12 minute read
CHANGING THE PERCEPTION
MusicFootballFatherhood
CHANGING THE PERCEPTION OF BLACK FATHERHOOD
It’s New Year’s eve, the last day of 2019, and I’m writing my goals and aspirations for the year ahead. I had big plans for my organisation, MusicFootballFatherhood (MFF), to step up the work we do in our mission to create safe spaces for open conversations around fatherhood.
I’m a young, married, professional Black father. And I don’t exist. Back in 2017, I wrote about my experiences of being a Black man and a new father in The Independent. This experience was often one of feeling invisible. It was one of feeling alienated at parent-baby groups, as other parents greet you with suspicion. Or medical professionals assuming you know nothing about your baby and aren’t worth engaging with at appointments. Or looking at the TV and failing to see a dad that looks like you and reflects the life you live. The year before, I had started MFF to create the space for open conversations around fatherhood, but also to change the perception of what Black British fatherhood is. MFF has grown into a strong team of contributors from a range of backgrounds. It’s the UK’s most exciting parenting and lifestyle platform for men and the BBC even called us the “The dads’ version of Mumsnet.”!
Supporting Dads through lockdown
So when we as the MFF team were setting out our vision for 2020: little did we know that, just a few months into the year, the whole world would spin on its head.
Through COVID19 and Lockdown, where at one point most of the UK population were at home, our mission became even more important. As many Dads faced new challenges; of home schooling, juggling childcare and working from home, job insecurity, or for some, being away from their children for prolonged periods of time. Like many other Dads, I was dealing with some of these same challenges myself and it was tough going some days.
What the Lockdown taught me was to appreciate things we can so easily take for granted; the green spaces near our house, the comfortable tracksuits (I haven’t worn a shirt in months!), our good health and the love in our home. I’m proud that MFF has been able to support the mental health of dads through this period. We have had important conversations with our MFF community and shared resources through our blog, podcast, online events and social media.
Parenting through Black Lives Matter And just like COVID, none of us could have predicted the shift in the world following the murder of George Floyd. As a platform, we held discussions around parenting during this time, helping Dads around the world to process these events and think about what it all meant for the way we live our lives, bring up our children and how we use our voices and power for positive change in the world. Black History Month gives us
another opportunity to think about how we use our platform for good, while we also celebrate the richness of Black history across the world and particularly here in the UK. Throughout the month, we’ll be launching our #BlackBritishHeroes campaign where each day, one of our MFF Dads will be share a video on our socials and website highlighting a Black British figure who has had a big impact on who they are and the way they parent.
I am still overwhelmed when I think about the huge impact MFF has had on Dads in the UK over the last few years. Last year, this was recognised by the United Nations and I was awarded their change maker of the year award for my work on gender equality. What a surreal experience.
Why I am so proud to lead MusicFootballFatherhood I’m truly grateful for this recognition, and all the recognition MFF has had to date, and I want to use this opportunity to encourage you to manifest that idea you have. We can often underestimate our own power and the impact we can make on the world. Now is the time to make that idea a reality.
MFF has already given me so many highlights I will always treasure, however the true gift in MFF is how we are able to create safe spaces for Dads to have open conversations around fatherhood. I’ve cried reading stories about miscarriage, widowhood, baby loss, mental health and relationship breakdowns. I’ve been encouraged by conversations around home schooling, creativity, fitness and shared parental leave.
I’m proud to lead an innovative and compassionate organisation like MFF. The modern Father is a new breed. We are way more involved and present than ever before. But every Father is different. Whether you are a single parent, father of a blended family, a stay-at-home dad or a father of quadruplets, we are here to inspire, inform and support.
Come and visit us, have a look at our #BlackBritishHeroes campaign and join the community at MusicFootballFatherhood.com and @MFFonline_ on Twitter and Instagram.
By Elliott Rae - Founder of MusicFootballFatherhood, Diversity and Inclusion expert and United Nation’s Changemaker of the Year
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
A BEGINNING AND NOT AN END “This is the era of Black Lives Matter”
What does October mean to you - clocks going back? The realisation that Winter is coming once again? Halloween?
It is all those things and more, and that ‘more’ is Black History Month. 31 days for us to celebrate all that people of African and Caribbean descent have contributed to this country - and the world - from antiquity up to the present day. Put like that, it does not seem anywhere enough, does it? Because it is not.
As Chair of BCOMS (the Black Collective of Media in Sport), we try to celebrate and elevate Black excellence in sports media all day, every day. Which is not always easy, as an unfunded, voluntary organisation. Through our masterclasses for young talent, opportunity sharing, network building and relationships with industry leaders, we aim to be a conduit between our communities and the UK sports media that knows it needs to diversify to survive and thrive in a new time.
This is the era of Black Lives Matter, and a generation that feels rightly emboldened to demand a fairer, more equitable society for all people, and across all sectors. We hope our part of the UK puzzle - the sports media industry - keeps its word and strives to embrace the change that we all recognise is necessary. We will see a flood of activity this October, as we do every year. But Black History - and Black Lives - are not only about 31 days once every Autumn.
We are important each day. And at BCOMS we will keep pushing that message, as we have done 24/7, 365 for the past 10 years.
Happy Black History Month, Drew #BlackLivesMatter
Drew Christie is a sports producer and journalist and Chair of the Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS). To find out more about BCOMS please visit www.bcoms.co. You can follow BCOMS on Instagram @wearebcoms and on Twitter @bcomstweet
BY JORDANNE ROBINSON Beyond Black and Proud
For many 2020 was set to be a big year, there was something about entering a new decade which made you feel revitalised and looking forward to the new year. However, for many that was not the case. News of a virus outbreak flooded in and within months the UK went into
Lockdown. For the first time the world came to a halt as the pandemic set in and with this shed light on a much sinister beast. Racial tension was higher than ever, and the tipping point came with the death of George Floyd.
Early June while aimlessly scrolling on social media my feed became filled with the unsettling and disturbing videos of a Black man in the US being pinned to the ground and subsequently dying. I and millions around the globe were seeing police brutality in its undeniably rawest form. To many Black people this was nothing new, as horrible as it is, we have all seen this before, but there was something different this time. For this time people around the world were able to witness the injustice, to see a man laid out on the concrete road with the knee of a white police officer in his neck taking his last breath. We all watched the racist murder for the eight minutes and forty-six seconds it took. The outcry from the Black community was immense, “Black Lives Matter!”. Hashtags were all over social media and across the globe people took to the streets in solidarity to peacefully protest against police brutality, black injustice, and racial bias. Our non-black counterparts were forced to assess their own privilege and their role, whether friend or foe.
This combination of racial injustice and the rise of Covid-19 further shone light on the health inequalities faced by Black and ethnic minorities. As the cases across the UK rose it became prevalent that Black and ethnic communities were at a disproportionately higher risk of contracting and dying from the virus. The reasons for this are numerous from inadequate health care, economic deprivation, underlying health issues to the high proportion of ethnic minorities working in our front-line services where there were higher risks of transmission. As a Black woman
I had to reassess my own safety and like many others isolating and working from home became the new normal. I relied on the news and governmental measures to protect us and control the spread of the virus, but these were in fact exacting a heavier social and economic price on those already experiencing inequality. During this time racially aggravated crimes jumped, people were on edge and black and ethnic minorities were taking the brunt of it. There was a glimmer of light by the voluntary and community sector groups that rose up collectively to attend to those in need, but the deep-rooted discrimination in British society overshadowed that good
work. It is quite clear that the UK needs to do more to eliminate racial discrimination and because of Covid-19 it was more prevalent and exposed than ever before.
Saturday 6th June 2020 - The day I took part in my first protest! I travelled to Parliament Square in London with my younger sister to protest the ongoing police brutality that continues to rock the black community. Unfortunately, another Black life was inhumanly taken from us at the hands of a US police officer. This story is not new to us, we have heard it many times before where an unarmed man, woman or child has been mistreated by law enforcement and it has ended up costing them their lives. For too long this has been the narrative. That day and days previous the world stood united in saying “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”.
Standing side by side with my brothers, sisters, and allies, we made sure our voices were heard. We made sure that our presence was felt because for too long we have been denied a voice, for too long we have been losing our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters at the hands of those who are supposed to be protecting us. As a Black woman one can only be reflective of my own life, especially when thoughts of Breonna Taylor come to mind. The story of a key worker who was shot dead in her sleep due to the mistaken identity of a male perpetrator. When these heinous crimes are committed there is no justice being served and that is not right.
Racism is a disease that is unfortunately woven in the fabric of many institutions around the world and for decades we have been made to feel that this type of treatment is normal, that it should just be tolerated and that it will never change. What am I showing my younger sister and her peers? As we marched peacefully, I felt a great deal of responsibility to play my part and be a part of the change that is very much needed.
It’s finally time to decide what side of history you want to be on!
MESSAGE FROM
DAVID LAMMY MP
It’s been more than two years since I challenged Amber Rudd in the House of Commons over the Windrush Scandal. Confronting a government that couldn’t even tell us how many people had lost their jobs, kicked out of their homes, been denied medical care, detained or deported, I said it was a day of national shame. In truth, it was only the beginning.
It wasn’t until the following year when the Windrush Compensation Scheme was officially launched. Insufficient, delayed and overly complex, I made my grievances about the compensation scheme heard.
At the same, time, however, I also want to emphasise just how important it is that you reach out to receive this compensation. To anybody who was affected by this scandal, please apply so that you can receive the financial compensation you are owed. The scheme is still online, and it will remain so until April 2023. Please get in contact with Citizens Advice, who can help you with the forms and offer support over the phone and in person. This service is available to people living in the UK, as well as to those who are overseas.
The Windrush citizens can never be repaid. These are people who had been denied a lifetime of employment, housing, citizenship, wealth and opportunity. There is no financial settlement that will restore the dignity that your own government took from you. Those citizens who were detained, deported, made destitute, jobless, or homeless will never truly be repaid. There is no amount of money that will reverse years of pain from family separation. There is no reimbursement that will rectify state-sanctioned brutality.
Seeking compensation is just the beginning of a long process of national self-reflection, repentance and justice, but I encourage you to take this first step. It’s the least you deserve.
