The Most Dangerous Woman Fredia Gibbs
Sadio Mané Built A Hospital In His Village
Vol. 2 Issue 44, 25th June – 1st July 2021
Stephen Bourne
A White Ally in conjunction with
Why Children Runaway? Their Stories. contributed by Hear The Children’s Cry/Jamaica Observer
Editor’s desk
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From the
Celebration and Lessons learnt
T
here is cause for celebration in the Black community as Superintendent Novelett Robyn Williams won her appeal against dismissal from the Metropolitan Police. An independent panel found her dismissal from the Met was “unfair” and “unreasonable” and, as a result, her appeal against losing her job was successful. Superintendent Williams had an exemplary disciplinary record and had numerous commendations for her work at Notting Hill Carnivals and Grenfell. She received the Queens Police Medal for distinguished service in 2003. Williams was charged with receiving a WhatsApp video from her sister that contained inappropriate material. Although Williams was adamant she did not open it, the jury found her guilty. A lesson for all of us is to be careful about the material we share on social media and report anything suspicious immediately.
International Missing Children’s Day Hosted By Hear The Children’s Cry, Jamaica Maxine Cooper — Acting Executive Director, Hear The Children’s Cry 2 Transform your viewing...
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issing children continues to be a significant issue both in the UK and Jamaica. The Jamaica Observer article was inspired by Hear The Children’s Cry’s Zoom Forum held during Child Month [May]. Betty Ann Blaine, the founder, is “thankful that the spotlight is on this problem, and we hope that the stories of these children and their parents will help others.”.
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Kenneth
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Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda died at the Maina Soko Military Hospital on June 17 2021. Kaunda, who was 97 years old, was being treated for pneumonia.
Victoria Falls
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Cover
Story
Stephen Bourne
A White Ally By Beverley Cooper-Chambers BM: Why did you write Black in the British Frame, which talks about the Black talent who never got recognised?
SB: Well, that’s the whole point. You see, they never got recognition, but I recognised that quite early on when I was still at school. I come from a working-class family from South London in the 1960s and ‘70s. The ‘60s was a golden age of television. Growing up, I had unlimited access to television. It was fantastic. I had an adopted older aunt, Esther Bruce, who was Black and British. She was born in London before WWI. We had a close relationship, and that is when I became interested in Black British history. I’m nine years old watching Blue Peter at five o’clock with Valerie Singleton making something out of sticky back plastic, and within 45 minutes, the teatime news is on with children being napalmed in Vietnam. The extremes were incredible; Doctor
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Who on Saturday, then Martin Luther King’s assassination the following Tuesday. I started to notice how Black people were represented on television. In the ‘70s, what I call the dodgy sitcom generation started with Love Thy Neighbour and Mixed Blessings. They were awful. They were badly written, with some fine Black actors in them, but whose talents were diluted.
What was the Black and White in Colour project? I graduated from the London College of Printing in 1988 with a film and television degree. My research paper was on Black actors in British television. My tutor said, “Send it to the British Film Institute,” which I did. They called me in to do an internal seminar on the paper.
Unbeknownst to me, the BFI and the BBC were in the process of co-funding a three-month research project on the history of Black people in British television called Black and White and Colour. They’d already contracted Therese Daniels, who was interested in documentaries. The project was successful, but we’d hardly scratched the surface, so they renewed the contract year after year. The project mushroomed and evolved into a BBC/BFI television two-part documentary. We researched all TV genres on Black people in British television from the 1950s and conducted over 40 interviews. Our interviews included Rudolph Walker, Lenny Henry, Carmen Munroe, Norman Beaton and Cy Grant. It was a remarkable opportunity for me; I was simply in the right place at the right time.
Where is all that material now?
BFI deposited the documentary and 40 unedited interviews in National Film and Television archives. We already had access to the BBC archives, so we built relationships with ITV, Anglia TV, Granada TV, London Weekend Television (LWT), Thames Television, and Channel Four. Every week we would find something new in their archives. It was fascinating working with Black director Isaac Julien from Sankofa Independent Film and Video Collective and, on his insistence, a Black film crew. Judy Headman, our sound woman. We had the only Black cameraman at the BBC, Remi Adefarasin, a Black driver, and a Black makeup woman. It was a brilliant atmosphere in that studio. I was the exception- a White ally.
Is the documentary still available?
No, I wish it was. I keep asking the BFI to make it accessible. To my knowledge, the only one that’s been used was Professor Stuart Hall’s documentary made by John Akomfrah.
You had a lot of rejection from TV Gatekeepers’ and publishers. Why?
Yes, “We don’t do that sort of thing.” The Gatekeepers are the publishers and the producers. And they are, in my humble experience, White, middle class with a particular attitude which is nine times out of 10 negative. That was the case up until the Black Lives Matter movement last year. We have seen some extraordinary breakthroughs. When you look at the recent BAFTA television awards, Michaela Coel’s May I Destroy You was nominated with Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series and Michaela won. It shows we have made some progress. It is progress, but only a few people are allowed through the door. The BBC, as a television institution, will trust a Lenny Henry and commission him. He did one recently on Black composers—Butterfly Magazine issue 23 Page 25. As much as I love and respect him, he gets quite a big piece of the BBC television/radio pie. Does that make sense? No disrespect to him because he’s excellent. David Olusoga, who does exemplary work like Windrush Scandal, and A House Through Time and everything he touches turns to gold. Michaela Coel is doing remarkable work in the drama, but you soon start to run out of names. When I say Gatekeepers, they are the people who either let people in or shut people out. I think they probably shut out more than they let in. Transform your viewing...
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composer. I proposed a music documentary on two Black British women composers from the Edwardian WWI period, and they didn’t want to know. There’s still some sections of the BBC that is more comfortable doing African-Americans than Black-British. There was still this resistance, and you’re right. The word is trust.
Why don’t they highlight this part of their history?
Stephen with Aunt Esther
Why?
They’re afraid of being criticised. They don’t want to take risks. That’s why they let some through the gates, Steve McQueen, Michaela Coel, Lenny Henry, David Olusoga. They allow a few through that they know they can trust.
Explain trust?
Trust means delivering the goods with minimum risk. Even if it’s something that makes viewers uncomfortable or unsettling, like David Olusoga’s Windrush Scandal, to be fair to David, it’s taken him 20 years working within that Institution to get this far. I remember meeting him early in his career at the BBC. He’s paid his dues, and I’ve got the utmost respect for him. He makes good programmes, but there should be a whole range of people from African Caribbean backgrounds doing similar work. There’s too much emphasis on African American culture and history. BBC Radio Three devoted a full week of programmes to Florence Price, the African-American 6 Transform your viewing...
I naively thought that if people understood history better, it would change attitudes. White middle-class people wouldn’t be so nervous about race because there’s evidence of a positive tradition. That has never happened. My book empowers people coming into the profession to say, “Oh my God, a Black actor was playing a leading role on BBC television in a drama in 1938.” That’s what motivated me to do Black in the British Frame. I wanted that book to influence the television companies into understanding the Black British intervention into British television wasn’t all negative; there was some positive stuff, and positivity empowers. The book failed to do that. No, it wasn’t my failure. It’s a failure of the media. They didn’t pick up on the book. I’ve been writing Black, British history books for 30 years, and I’ve never been reviewed in the Guardian or Telegraph.
The Gatekeepers react to community unrest, Brixton, Toxteth riots, George Floyd’s murder by increasing the Black presence on the screen until the threat has passed. Why?
Let’s go back to 1958, the so-called Notting Hill race riots, where white youths murdered Kelso Cochrane. From 60 to 68, there were terrific shows about racism, Black culture, music, and politics. http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/ blackhistory/themes/tv The sixties up until Enoch Powell were a bloody nightmare. There was a consciousness. After Enoch Powell, actress Carmen Munroe from the Desmonds explained, “it all collapsed, and it all got forgotten, and we have to start the process all over again.”.
much about giving up power; it’s about sharing opportunities, giving more opportunities to diverse people.
And finally, what do you think about Anne Boleyn?
I loved it but again, very controversial. It was too much for some people. I do believe there should be colourblind casting. The casting of a Black actress as Anne, why not? I also think African Caribbean people should be making programmes from their perspective.
It’s reactionary?
It is a reaction, but it’s not helpful. There’s no continuity, and it all gets forgotten. That’s why I wrote Black in the British Frame to try and address this and create a historical record. There’s been one theoretical book by Sarita Malik, but little else that I’m aware of that critiques Black-British television.
What is your final comment?
Understand and familiarise oneself with the excellent work that’s been done in the past. The good work, the positive stuff, and build upon that so that we don’t start reinventing things that were done 40-50 years ago and use it for good, for the better.
African talent is rising because Africa, in particular, Nigeria, has a solid film base in Nollywood, but Black British Caribbean talent remains almost stagnant, why? It’s suppressed.
Will it change?
I don’t know. I can’t answer that. It’s too soon. Give it two or three years, and we’ll wait and see if the white middle-class people Gatekeepers change their attitudes because they are not going anywhere. They are not giving up their jobs for anyone. Unless they facilitate and enable the Caribbean and Nigerian people to diversify and decolonise media institutions, they are the Gatekeepers. They hold all the cards.
Is it reasonable to expect the Gatekeepers to give up power? I can only hazard a guess as to how entrenched they are in the work that they do. And it’s not so
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Fayida’s Black History in 60 Seconds
The Ocoee Massacre:
A Documentary Film
Black LGBTQ+ Icons: Josephine Baker We all know Josephine Baker as being an international superstar, but find out how she went from being a burlesque dancer to a spy for the French Resistance movement in WWII.
The atrocity in the rural settlement started on Nov. 2, 1920. An untold number of people were killed, Black and white. It led to the lynching of one of Ocoee’s most successful Black businessmen, Julius ‘July’ Perry, in downtown Orlando. Described as the “single bloodiest day in modern American political history,” it brought about the forced removal of hundreds of Black citizens from Ocoee.
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The Dark Side of Nursery Rhymes Lurking beneath the seemingly playful and innocent lyrics of nursery rhymes lie dark and disturbing origins. Rhymes that are believed to be about the Plague (Ringa-Roses), slavery (Baa-Baa Black Sheep), and in one instance, burying people alive (London Bridge). But do these unsettling backstories actually have any historical truth to them? Or are they simply urban legends meant to frighten and entertain? In this video, let’s explore the gruesome and grim origins of beloved children’s songs, and separate the fact from the folklore as we delve into dark side of nursery rhymes. 8 Transform your viewing...
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The Most Dangerous Woman The Fredia Gibbs Story Credit: Sideline
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Cook Off
The trailer for the award-winning romantic comedy from Zimbabwe, starring Tendie Chitima, Tendai ‘TEHN’ Nguni, Eugene Zimbudzi and Jesesi Mungoshi. An uplifting, feel-good movie about falling in love, with food Credit: CookOffThe Movie
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Bobby Hunter
Connect - The Film Credit: Bobby Hunter Films
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How You Know You’re Getting Older Ty Barnett - Full Special Credit: Dry Bar
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THE SWITCH Mind who you shake hands with, you might just be trading your destiny. Credit: YAWASKITS SPECIAL EPISODE
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Full Episode: “Meet the McGhees” (Ep. 1) Six Little McGhees Credit: OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
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Viewer’s Choice
This week from Kia, Miami - USA
Recoiled
An animated short created by students in Missouri State University’s Electronic Arts Program. Produced by Shalom Simmons and Kersten Schatz. Directed and edited by Claire Grim. Story by Shalom Simmons and Claire Grim. Written by Kersten Schatz. Art direction by Shelby Corley. Techincal direction by Matthew Fuller. Sound design and score by Brandon Huddleston. Executive produced by Mark Biggs, Colby Jennings, and Andrew Twibell. Credit: Electronic Arts / Missouri State University
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Zambia’s National Handball Team Dreams of Olympic Gold in 2020 Handball is an Olympic sport played by seven players on a court. Musa Kambundu plays left wing for Zambia’s national team and hopes they will qualify for the 2020 games in Tokyo. He joined the country’s military team at age 16 and used his transport money to buy bread for his family. “One of my biggest dreams is to play handball out of Africa, to make my living through handball, and I know it will happen” he says. Filmmaker Austin Meyer tells Musa’s story in this poignant short. Credit: National Geographic
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Welcome to the Disruptor
To be a disruptor in business is to create a product, service, or way of doing things which displaces the existing market leaders and eventually replaces them at the helm of the sector. [`the disruptor]
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What Sadio Mané did in his Childhood Village Deserves Your Respect
The Touching Reason
Sadio Mané
Built A Hospital In His Village Transform your viewing...
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A Question of Faith Credit: cnbc.com
When tragedy strikes three families, their destiny forces them on a converging path to discover God’s love, grace, and mercy, as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs.
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IChurch
Black Wall Street was Shattered 100 Years Ago 22 Transform your viewing...
Change Starts in the Church When tragedy strikes three families, their destiny forces them on a converging path to discover God’s love, grace, and mercy, as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs.
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Last Word
Memories from Dem Days Deh —Jamaica Talk