interview: Ashley Carter photo: Tom Morley
Generation now The murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis sent reverberations around the world, including Nottingham, where thousands of people descended on the Forest Recreation Ground in a show of communal strength against systemic racism on Sunday 7 June. The protests were peaceful, but the anger, frustration and passion for forcing change – in real terms – was overwhelming. Behind the protests were three young women, friends Shan Vincent, Tyla Henrique-White and Janelle Brown who have since formed Next Gen Movement, a project aimed at empowering young people to make sure the fight against racism continues to be impactful. We caught up with Janelle to find out more, and discover where they plan to go from here… Can you start by telling us a bit about Next Gen Movement? It’s a Millennial-driven organisation which focuses on empowering the youth, fighting against racism and being a voice for Nottingham’s community to make a permanent change. The idea came in the build-up to the protest; we realised there were going to be loads of people there, which just made us more and more passionate, as well as reflecting on things we’d experienced. For example, because I’m really light-skinned for a black person, I don’t actually look black at all. So rather than racism being directed at me, people feel comfortable enough to make racist comments around me. It’s happened at two different jobs in the past. They can be microaggressions, like one time when there was a funeral being held for a young boy who had been stabbed, and someone sent an email around telling us to be careful because black people there would be bringing their own drinks and weed. That email was actually sent to me. It was in discussing situations like this, which didn’t happen on the other side of the world, but right here in Nottingham, that made Shan, Tyla and I realise we needed to do something here. It isn’t just about protest; it’s about making permanent change. That’s why Next Gen Movement was formed. What areas will you focus on? We have the four Es, which are: education, empowerment, employment and engagement. Each of these areas has its own set of goals and timelines so, for example, with education we want to change the way that history is taught in schools because what you tend to learn about black history is slavery, and that’s it. People don’t know that there have been black kings and queens, which I only know about because my Dad taught me. We don’t really look at the fact that Britain colonized countries all over the world, so we’re looking at making a real, tangible change in that area. We’re meeting with Nottingham City Council about
how we can make that happen. Even if we manage to change the curriculum in a couple of schools, it would be a great achievement.
But people can and are changing. I saw a video the other day of a former skinhead who had a big swastika tattoo on his chest. He was getting it covered up and explaining how, over the last year, he’d changed his views on racism. It’s never too late for people Moving on to empowerment – so Tyla, one of the other members of the group, is black. Shan and I are mixed race, but Tyla is full black. She told us that, growing up, she really wanted to be white – you know, with longer hair, a smaller nose, lighter skin. They were the beauty standards in the nineties, and they’re pretty much the same. It’s not just with beauty, because a friend of mine said that when he goes for a job interview and he’s up against two white guys, he automatically feels like he won’t get the job. We want to empower young men to understand their worth. There might be some barriers up against you, but you can knock them down. Engagement involves working within the community, and we’ve already set up a project with Helping Kids Achieve and The Pythian Club. It’s going to be a series of workshops, talks and training courses. We’re looking to launch that in August, but it’s obviously very dependent on what happens
with COVID-19. It’s important to say that these workshops aren’t just for black or mixed-race people – they’re for everybody, and are going to focus on improving life skills like cooking and finances. And finally there’s employment, and we’ve got a project already planned for this. Nate from Mimm is going to be offering somebody a six-month lease at Nottingham Street Food Club to set up a business. It’s going to be someone who is young, black or mixed-race and recently out of prison, because there are really limited opportunities for people in those circumstances. Employment also involves working with companies to enact permanent changes. We’re currently working with Boots to look at how recruitment can be fairer by using things like blind CVs. The blind CV option is an interesting one, because it brings up the debate about equality of opportunity vs. equality of outcome. If I can present a hypothetical situation: say Boots advertises eight jobs using the blind CV system, and all eight jobs go to straight white men. That would still be an issue, wouldn’t it? That’s the problem. That could happen, and where do you go from there? We haven’t fully looked into it, and there are companies out there that have used blind CVs, so before we discuss that being the best option we need to look at how it has worked for them. We’ve found that some places, like the Council, for example, have a system where if you’re from the BAME community you get a guaranteed interview. That’s also not fair in general, and it’s not fair if you’re white. It means people aren’t getting employed because of their skills, but to make up the BAME numbers in a company to make you seem more multicultural. There have been pockets of anti-racism protests throughout your lifetime – why do you think the current
