who had originated from India but had been living in Kenya and Uganda settled in the UK after receiving pressure from Idi Amin and Jomo Kenyatta. Although they held British passports, many Kenyan Asans discovered that the law had suddenly changed to prevent them from settling in Britain.

Tony pointed out that, although there were huge labour shrtages at the time, African, Caribbean and Asian people were still being discriminated against in employment.

The presentation finished with a short film celebrating some of the many contributions African women have made. I strongly recommend it. Click here to watch it.

Tony's site, Black History Walks, lists future events he will be offering.

I made a decision that this year, I would focus more on the positive. Even though, oppression, discrimination and pain feature largely in our history, alongside this, it is important to focus on the positive. Hence, my article on Black History International.

I therefore add the following comments:

(1) Knowledge is power. I'm sure President Obama has told his children about the way his Kenyan grandfather was treated during Britain's occupation of Kenya. For more about this, see Obama's Inauguration.

Gloria J. Browne-Marshall told me that some of her students in New York from Caribbean backgrounds were not even aware that slavery had happened. Tony Warner told me on Saturday that he had encountered this himself. This kind of ignorance renders us more vulnerable to manipulation by those who would exploit and oppress us. To listen to my interview with Marshall, go to Success Strategies Radio Show.

(2) Tony Warner and I have both heard Black people (who should know better) say that too many immigrants are coming to this country now. These Black people need to be educated to know that they are behaving the same way white people behaved towards their ancestors one or two generations ago.

(3) Along with these stories of oppression and discrimination, there are always stories of courage, of resistance, of African brothas and sistas who have stood up against evil, and fought for their rights and the rights of others. These stories continue to inspire me.

(4) Most importantly, we need to remember that white people are not the enemy (although they often seem to be). The enemy is group mentality. Another example of vicious group mentality and its consequences is the Rwandan genocide as portrayed in Hotel Rwanda. A very small number of people were courageous enough to stand up to the group and behave as individuals in that situation.

I talk more about group mentality and the need for individuality in The Key to Confidence, and in my book What They Don't Want Us to Know.

We Need to Heal

Once again, I find myself involved with a Black organisation in which people are sniping at each other, launching personal attacks and generally undermining one another.

As people of African heritage, we were taught to hate ourselves. That's why we often find so much conflict within Black groups and organisations. It's why there is sometimes so much distrust between African people. When you see Black people tearing each other apart, and when we engage in that kind of behaviour ourselves, this is one of the reasons. We are very wounded and we need to heal these wounds.

To read the rest of this article, visit The Key to Confidence and Self-Esteem.

Do Black People Know Our History?

My guest on tonight's show is Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, founder of the Law and Policy Group and author of Race, Law and American Society 1607-Present. She has a lot to say about Black history and how the law has affected us in Britain and the U.S.A.

I had a fascinating conversation with Gloria last night. She lectures in law in New York City and she told me that some of her students from Caribbean backgrounds were not aware that slavery had even happened there - they thought African people were indigenous to their islands. They had never been taught about slavery. (These are NOT Jamaicans, she assures me.)

Similarly, I was told by a previous guest, Tony Warner, that people in African countries are not aware of their history because the education system does not tell them about it. Click here to read more about that.

Tonight's show is going to be lively, informative and thought-provoking. I hope you will join us at 8:00 p.m. UK time. Click here to join us.

Black/African British Identity and Young People

I read a piece in the Voice the other day which argued that young people in Britain lack a sense of identity.

They may have been born in the UK or come here at an early age. When they go back to visit their parents’ homes in Africa or the Caribbean, the place seems foreign to them. But in Britain, they don’t feel as if they belong.

Identity is clearly an important issue. In the 1970s, many young people turned to Rastafarianism as a way of reclaiming their cultural identity.

The article glossed over some factors. For example, a young person living in a big city might feel out of place on a farm, whether that farm is in a rural area of Britain or in the Caribbean or Africa.

Still, the article states that “nearly all youth projects only offer musical or sports-related activities”, which “reinforces the stereotype that Black males can only be successful if they are sports figures or musicians”.

It is so important that we reinforce positive cultural values and a sense of their African heritage and identity with our young people. Without this, many of them are lost. They often don’t do well in school, join gangs which offer a feeling of belonging, get involved in crime and end up behind bars.

In my book, Black Success Stories, I made a conscious decision to avoid featuring people in the fields of sports or entertainment. After all, people of African heritage are good at everything. I celebrate Black success across a wide range of fields. All of the people I feature in the book are based in Britain. To order your copy today, visit: http://www.blacksuccess1.com/blacksuccessstories.htm

We also celebrate Black success and talk about the need for positive Black role models on my Success Strategies radio show every Tuesday. To listen in, and to hear recordings of previous shows, visit: http://www.blacksuccess1.com/radioshow.htm

Demise of Health First

With a heavy heart, I attended a recent meeting of the African Health Forum. It was the final one as part of Health First.

Health First was a resource funded by the Primary Care Trusts (pcts) of three South London boroughs, Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham (LSL). Large numbers of African people live in each of these three boroughs.

Health First provided support and advice to professionals and voluntary and statutory organisations for 15 years, but it has now been decommissioned.

I attended a stakeholders’ meeting several months ago, at which everyone agreed about how valuable Health First had been, and the value of the training provision in particular.

We had opportunities to meet people who played various roles across the three boroughs, whom we might never otherwise have met. This allowed us to share information and skills across a range of organisations and individuals.

In 2007, it was announced that Lewisham had decided to withdraw funding from Health First. Several months later, Lambeth and Southwark also decided to pull out.

This is reminiscent of when the Emergency Clinic at the Maudsley, a local mental hospital, closed a couple of years ago. Again, one borough – Lambeth in this case – withdrew its funding and Southwark, the remaining borough was not able to continue to fund the emergency clinic. This means that in an emergency, mental patients such as myself now have to go to the main hospital, Kings College Hospital, for help and support. We hope there will be a member of staff on hand who can provide specialist care and we have been told that there will always be someone available to do this. But Kings do not provide telephone support, which I have personally found extremely valuable at times when I was in a crisis.

Health First was seen as a flagship resource, and other local health authorities and pcts across the country looked to it as an example of good practice. The African Health Forum was an important part of the work of Health First. We are a group of people working in the voluntary and statutory sectors, specifically around HIV and sexual health issues, including health promotion, education, prevention and advocacy within the three boroughs. We have now widened our brief to include other health issues that affect local African communities.

I have been a member of the African Health Forum for over two years, and I have very much appreciated the opportunity to network and learn from others working in the area of health promotion.

The mood at the African Health Forum meeting was one of mourning. One person said it was like living in a house and someone tearing off the roof.

One thing that was said at the meeting was that there were allegations of mismanagement. This came as a shock to me. I had not heard anything about such allegations prior to that meeting and it seemed to be coming out of the blue. Nobody at that meeting was aware of any issues regarding mismanagement within Health First.

There are still funds committed to continuing the work of the African Health Forum for at least one further year. However, we don’t know what this work will be or what we will be able to achieve. We don’t know if there will be dedicated workers to support our aims. It is possible that we will continue in a different form – only time will tell.

Expelled Ghanaian Woman Dies

Ama​ Sum​ani​ needed​ dialysis to prolong her​ life. A Ghanaian woman who​ was​ removed fro​m a Car​dif​f hospital where she​ was​ receiving​ cancer​ treatment​ and​ flown home after her​ visa exp​ire​d has​ die​d.


Ama ​ Sum​ani​, 39,​ passed​ away in Accra,​ Ghana,​ hours after being to​d that friends and​ family​ had​ found doc​tor​s in the​ UK and​ South Africa​ to treat her​.


The​y had​ also raised​ more than £70​,00​0 fro​m donations​ to pay​ for​ drugs which were not​ available​ in her​ home country.


Her​ friend​ Jan​et Simmons said: "She said she​ was​ too​ tired to fig​ht.​

Ms Sum​ani​, a widowed mot​her​-of​-two, die​d at about 160​0 GMT​ on Wednesday​ in Korle-​Bu hospital in Accra, said Mrs​ Simmons.


She ​ had​ bee​n receiving​ kidney​ dialysis and​ treatment there after immigration officials​ removed Ms Sumani from the University Hospital of Wales in January


But the drug she needed to prolong her life - thalidomide - is not available​ in Ghana.​

Mrs ​ Jan​et Simmons, fro​m Cardiff, who​ returned from spending a month in Ghana on Sunday​, said they had just found a doctor in South Africa and another in the UK who would treat terminally-ill Ms Sumani with the drugs​,

"We told her this morning but this afternoon she gave up,​" she said.


A campaign to allow Ms Sumani to return to the UK for treatment and to raise funds to help her had been backed by people across the country.


"The British people kept her alive all this time and we would like to thank the​m for their donations​," said Mrs Simmons.


She added:​ "I last saw her on Saturday morning before​ I left Ghana.​ She was not 100​%. She asked me 'are you taking me with you?' and I had to say no.​

The ​ BBC​s Will Ross in Accra said Ms Sumani's life had been precarious, and that the decision to send her home was controversial.


“Despite facing great challenges in Ghana as her health deteriorated​, she remained cheerful and hoped the British government would reverse its decision”,​ he add​ed.​

Anonymous​ Donor

Ms Sumani had been undergoing dialysis and was receiving other drugs at the University Hospital of Wales after being diagnosed with malignant myeloma which damaged her kidneys.


She came to the UK five years ago to become a student, but began working in contravention of her visa regulations.​

When she returned to Ghana it was feared she would not be able to pay the costs of dialysis,​and an anonymous donor from the UK stepped in to pay for three months of treatment.


Previously, Mrs Simmons had said a family had offered to look after Ms Sum​ani​'s children Mar​y, 16,​ and seven-​year-old Samede​.


The decision to remove Ms Sumani​ was described as "atrocious barbarism​" by leading medical journal The​ Lancet​.


The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams also criticised the way cases like hers were handle
d.