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AROUND BLACK BRITAIN L A M B E T H
E D I T I O N
MODEL
BEHAVIOUR Student who hopes to be crowned Miss London...p26
SPENDING
POWER
How Brixton is investing in its own community...p22
LOCAL
LEGEND
Clarence Thompson: Last Activist Standing...p27
“Starting a conversation in YOUR community”
22 THE VOICE MARCH 15 - 21, 2012
AROUND BLACK BRITAIN
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ELCOME TO the first edition of our special Around Black Britain supplement packed full of stories from the borough of Lambeth and surrounding areas. To mark The Voice’s 30th
anniversary, we wanted to get back to where we started: the community. Over the coming months, our reporters will be hosting what we call ‘community conversations’ all over the UK to find out what makes our readers tick. The idea is, you talk and we listen. Your input will not only feature in special editions like this one, but help shape future content as part of ongoing efforts to improve our publication. In 1982, when our newspaper was founded, life for black Britons was challenging. Unemployment in Brixton, an area often described as the heart of Britain’s black community, stood at 13 percent. Unemployment for young black people in the UK at the time was a staggering 55 per-
cent. Tension between black people and the police was at a high culminating in the 1981 Brixton riots. The Scarman Inquiry into the riots acknowledged the existence of racial disadvantage but fell short of identifying institutional racism. It would take the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence and the Macpherson report two decades later to address that. Nevertheless, Scarman brought positive changes. The police adopted a new code of conduct and money was thrown into Brixton. One of the areas that escaped Scarman’s scrutiny, however, was right-wing newspapers almost too eager to portray black Britons as
SPENDING POWER 1. What is the Brixton pound? The Brixton Pound is a local currency that can be used instead of Bank of England notes among participating
businesses in the area. It aims to support local traders by encouraging residents to spend money in Brixton. Since being launched in
www.voice-online.co.uk www.voice-online.co.uk violent criminals and chronic under-achievers. Our community knew better. The desire to defend it and report positive stories was the driving force behind this newspaper’s launch. Thirty years on, Lambeth is a different place, in part thanks to people like veteran activist Clarence Thompson who is featured in this supplement. In 1982, there were no black politicians in parliament. In 2012, Streatham MP Chuka Umunna is a rising star in the Labour party. The deprived Brixton of 1982 is now a sought after location with a thriving social scene. It is home to Windrush Square, named in honour of the ship that brought Caribbean migrants to British shores in 1948.
And next year, Britain’s first black heritage centre, the Black Cultural Archives, will open. Yet, there are challenges. Last year, reggae musician Smiley Culture, whose roots are in Brixton, was killed while in police custody. In 2011, the streets of Brixton witnessed more riots. At their heart were similar themes to 1981’s disturbances: heavy-handed policing, unemployment, economic inequality. We believe The Voice is as relevant now, as it was then. But don’t let us be the ones to say it. We want to hear what you think. Enjoy this supplement and join the conversation. Elizabeth Pears, supplement editor
Symeon Brown finds out everything you need to know about the Brixton Pound
2009 by community organisation, Transition Town Brixton – in partnership with the New Economics Foundation, Lambeth Council and the London
Mutual Credit Union – over 200 businesses are signed up and £65,000 worth of notes are in circulation. The currency does not attempt to replace cash and, is it’s voluntary, does not constitute legal tender. It operates in Brixton Market, Brixton town centre, Brixton Hill, Streatham Hill, Herne Hill and Stockwell. Brixton Pounds can be exchanged for pound sterling, and come in B£1, B£5, B£10, B£20 notes. Issue points include Olley's Fish Experience, Opus, Rosie’s Deli Café, Olive Morris House. The colourful notes have reflected the area’s diversity by featuring famous activists and artist from the area. The most recent note features the late Len Garrison, founder of the Black Cultural Archives. On September 29, 2011, the group started to pilot an electronic version of the note that transmits payment by text message. 2. Why does Brixton need its own currency? According to lifelong Lambeth resident Devon Thomas, chairman of the Brixton Business Forum, the currency fits well with the area’s tradition of rebellion. He said: “To any area who
wants to build its economy, the longer you can keep the money in the more prosperous you can get. In Brixton we are proactive – we saw the need and created it. It’s an identity and framework residents can control.” 3. Could the Brixton pound be attractive to other local economies? Similar schemes such as the Totnes Pound, in Devon, Lewes Pound, in Sussex, and Stroud Pound, in Gloucestershire, and the Bristol Pound are in place. A common response to last August's disturbances has been council-led “I Love” campaigns to spur on spending in riot-affected communities where trade had dropped following the riots - notably in Manchester and Tottenham, north London. In this vein, this type of scheme could be attractive. Stewart Wallis, executive director of the New Economics Foundation, talking at the World Economic Forum on issues facing the global economy mentioned the pound as “creating an advantage for local retailers”. Alex Holland, a Lambeth councillor representing Brixton Hill ward, added: “The future is local and the Brixton pound is one thing to help build it.”
IMMIGRATION
Lambeth: A Timeline 1971
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Brixton Tube Station opens
1981
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Brixton riots
1983
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Brixton Academy opens
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Cherry Groce is shot by police, sparking a
1985
second riot 1998
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Windrush Square is named to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the SS Windrush
1999
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Neo-nazi David Copeland plants a nail bomb in Electric Avenue, injuring 50 people
2009
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Brixton pound launched
2010
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Chuka Umunna elected MP for Streatham
2013
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Britain’s first black heritage centre set to open
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MARCH 15 - 21, 2012 THE VOICE 23
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Designer has her shoe cake and eats it Cake baker who uses designer heels as inspiration wins praise from Manolo Blahnik By Elizabeth Pears BAKER who crafts eye catching cakes using handbags and stilettos as her inspiration has been given the stamp of approval from world famous shoe designer Manolo Blahnik. Marcia Brown from Camberwell, met the man who counts Sex and the City character Carrie Bradshaw as his biggest fan at a book signing in luxury department store Liberty’s last month. The businesswoman who runs Designer Art Cakes had never even heard of the feted Spanish craftsmen, but was encouraged by friends to try her luck. With one of her most popular cakes packed safely in an Ikea bag, she headed to central London where her handiwork caught the eye of shop managers. She was then invited to meet Blahnik personally who was impressed by Brown’s shoe designs made entirely out of sugar paste. Brown told The Voice: “He had a thick Spanish accent, but he was very complimentary about one or two that he liked. He was very nice. His favourite was the black and white polkadot stiletto which is actually very similar to one of his own designs.�
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The south Londoner has always loved cakes but after being made redundant for the third time she decided that she wanted to develop her interest, perfecting her range of cake recipes before trying her hand at design. “I promise you they taste as good as they look. I sometimes have to convince people to eat them because they don’t want to ruin the design,� she said. Many of the people who meet Brown are surprised to learn that she did not attend any culinary courses. She taught herself by watching You Tube and is now running a successful enterprise with the knowledge she gained. She said: “This was just a hobby, that became a passion, but now it’s my business. “I don’t just do shoes. I do everything from Chanel handbags, Tiffany jewellery and cartoon characters. As I get better and better, I enjoy it even more. I’m doing something unique and special and I think that’s what keeps people interested. It’s also a constant challenge to keep outdoing myself.� Brown has now been shortlisted to feature in a Sky TV show tracking the journeys of entrants to Cake International – one of the largest cake exhibitions, to be held at the Excel Centre, in east London, in April.
SHOE TIME: Marcia Brown meets Spanish shoe designer Manolo Blahnik. (Right): Another of Brown’s creations
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24 THE VOICE MARCH 15 - 21, , 2012
AROUND BLACK BRITAIN
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GETTING DOWN When Around Black Britain went to Lambeth, one
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SMILES ALL ROUND: Voice MD George Ruddock presents a raffle prize to Eugenie Simms courtesy of Tropical Sun
VIDENCE SHOWS that black businesses are four times more likely than white start-ups to be refused bank loans outright. Rather than being a barrier, it has simply inspired Lambeth’s enterprising residents to get a little bit more creative. During The Voice’s community conversation, held on Saturday, February 25, at Lambeth Town Hall as part of the newspaper’s Around Black Britain initiative, careers professional Mathy Lisika Minsende told how she was left reeling after being made redundant last year and having to deal with her father passing away. Stuck at home and facing a crucial crossroads in her life, she began researching opportunities on the internet and started blogging about her experience. It inspired her to start her own venture ‘What the Job is this?’ which offers advice to those in ‘career transition’ via
online mediums like videos, podcasts and blogs. Having previously been unsuccessful in securing funding in the past, LisikaMinsande stumbled across innovative ways to make her vision a reality. She said: “There is not a lot of funding out there, but there is some. You just have to look for it and it is not easy to find. The important thing for me is that I did not want to start my business in debt. “One way to get funding is through business awards. They can be up to £500 – you just need to get a certain amount of people to vote for you. Another way is through crowd funding, which is basically what some might know as village funding. “The way it works in the village, for example, is if a child wants to go to school but has no means, everybody chips in. Some people give £50. Some might give £1. In exchange for the financial support, you offer a service a return. So with a £1 donation,
SOUND OF SUCCESS: Ms Melody, who runs her own recording studio, Instant Melodies, in Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, has received three nominations at the 2012 Lambeth Best Business Awards: best cultural business, best creative business and best small business. The mixing engineer has more than 10 years experience, and has more than 7,000 recordings under her belt. Artists like Jessie J, Shola Ama, Sneakbo, Roxxxane, DJ NG and the So Solid Twins have passed through her doors. Ms Melody, real name, Carla Campbell, set up the business in 2004. It is a one-stop-shop and also offers post-production, music videos, CD printing and design, artist development and promotion.
MARCH 15 - 21, 2012 THE VOICE 25
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TO BUSINESS
hot topic was enterprise. Elizabeth Pears reports
we will put your name in one of our videos, for example. “I never would have known about it, if I didn’t take the time to find out for myself.” The idea of ‘giving something back’ is something that is very dear to the heart of Chantell Graham, who has run her own make-up artist and beauty therapy business for the past seven years. She is also project manager for Black 100 Plus – a social enterprise which celebrates high-achieving Black Britons through an annual photographic exhibition. It has been running since 2007, and is currently open for nominations. This year, they hope to host the exhibition in Lambeth. Graham said: “Black 100 Plus is a self-funded business and we are really proud to say that. We like to fund it ourselves because it means we control it. We believe we can raise the money and we always have. It’s not cheap, but it’s possible.” The way the organisation raises cash is by offering services. Its founder, Lorna Stewart, one of only a few project writers in the country, takes ideas and packages them as viable businesses. She runs sessions for City firms like
JP Morgan with all the proceeds invested into Black 100 Plus. “You could say she takes from the rich and gives to the poor,” explained Graham. “It fits in with one of our schemes called Give Something Back. For example, if I need to rent a meeting room, I might not have the money, but I might have a service you can benefit from. “I’m not advocating running your business for free, but we have got to be creative and flexible sometimes. I believe in the black community. I believe that we can support each other, so we all get what we want.” At the meeting, working together to achieve individual goals was a recurring theme. Audience members harked back to an era where Caribbean migrants relied on the ‘pardner’ system – a pooling of resources – in order to get on the property ladder. Activist Junerly Raymond, who was born and raised in Brixton, is the director of Lambeth Enterprise, which works with social enterprises and small to medium businesses to help them thrive. She recalls: “Banks see our community as a risk no matter what you have, unless you have a house to
borrow against that they can take away from you. We advocate using our own means. The Government is pulling funding, so we can’t rely on public funds anymore. “When our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents arrived in this country, they relied on pardner, or ‘susu’. Different islands have different names, to buy their own homes. “It was not uncommon to have 12 men sharing one room with six beds. They operated a rota system, six slept on the floor, six in the bed. Now I worry we’ve gone full circle. We need to the pass baton to the young people now, but they are not prepared. We need to prepare them now.” Raymond said one of her biggest concerns was what she called an “ethnic cleansing” of Brixton businesses. “I think licensing rules work against black businesses. Brixton is a 24-hour economy. Lots of money is being spent here, and the businesses that are closing down are black ones. I’d like The Voice to explore this. Why have we been here so long and don’t own much? We need to learn to lobby. We are getting the hang of networking, but lobbying is the language the ENTREPRENEUR: Mathy Lisika Minsende Government understands.”
T H E A F R I C A N & C A R I B B E A N
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26 THE VOICE MARCH 15 - 21, 2012
AROUND NEWS BLACK BRITAIN
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Girl wages war on bullies 12-year-old joins school council to protect her classmates By Juliana Lucas
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ROLE MODEL: Nefertari Armarne, 12, is a school councillor
LAMBETH schoolgirl once picked on by her peers has turned the tables by becoming an anti-bullying ambassador. Nefertari Armarne, who attends Globe Academy, in Brixton, was at the receiving end of the bullies when she was in Year 7. But when the bullies shifted their attention to others in her class, Nefertari decided to join the school council to put an end to the taunting. “I have seen lots of children being bullied and I have been bullied too. I know how it feels and I do not like it,” said Nefertari, now in Year 8. She said: “I could handle my bullies, but some of the other kids in my class couldn’t so I joined the school council to help them.” Though Nefertari appears confident, she told The Voice she was once slapped across the face by a tormentor which affected her morale for more than a year. “One day a girl slapped me at a youth
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club near my house. The girl had been intimidating every new person who came to the club. She slapped me and ran away so I went home and told my parents.” Bullying is now taking place beyond the school gates, and on social networking sites. Nefertari has also experienced her fair share of that. “Some girls were saying that I thought I was too nice and it really hurt me," she said. “Older boys were intimidating me and trying to get me to go out with them. I was being pressured to join a gang. Some people started sending me cruel messages and pictures on Facebook.” The youngster was encouraged by her stepfather to join the school council as a platform to shed light on the issue. “We have to be victors not victims,” said Nefertari’s stepfather, Peter Wekpe, who attended a community conversation organised by The Voice on Saturday. He added: “Nefertari is quite confident unlike her younger sister who is very gregarious but not so sure of herself. She
knows she has her sister and she can always come to me as well. I try and help them both to understand how important it is to stand up for themselves to help create change.” Part of Nefertari’s role is to listen to her classmates. She then takes their opinion to the teacher. And, as well as tackling bullying, she has also helped improve things in other areas. “We used to get stale cheese at lunch”, she explained. “We didn’t like it so I made a complaint through the council and I got people to sign a petition which was passed to the head teacher. Because of that we now have somebody to monitor the food as well.” A perk of the job came when she got to meet US President Barack Obama and British PM David Cameron when they visited her school – although she was unaware of the significance until later. She said: “He was just another person with Cameron. I played ping pong with them, but thought nothing of it until I went home and told my dad who made so much fuss.” Just like most teenagers, Nefertari is unsure of what she wants to be in the future. She added: “I want to be a chef, but I also want to have my own TV show. I love [comedian] T-Boy and I want to be the female version of what he is doing.”
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By Elizabeth Pears A TULSE HILL student hoping to be crowned Miss London is waiting to find out if she has done enough to make it to the finals. Elizabeth Akingbade, known as Yemzi, battled it out with other beauty queen hopefuls at a oneday pageant bootcamp on Tuesday, March 13. A panel of judges, including last year’s winner Rissikat Bade, will announce today which of the eight contenders will go head-to-head at the Miss London 2012 finale at Cafe de Paris on March 17. DIFFERENT STYLE: The budding beauty queen The winner and two runsports her off-duty look ners up will go on to comshe is proud to call herself a British pete for the Miss England Nigerian. title. “There are no Nigerian restaurants Akingbade said: “I would in Bournemouth, I’ll put it like that,” love to be in the top three. the 20-year-old said. “I didn’t even Even though I didn’t grow have black friends until I was in up in London, I feel at home Year 11. here. Akingbade now has her own “I love our city because homeware brand Brit-Nig, inspired there is an opportunity by a fusion of her two cultures. around every corner and She has also successfully exhibinspiration everywhere. I’ve ited plates decorated in a pattern she achieved a lot living in designed at the British museum. London and I hope by winHer ambition is for Brit-Nig to ning this competition I will become as successful as brands inspire others to make the launched by leading designers such MODEL:Akingbadede at a most of the capital and chase recent fashion shoot as Cath Kidston whose floral prints their dreams.” helped her build a multi-million pound Despite what her Nigerian empire. surname might suggest, Akingbade was raised She said: “I believe Miss England is ready for in Bournemouth in Dorset after being fostered a new image. by a white couple at just 10 weeks old and has “Being fostered and being black, I tick two no contact with her biological parents. boxes that are under-represented. I also But moving to the capital to study a design think it’s important to see a variety of black course at the London College of Communications women in the media. We all have our own helped her connect with her African heritage and story to tell.”
MARCH 15 - 21, 2012 THE VOICE 27
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Campaigning Clarence L
AMBETH RESIDENT Clarence Thompson, 72, moved to the area in 1962 from his native Trinidad. Over the years, he has played a role in numerous initiatives to benefit the community including a housing association and a supplementary school. In 2010, he became chair of Lambeth Community Police Consultative Group (CPCG), a forum for consultation between the community and the police. What were your first impressions of Brixton as a young 20-year-old man? There were very few people of African heritage. When you saw someone with the same pigmentation as you, you would cross the street to say hello. There were so few of us we tried to stick together, but there was really no place where we could hang out.
had a culture of ‘ni**er hunting’, but over the years we have changed that. We went to a dance at the town hall, and on the way home the police set the dogs on us. There’s still a long way to go, but it has changed significantly. How do you think you have contributed to that change? The first thing I did was to join a political party as a forum for change. One of my mentors was Joe Hunt – he was the thinker among us. He believed that in a democracy the government of the day has a responsibility to create an environment in which all its people, irrespective of race, class, sexuality or disability, is given equal access to education and to participate equally in the creation of the wealth of the nation. Out of that hypothesis came the debate which led to the 1965 Race Relations Act which eventually led to the
ANGER: A Youth confronts a policeman during the Brixton riots
So what did you do for fun? I used to go to a pub called The White Horse. In those days, the racism was pretty bad. In some places you couldn’t get served, or people would break the glass if a black person drank from it. But the conduct was to go to the pub after work. It was not something we were used to in the Caribbean, but it was a culture we had to adopt in order to socialise. Brixton is often seen as the heart of the black community. Why is that? Brixton became the wonderful place it is today as a direct result of the opposition to us being here, and the way we were treated by police. They
Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), which is now part of a wider single body, the Equality and Human Rights Commission. All of that came out of the debate that we were engaged with. People don’t feel like our community has contributed anything, but we have done a lot to change the society. Who was Joe Hunt? Joe Hunt came from Trinidad and died in 1983. He is buried in West Norwood Cemetery. On his grave you will find the CRE logo. Robbie Robinson, a former deputy chair of the CRE, designated him the father of community relations. The thing is, I can’t really talk about my contribu-
tions in isolation, because there were many people who helped to make a difference. For example, when no one would to rent to ‘blacks’ or Irish, a man called Neil Wates gave us £10,000 to start our own association in order to provide accommodation for our people. Ten of us started Presentation Housing Association in 1968, and my brother, Adrian, was the main person who drove it. Later on in 1981, we formed the Queen Mother Moore School, run by Reverend Hewie Andrew, because our children were being put into ‘sin bins’ and branded educationally subnormal by the state. How important is the work Lambeth CPCG does? Following the stabbing of Kwame Ofusu-Asare we had a community meeting where there was a lot of people very concerned about where this was all heading. The bottom line is that our community does not trust the police. Even if someone dies within our midst, no one will speak to the police. The group work with the police and the community to say that we don’t want to see any more deaths in custody. But we also need to face up to the fact that there are some bad people in our community. That poor boy was walking through the Moorlands Estate to see his aunt and was killed. We shouldn’t accept that. Do you worry for the younger generation? Overall, I feel positive. A lot of us faced worse situations and were still able to succeed but we need to do more. We need to come together to build our own schools so we can educate our children because they are failing within the system. Too many of our children are being excluded. You cannot teach children you do not love. We have to be the ones that will love our children and give them alternatives to killing each other. Do you think the older generation have been so tied up fighting the system they haven’t paying attention to their own families? If you have rent to pay, gas to pay, children to provide for and you’re earning some of the lowest wages in the country, it is hard to be a parent. But the Government also spends too much time in our home. It has contributed to the breakdown of our families. We can’t teach our children.
GOING STRONG: The 72year-old is still campaigning for equality
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COME & TELL US NEWS OF A COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN OR INSPIRATIONAL TALES OF ACHIEVEMENT WHERE TO DROP BY AND MEET US:
Saturday, March 17th (Time: 11am - 2pm) PLACE: Fairfield Hall Park Lane Croydon, Surrey CR9 1DG FOR MORE CONTACT: Tel: 0207 510 0340 or email: elizabeth.pears@gvmedia.co.uk
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28 | THE VOICE MARCH 15-21, 2012
CLASSIFIED
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