The Voice Newspaper: October 2021

OCTOBER 2021 • ISSUE NO. 1923

BORN LEADER England’s first black captain takes his place in national Hall of Fame See inside

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Celebrating Black History Month 2021

DO YOU KNOW WHO THEY ARE? EXCLUSIVE

TV historian David Olusoga tells The Voice why these figures of Black British history should not be forgotten Find out, turn to page 3

Celebrating 25 years of OBV

See pages 25 to 32

Inside

New editor Lester THIS MONTH Holloway joins Will tackling climate change put an end to devastation in the Caribbean? p6 Africa and CARICOM on global stage after 'historic' summit p8 COVID in the Caribbean: Reopening a dangerous balancing act p14 Black History Month: Celebrating the trailblazers in Britain's rich history p21 Nigerian Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka releases his first book in 50 years p52-53

Experienced journalist returns to talented editorial team

T

H E VOICE is pleased to announce the appointment of a new editor as the newspaper prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary next year.

Lester Holloway, 51, joins the existing team, moving from the Trade Union Congress where he was a policy officer leading a project to make unions more anti-racist.

It will be a return to The Voice for Holloway, who was previously news editor until 2003. He previously served as editor of New Nation until it folded in the financial crisis of 2009.

WELCOMED

The move was widely welcomed on social media by a number of race equality organisations including OBV and the Reach Society as well as political figures.

“It is a great privilege and responsibility to be taking this role at this time and I am looking forward SPECIAL EDITION: The Voice celebrates two of Stephen Lawrence's murderers being sentenced

"It is a great privilege and responsibility to be taking this role at this time" to working with the fantastic team here," he said.

“I’m delighted to be rejoining The Voice, the paper of record for African and Caribbean communities.

“The Voice has a proud campaigning tradition, and we celebrate our achievements in a way that we don’t see very often in the mainstream.”

Paulette Simpson, executive director of The Voice, stated: "We chose Lester for the position based on his commitment and wealth of experience in journalism on issues in the black community.

"The reaction thus far has demonstrated the continued relevance and importance of The Voice to the black community in the UK. "May I take this opportunity to express sincere thanks for the support that we continue to receive."

Simpson leads an experienced editorial team, each with a deep understanding of The Voice and its readers, as it prepares to celebrate the publication’s 40th anniversary in 2022.

Also part of the team is highly acclaimed sports editor Rodney Hinds, co-founder of the Football Black List, which aims to champion the

WELCOME BACK: Lester Holloway has returned to The Voice as editor. contribution of black professionals in the football industry, award-winning arts and entertainment editor Joel Campbell, and Vic Motune, who has served as news editor and secured exclusive Voice interviews with former prime ministers Tony Blair and Theresa May, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo and leading figures such as Sir Trevor Macdonald.

Simpson said: “This is an extremely important time for race relations in the UK and across the globe.

"The Voice and its editorial team is uniquely placed to cover these developments and continue a tradition of insightful campaigning journalism that will engage new readers and partners as we approach our landmark 40th anniversary.”

THE 10 MOST POPULAR STORIES ON VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK 1. School excludes boy from school as hair is too short, despite having the same hairstyle for five years 2. Sasha Johnson: She wore a stab proof vest, she didn’t wear that for fun 3. Family appeal for 21-year-old with sickle cell missing for six days to come home 4. Manchester United prodigy Mason Greenwood early favourite for the PFA

Young Player of the Year Award 5. Jamaica announces six additional days of lockdown 6. Angry England fan admits he should be banned forever after online abuse of England ace Bukayo Saka 7. Which other English football talent is on Jamaica’s radar following Michael Antonio debut?

This issue is 56 pages EDITOR Lester Holloway E. lester.holloway@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Paulette Simpson E. paulette.simpson@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk

CORPORATE AFFAIRS & COMMUNICATIONS Paula Dyke E. paula@thevoicemedia group.co.uk

NEWS DESK E. newsdesk@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk

8. Legendary poet and reggae artist Linton Kwesi Johnson to be awarded honorary doctorate from the UWI 9. Foreign Office warm UK travellers not to travel to Jamaica as COVID cases rise 10. Inaugural Black British Golfers Open tournament scheduled for September 11

Got a story? email us at yourviews@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk NEWS EDITOR Vic Motune E. vic.motune@thevoicemedia group.co.uk The Voice Newspaper Unit 1, Bricklayers Arms, Mandela Way, London, SE1 5SR T: 020 7510 0340 Web: www.voice-online.co.uk GV MEDIA GROUP LTD

SPORTS EDITOR Rodney Hinds E. rodney.hinds@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Joel Campbell E. joel.campbell@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk

ADVERTISING AND SALES E. advertising@thevoicemedia group.co.uk CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS E. subscriptions@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk

OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 3

Black History Month

REACHING OUT TO THE YOUNGER GENERATION LEADING LIGHT: David Olusoga, main image, has written a book so children can learn about black British history; inset below left, Black Lives Matter protests swept the UK – and the world – following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020

Leading historian David Olusoga’s next book will ensure children of all ages can learn about black history and its impact on Britain. By Vic Motune

W

DAVID HEN Olusoga was at school in the early 1980s, he thought that black British history was something that didn’t exist.

History was one of his favourite subjects. However, none of his teachers mentioned the presence of black people in Britain and it was never included in any of the textbooks he studied.

Three decades later, Olusoga has enthralled millions of television viewers through programmes he has presented and books he has written about the hitherto forgotten but central role that black people played in the history of Britain.

INSPIRED It was admirers of his work who inspired his latest project, one that he would never otherwise have thought about doing but which reminded him of his school years.

“In 2015, I wrote Black And

A black mother had to use African American teaching British, A Forgotten History,” he recalls. “What I discovered within a few months of that book being published, was that people, particularly black parents, I encountered on the streets, on the tube on the train, were asking me when I was going to write a book for children.

It honestly hadn’t occurred to me.

“But it kept happening that people would ask me about a children’s book.

“The final straw was meeting a black mother who told me that she was having to use African American teaching materials to teach her children about black history because there was so little out there.”

Who are they?

John Blanke John Blanke is perhaps the best-known black Tudor. He has been called ‘the Black Trumpeter’, and was a highly respected musician in the early 16th century.

He served two kings, Henry VII and VIII.

Sarah Forbes Bonetta Sarah Forbes Bonetta was an orphan who became the protégée of Queen Victoria. After being captured as a child in West Africa she was taken to England and took her place in Victorian high society.

Last year he published the 200-page Black And British: A Short Essential History for older children. He described it as ‘the book I wished I’d been given to read when I was at school’.

Next month sees the publication of Black and British: An Illustrated History, a version of the book aimed at younger children.

Among the people featured in this new version are John Blanke, a trumpeter who worked in the court of King Henry VIII and Sarah Forbes Bonetta who came to Britain from the Kingdom of Dahomey (located in present day Benin) and became a friend of Queen Victoria.

Olusoga says he has been moved by the effect the book has had on the parents who asked him to write it.

“It’s been really humbling” he says. “I’ve been sent pictures of children with their mothers and fathers, with parents reading the adult version of the book and children reading the new children’s version.

POPULARITY “I’ve had emails from people saying how much it’s meant to their children.”

Perhaps one reason for the book’s popularity, especially among black people, is that it provides a comprehensive examination of testament to the wide-ranging experience of people of African and Caribbean heritage in this country.

It’s long been a complaint of education campaigners that when black people feature in GCSE history lessons it is often a narrow focus on the Transatlantic slave trade. There is, they argue, a real need to move the narrative about black people beyond that of victims of slavery.

However, while Olusoga un-

derstands this point of view, it’s not one he accepts.

“I don’t think we talk enough about the Transatlantic slave trade” he says. “We actually don’t know it very much or discuss it as a nation. When people say we’ve heard all of this

“As a Nigerian, it’s possible that I have ancestors who were enslaved or who were slave traders, I don’t know.

“I’m also aware that many people do know, and carry the names of people who enslaved their ancestors. But as an his-

ed by the three largest exam boards, AQA, Edexcel, and OCR, 12 mention black history explicitly. Of those, only five examine black British history. The other modules look at African American history or the Transatlantic slave trade.

Olusoga says this has grave consequences.

I’ve seen pictures of children with their mothers and fathers, LAMENTABLE “I think that’s lamentable” he says. “That’s a failure, and with parents reading the book’s it’s impoverishing not just for black kids, but for everybody. adult version and children I don’t think British history reading the children’s version makes sense without examinbefore I say, name me a slave ship? There were hundreds and hundreds of plantations, name me one?

“If we’ve said too much about slavery, then everyone would be able to learn this, just like many can name battles in the Second World War. Also, I think that to see enslaved people as victims is to misread their history. I don’t see them as victims.

I see them as survivors; as people who were fighting against the system.

torian, I would urge people not to impose a victim narrative always on the enslaved. They suffered terribly but a lot of modern historiography of slavery is to recognise there was constant resistance against the slave traders, on the slave ships, and on the plantations and there were revolutions and revolts.

That does not, to me, sound like the narrative of victims.”

Figures collated by The Guardian show that of the 59 GCSE history modules provid-

ing Britain’s relationship with Africa and Africans.

“If you’re a kid, no matter what your race, in a school in London, Bristol or Manchester for example, your world doesn’t make any sense without understanding the Empire.

“Why does your city look the way it does? Why does the England team look the way it does?

The story of the British Empire and its colonies underlies so much of the world around us.”

Continued on page 4

4

| THE VOICE

OCTOBER 2021

Black History Month

RECOGNITION: David Olusoga, second right, with members of his production team for Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners at the Royal Festival Hall in May 2016. It won a BAFTA award for Best Specialist Factual programme; above and right, Black and British: An Illustrated History covers 1,800 years of black British history, including black Victorians and notable figures Continued from page 3

Following the success of TV programmes such as Civilisations, A House Through Time and Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners, Olusoga’s public profile has soared in recent years.

In 2019, he was awarded an OBE and made a professor of public history at the University of Manchester. But along with that profile has come growing hostility towards his work which has included abuse on social media and racist hate mail sent to the BBC. But the historian is unfazed.

“I’m too busy to engage with people who are uncomfortable with black history,” he says.

“I’m involved in all sorts of organisations and movements trying to bring about change, so I don’t want to waste time dealing with those who just don’t like black people when I could be doing something positive.

“Also, it would be really out of step with history if people like myself, who were writing about black history, and others who are involved in advocating for black rights weren’t being criticised, if their motives weren’t being called into question and misrepresented,

because that’s what always happens.

“When black people find forms of protest, they are always deemed to be illegitimate whether it’s a black power salute or taking the knee, it’s always the wrong way or the wrong time.

ARGUMENT “Rather than engage with the argument, rather than listen to the demands of black people, it’s so much easier to question their motives and condemn them as radicals or extremists.

“So criticisms of me are inevitable. And they are also best ignored.”

Olusoga is quick to credit his mother Marion as one of the key influences behind his stellar career.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, he was five-years-old when the family moved to Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

Black and mixed race families on the council estate where they lived in the early 1980s were a rarity. They were eventually forced to move because of the depth of racial abuse they suffered.

“I had two lives. Inside the house I had a wonderful supportive family with a remark-

able mother who instilled in me everything that I have gone on to do.

“And outside I faced the Britain of the ‘70s and ‘80s, a world of racism and racial violence.

That was very difficult.

“Also, I’m very dyslexic. My mother taught me to read when my schools failed.

He went on to present the landmark series The World’s War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire in 2014, which examined the role played by Indian, African and Asian troops who fought in the First World War as well as other documentaries.

As well as winning plaudits for shining a light on the un-

I owe absolutely everything to my mother who fought like a lioness for the education of her children. She is the reason I have my career “My mother pushed me towards education and bought books when we could ill afford them. She is the reason why I have any form of career.

“I owe absolutely everything to my mother who fought like a lioness for the education of her children.”

His journey into broadcasting began as a researcher on the 1999 BBC series Western Front. It wasn’t long though before he became disillusioned at the lack of diversity in the stories he was working on.

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told stories that form a central part of Britain’s history, Olusoga has also been applauded for highlighting the failings in the media that have played a role in keeping these stories hidden for so long.

In August 2020 he delivered a keynote MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival which was a damning indictment of racism, bias and discrimination within the television industry.

He revealed that the barriers he’d faced during 20 years

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in front of, and behind the camera, had led him “to seek medical treatment for clinical depression”.

“I came close to leaving television multiple times” he says.

“I think it’s an industry with a profound problem with inclusion. I’ve repeatedly found myself in a minority of one, talking about tropes, stereotypes, and asking for the experiences of black people to be built into the stories that we’re telling.

And I was repeatedly frustrated.

DIVERSITY “I spent a lot of my career thinking television was not a place where it was easy or healthy to be a black person.”

However, he says he is hesitant to be held up as a role model for television’s diversity as a result of his success as a presenter and producer.

“One thing that I’m very clear about is I’m not a TV industry success story. I’m a survivor of the TV industry’s failings. I’m very resistant to being used as some sort of poster boy because it’s a series of accidents that I didn’t leave.”

He continues: “When I was a TV producer, I started writing books as a way of managing my utter frustration.

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“I could go to publishers, sell my ideas to them and write and be creative in a way that my bosses in TV couldn’t control with their limiting views of who I was, and what I could do.”

Pointing towards the future, however, he strikes a more hopeful note for future diverse talent that wants to work in the media.

He believes that the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 has seen the emergence of a new generation determined to have the difficult conversations that challenge racism.

“The industry is changing.

The murder of George Floyd has catalysed as a movement and a series of commitments in television that are unlike anything I’ve seen before.

“And I think there’s a recognition that the schemes and the initiatives of the past, some of which I’m a veteran of, were half-hearted and failed.

“I think this generation of television leaders are serious and committed to these issues in a way that I think that their predecessors weren’t.”

Black and British: An Illustrated History will be published in November by Macmillan Children’s Books

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News feature

TIME TO SAVE THE WORLD SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE: Hurricane Ida swept through eastern Cuba in August – but will tackling climate change mean the Caribbean’s hurricane seasons will be less devastating?

A

LTHOUGH THE Caribbean as a region is among the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world (accounting for less than one per cent of global emissions), it stands to suffer some of the worst effects of climate change as time goes on.

From October 31 to November 12, 2021, the UK will host the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.

This summit will be attended by all the countries that signed the 1994 treaty on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

It is set to be the largest summit the UK has ever hosted, with many seeing it as the most important climate event since the 2015 Paris Agreement when all signatories agreed to keep global temperatures below two degrees above pre-industrial levels and limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees.

This comes against a backdrop of increased extreme weather events across the world; the loss of an area of ice the size of Florida in the Artic in June/ July 2021, widespread forest fires in the Amazon and Congo rainforests in 2020, extreme heatwaves across north Amer-

ica and southern Europe and record-breaking wildfires across Siberia covering an area almost twice the size of Portugal, demonstrating the increasing threat of climate change.

COP26 is significant in part because countries must set out even more ambitious targets for ending their contribution to climate change under the Paris Agreement.

However, there are significant questions about how much can and will be achieved when considering the interests of developing countries and regions such as the Caribbean, which have been in a climate crisis for many decades before this point.

Lingering issues Most scientists now agree that some effects due to climate change are locked-in and cannot be reversed until we have achieved net zero emissions for many decades.

As a result, some form of climate mitigation and adaptation measures are needed, particularly in regions such as the Caribbean.

Calls by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which most Caribbean countries are members of, along with a coalition of climate and environmental groups are demanding rich industrialised countries put forward an estimated

Global leaders have to ensure the COP26 summit in Glasgow is the most important climate event of all time

By Lyndon Mukasa £36.5 billion by 2022 and then £220 billion annually by 2030 to account for inevitable losses and damages that result from climate change.

While the UN has provided funds to help poorer countries transition to cleaner energy, rich industrialised countries which hold much of the responsibility for climate change have stalled on providing new finance to cover losses and damages in the global south, arguing instead for the establishment of insurance schemes.

This has been an intractable issue at previous COP events and a source of tension between poor countries and rich countries.

The threat of the climate crisis in the Caribbean In the Caribbean, 2020 was among the three warmest years on record that saw 30 named storms detected in the Atlantic basin which broke the record

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for the highest number of tropical and subtropical storms in a single year.

At present, the Earth’s average temperature is at 1.1 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

However, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims in its most recent report that the world will probably reach or exceed 1.5 degrees of global warming within two decades unless drastic action is taken this decade.

For many countries in the Caribbean as well as other small island developing states (SIDs), limiting increases to 1.5 degrees would be unacceptable since many scientists argue that 1.5 degrees still increases extreme climate outcomes such as extreme rainfall and more powerful hurricanes, thus putting in to question what can be achieved at COP26 that would make a difference to the Caribbean.

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Problems with COP26 Assistant professor in Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick, Dr Leon Sealy-Huggins, argues that a significant portion of climate change politics still functions to represent the interests of a subsection of the global elite that frames climate targets and priorities according to Western needs and interests.

Dr Sealy-Huggins posits that this is evident in the fact that a single average temperature target such as 1.5 degrees being defined as “dangerous” is an example of technocratic universalism and fails to account for lower temperatures above pre-industrial levels that have already wreaked havoc in the Caribbean.

This is evident in the fact that the most extreme manifestations of climate change have been occurring in the global south, including the Caribbean, already for many decades without a significant global response.

Dr Sealy-Huggins contends there is a need to look at the role that targets based diplomacy in the UNFCCC centres on Western development norms that favours the interests of industrialised former colonial powers at the expense of policymakers in the Caribbean who

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already have specific concerns relating to the climate crisis.

What can the Caribbean do?

Despite these issues, much of the Caribbean has been moving forward with climate mitigation and adaptation measures.

It is expected that a resolution on losses and damages will be made at COP26.

Despite this, most countries in the region are in the process of transitioning to renewable energy this decade and have set ambitious targets to achieve complete zero carbon energy independence before the end of the 2030s.

The Caribbean has an overabundance of renewable energy options that is starting to be explored and developed.

The region is widely considered to be one of the best parts of the world for the development of solar, wind, bio, geothermal, tidal and hydroelectric energy.

Additionally, climate-adaptive measures such as reinforced infrastructure for flooding are in the early stages of implementation.

Regardless of what COP26 achieves, the Caribbean will have to find ways to adapt and survive.

www.voice-online.co.uk

SEPTEMBER 2021

BE PART OF THE

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News feature

On the global stage The first-ever Africa-CARICOM Summit has been branded ‘historic’ after its virtual meeting

By Sinai Fleary

A

N ONLINE event aimed to strengthen the bond between Africa and the Caribbean and promote greater trade relations and investment opportunities between the two regions has taken place.

Originally scheduled to take place in 2020, the summit was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and a virtual event was set up instead on Tuesday, September 7. “It is truly a historic event,” David Comissiong, Barbados ambassador to CARICOM said.

“And I hope and trust it will be telecast live to the peoples of the Caribbean community on multiple platforms inclusive of our national television stations.”

Strengthening regional ties Uhuru Kenyatta, president of Kenya, chaired the meeting between the 55-member nations of the Africa Union and the Caribbean’s 15-member CARICOM group and said: “Kenya was honoured to host the inaugural summit.”

Mr Kenyatta also called for the forum to be held annually on September 7, to enable important conversations between the two regions continue and to ensure they can authorise any joint actions.

He said: “We meet today to start working together to confront the common challenges that we face and to strengthen the historic and cultural ties that bind us and we aim to build social, economic and political linkages that will promote shared prosperity and social progress for us all.”

Gaston Browne, chairman of CARICOM and Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister, called for Africa and the Caribbean to utilise their natural resources for their economic benefit.

KEY ROLE: Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta chaired the online meeting between the representatives

We are the suppliers of vital commodities to the global community, a market for goods and services He said: “Between the nations of the African Union and CARICOM, we are a population of approximately 1.4 billion people, with great natural and wealth-creating resources including oil, gas, agriculture, minerals, forestry, tourism, fisheries and much more.

“We are the suppliers of vital commodities to the global community, and a strong market for the goods and services of Europe and North America.

Additionally, together we have the voting power of 69 nations in the United Nations and all its subsidiary organisations, including the World Trade Organisation. We have global bargaining power.”

Mr Browne explained to the 69 countries in attendance, how the transatlantic slave trade impacted both regions.

He said: “I start from the premise that Europe underdeveloped Africa and left the Caribbean underdeveloped.”

“Let us be clear.

There was never trade between Africa and the Caribbean. There was trade between Europeans using African people as commodity. They traded, we were traded,” he added. Mr Browne also proposed the observation of an annual ‘African-Caricom Day’.

Opportunities to deepen integration The inaugural meeting was held under the theme ‘Unity Across Continents and Oceans: Opportunities for deepening integration’.

The theme was embraced by prime minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, pictured inset above,

who called for “at least one weekly direct flight from Africa to the Caribbean”, to ensure African and Caribbean people can build person-to-person and experience each other’s countries first-hand.

Ms Mottley said: “All visa requirements should be abol-

leader’s foresight. He cited Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela and Jomo Kenyatta, the late father of Uhuru Kenyatta, as leaders who had visualised and fought for the historic online gathering.

“For Jamaica, there is potential in the agro-industry and

This has laid a firm foundation on which to build a strong political, cultural and economic co-operation for all people of African descent ished. Africans and Caribbean people should be able to move freely.”

Participants at the event included heads of state and government of the Caribbean community and the African Union, chairs of CARICOM and the African Union Commission.

The meeting urged leaders in both regions to invest in tech-based products and solutions to allow their economies to develop and not rely solely on tourism.

Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness welcomed the meeting and described it as the fulfilment of past pan-African

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logistics sector and Jamaican companies have already invested in Africa,” Mr Holness said.

“Opportunities also exist for scientific research and collaboration, investment in health care, technological innovation and digitisation, as well as in the creative economy.”

He added: “In relation to development financing, debt sustainability and climate change, our cooperation within the OACPS [Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States], Commonwealth, UN and WTO remains a strong foundation for deepening integration between us.”

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Partnerships Speaking at the summit, president of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa insisted that “Africa and the Caribbean community must continue to strengthen partnerships”.

He said both regions “must increase self-reliance for the benefit of our people” as this remains critical.

Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister Keith Rowley thanked African countries for their support in assisting CARICOM to access vaccines to combat Covid-19.

The African Union declared the diaspora as the sixth region of Africa and in recent years, there has been a series of visits between the leaders of CARICOM and Africa.

Both Nana Akufo-Addo, who is the president of Ghana, and Mr Kenyatta visited the Caribbean in 2019.

In 2020, Trinidad and Tobago prime minister Dr Keith Rowley went to Ghana and Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness visited several African countries in 2018, including Namibia and South Africa.

In June, the Republic of

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Ghana and the Commonwealth of Dominica signed an agreement to waive visa requirements between the two countries.

The new visa waiver agreement aims to help increase travel between the two countries as well as facilitating travel between government officials and business executives.

The move is expected to boost tourism and will help to strengthen growing diaspora relations between the two Commonwealth countries.

In December 2020, aviation history was made when the first direct flight from Lagos, Nigeria, arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

The summit was praised by social media users online, with many describing yesterday’s meeting as “a long time coming”, “historic” and “beautiful”.

In his closing statement, Mr Kenyatta said: “This summit has laid a firm foundation on which to build a strong political, cultural and socio-economic cooperation for all people of African descent.”

He said the forum was a “rich and productive discussion.”

www.voice-online.co.uk

SEPTEMBER 2021

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OCTOBER 2021

Finance

How much should I save for Christmas?

Making a plan for how you’ll pay for Christmas and spreading your purchases across several months will ease financial stress, says Danielle Ferguson of the Money and Pensions Service

F

OR MANY of us, the weeks leading up to Christmas are some of the most expensive of the year.

The festive preparations can pile extra pressure on our time and finances, and the colder, shorter days can push up energy costs.

Last Christmas, nearly a third said they would borrow money to cover the festive period (StepChange 2020).

If you’re worried about going into the New Year with Christmas debt, making a plan now for how you’ll pay for Christmas will help take some of the pressure off.

How can I make the most of my money during the festive season?

The best thing you can do to ease the financial pressures of Christmas is to plan ahead – it’s not too late to do this and there’s support available, starting with our guide to ‘Saving money for Christmas’ and Budget Planner tool, which are both available on the MoneyHelper website.

It’s difficult to pay for Christmas out of a single month’s income alone, so look at how you can divert some income

An average festive budget per household is £350, which includes food, presents, travel and decorations from the months before and after to help. Setting a budget can help you avoid spending more than you can manage and will give you a clear picture of what costs you need to cover.

Once you know how much you can afford to spend on Christmas this year, work out how much money you will need to put away each month between now and then.

The average Christmas budget per household is around £350, which includes food, presents, travel and decorations, among other expenses. Start some new Christmas traditions.

If the amount you can afford to spend on Christmas this year won’t cover everything you had

hoped for, especially if your financial situation has changed during the pandemic, then instead of borrowing money and going into debt, consider starting some new festive traditions that the whole family can enjoy.

You could embrace the digital age and email Christmas cards to save on postage. Or arrange a Secret Santa within your family or group of friends to lower the cost and stress of gift shopping.

If you know what gifts you need to buy, it can help to start your Christmas shopping now and spread the cost over several paydays, plus you will save the hassle of shopping when everyone else is.

If I’m worried about the financial pressures of Christmas, what should I do?

The pandemic has put extra strain on the finances of many people this year. If you’re worried about this, you’re not alone.

The MoneyHelper website has a designated Money Navigator tool to help people deal with the financial impact of the pandemic and avoid financial issues worsening in the future.

If you’re finding it difficult to keep on top of bills and payments, then MoneyHelper’s Debt Advice Locator tool can help you find your nearest free and confidential debt adviser. More

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MAGICAL TIME: Take steps to make Christmas as special as you can (Any Lane/pexels.com) than eight out of ten people who have sought debt advice tell us they feel less stressed or anxious and more in control of their life after talking to someone.

element of Pension Credit or you’re on a low income – for more information visit GOV.UK. If you were born on or before September 26 1955, you could get between £100 and £300 to

help you pay your heating bills.

This Winter Fuel Payment is usually paid automatically if you are eligible to get the State Pension or another social security benefit. Find more information on GOV.UK. Visit MoneyHelper’s online guide on ‘How to save money on gas and electric bills’ for more support and tips.

perfect Christmas tops the list of reasons people overspend during the festive season.

It might help to remember that many people will be struggling this Christmas.

So if you’re spending too much on presents for loved ones, they might feel the pressure to spend the same amount on you, even if they can’t afford to.

Take a look at MoneyHelper’s online guide for ‘How to have a conversation about money’ for some simple tips on how to start a positive conversation.

Money worries are part of everyday life and something that everyone experiences, especially at this time of year.

Whether you reach out to a family member, friend or a money guidance professional, talking about money is a positive way to ease the burden.

Talk to your friends and family Pressure to please your loved ones and to give children the

For free, confidential and impartial money and pensions guidance visit moneyhelper.org.uk or call 0800 138 7777.

You may find that talking about money is a positive way to ease the burden What support is available if I’m struggling to pay higher heating or electricity bills this winter?

It’s no secret that winter leads to higher energy bills as we spend more time at home with the heating and lights on.

The Warm Home Discount Scheme is a one-off discount of £140 on your electricity bill between October and March and is open from October 18 2021.

You may be eligible for this if you get the Guarantee Credit

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12 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

Dotun Adebayo

Rate him or hate him - you can’t ignore him!

Join the debate online voice-online.co.uk/opinion

SO MANY OF US CAN BE EXTRAORDINARY

The thing about black history is that it is something made by ordinary people like you and me

T

HE NEWS that Marcus Rashford’s social media usage will now be added to the GCSE media studies curriculum is a slice of black history in our time.

He will, of course, be best remembered by future generations for his football, and for taking on the prime minister and his government over free school meals for children – and winning!

That was an historic moment. Not bad for a kid from round the block in Withington, Manchester.

The thing about black history is that it is made by ordinary people like you and me who do extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances.

Mary Seacole, don’t forget, was just an ordinary Jamaican nurse who decided to come to the medical aid of British troops fighting in the Crimean War. She was more ‘ordinary’ than her white counterpart, Florence Nightingale, and even used her own money to fund her expedition to the front line.

Jumping forwards, some of us remember when Sir Trevor McDonald was just plain old Trevor, a jobbing journalist looking to get some screen time, before making history by becoming Britain’s first black TV news presenter.

Black history is about the impact on our community of what someone achieves. Sometimes it’s the impact that a black person makes on the whole community (black and white) that makes it black history.

I n e v i t a b l y, ordinary people are more likely to make history simply by being the first black.

Our history is dotted with firsts. And there are still billions of them out there for us to achieve Our history is dotted with firsts. There are billions of them still for us to achieve (that is the legacy of 400 years of black repression).

In the next 1,000 years, more of us are likely to make history by being the first black person to do one thing or another.

Your first may not lead to the promised land but there’s nothing wrong with that.

There’s nothing wrong with that. It means you’re the head and not the tail.

But also, it is no mean feat being the first, because you don’t have a template.

Diane Abbott didn’t have a template for being a black woman MP - the rest of her

‘gang of colour’ colleagues, who were all part of making history in 1987 when they entered parliament together as elected members were all men.

And though the black women who are now coming into parliament on both sides of the House have her template to refer to, they are also making their own firsts. Dawn Butler, for example, being the first black woman to speak from the Dispatch Box. A first within a first, you might say, but a first nevertheless.

Imagine for a moment you were John Kent, the son of the union between an enslaved couple and you become Britain’s first black policeman back in 1835. Up north in Carlisle and thereabouts.

He was just an ordinary man with no sense that he was the first when he joined the police, let alone that he was making history and yet would still be remembered 200 years on.

CREATING HISTORY: England and Manchester United football star Marcus Rashford is making a positive impact in many walks of life, while, inset below, Trevor McDonald and Diane Abbott are members of the ‘first black person’ club

DEROGATORY He was on the force for 11 years, and in that time the local yokels called him ‘Black Kent’ to his face.

Yet he got on with it, like it was no big deal, as derogatory as the description ‘black’ was deemed to be at the time.

John Kent was on his own but by simply (and boldly) going about his business he has left us a legacy that enabled us to have two centuries of black British policing.

But because he was just an ordinary person in the days when history was the family stories of kings and queens, his remarkable story of being a Bobby up

north at a time when many people don’t even realise there were black people in Britain was something special.

And yet most of us don’t know about him. I’m talking black and white.

I can’t help wondering what a difference it would have made to the way the police related to us young black boys if they had had a sense that we didn’t have to be the enemy.

I wonder, because until John Kent’s story was discovered, the historical title of Britain’s first black male police officer was given to Lloyd Blair who joined the Gloucestershire force in 1964 and has now been stripped of that title.

But I didn’t know about him anyway. Growing up in Tottenham, north London, the first black male police officer I ever

heard about and ever saw was the Metropolitan Police force’s first black make police officer, Norwell Roberts. He showed the police didn’t have to be the enemy, and Norwell Roberts was the evidence of that.

Of course, no conversation about recent black British history can exclude Doreen Lawrence.

ULTIMATE The ultimate ordinary woman thrown into extraordinary circumstances from which she had to overcome extraordinarily.

Her battle for justice for her murdered son Stephen has changed the course of British history and has a profound effect on the lives of every black Briton – whether we know it or not.

All this is by way of telling you that I am now a candidate

for a small mention in black British history.

This month marks my 20th year as a late night radio talk show host at the BBC. Twenty years!

I get panic attacks when I think of it, in which time I have covered everything from the assassination of Osama bin Laden to quizzing the former American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. No other black radio presenter has hosted an overnight programme for this length of time.

I don’t know if any white broadcasters have achieved this milestone overnight either. So this may well be white history as well as black history. It depends on the impact I make on you.

DOTUN ADEBAYO, BRITAIN’S MOST CELEBRATED BLACK BROADCASTER, IS KNOWN AS THE KING OF THE NIGHTTIME AIRWAVES. ALL VIEWS HERE ARE HIS OWN. LISTEN TO HIM OVERNIGHT ON BBC 5 LIVE FROM 1-5AM SATURDAY MORNINGS - MONDAY MORNINGS & 1AM - 4AM ON BBC RADIO LONDON (WEDNESDAY TO FRIDAY MORNINGS). FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER: @dotunadebayo

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www.lambeth.gov.uk/bhm

Autumn 2021

BLACK HISTORY MONTH @BHMLambeth THE WEEKLY GLEANER 102056 black history VOICE ad.indd 1

A celebration of history, arts, literature and film.

Visit our website for events in Lambeth.

102056 (9.21)

SEPTEMBER 23-29, 2021 • 9 20/09/2021 16:53

14 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

News feature

COVID in the Caribbean: A dangerous balancing act RISK FACTOR: Cockleshell Bay Beach in St Kitts is one of the Caribbean’s many destinations to be affected by COVID-19

I

N RECENT months, the number of COVID-19 cases and infections in the English-speaking Caribbean has started to increase at an alarming rate.

Despite managing to control the spread and limit transmission of COVID-19 in 2020 through a combination of early response and sound management, many countries in the region now find themselves in 2021 grappling to maintain control before the pandemic replicates a similar catastrophe that was witnessed in Western Europe and the United States in 2020.

A lot of the blame has fallen on the tourism industry which has facilitated the arrival of foreigners to the region and potentially COVID. Stuck with limited options, many governments have opted to strike a risky balance between economic growth and public health.

Tourism and the economic costs of the pandemic It is no coincidence that with the opening up of borders for tourism, at some point COVID infections would be introduced from the outside.

The Bahamas remained open to US tourists in August 2020 even though the United States was the epicentre of COVID cases and deaths.

This likely led to an increase in COVID infections for the country. It is well known that tourism is one of the largest economic sectors across the Caribbean.

Before restrictions were in place tourism revenue in the Caribbean was worth $34.6 billion (£25.3 billion).

Due to travel restrictions, the tourism sector’s contribution to GDP in the region collapsed by 58 per cent with over 680,000 jobs across the Caribbean lost in a single year.

Those employed in the industry fell from nearly 2.76 million in 2019 to 2.08 million, a drop of 24.7 per cent. This wiped out $33.9 billion (£24.9 billion) from the region’s economy while creating a decline in domestic sector spending by 49.6 per cent and international spending falling by 68 per cent impacting other industries.

With few and limited social safety nets, the decline in tourism could cascade into a series of other social and economic issues and civil unrest under-

We must assess the value of tourism to the economy if we wish to put Caribbean people at risk, writes Lyndon Mukasa pinning the difficulty that most Caribbean governments have in attempting to save their economies while maintaining public health.

Overdependence on the tourism industry The COO of Island Growers, LLC Ralph Birkhoff, contends that policymakers throughout the region have known for decades there is a need to diversify the economies in order to avoid a catastrophic economic situation that many countries are in.

Birkhoff argues that experts have been telling governments for years to do more to support their investment promotion agencies and to focus on foreign direct investment (FDI) from alternative industries rather than continuously courting resort developers.

Ultimately, according to

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Birkhoff, the pandemic has presented a real time case study of what happens when a country/ region fails to diversify its way out of tourism.

Industries that have been identified could have cushioned the economic blow caused by the pandemic are clean energy, agriculture, ICT, financial services and manufacturing.

Industries that have been neglected by policymakers for years.

Pandemic fatigue Not everyone is convinced opening up the borders is strictly to blame for the current COVID surges however.

Executive director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Joy St John argues that several countries managed to reopen their borders for sev-

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eral months with few cases and no deaths.

Many Caribbean countries such as Jamaica set up a “resilient corridor” outside of which tourists were not permitted to leave while most countries in the region insisted and ensured that visitors present a negative PCR test and complete a period of quarantine.

St John posits that to an extent COVID fatigue has set in many places. More community tests are needed and gatherings during Christmas probably contributed to a rise in cases, while country-specific events, such as last November’s elections in Belize, could have stimulated transmission.

In other countries, the upsurge in COVID cases can be linked to super-spreader events, such as the week of August 8-15, 2021 in Grenada, where hundreds of people gathered for J’ouvert carnival activities to celebrate despite breaking the COVID restrictions in place.

This, combined with the spread of the more infectious delta variant and Brazil variant (that is currently spreading in Trinidad and Tobago), has amplified the impact of the infection rate in the Caribbean.

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Vaccine limitations Another aspect that is missing are vaccines which the Caribbean is disadvantaged in procuring since much of the vaccines produced have gone to Western countries.

Just over 6.6 million people out of 42 million people in the Caribbean have been vaccinated and, in addition to vaccine availability, there is an issue of lack of vaccine coverage in some countries due to vaccine hesitancy. This situation is not likely to improve for another two years. Higher vaccine coverage in the region would likely reduce deaths particularly from the delta variant that is dominant in the region.

Conclusion It is clear that a combination of these factors are to blame for the current surge in COVID infections in the region.

While tourism can’t fully be blamed, the current situation represents another reminder for the need to diversify the economy in the Caribbean and keep the public safe.

Hopefully, with the impositions of recent restrictions much of the Caribbean can regain control of the pandemic.

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OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 15

Black History Month

‘If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition’ EMBRACING OUR HERITAGE: Left, youngsters today are put at a disadvantage in schools and becoming more and more detached from their ancestors; right, founder of the USA’s Negro History Week, Carter G Woodson (photos: August de Richelieu/ Pexels.com, unknown author – NPGallery, Public Domain

T

HIRTY-ONE DAYS can sure fly by. I admit that over the years Black History Month (BHM) has passed me by like a flash, no sooner had it arrived than it was gone like some sojourner.

With its origins in Negro History Week in the USA dating back to 1926, it morphed into BHM and celebrations inevitably spread to the UK in 1987 in much the same way as other black consciousness Americanisms such as the Black Lives Matter movement.

Carter G Woodson, the father of Negro History Week, made an arguably, albeit controversially, compelling case in support for such celebration. “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. The American Indian left no continuous record. He did not appreciate the value of tradition; and where is he today? The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, as is attested by the Bible itself. In

Terence Channer explains why he believes there is a place for Black History Month in our modern world and the key role it plays in trying to create an equal society spite of worldwide persecution, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilisation”.

BHM has been celebrated in the UK now for 34 years.

During this period there have been detractors who have argued that BHM is racially divisive (e.g. there is no need for Brown History Month so why BHM?) and those that have argued that it has been for many organisations a DEI exercise in lip service, given prevailing racial inequalities.

So is there a place for BHM? The short answer is ‘yes’. Acknowledging the positive contributions of black people to the UK and the pre- and post-slavery history is to be commended.

This is particularly the case to address historically being made to feel “less than”.

One acute and very shameful example of this is the scandal of numerous black Caribbean

schoolchildren being erroneously and unjustly deemed educationally subnormal and bussed off to special schools to untold harm.

When I recently discussed this issue with my father with reference to the discredited IQ tests, he admitted that he too would have failed the IQ test if questions included such terms as “tap”, as he also only knew and referred to this water outlet as “pipe” as a Jamaican child.

WORTHLESS The African and Caribbean history, cultural traditions and linguistics of black schoolchildren were for decades viewed as worthless.

Many of us embraced and bought into the notion of colonial supremacy whilst in the Caribbean, especially as slavery had been so effective in breaking the link between our Af-

rican names and language as Kunta Kinte finally succumbed to being Toby.

Woodson was right in postulating that “if a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition”. He saw the dangers of

unadulterated mother tongue – e.g. Lingala, Yoruba – without colonial compromise.

The colonial destruction and erosion of the African diaspora’s cultural traditions is a powerful reason for celebrat-

The effects of slavery cannot be ignored, but our history does not begin and end with this adopting a colonial mentality.

I pride myself on being able to switch from English to Jamaican patois, as I gleefully cling on to the vestiges of my African Caribbean heritage, as spoken by my ancestors centuries after surviving the middle passage. However, I admire and must admit to being slightly envious of my African friends, who are able to speak their

ing BHM, It’s not just the racial inequalities. I’m struggling to find other racial groups who have experienced such cultural decimation.

The profound effects of slavery cannot be ignored, but Black History does not begin and end with this abhorrent trade.

There are kingdoms and empires to explore, such as the

Mali Empire including Timbuktu and civilisations to explore such as the Ashanti and Fanti.

The history is rich with invention and innovation.

The ability for BHM to bring black heroes and positive black role models to the fore is also a very important factor in driving black achievement and success.

The reason BHM seems to just fly by for me is, like many black people, black history is not confined to October each year.

Hence, I do not usually make any special celebratory plans for October. However, I believe it is important to keep it in the diary for the reasons stated.

Furthermore, there is the potential for BHM being part of a catalyst for decolonising the curriculum.

Happy BHM! The son of Jamaican migrants, Terence Channer is a consultant solicitor at Scott-Moncrieff & Associates LLP who specialises in police misconduct, injury and healthcare law. He is a passionate anti-racism advocate.

16 | THE VOICE

OCTOBER 2021

Black History Month

The school to PhD pipeline ROYAL SEAL OF APPROVAL: Prof Ochieng receives his Gold Medal for outstanding contribution to navigation from Princess Anne in 2019

Over the years much has been made of the ‘school to prison pipeline’ in our community but it’s time we shine a light on the much less talked about ‘school to PhD pipeline’, says Dr Mark Richards

A

S WE celebrate Black History Month we often reflect on past and present achievements in various fields such as sports, music, entertainment and business. But when it comes to education, it sometimes feels like there’s a lot less to celebrate.

For example, at GCSE, black students have the lowest attainment out of all the ethnic groupings except for the traveller community. At A-level, just 5.5 per cent of black students who sit them achieve at least three As, compared to an average of around 11 per cent for other ethnic groups.

A recent report by the Royal Society concluded that within STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) white undergraduate students were twice as likely to get a first-class degree as black students (35.7 per cent compared to 17.9 per cent), whilst black students were three times more likely than white students to leave university with a third-class degree (9.5 per cent compared to 3.2 per cent).

Not surprisingly, this has led to historic under-representation of black people in education and academic research, and over-representation in prison.

The academic pipeline The further you progress in education, the higher the earning potential.

Of course, there are always highly successful sports people, entertainers and entrepreneurs who sometimes make it without high qualification.

These are exceptions. According to Statista, in 2019 university graduates in England had an average annual salary of £34,000 a year, £9,000 higher than the average salary for non-graduates.

People with postgraduate degrees earned an even higher average salary at £42,000 per

With a PhD you are taught how to carry out deep research in which you will develop leading expertise annum, a difference of eight thousand when compared with those with undergraduate degrees.

But a PhD is about much more than money, as within three years you are taught how to carry out deep research in an area in which you will develop leading expertise to tackle global challenges.

Here are personal testimonies from some who have ‘walked the walk’.

Dr Ose Pedro, PhD computing, Imperial College London

Sophie Martin PhD student, computational medical physics, UCL

“I soon realised that the world of work was very different to what I had become accustomed to at university. My exposure to industry showed me that I still yearned to continue to broaden my knowledge, and that was when I knew that I wanted to continue studying and earn a PhD.”

“I’ve always been fascinated by how all kinds of machines work and have wanted to build my own machines for as long as I can remember which by my late teens evolved into a passion for virtual machines.”

Ose went on to do a PhD in image-guided surgery, working on software that could guide surgeons. He then spent over 10 years in industrial research, designing systems for robotic warehouses, using much of the very same skills he had acquired during his PhD. He’s currently selfemployed.

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These individuals all have one thing in common; a strong passion for their discipline, sparked at an early age Dr Yolanda Ohene, PhD Biophysics, UCL, below “I pursued a PhD because I was really curious to explore a topic (neuroimaging for Alzheimer’s Disease) that we didn’t currently have/know the answers to. It has benefited me to learn how to think deeply and critically about issues in the world.”

Yolanda is currently a PostDoctoral Researcher at Manchester University.

Since completing her PhD, Yolanda has been awarded the Institute of Physics 2019 Jocelyn Bell Burnell Medal and Prize, and was a British Science Festival Award Lecture winner in 2021.

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Prof Washington Yotto OChieng, PhD, Civil Engineering, Nottingham

These individuals all have one thing in common; a strong passion for their discipline, often sparked at an early age.

A PhD gets you in the game and once you obtain it, there are no limits to how high you can soar.

Equally, I could cite individuals who achieved PhDs later in life or who took it part-time and went on to have tremendously successful careers.

ELEVATE

“I always had an interest in space and how the Earth could benefit by doing things from space.

“I pursued a PhD in navigation and timing from space because the techniques were not developed yet and required research.

“The benefits of my work on systems now drive everything – planes, cars and more.”

Prof Ochieng received the Gold Medal for outstanding contribution to navigation in 2019.

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To elevate ourselves as a community, we must do all we can collectively to steer our young people away from the ‘school to prison pipeline’ and place much more emphasis on the more fruitful ‘school to PhD pipeline’.

By shifting the collective mindset, we will play a defining role in fostering the next generation of thinkers, innovators and problem solvers.

Dr Mark Richards is an atmospheric physicist and Senior Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London. He is also Head of Outreach for the Department and founder of The Blackett Lab Family. He’s also a DJ and producer known as DJ Kemist. Follow @dj_kemist for more from Dr Richards and for more on The Blackett Lab, empowering black physicists, visit theblackettlabfamily.com

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SEPTEMBER 2021

THE VOICE| 17

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18 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

Midlands News

by Veron Graham

THE LIFE OF GARVEY TO PLAY OUT TO A WIDER AUDIENCE Production about the man who influenced Malcolm and Martin Luther is all set to take centre stage at Birmingham’s Black History Month celebrations

L

OCAL AUTHORITIES, universities and community groups across the Midlands are putting the finishing touches to their Black History Month (BHM) celebrations throughout October, the first to be free of COVID-19 restrictions since 2019.

A stand-out event in Birmingham is Marcus – a stage play that has secured two coveted showings at the city’s largest theatre, Birmingham Hippodrome (12 and 13). Writer Sara Myers was commissioned by the Blackstory Partnership (BSP), in its penultimate year as producers of the Second City’s BHM programme.

Myers told The Voice: “Marcus Garvey’s teaching was filtered down to me by my father, REWARDED: Tony Kelly’s campaigning work has just been recognised with a British Citizen Award

I wanted to show how his teachings impact on everyday normal life saying something about his national hero. Growing up in a Jamaican household, you might not know everything about the man, you definitely get bits.

“Because of Garvey, we have Malcolm and Martin Luther, his teachings influenced them both. He was their foundation on which to build.”

Speaking of the scripting

process, she added: “I didn’t want to do another biography about Garvey, there are countless (writings) about him, I wanted something that the audience could resonate with and show how his teachings impact on everyday normal life. Telling his legacy through the eyes of a family made it both authentic and contemporary.”

PROUD For more Birmingham events, visit blackstorypartnership. com. Also email blackhistorymonth@contacts.bham.ac.uk for The University of Birmingham’s mix of talk-based activities under the theme of ‘Proud To Be…’ which was under construction as we went to print.

Still basking in the boost its

FAMILY AFFAIR: Author of Marcus, Sara Myers, was told about Garvey by her father creative sector has received from being the UK’s City of Culture, Coventry has a rich programme that could be aligned to BHM, leaning heavily, as expected, on performances from local artists, particularly comedy and African-inspired music.

Visit blackhistorymonth. org.uk/listings/region/westmidlands/coventry/ Over in Leicester, arts collective Serendipity will complete a decade at the helm of the city’s celebrations.

This year’s events range from those that are locally significant, including ‘Commemorating the Story of Leicester Caribbean Windrush Communities’ (October 8) led by Baroness Floella Benjamin, to global ones like showings of classic black cinema like Shaft (October 6) and Foxy Brown (October 13). Visit serendipity-uk.com.

Staying in the East Midlands, Nottingham’s Trent University has welcomed up to six people – staff and students – to

join the delivery board for its BHM activities. For an update, email BR-EDICo-ordinators@ exmail.nottingham.ac.uk.

The city’s Trent University has tagged BHM into yearround roster of cultural events.

Visit ntu.ac.uk/c/black-historymonth-at-ntu for more information.

For a full national rundown, visit the blackhistorymonth.org.uk website.

Tony honoured - and wants others to follow IN THE spirit of BHM, Birmingham-based campaigner Tony Kelly has called for more nominees to be put forward for a British Citizen Award (BCA) in recognition of the man himself “doing extraordinary things in local communities,” having received one himself last month.

Kelly was awarded for his work on diabetes awareness for NHS Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group, in which he com-

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pletes hundreds of engagements per year. His activism, which has taken him across the UK and the world since 2012, enables Kelly to share his own lived experience, having been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2004 and has since incorporated physical activity and healthier eating into his lifestyle to stay well.

After being put forward by an associate, Kelly received the honour in the opulence of the House of Lords, and

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recalled a concerning observation: “I looked around and we were the only black people there.

NOMINATED “Now I know there are many black African and Caribbean people who are doing great things across the country who could also be nominated.

Maybe people don’t know about the BCAs – they award people twice a year.

“It’s important that we en-

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courage recognition of each other.”

Kelly was keen to announce his availability to speak on health and wellbeing matters at events across the region and wider afield without charge.

He can be contacted by emailing tonykellydiabetes@ hotmail.com Recommending nominees to BCA is free, via britishcitizenawards.co.uk/nominate-for-abca/

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OCTOBER 2021 THE VOICE | 19

Midlands News

LAYING DOWN THE LAW Human rights barrister Christian Weaver uses his own videos and book to help make the legal system easier to understand

A

SERIES OF advisory videos, pioneered by a trailblazing human rights barrister, has become such a hit that it has been turned into a newly published book.

Since debuting online in 2018, The Law in 60 Seconds offers bite-sized, jargon-free guidance on a range of legal issues – from consumer, tenancy, privacy, employment to criminal. It is the brainchild of Nottingham-born Christian Weaver, 27, who regards the city’s less-than-stellar image in his formative years and childhood memories of his grandfather’s stoicism in the face of racism in steering him towards the legal profession.

VG: What was your motivation for the video series?

CW: The distrust, or at least pockets of distrust, within black communities, which was often generational.

Also, my view of the police. When I was very young, my parents had ‘the chat’ with me, which, being a black male, wasn’t just about relationships and the like, but also included the police. From there, I saw them more as something to be wary of, as opposed to a source of help. There are, of course, some great police officers, but I wanted to provide advice to people who may not feel they can go to them or other institutions for advice.

Knife crime was heavily in the news in 2018, with stop and search being seen as a way to tackle it. Studies had already

Our law is inaccessible to many and I became dedicated to educating people on the law more widely shown it was more likely to affect many of my peers and as black people. Creating the videos was first a form of revision for myself, but then something for my peers to use to know their rights and cut through the confusion around them; all drawing on my legal knowledge.

VG: What was your initial response to the first video on stop and search?

CW: Having done the first one, I was taken aback by the response of family and friends, also how it amassed so many views so quickly. It confirmed something I already knew: our law is inaccessible to many and I became dedicated to educating people on the law more widely.

VG: Having gone from a personal project to online videos and now the printed page, what’s your vision for The Law in 60 Seconds.

CW: I want it to become a first port of call whenever someone has a legal issue.

It does not seek to replace lawyers, but the videos/book can provide initial guidance or information, that will make that lawyer appointment more productive.

It may go further than that, because if you know your rights from the getgo, it can help you avoid things becoming legal problems in the first place.

It also makes so much sense from a well-being perspective, too, because legal proceedings typically have a negative impact on mental health.

PIONEERING: Christian Weaver has taken a lead in helping those who struggle to get the legal support they need (photo: Dave Phillips Photography); inset, the cover for The Law in 60 Seconds

VG: Have you had negative experiences with the police?

CW: No, not personally.

VG: Why do you think that is?

Some may think a young, successful black male would be a prime candidate to be stopped by an over-enthusiastic officer who didn’t know who you are and what you know?

CW: That’s kind. I’ve been blessed, but also because of my career aim, I spent hours in libraries! I wasn’t often in a place to be stopped and searched but that doesn’t mean I didn’t see it as a problem. I experienced it through friends: as we started getting driving licenses, they were just being stopped left, right and centre, and continue to be.

VG: But is stop and search that bad?

CW: I do not see a problem with police stop and searching individuals based on a reasonable suspicion. But when the person being stopped isn’t treated with respect, or the stop and search isn’t done in accordance with the law, that is deeply problematic. This happens too often.

VG: What role did your upbringing play in your career choice?

CW: Growing up in a city like Nottingham, which during my youth was thought of as a gun crime capital, gave me a heightened interest in policing, law and order, justice and the court system. In terms of being a barrister, I always wanted to be self-employed, so there was an element of making a lifestyle choice. Also, I was good at public speaking, which I didn’t really realise as a gift when I was growing up amongst friends who could play sport or musical instruments.

VG: Being a human rights barrister, as the crisis in Afghanistan demonstrates, must be very stressful. Does it support your world view?

CW: It’s important to me that

my job aligns with who I am as a person, and nothing could be more reflective of my personality than being a human rights barrister. Even when I’ve worked ridiculous hours on a case, there is nothing I would have rather done with my time.

VG: Was there a specific incident that directed you towards human rights or was it a case of experiencing a general progression towards it?

CW: I remember my grandfather, now 83, receiving racial abuse when I was about six, with faeces being smeared on

his car in weekly, repeated attacks. The police were called but nothing happened. It made me wonder what people can do when the police aren’t an option. My grandfather, who I really look up to, erected a placard outside which read ‘This family will not be intimidated by racists.’ From that I was in awe – watching him stand up for himself. The attacks eventually stopped, but the matter made me realise that, for one reason or another, there might be other people who can’t stand up for themselves and are dependent on the assistance of

another individual, whether that be an interpreter or lawyer.

Creating the books and videos, and doing interviews like this, is causing me to look back and identify those influences.

VG: How does the book progress what the videos had started?

CW: It consolidates and expands on the subjects covered.

Published by Profile Books, The

Law in 60 Seconds is available in printed and audio form from all good stockists. The videos, of the

same name, are available online.

Commonwealth Games update IF YOU have an idea that can encourage sports/recreation, intergenerational activities or connect people/build civic pride, in support of the Commonwealth Games next year, you could net up to £35,000 from the £2 million Celebrating Communities Small Grants Funding Scheme put forward by Birmingham City Council (BCC).

Councillor Ian Ward, BCC Leader, said: “We want everyone to embrace our status as a Proud Host City and, thanks to this funding, there are lots of ways for communities to get involved and show how bold Birmingham really is.

“We hope Celebrating Communities will help unlock some of the local excitement and help make the events of 2022 memorable for the people of Birmingham.”

The application deadline is November 30, 2021.

For more, visit bebirmingham.co.uk/celebratingcommunities. The Commonwealth Games will

centre on Birmingham, with events also taking place in several regional venues, between 28

July and 8 August 2022. For more, visit the official website birmingham2022.com.

If you have a story for the East or West Midlands, call/text Veron Graham on 07954 572 988, email veronpgraham@gmail.com, or find him on Facebook or LinkedIn

20

| THE VOICE

OCTOBER 2021

Black History Month

LIFE THROUGH A LENS Brenda Emmanus OBE profiles the life and work of Ghanaian photographer James Barnor

A

T THE age of 92 James Barnor is beaming with pride, having achieved the recognition he deserves, built on a career that spans six decades and has produced an outstanding body of work capturing the African diaspora in London and his hometown of Accra.

As Ghana’s first international press photographer Barnor, below, produced authentic and intimate images of the black communities that had settled in London in the 1950s and 60s, and the energy and spirit of all levels of society in Ghana as the nation gained its Independence in 1957.

“Photography has always been a part of my life because everyone around me knew something about photography,” he states with the warmest of smiles. “I had uncles who were photographers and I have been taking photographs ever since I was given a baby Box Brownie camera in the 1940s.”

Born in 1929, he worked as a photojournalist before establishing the Ever Young portrait studio which became a popular community hub.

“At the time, only one or two people had what we know as a studio in Ghana. The darkroom was the main thing, not the studio,” he revealed in a conversation with the artistic director of the Serpentine gallery that is currently hosting the largest survey of his work.

“People photographed with daylight in the yard because you had to pay for electricity, while daylight was free.

“I started by using the equipment my uncle gave me when he retired, working from my family home and taking pictures outside in the street.”

Thirty years later Barnor moved to London to study and develop his skills, working on assignments for South Africa’s Drum magazine – creating captivating images of black models and the lives of London’s growing African diaspora.

Sister Holding Brother, Accra, 1979, courtesy of Galerie Clementine de la Feronniere

He has a passion to share what he has learnt The ambitious creative returned to Ghana in the 1970s where he established the country’s first colour processing laboratory.

He remained home for another two decades before relocating back to London where he now permanently resides.

Recognition may have arrived late in his career, but in that time he has accrued an immense archive.

A recent digitisation of his 32,000 images has allowed the photographer to review and revisit his work while sharing it with a new generation of enthusiasts.

SHOCKING “Every photograph is important and opens up a world of stories,” said Lizzie Carey-Thomas, the chief curator at the Serpentine Gallery.

“On the one hand it is shocking that it has taken so long for James to gain recognition and be seen as an artist and not just a jobbing photographer.

“He has a vision – a signature style. He is passionate about sharing what he has learnt with other people, particularly the younger generation.

“His success is bittersweet.

On the one hand he appreciates the recognition but also wishes that it had happened 30 years ago when he had more time and energy to take advantage of it.”

The gift of a baby box Brownie camera unleashed a passion that afforded Barnor the opportunity to present a unique black perspective while celebrating the power of the still image.

Muhammad Ali training in London,1966, courtesy of Galerie Clementine de la Feronniere

Four Nurses (graduates of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital), Ever Young Studio, Accra, c. 1957, courtesy of Autograph @autographabp

Drum cover girl, Erlin Ebreck in London, 1960, courtesy of Autograph@ autographabp

Untitled, Studio X23, Accra, c.

1975, courtesy of Autograph @autographabp

The exhibition: James Barnor: Accra/London - A Retrospective runs at The Serpentine North Gallery until October 24, 2021

@thevoicenewspaper

@thevoicenews

voicenews

www.voice-online.co.uk

OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 21

Black History Month

Celebrating trailblazers of Britain’s black history For centuries, black icons have played a vital role in shaping Britain’s future and fighting for our rights.

By Montel Gordon

MAKING WAVES: Clockwise, from left, abolitionist Olaudah Equiano; Rosa Parks is an icon on both sides of the Atlantic; the Bristol Bus Boycott in 19; Notting Hill Carnival celebrates the influence of Caribbean culture in Britain (photos: Allan Ramsay; USIA / National Archives and Records Administration)

I

CAN VIVIDLY remember my teachers Mrs Phillips and Miss Johnson in my Year 4 class celebrating Black History Month for the first time with us.

Created by African American historian Carter G Woodson in 1926 as Negro History Week, it was founded to celebrate the advancements of African Americans. It was first celebrated in Britain as Black History Month in October 1987.

As an intrigued and already race-conscious eight-year-old, that week of learning about black history subconsciously shaped my identity politics and philosophies from a young age.

Olaudah Equiano, Muhammad Ali and, of course, Dr Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks were a few of the names I was exposed to.

Progressing from primary to secondary school, this list was accompanied by famed African American anti-slavery campaigners such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth to more contemporaries such as Barack Obama.

This begged the question for me and many other black British youths: do we even have

our own history? In short, yes.

Black British history and experiences date from around 210 AD, with African soldiers in the Roman army stationed at Hadrian’s Wall.

The erudite scholars such as Peter Fryer, David Olusoga and Edward Scobie have all outlined how far the black experiences in Britain can be traced and our contributions towards society.

RESPECTED Our relationship with Britain does not end at this point, Africans were present in the courts of the Tudors, from John Blanke, the skilled trumpeter, to Diego the circumnavigator and Jacques Francis, who was noted for his diving ability.

These were respected individuals in the Tudor courts and were free despite England beginning to dip its toes in the horrific transatlantic slave trade. As Britain became one of the leading powers in the slave trade, this gave birth not only the abolitionist movement but also to rebellions throughout the Caribbean colonies.

‘History’ tells us the antislavery campaigners John Wes-

ley, William Wilberforce, John Gladstone and a plethora of others in the abolitionist movement were the sole reason for the freedom of enslaved Africans from bondage in 1833, but that could not be further from the truth.

Enslaved Africans in the Caribbean, and on the coasts of Africa, fought diligently against

ish Empire came to help rebuild the mother country following the Second World War. Leaving all they had at home in search of a better life, they came to Britain and were subjected to racial abuse, discrimination, racially motivated attacks, and in some cases death.

Just like their ancestors, these Caribbean migrants grouped

Just like their ancestors, they grouped to combat inequalities and what were seen as societal norms enslavement with the rise of great individuals and their respective rebellions such as the patriarch Queen Nanny, leader of the Maroons, and Samuel Sharpe who led the Baptist War in 1831.

Fast-forward more than 100 years, and we have an influx of Caribbean migrants who make up the black British diaspora we know today.

Characterised as the Windrush Generation, this period is denoted from 1948-1971 where the Caribbeans in their thousands throughout the Brit-

to combat these inequalities and what was deemed as societal norms.

N o t t i n g Hill Carnival quickly became a pivotal event in the British calendar birthed in the aftermath of the racist riots and murder of Antiguan migrant Kelso Cochrane in 1959.

Carnival helped

assimilate Caribbean culture into Britain and the key activist towards this event was Trinidadian journalist and activist Claudia Jones, who was later deported from America for her role in the international Communist movement.

Since 1966, the carnival has grown and thrived on August bank holiday weekend.

The Bristol Bus Boycott, spearheaded by Paul Stephenson and Roy Hackett, helped overturn the colour bar policy as the Bristol Omnibus refused to employ black or Asian bus crews in Bristol.

E q u a l l y, this period witnessed the emergence of the British Black Panthers and their radical approach towards their fight for the rights of black people in Britain.

They gained notoriety through the famed case of the Mangrove

Nine in 1970 which is widely known as the first court case challenging racist policing.

Throughout the trials and tribulations we faced, the sports sector is where black Brits have continuously excelled.

Trailblazers such as Linford Christie, John Barnes, Denise Lewis, Viv Anderson and more paved the way for Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, pictured left, Dina Asher-Smith and this talented generation, past and present of amazing black British athletes.

OPPORTUNITY We commend the predecessors for allowing the opportunity for young black boys and girls to dream big and become athletes.

America’s hegemonic influence on the Western world often means their issues and stories are amplified on the rest of us. For Black History Month, we must recognise our trailblazers and those who walked and allowed us to run.

Black British history needs to be incorporated into the curriculum, as our contributions towards Britain cannot be squeezed into just one month as a tokenistic gesture.

22 | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 2021

BEING A PARENT IS THE BEST AND THE HARDEST THING YOU WILL EVER DO, BUT THE REWARDS ARE PLENTIFUL #YOUCANADOPT

“If you want to adopt a child, just go for it as it is worth every second.

And if you are as lucky as me, you will be filled with a love that will sustain you, until you take your last breath.”

JACQUI

To find out more about adoption visit

WWW.YOUCANADOPT.CO.UK/BLACKADOPTERS

OCTOBER 2021

ADVERTORIAL

THE VOICE| 23

The Truth About Adoption

T

his This National Adoption Week, as part of the #YouCanAdopt campaign, social care practitioner Sherifa Adenmosun helps to tackle some of the myths and misconceptions that may cause Black people to rule themselves out of the adoption process before they’ve even begun their journey.

Sadly, Black and Mixed Ethnicity children tend to wait longer to be placed for adoption, than their White counterparts.

With fewer than 5% of adopters in England being of Black African or Black Caribbean heritage, there has never been a greater time for more Black adopters to step forward and make a change.

Myth 1: You can’t adopt if you are over 35 “There is no upper age limit, as many people in their 40s and 50s have successfully adopted children. The only age-related rule is that you must be over 21 years of age to adopt a child.”

Myth 2: You have to be married “Being single or in a relationship and unmarried does not exclude you as a potential adopter. I’ve placed children with single adopters who are doing really well in their care,

and they’re thriving,” shares Sherifa.

Myth 3: The adoption process is difficult and takes yearsr “The adoption process is now simpler and quicker than ever before and there is a lot more support available throughout the process - even after you have been matched with a child.

“Stage one is an eight-week process that is adopter-led and gathers information about yourself as a potential adopter(s),” explains Sherifa. “Stage two

is a four-month process and is social worker-led. The social worker will be involved with gathering lots of information about you and is essentially a prospective adopter report that details everything about you and why you want to adopt.”

Myth 4: You have to be wealthy “While your employment status and financial circumstances are evaluated as part of the adoption process, having a low salary or even being unemployed does not immediately disqualify you as a potential adopter.

“I’ve placed children with people who are dinner ladies, postmen - they’re certainly not wealthy by any means - but that’s not what we’re looking for,” says Sherifa. “In the first instance, we need people that have love, time and commitment to give to a child.”

Myth 5: You must be a homeowner or have a big house “Whether you rent or own, live in an apartment or a house - you are still eligible to adopt. The size of your home isn’t an issue either, although ideally, it’s preferred that you have a spare bedroom for an

adopted child because it’s important that they have a space which they can call their own.”

Myth 6: You can’t already have children living at home “You are still eligible to adopt even if you have children living with you. If you already have birth-children, it is usually the case that an adopted child would be the youngest in the family by around 2 years at the point the adopted child is moving in with their family. However, there may be exceptions to this so I would encourage you to discuss your situation with the adoption agency.

Myth 7: You can’t adopt if you follow a faith and religion “This couldn’t be further from the truth.

As long as your parenting capacity isn’t negatively affected by your faith, you can be from any of the faith groups.

Black children who are waiting to be adopted come from all walks of life, and so we need Black adopters from all walks of life,” The #YouCanAdopt campaign is being delivered from a cross-sector of regional and voluntary Adoption Agencies, and other key stakeholders around adoption in England. The campaign aims to ensure people have the correct information about adoption and do not rule themselves out based on false beliefs and assumptions.

For more information on adoption visit: www.youcanadopt.co.uk/blackadopters

24 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

News feature

We deserve our museum A leading expert believes it’s time there was a dedicated Black British Museum to acknowledge the contribution of the black community

By Sinai Fleary

A

LEADING MUSEUM expert is calling for a permanent Black British Museum in the UK to celebrate the contribution of the black community and stop artefacts being presented as “colonial trophies.”

Dr Tola Dabiri, a director at Museum X CIC, which is home to the Black British Museum Project, said the lack of a black museum means this aspect of British history is being erased.

Speaking to The Voice, Dr Dabiri, right, said: “When we speak about the black presence in Britain, we have to keep saying we have been here for 2,000 years because it gets washed away. There is no permanence to our culture and history here and a museum would help to change that.”

The Black British Museum Project wants to set up a physical museum dedicated to black British art, culture and heritage.

Museum X CIC has entirely curated articles and opinion pieces in the latest edition of Museums Journal, a publication of the Museums Association, about museums and black history and heritage.

ARTEFACTS According to the Museums Association website, there are approximately 2,500 museums in the UK. Dr Dabiri believes more needs to be done to respectfully and accurately tell the stories of artefacts on display from Africa and the Caribbean.

She said: “The items on display

from Africa and the Caribbean often lack a lot of information and there is very little research done on items and there is no contextualisation.

“The objects from Africa and the Caribbean are presented as colonial trophies and they are not given equal status as the other European objects in the collections. The items in these museums tell the stories of conquest and they don’t tell the story of the actual object.”

Dr Dabiri acknowledged some museums are trying to improve but said she would like to see it being a higher priority across the board.

She is encouraging the community to get a copy of the special edition of the Museums Journal and said she is inspired

to be part of a group who will change how the black community is represented in British museums.

The Black British Museum Project came about following conversations at the Museums Association Conference in 2019.

Sandra Shakespeare set up the Black British Museum Project in spring 2020, supported by Alice Grahame, Janet Browne and Dr Dabiri.

The goal is initially to enable a programme of online exhibitions and events, with the aim of eventually securing a physical space for a new museum.

To order a copy of the Museum Journal collaboration with Museum X CIC please email: sophie@museumassociation. org. For more information on Museum X CIC visit: www.the museumx.com or email bbm@themuseumx.com

READ ALL ABOUT IT: The proposals have been published

Black-owned businesses offered free advertising CLEAR CHANNEL UK, one of the UK’s leading Out of Home media and infrastructure companies and Jamii, a discovery platform for black British brands, have join forces to launch Clear Channel Compass, a new initiative designed to empower and support independent black-owned businesses in the UK through Out of Home advertising.

In speaking with The Voice, Caroline Forbes, a specialist partner and fairness executive

sponsor at Clear Channel UK, said: “As part of our on-going commitment to be both a platform for brands and a platform for good, we are thrilled to see Clear Channel Compass come to life with the support and guidance of Jamii as our partner.

“By offering outdoor advertising space across high streets up and down the UK, we hope to create a shop window for products and services that would often be unseen out-

side of the black community and thus help boost the black pound in a meaningful and sustainable way.”

This scheme, which is open to both physical and online black retailers and service providers, not only offers free outdoor advertising space to selected businesses, but also includes design support to help create the advertisements and selected e-commerce brands which will also be listed on Jamii’s marketplace.

UNMISSABLE: advertising is an excellent way to boost the profile of a business; inset left, Courtney Scott with some of his products

INITIATIVE Campaigns for these businesses will run across Clear Channel’s Adshel Live screens, part of the biggest digital Out of Home network in the UK. The first campaign of the initiative went live in August with TRIM-IT, a mobile barber service which was started in 2018 by Darren Tenkorang.

Hot on its heels in September was PITT BALM a vegan friendly organic deodorant, which was created by Courtney Scott in 2016 and is probably

@thevoicenewspaper

one of the UK’s only blackowned deodorant brands.

Scott said: “Collaborating with the Clear Channel Compass team has been great.

“The campaign will provide our business with valid exposure on the high street – something we ordinarily wouldn’t have been able to achieve as yet.

“As a small black business owner, it’s incredible to see my creation on the big screen and

@thevoicenews

hopefully this will put PITT BALM in the minds of Londoners when they’re ready to purchase their next deodorant.”

Jamii was established in 2016 to promote the offering of black makers and creators to wider audiences and currently lists over 250 small blackowned British businesses.

Its founder, Khalia Ismain, expressed her delight to be collaborating with Clear Chan-

voicenews

nel to amplify the stories of black creators.

“We’ve long been championing the incredible makers within the community because their talents deserve greater recognition.

“This is a huge opportunity for both of us to tell the stories of makers from the community and connect them to anyone and everyone who needs their ideas, craftsmanship and ingenuity in their lives.”

www.voice-online.co.uk

OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 25

Celebrating 25 years “Power is never given” HISTORY IN THE MAKING: OBV House of Commons launch, 1996. From left, Lee Jasper, Yvette Williams, Rita Patel, Simon Woolley and Kumar Murshid

O

PERATION BLACK Vote was launched in July 1996.

In just 10 months we held over 100 meetings at schools, colleges, community centres, local party offices and town halls up and down the country.

We distributed over 250,000 voter registration cards, 500,000 leaflets in six different languages and 50,000 posters.

Over 200 articles appeared in the national and international press, the black press, and a host of other journals and publications.

Ninety-seven radio interviews and 27 television broadcasts spanned every region in the country and eight countries worldwide.

An Early Day Motion tabled on OBV’s behalf received support from all sides of the House of Commons.

OBV special: A word from the editor “This Operation Black Vote 25th Anniversary supplement to The Voice newspaper is a deliberate and unapologetic nod to

Black History Month. In the next few pages, we wind you through the last 25 years of political activism and our tough, but

well fought, proud journey to the success OBV is today. Power is never given.”

Mayowa Ayodele

Trevor Robinson (of Tango fame) and Jon Daniel spearheaded a controversial poster and cinema ad campaign.

IMPACT An OBV collaboration with Rock the Vote and MTV saw Linford Christie make time to

do an ad specifically for the music channel.

But we knew from the outset that it would be OBV’s impact in two specific areas which would determine success or failure: the response of the political parties to black concerns and of the black

community to Operation Black Vote.

In comparison to any election before 1997, the positive attention the black electorate received from the major parties was unprecedented.

And the party leaders led from the front.

Contributors and special thanks Editor: Mayowa Ayodele Sub-editor: Meesha Cru-Hall Contributors: Thanks to the founders of OBV,

Supported by

the board and staff, alumni and associates who helped in the formulation of this publication.

and

F: facebook.com/ OperationBlackVote/ T: @OpBlackVote I: @opblackvote W: obv.org.uk

UK

26 | THE VOICE

OCTOBER 2021

Celebrating 25 years: OBV

OBV: The early years When Operation Black Vote was established 25 years ago, no one could ever have imagined the positive impact it would have on British society. By Lord Simon Woolley

I

COULD HAVE never imagined the impact Operation Black Vote would have on so many lives – including my own.

Twenty-five years ago, Lee Jasper, Derek Hinds, Ashok Viswanathan, Rita Patel, Dave Weaver, Audrey Adams and I dared to believe that we could change our world.

We knew power came in two distinct, often interactive forms: money and politics. We had no money, but understood that we could potentially have political power.

Twenty-five years later, and there is a city led by an OBV alumni, and that is Marvin Rees in Bristol. Parliament now contains 65 MPs from politically underrepresented backgrounds, many of whom – including Helen Grant, Clive Lewis and Marsha De Cordova – were nurtured through OBV leadership programmes.

During our first year – and indeed the first few years – we were fearless, creative, and we endeavoured to unite our communities and build allies wherever we went. I can only look back with great pride and humility about being part of this wonderful organisation.

I remember vividly the launch at the House of Commons 25 years ago today.

KEY MESSAGE: OBV’s first campaign generated excitement; right, Simon Hughes, former Lib Dem MP for Southwark

For the very first time, politicians were held to account by black voters I was so nervous, I read my prepared speech barely looking up at the flashing lights or the TV camera crews. I rarely speak from a script today, preferring to look into the eyes of those I’m speaking to.

I think back to the first hustings meeting in Croydon Town Hall where the sitting MP, the late Malcolm Wicks, was fighting for his political life with the smallest of margins.

ACTIVISTS During that meeting we witnessed, perhaps for the first time in British politics, politicians being held to account by black voters. As activists, we were not afraid to travel either, driving the length and breadth of the UK in clapped-out cars to meet with community groups and hold hustings, demanding political candidates listen to our communities.

LEADING THE WAY: Front centre, Operation Black Vote co-founders Derek Hinds (with megaphone), Simon Woolley, Rita Patel, Mark Belsham and Lee Jasper, flanked on both sides and behind by Operation Black Vote founder activists One of the many long trips to the North of England was in Batley and Spen where we met and began a 25-year collaboration and friendship with Sayeeda Warsi, now a Baroness.

Back then she was a true firebrand women’s rights lawyer, fast-talking and ever engaging.

I also remember being impressed with a little-known SNP candidate who was fighting for a marginal Glasgow seat; now Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

For many years, OBV had no money. We were all volunteers so we had to beg, borrow or steal to get things done, but something always would come up, and someone would of-

fer to lend a hand. Lee Jasper seemed to know everyone. So it was no complete surprise when two young black advertising wiz-kids, Trevor Robinson and the late Jon Daniel, literally de-

Shadow Home Secretary Jack Straw who asked us to convene a black-led press conference in which he would announce if BAME individuals voted for Labour then they would deliver

During our first year we were fearless, creative, and we endeavoured to unite our communities and build allies manded that they produce our campaigns in those first years.

The special, extraordinary human being that was Jon Daniels said: “The first step for political activism is to get black people having a conversation with political leaders.

“So, let’s facilitate that by giving out their telephone numbers. And we did, with the strapline, ‘Imagine the impact if one million black people called John Major or Tony Blair’ and alongside their names were their local constituency numbers.

The goal was to empower black voters but also for the political leaders to feel the heat.

We got an extraordinary call from the

a Public Inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. Straw kept his word.

When Labour won with such a vast majority, we couldn’t claim that it was due to the black vote, but we knew we had something rather special.

So, with little more than the audacity of hope, we set out a 20-year plan that would be built upon three key pillars.

Political education; understanding where power lies, and how to use it. This involved political participation; voter registration and turnout campaigns.

By political representation we mean whenever decisions were taken that affected us, we must be around that decision-making table.

In Europe, we have helped establish the Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network.

In North America our friend-

ships with figures such Rev Al Sharpton, Rev Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King III and Congresswoman Maxine Waters have made the organisation a fixture at the Congressional Black Caucus.

The formation of OBV Canada further north has allowed us to extend our push for race equality.

CHANGED OBV has changed many lives.

I will never tire of telling Sharon Foster’s story, one of the first OBV programme participants to become a magistrate in Bristol.

She was asked to remove herself on her first day in court after being mistaken for a member of the public.

Today, Sharon is the Chair of the Bristol bench and has overseen the biggest diversity transformation in the court’s history.

Above all else, OBV has changed my life. From cofounder and volunteer activist, to Lord of the Realm as Baron Woolley of Woodford.

It has been an incredible journey, one that I now bring to a close as I break new ground as Principal of Homerton College, at the University of Cambridge.

It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life to be involved in this organisation.

Happy 25th birthday, OBV.

OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 27

Celebrating 25 years: OBV

1997: THE BREAKOUT PICK UP THE PHONE: The image was one of three to encourage the black community to call the leaders of the biggest political parties (designed

by Jon Daniel)

Less than 12 months since its inception, the organisation would launch an audacious campaign to draw a direct line between power and the people

By Mayowa Ayodele

A

T THE time, there was this Conservative campaign against Tony Blair where they called him snake eyes. And so Jon Daniel and his partner Trevor Robinson came to Operation Black Vote and said: “We want to work for you for nothing.”

In essence, the campaign frames the Black Vote as a sleeping giant.

How do we prod this potentially powerful sleeping giant to make an impact in British politics?

The poster reads, ‘Imagine the impact of one million black people calling Tony this morning’.

Published in 1997, the brainchild of Daniel and Robinson helped establish

OBV’s brand of forthright political messaging, while positioning the organisation as an active voice for the political engagement of Black communities.

The poster features the strapline, ‘He claims he has fought all his life for us. Imagine how pleased he will be to chat with all of us...’.

FATE Its promotional run was accompanied by an advertisement shown in cinemas, depicting a politician experiencing nightmares due to the number of Black people voting and consequently deciding his fate.

In the lead-up to the 1997 election battle lines had been drawn on the recurrent issues of healthcare and Europe, but the election would also occur against the backdrop of mounting pressure from Black com-

munities. Some four years on from the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, they were still deprived of justice.

The campaign played a part in assisting the wider push for answers and the changing political outlook of the time.

Shortly after its release, the Labour Party would commit to a public inquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s murder.

The ‘Black Vote’ had moved from the periphery into the national spotlight.

Leaders of the major political parties now knew that these various communities would prove decisive in determining the outcome of the election.

The same poster would be created for all three leaders of the major political parties.

The Conservatives’ John Major and the Lib Dems’ Paddy Ashdown were eventually forced to change their numbers due to the deluge of calls.

2019: OBV’s campaign wins awards

2021: Aiming to channel change

“If we want our politics to look like us, talk like us and come from where we come from; we need to use our voice and our vote.

The first simple, but crucial, step is to be registered to vote.” — Ashok Viswanathan, speaking in 2019

WHILE THE 2019 campaign was honed with a digital flair by choice, the 2021 electoral drive was curated under completely unique circumstances.

The COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests exposed the extent to which racial inequalities exist within areas of healthcare, policing and society as a whole.

The national discourse on systemic racism in the UK has been heightened in recent times.

Public vigour for change was so charged that an Operation Black Vote appeal for a government COVID-19 Race Equality Strategy gained over 139,000 signatures.

The All or Nothing campaign was launched 11 months after the

PERHAPS MORE than any other in its history, the 2019 campaign brought with it critical acclaim.

Operation Black Vote’s initiative to get the vote out earned it the award for Digital Campaign of the year at the Your UK Parliament awards.

The campaign saw OBV working in collaboration with Saatchi & Saatchi London, and was directed by David

Allain.

A groundswell of young activists had emerged during the year, and their energy fed into an OBV campaign which took place in one of the most important elections in generations.

The result was a series of billboards across the UK showing famous people with an ‘X’ over their mouths, highlighting the importance of having their voice heard.

An online film was also

produced. It spotlights controversial words uttered by politicians on issues of race, religion, women, sexuality and climate change.

Stars featured in the film include Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones), Nadia Rose (British hip-hop artist), Ash Sarkar (journalist, political activist), Jermain Jackman (singer) and Will Poulter (The Revenant).

Supported by

murder of George Floyd and sought to channel the demand for change among Black and other underrepresented communities into a sweeping voter registration charge ahead of the May local elections.

The online images captured rallies that occurred over the 12 months leading to April 2021.

It carried the taglines ‘millions took the knee, all for nothing’, and ‘thousands of miles marched, all for nothing’ paired with strapline ‘unless we vote Thursday 6 May’.

There was additional motivation heading into

and

the campaign given recent events in the US. Only months prior, activist groups had mobilised predominantly Black communities to make their voices heard during the 2020 presidential election.

UK

28 | THE VOICE

OCTOBER 2021

Celebrating 25 years: OBV

2010 leadership interviews UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT: OBV Director Simon Woolley interviews Labour leadership hopeful Diane Abbott MP

Late 2010 saw OBV run a series of interviews to find out how prospective Labour leaders would engage with politically underrepresented communities. By Mayowa Ayodele ONE OF our interviews was with the legendary Diane Abbott.

Simon Woolley: “Black communities look up to you as an iconic politician. What’s your message for them – regardless of their party colours, one black person to others – in terms of them being the best they can be in what in many areas is a difficult environment.”

Diane Abbott: “My message to everybody is do not allow yourself to be daunted by the naysayers. Do not internalise the unfairness of a very unfair society. My message to everybody is go for it.”

The words of Diane Abbott marked the end of a series of interviews that saw OBV question prospective Labour party leaders and mayoral candidates in 2010.

The series was in line with OBV’s mandate to ensure the voices of the communities it served were heard at all levels, at all times – even in the midst of a changing political landscape.

David and Ed Miliband, Andy Burnham, Ed Balls, Oona King and Ken Livingstone were challenged on various issues over the course of the interviews.

Black Britain Decides

An international footprint POWERFUL VOICE: Reverend Al Sharpton, pictured at the House of Commons in 2018

The only government worth voting in is the government we believe will not only listen to us but will have the courage once in Number 10 Downing Street to do the right thing.” — Rita Patel, OBV Chair FEW EVENTS have encapsulated OBV’s emphasis on the importance of political participation more than Black Britain Decides.

Since 1996, OBV had reiterated one fact above all else: that the votes of politically underrepresented communities could have a defining impact on where power resides in the UK – with particular emphasis on marginal seats.

The highly anticipated 2010 election saw Operation Black Vote stage one of the year’s biggest pre-election rallies as 2,500 individuals from predominantly African, Caribbean and Asian backgrounds gathered at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. Politicians from across the political spectrum attempted to sell voters on their vision for

serving these communities. Police use of stop and search powers and the DNA database were among the hot topic issues during a three-hour event.

RALLY Then Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, shadow chancellor George Osborne and Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable addressed the rally.

Conservative leader David Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg both recorded messages which were broadcast in the hall.

OBV HAS frequently drawn on support from international campaigners to reiterate and amplify its message.

In 2002, Reverend Al Sharpton visited the UK to spearhead the OBV and Choice FM Lecture in support of Black Britons pushing to achieve a stronger political voice. He would frequent the UK during several more campaigns and in 2010, he joined OBV in urging the International Development Secretary to provide increased aid to Haiti. In 2018 he addressed Black political hopefuls on the subjects of rising knife crime and drugs policies that target Black people.

Reverend Jesse Jackson has also been an ardent supporter of Operation Black Vote’s voter registration efforts,

most notably during the 2005 and 2010 general elections.

In 2013, Jackson was a keynote speaker at an event in Birmingham commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech.

OBV’s international footprint has meant that representatives from the organisation have appeared at the Black European and the Congressional Black Caucus. More recently, OBV has played a helping hand stateside.

Meesha Hall created an online campaign calling on international support ahead of the 2021 March for voting rights.

In the House of Lords

By Meesha Hall AFTER 23 years as a leading race equality champion for Operation Black Vote, October 14, 2019 saw Simon Andrew Woolley appointed as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.

The distinction earned him the title of Baron Woolley of Woodford and followed a knighthood only months earlier.

Upon receiving his ennoblement, he said: “To be singled out for this award is truly humbling. I hope the title will open more opportunities to allow me to work more effectively. I also hope it inspires other working-class people, Black and white, to see what is possible for them if they make a positive contribution.”

He wasn’t wrong. It was a momentous occasion for many in the Black community to witness a key political figure handed a seat in the Upper chamber, especially during Black History Month.

Greater representation within an establishment that could and should be more diverse.

His transition from outsider to lawmaker hasn’t come without its tests.

Speaking more than a year after his appointment, he revealed he had been subject to prejudice in the House of Lords library: “Three times in the space of three months, a Lord would tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘Can you help me with the photocopier?’ It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m wearing. I still don’t get seen as one of them.”

Despite this, his paspowerful, sionate and uplifting maiden speech, encouraged his newly found peers ‘to lay bare uncomfortable truths’ and serve as a ‘beacon of hope’ in these directionless times.

He demonstrated this quality of leadership by using part of his induction to rally support for Roma communities in the UK. He ends on an admirable note: “Right now our society, our nation is crying out for leadership – strong, decent and collective.”

By carrying forward OBV’s ethos of race equality, we are in safe hands with Lord Woolley.

OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 29

Celebrating 25 years: OBV

We’re stronger together MISSION: OBV deputy chief Ashok Viswanathan believes that the organisation’s willingness to look beyond party lines has been key to its success; below, scan the QR code to see Lord Simon Woolley’s OBV highlights

Diversity has always been at the heart of OBV and that’s also why it has become such a successful organisation. Bringing Black communities together has given us strength to withstand recent challenges.

By Ashok Viswanathan

L

EE JASPER, Simon Woolley, Rita Patel, David Weaver, latterly Francine Fernandes, Rafiq Maricar, Sanjay Mistry, Leon Green, Faz Hakim, Merlene Carrington, and the new editor of The Voice, Lester Holloway. These names are an unmistakable testament to OBV’s tireless work and intersectionality from its inception to the present day.

This has meant that the make-up of OBV’s team has always been diverse. Pakistanis and Gujaratis, Jamaicans, and Barbadians, Indians of Muslim, Christian and Hindu backgrounds, Igbo and Yoruba Nigerians and all those from African, Asian and Caribbean backgrounds have always been able to find a home at OBV.

driven with the purpose of inspiring hope for tomorrow, and an action plan for a positive future.

This could only work if we shed the partisanship and sectionality of the past, and become truly inclusive, to form an unstoppable social, political and electoral force.

OBV has now become an unstoppable social, political and electoral force.

CHALLENGING The organisation has looked beyond party lines to tackle persistent and ongoing inequalities to benefit society as a whole. We have worked with Lib Dem, Greens, Labour and Conservative, as well as those with no party loyalty over 20 successive years of leadership programmes.

In embracing ethnic and political diversity, OBV has been

The last 20 months have been challenging for OBV, our society and the world.

There are those that seek to divide us, and therefore dilute the strength of our collective message, but we must be resolute.

We are greater in strength, in our diversity, and in unity.

Long may this be. The struggle continues.

FOUNDERS’ LETTERS Lee Jasper: Strategies for change WITH ALMOST 40 years of activism, Lee Jasper has seen most things, but his expression intensiffies as he recalls the social and political landscape that gave birth to Operation Black Vote.

“We’d been dealing with racist attacks and murders like Stephen Lawrence and Rolan Adams since the early 90s. That was followed by a spate of deaths in police custody in the mid-90s.

“When we held that demonstration on a cold December night in Brixton, we were attacked by the Metropolitan Police. I stood there and saw valiant, young black men fighting back against police violence and trying to end racist attacks and deaths in custody.

“As we walked away we said to ourselves that we need to find a more effective way to bring about the change and that we need to stop these attacks and deaths in custody. We needed leverage, political leverage to influence change.”

Step by step, the former OBV chairman unwinds the context of a turbulent period.

From the recession at the start of decade, rampant Black youth unemployment and racist attacks in south-east London, the pressure cooker politics of the ‘90s bred a renewed urgency for change.

He points to the 1997 election and Labour’s promise of an inquiry into the death of Ste-

phen Lawrence as evidence of the potential impact of the ‘Black Vote’ in action.

A fulfilment of Dr King’s dream of an organised black electorate, and a final ‘maturing’ of a Black political response to issues of the time, he says.

David Weaver, a member of the OBV Board, would act as secondee in the Cabinet Office during Tony Blair’s Labour government where he would help address issues surrounding race equality.

He notes that the turn of the century saw greater funding for Black organisations as the significance of these marginalised votes became increasingly apparent.

His point of focus for OBV over the next 25 years? Constitutional reform to protect the rights of Black people.

Rita Patel: How OBV began I GREW UP near Simon Woolley in Leicester and we went to the same secondary school.

There was a lot of racism about in those days. In my early 20s, I helped start a local women’s group, Belgrave Baheno, with Karen Chouhan.

After that we helped set up the first National Black Caucus conference in Nottingham University where I first met Lee Jasper, who was a fellow founder of Operation Black Vote. Soon we began meeting regularly at the Mangrove restaurant in west London and talking about the need for a think tank so we founded The 1990 Trust and Lee became its director.

There were others involved too, including David Weaver, Alex Bennett and Audrey Adams.

Simon was volunteering with a mainstream campaigning body called Charter 88 at the time and as our talks moved on to addressing the lack of opportunities in politics we then created Operation Black Vote with Simon as the director.

Our first shadowing scheme had 25 places and, if I remember rightly, 650 people applied.

It just destroyed the myth that black people weren’t interested in politics. And it was across the political spectrum.

It wasn’t about just Labour, or the Tory

Supported by

party, or the Lib Dems or anybody else, it was about empowering people to understand the systems that govern at local and central government level, in magistrates’ courts, in all the regions and institutions, that made decisions about our lives.

Black people just did not have their voices heard in the decision-making process. Our vote does count. Sometimes we don’t really know the power of their own vote.

DIFFERENCE I think OBV campaigns around voter registration can help people to see through the fog, that they can make a difference.

People sometimes think that OBV is a large organisation because of what we’ve achieved, but we’ve been living hand to mouth, and there have been financial uncertainties.

Simon has been on that hamster’s wheel putting in applications, meeting people and convincing them that the next project we want to do is worth funding.

There are so many people who deserve recognition. There is so much to say about the British black civil rights struggle that someone needs to put together a book!

and

UK

30 | THE VOICE

OCTOBER 2021

Celebrating 25 years: OBV

Alumni contributions OBV alumni reflect on taking part in shadowing schemes and what it meant to them ‘I’m able to spread my wings’

‘Chance to make an impact’

HAVING BEEN an activist all my life, I felt something was missing until my friend and mentor, Charles Crichlow, sent me the advert for OBV. He said: “Sister, I think you should apply for this, we need people like you.” Out of hundreds who applied, I was one of 30 chosen. It was time!

Fast forward to the OBV week of masterclasses, listening to the various people who spoke to my cohort. Then the three-day residential at Magdalen College, Oxford, where I addressed a roomful of the leaders of tomorrow about my pet subject, organ donation.

I was euphoric! I stood tall because I know I am worthy to aspire to be whatever I want to be. I have the OBV team encouraging, supporting and demanding. This statement always makes me smile because it reminds me of Lord Woolley’s usual

WHEN I first embarked on my journey for the Pathway to Success programme, I had just been co-opted as a Parish Councillor in Milton Keynes.

While attending the masterclasses, we heard from a range of experienced and diverse speakers.

The overarching theme that became apparent for me is the ability to have an impact on decisions that are important to members of the community.

I can have influence without being involved directly, while working alongside the government and agencies.

The OBV team has provided me with a good foundation and footing into merging my political aspirations and my love for the commu-

phrase, “We do not ask for your success, we demand it.”

I remember my daughter, Roxanne, turned to me and said: “Mum, I’m so proud you’re my mum.” Even if it’s just my daughter I have inspired, I’m glad. But I know there are others watching, and being inspired by all I am doing. So thanks to OBV for giving me a platform to spread my wings. I hope I can inspire the youths of tomorrow to “aspire to inspire” others.

Hilaria Asumu

‘Empowered and inspired’ WHEN I applied to Operation Black Vote’s MP Shadowing Scheme, I was in my 20s with a degree in Politics.

I had been on the Women’s Committee at University, worked as a journalist for the anti-fascist organisation, Searchlight. Challenging inequality, in its various forms, was my passion.

I had travelled down to London for the interview.

Simon and Ashok seemed to represent everything that compelled me to politics... and more.

The name Operation Black Vote represented empowerment.

Often at a political meeting, I would be one of only a few BAME people in the room and certainly the only BAME woman. Operation Black Vote was different.

OBV was exciting, because it was a BAME-led organisation, self-defining

the challenges and crucially, self-providing the solution.

It is an ethos that inspires.

Crucially it also combined a delicate balance of political credibility, dynamism and authenticity within the community.

CHANGE Today, more than 10 per cent of BAME MPs are OBV graduates and over 100 OBV graduates serve as magistrates.

OBV empowers, inspires and emboldens us to ‘Be the change we wish to see’.

No better way is this philosophy epitomised by Simon’s ennoblement.

His selfless attitude and steadfast determination, is why OBV, and Simon, have been and will continue to be a source of pride and achievement.

Francine Fernandes

nity. In addition to this, a lot of lifelong lessons have been learnt and friendships have been formed.

I would like to share a quote from Lord Simon Woolley, who said: “If not you, then who? If not now, then when?’’

It is the simplicity yet profoundness of these questions that has given me the confidence to move onto the next phase of my political/community journey of financial literacy for the youth in schools.

To equip the future generation with the tools needed to understand money matters before they go on to further education, or the workplace.

Cllr Victoria Bamisile

‘It helped open my potential’ THE OBV Liverpool Civic Leadership Programme 2020, was a portal to an awakening of my true potential, and the reality and possibilities of what I was already trying to achieve.

To me OBV means the opening of a door that gives real insight into the reality of the opportunities on offer in civic life for BAME people.

Not only this but it actually gave me the confidence to make decisions that I thought were not possible simply because of the lack of information, enthusiasm, and encouragement I was given outside of this organisation.

Since starting on the programme I have put myself forward for more involved roles within my trade union the CWU (Communication Workers Union) and I am now the acting North West Regional BAME workplace

representative. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic and lockdowns, we haven’t been able, as a group, to get out in person to get the full experience of going to see first-hand the full inner workings of the organisations that we could get involved with. But the information, encouragement, mentoring, and steering I’ve been given in the programme is second to none.

The programme has helped me set my goals and choose the path I want to follow within civic life and within my own desired time-frame.

It won’t be easy, or happen overnight but I can now see that it’s entirely possible.

And that is what OBV has helped me do, to plan strategically to achieve my desired results.

Peter Pascall

‘Be me and change the world’ HOW FITTING is it for The Voice newspaper to celebrate OBV’s 25th anniversary during Black History Month, which started 34 years ago? I have always been touched, moved and inspired by OBV’s work to increase BAME communities political, civic leadership and knowledge. This year I have been fortunate enough to have been selected onto OBVs prestigious Pathway to Success programme. OBV has taught me how to:  Believe in myself  How to speak truth to power and communicate confidently  Never stop learning  Focus, focus, focus  Be brave, step out and be a vanguard  Become a mentor and mentee  Negotiate  Learn one thing new every day  Embrace being uncomfortable

 Debate  Not everyone thinks the same as me  That I should not be afraid of failure, as it is all part of the process  Be good and do good in everything I do  Take a stand and be counted  Always keep learning  Always make the best out of everything  How business, policy and people are linked  Be true to my values  Be a citizen of the world  Run my own race  Being an unpolished gem with a clear path ahead of me  Network and keep networks as long lasting friendships  Strategise and win  Be strong, be me and change the world.

Godfrey Atuahene Junior

INSPIRATIONAL: Godfrey Atuahee Junior, Pathway to Success 2021 graduate, right, with Simon Woolley

OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 31

Celebrating 25 years: OBV

Civic Leadership in action The courses were designed to offer individuals the opportunity to observe and engage in various areas of public life. By Mayowa Ayodele

T

HE IMPACT of political education does not begin and end at the ballot box.

Central to OBV’s work over 25 years has been the belief that it also extends to the anatomy of these institutions themselves.

Established in 2001, the civic leadership programmes have been a vital cog in ensuring a steady conveyor belt of black and brown individuals have found themselves equipped with the knowledge of how to navigate areas of public life.

It has transformed talent into invaluable experiences as public appointees.

They have also played a role

education, in addition to the

sector and local govThey have voluntary ernment. Twenty years since the first civic leadership proplayed a role gramme and the fact remains in many having that no single national not-fororganisation has directly the confidence profit had a hand in the journeys of as many councillors, trustees, and to become magistrates as OBV. civic leaders VERSATILITY in helping our people gain the confidence needed to become civic leaders.

The areas of civic duty had been identified with the intent of helping to unwind many of the inequalities still seen within education, policing, the Criminal Justice System and

The Magistrates Shadowing Scheme

The pandemic has also offered proof of the programme’s versatility.

Despite COVID-19 restrictions, more than 40 members of the Birmingham and Liverpool civic leadership programmes graduated from the most recent class of 2020.

VOICES BEING HEARD: The Lewisham Civic Leadership Programme, 2016

Pathway to Success

MP shadowing scheme

A core element of the OBV’s identity THE STORY behind the start of the Magistrates Shadowing Schemes is well known.

OBV director Simon Woolley chased then-Lord Chancellor Lord Derry Irvine down a corridor at Labour conference, saying he had an offer to ‘change the face of the magistracy’ that Lord Irvine couldn’t refuse. He didn’t.

Later in 2002, the Magistrates Shadowing Scheme would launch.

It would run in partnership with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and the rest is history.

The motivation for the programme, however, was more interlaced with OBV’s identity as an organisation than often credited for.

Representation was, of course, key. It aimed to redress the balance between those who were subject to the courts and those who were represented within it.

This was behind the schemes targeted toward Korean, Somali and Turkish communities in the midnoughties.

It offered the opportunity for OBV to follow through

with its intention to make Magistrates Courts look like the people they served.

The death of Wayne Douglas in police custody in 1995 magnified the need for greater accountability in the criminal justice system.

UNREST The civil unrest that followed his killing, as well as subsequent requests for accountability, have been cited by both Simon Woolley and Lee Jasper as precursors to the founding of the organisation.

Following OBV’s launch, funding opportunities were hard to come by, but the Magistrates would become the second major decisionmaking institution that OBV were able to obtain funding for after its Parliamentary Programme.

Despite the scheme having ended in 2011, the magistracy remains one of the most popular areas of engagement on the Civic Leadership Programme.

KEY EVENT: Pathway to Success, 2019 IF THE close of the noughties saw OBV’s voice at the top of the civic and political food chain grow, the end of the following decade marked the establishment of a legitimate route for those primed to reach the top.

Buoyed on by the findings in The Colour of Power 2017, Pathway to Success was launched two years later to nurture the country’s future black and minority ethnic leaders. It would do this by building their confidence, know-how and familiarity with senior leadership settings. Perhaps more than any OBV scheme, Pathway to Success has expanded the organisation’s sights from politics, governance and community to the world of business.

Recognised leaders across civic, public and corporate life have led a series of masterclasses during the pro-

gramme’s opening years.

OBV has been able to tap into the connections it has established over more than two decades to ensure each member of the cohort is reserved a specially assigned mentor.

COVID-19 restrictions meant the 2020 iteration was ultimately delayed, but much like with the Civic Leadership Programme in the same year, the OBV team was able to re-adjust with haste to manage the online proceedings in spring.

The 2021 cohort would finally meet in person in September at the University of Oxford’s Magdalen College.

More than 90 people have now graduated from a scheme that has hosted speakers including former attorney general Dominic Grieve.

Supported by

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT: Diane Abbott speaking at the launch of the MP Shadowing Scheme in 2010 THE BLUEPRINT for civic and political transformation is wide and varied, but OBV’s quest to transform the nation’s institutions began with the parliamentary shadowing scheme in 1999.

This is significant, because it highlights the intent to ensure the representation of politically underrepresented communities at the highest levels of decision-making.

Beginning as they meant to go on, the 1999 launch resulted in 25 young men and women selected onto the scheme.

By 2019 that number had risen marginally to 30, but the intervening years has seen more 400 pass through the parliamentary shadowing scheme and the intent has

and

remained the same - to equip underrepresented communities with first hand insight of serving as elected figures in Westminster.

The experience is intended to translate into future political engagement, and the programme has come good on its mandate. The success of Clive Lewis MP and Helen Grant MP has been followed by Marsha De Cordova MP and Tan Dhesi MP in recent times.

Tellingly, the scheme has proven to be a template for future electoral success.

More than 50 people who were chosen to participate on the programme have won election at the local or national level.

UK

32 | THE VOICE

OCTOBER 2021

Celebrating 25 years: OBV

Get ready for the 2022 Pathway to Success!

T

H E CURTAIN has fallen on another year of OBV’s Pathway to Success scheme, but could you be in attendance in 2022?

The programme is run in partnership with the University of Oxford’s Magdalen College and Blavatnik School of Government, as well as Lloyds Banking Group and the House of Commons.

In 2021, 60 individuals participated in the flagship programme which aims to mould tomorrow’s leaders.

Masterclasses have been led by world-renowned academics, former Attorney Generals, and former Prime Ministers. The programme will be returning to the University of Oxford’s Magdalen College next year.

Make sure to keep abreast of all things OBV to learn more ahead of the 2022 edition of Pathway to Success.

OBV would like to give a heartfelt thanks to its supporters, associates and funders...

REAPING THE REWARDS: The ‘leaders of tomorrow’ celebrate their achievements; below, scan to find out more

Donate to support OBV today Help support OBV’s work in helping people from all backgrounds find a place in civic and political life. Scan the QR code here to donate.

Congratulations to the founders and employees, past and present, and volunteers who have all played a pivotal role in raising awareness and advancing the agenda for political education, participation and representation of black and minority ethnic communities in the United Kingdom.

SEPTEMBER 2021

Contact your GP practice If you’ve seen blood in your urine – even just once, or had tummy trouble such as discomfort or diarrhoea for three weeks or more, it could be a sign of cancer. It’s probably nothing serious, but finding cancer early makes it more treatable.

Your NHS wants to see you. nhs.uk/cancersymptoms

THE VOICE| 33

34 | THE VOICE

OCTOBER 2021

Black History Month

NTA celebrates 60 years DECADES OF SERVICE: NTA leaders in the 1960s, when the organisation was formed in south London

Iconic Pentecostal church marks milestone with special meeting at its headquarters and online

T

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HE NEW Testament Assembly (NTA), one of Britain’s iconic black Pentecostal church denominations, recently commemorated its 60th anniversary.

Founded in 1961 by Jamaican born ministers, Bishops Melvin Powell and Donald Bernard, the NTA’s first service was held the front room of a house in Streatham, south London.

Sixty years later, the NTA is a prominent organisation with 12 churches in the UK, 12 in Jamaica, 18 in Ghana, two in Canada and America and three in India.

The celebrations took place online and in-person at the NTA headquarters in Tooting, south London. Bishop Delroy Powell, head of the NTA UK, pictured inset above, said: “A key highlight of the NTA 60th anniversary celebrations was the contribution from NTA Re-Linked. Former members, many of whom now live abroad participated virtually, reflecting on their time in NTA and how this had anchored their faith and shaped their lives. Some have had spectacular success in various fields and credited their achievements to their foundation in NTA.” The anniversary celebrations also gave the church an opportunity to reflect on its rich heritage. Over the years, the NTA has moved from just providing a spiritual home to the Windrush Generation and their children to being active in the community.

It works alongside Wandsworth Council to provide mental health support, runs a neighbour centre that works with the elderly, distributes

hampers at Christmas and provides education.

During the celebration, a tribute was also paid to members past and present, including the late Rev Dr Iolene Smith, Pastor Violet Bailey, former national leader, Bishop David Greaves, Bishop Esme Beswick MBE and Rev Nezlin Sterling who all contributed greatly to the growth of the church in size and influence.

Considered a key black UK church, NTA services have been featured on BBC Songs of Praise several times and their Tooting headquarters has been visited by numerous prominent figures, including London mayor Sadiq Khan, Rev Jesse Jackson and the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

Looking to the NTA’s future, Bishop Powell feels the greatest challenge it will face in the future is impacting millennials and Generation Z. He said: “The preserving and passing on of a legacy of faith from one generation to the next was never a straightforward matter and has been made more difficult fundamentally because of a shift in young people’s thinking away from a biblical worldview.

“There is a fierce urgency for us as senior church leaders to listen, understand and find ways to help our young people engage meaningfully with today’s cultural realities from a church perspective. NTA as a black majority church has the added task of encouraging our young people to value their heritage, while helping them to figure out their identity as young black Christians in a racialised and diverse society.”

Opening Hours : Monday to Friday 07:30 - 05:30

The Caribbean Line Serving the Caribbean Communities Since 1929

LOOKING BACK: NTA founders Bishop Melvin Powell and Bishop Donald Bernard helped create the organisation

OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 35

Black History Month

How do we make history and fulfil the will of God? INSPIRATION: We can identify with and draw hope from the stories in the Bible (photos: Cottonbro/ Nappy/pexels. com)

This Black History Month, Christians can look to the past to realise the ways in which we can recognise God’s plans for humanity and see the bigger picture of His relationship with humankind. By Rev John Root

I

LOVE HISTORY. I studied it at university. I still try to keep in touch with what is being written about the vast panorama of world history.

But I realise that for many people, ‘history’ means ‘boring’. However, people love gossip; and gossip connects us to someone’s life story; and when that life story is written down we call it a biography, and biographies put people’s life stories into the context of the wider world they were living in, and we call that history.

Put simply, history is about people and how they were shaped by the culture, the politics, the economics and the geography of the world they were living in.

Because God loves people, he is involved in those stories of people’s lives; and so most of the Bible is history. It is telling the story of how people related to each other, to the world around them, and especially to God himself.

But it is not just isolated stories we may have picked up from Sunday school, the Bible also gives us the ‘big picture’ of the relationship between God and humankind.

Two events give us the ‘frame’ of the big picture. Firstly, that human beings are created in the image of God, so that

History is about people and how they were shaped by the culture, the politics, the economics and the geography of the world they were living in every person has dignity and worth.

Secondly, that people have from the start — as portrayed in the story of Adam, Eve and the serpent — chosen to do things ‘my way’, not God’s way. The consequence is that life is marked by struggle, and so much of the Bible’s history is what is sometimes called ‘painful history’.

Thereafter, the long story of the Bible is about God working to set right His relationship with rebellious humanity, and using flawed and sinful people to do so. It pulls no punches in showing the great figures in that

story — Abraham, Moses, David — had more than their fair share of human failings; until the coming of the saviour, God, become man in Jesus of Nazareth.

As we celebrate Black History Month, there is much painful Bible history that black people have identified with.

The suffering and oppression of Israel in Egypt, where God’s choice of bringing freedom to the oppressed was to become the template for the struggle for the liberation of black people over the past two centuries.

When Israel’s unjust and idolatrous misuse of that freedom was punished by captivity in Babylon, their lament of humiliation in Psalm 137 became the Rastafarian lament Rivers of Babylon.

CONNECT Read with creative imagination, time and again the history we read in the Bible sets off our identification with situations we face.

Singing ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord’ enables us both to connect our suffering with Jesus’s infinitely greater suffering, but also to draw hope and vitality from God miraculously raising Him from the dead.

Putting ourselves into the Bible’s big picture gives us faith to believe that today also God’s justice will ultimately prevail.

More than that, it calls us to become activists in being part of God’s big project to bring about freedom, salvation and dignity for all.

As we pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as in heaven, so we offer ourselves to be those who want to see God’s rule of peace, and justice being brought about in our particular circumstances.

We get on board, we are not just history-receivers thrown about by the circumstances that have come to us, we are also history-makers.

The history that black people

makers’, what does that mean for us? l Vigilance. God liberated Israel from oppression in Egypt, but they soon fell back into idolatry, unfaithfulness, and in-

to despair and fear. But God promises both that He is with us now, and that finally evil will be overcome and Christ victorious over all creation. In unsettled times, godly hope brings strength and peace within.

We aren’t just history-receivers, GUIDE When we see history as the past thrown about by circumstances, that has shaped us, and a guide as to how we face the future, we are also history-makers have received has been marked by gross injustice, cruelty and oppression.

We have seen that they are issues that the God of the Bible is angered by and works through history to overcome.

But evil and sin constantly reinvent themselves to oppose God’s good purposes and harm and damage not just humans but the world we live in. As the present generation of ‘history-

justice. What do I need to check and correct in myself so that I am not ‘playing for the opposition’ rather than God? l Energy. God delights to place His Spirit within us, and gifts us so that we are enabled to work for good change in every situation we are in? What gifts do I bring to the table, and how can I develop them? l Hope. Struggle by definition isn’t easy. We can give in

then history becomes a good friend to cherish.

A major struggle of our day is responding to the immense problem of global warming, which will be next month’s topic.

Meanwhile, you may be interested to be part of an online discussion on ‘Christianity, Climate and Race’ led by Rev Dr Israel Olofinjana, on Thursday, October 7, 7.30-9.30pm; to be found at eauk.it/climate-justice.

36 | THE VOICE

OCTOBER 2021

Black History Month

The Necktie Man Navel Clarke’s autobiography shows why he has always been able to stand out from the crowd throughout his life. By Lester Holloway

N

AVEL CLARKE was considered one of the best dressed men, earning him the title ‘necktie man’.

There is so much more to his story than the way he dresses.

After arriving in Britain from Jamaica in 1955 aged 18 with dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer, he went on to become a prominent trade unionist before returning to Jamaica where he became the longest-serving Senator.

But the conversation starts with the title of his new autobiography, The Necktie Man. “I was nicknamed this because of the way in which I dress. I brought my first Burton’s tailored suit in 1955 and I have always worn a full suit with a necktie in every day of my life, and normally I sport a rose in my lapel, so I was considered one of the best dressed men around!”

MAIN MAN: From left, members of ‘The Necktie Gang’ – Darrel Blackwood, Dudley McBean and Navel Clarke; Clarke in the Senate; and taking time to relax In his early days in Britain, Clarke worked many manual jobs, from peeling potatoes to handling ice-cream cartons.

Now 84 years of age, Clarke looks back at his journey which took off when he joined the Transport and General Workers Union (now called Unite the Union) for a shilling in 1969.

Just over a year later he was elected one of Britain’s first black shop stewards, representing around 1,000 workers in

Alperton, Brent. He reveals another nickname. “I was called Perry Mason, after a famous American lawyer who never lost a case. I’ve never lost a case in 15 years.”

He was partly responsible for the creation of the London borough of Brent in 1965, serving on the committee that merged the old boroughs of Wembley and Willesden.

Clarke reflects on attempting to get more black workers to

join a union but encountering some resistance.

“I remember them saying ‘leave it alone’ it is a white man’s organisation.

“But I was very persistent in doing what I had to do. I’m thankful that I did that, because it has given me a life that I have never expected to have in the first instance.

“I was bold enough to say that if you can’t beat them, join them, learn from them and beat

them at their own game. And that’s just what I did.”

A committed trade unionist and active member in his local Labour Party, Clarke went on to become secretary of the Brent Trades Council for six years before heading back to Jamaica.

In 1993, the then-Jamaican prime minister PJ Patterson nominated Clarke to the Senate, and two years later be became Deputy President of the house, serving until 2016.

He credits his experiences in British trade unions for his later success. “Yeah, that propelled me to be able to go to Jamaica to contribute. I was about making sure we stand up for their rights, as Bob Marley says.”

The launch of The Necktie Man takes place on Sunday, October 3 from 1.30pm at Stratford Library, 3 The Grove, Stratford, E15 1EL. The book is available in paperback on Amazon and on Kindle.

New Constantine centre to leave ‘lasting legacy’

By Deon P Green WORK IS underway to rebuild a north London community centre named in honour of Trinidadian cricketer-turnedstatesman Learie Constantine.

Lord Constantine, below, entered the House of Lords as the first black peer in 1969 after being influential in Britain’s first race relations law.

As the first earth was shifted on the site in Dudden Hill

Lane, Willesden, Norman Mullings MBE, a director of the Learie Constantine West Indian association, told The Voice that the centre would “leave a lasting legacy for the black community”.

He said: “We managed to secure it by hard work and determination.

“Our centre has been a long journey, and we are rebuilding it as a centre of excellence; it will be a centre for our generation to come. “ The new development, which is being built by a partnership between the Learie Constantine West Indian Association and Brent Council, includes a new community centre and 25 new homes above it, with work due for completion in 18 months.

The centre dates back to 1971, when the Caribbean community were barred

from pubs, and signs saying ‘no blacks, no Irish, no dogs’ were displayed in windows.

Speaking of Learie Constantine’s contributions to the West Indian community in the early days, Mullings added: “The reason we have named the centre Learie Constantine is not so much the work he has done in sports, but the work he has done in community relations. He was the backbone of our (West Indians’) struggles.”

The original centre was made available at peppercorn rent by Brent council in the early 1970s, and the community fund-raised to restore it.

Lord Constantine was a prominent West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK’s first black peer.

@thevoicenewspaper

BUILDING SOMETHING SPECIAL: Phil Sealy MBE, Norman Mullings MBE, Babs Stephens, Cliff Stephens and Len O’Gilvie as work begins to redevelop the Learie Constantine Community Centre in Willesden

He was influential in the passing of the 1965 Race Relations Act in Britain.

He was knighted in 1962 and then made a life peer in 1969, taking the title Lord Constantine of Maraval and Nelson.

Lord Constantine wrote the book Colour Bar (1954) about racial discrimination in Britain.

He joined Harold Moody’s League of Coloured People in

@thevoicenews

the early 1930s, and won a landmark case against the Imperial Hotel in Russell Square, after his family were refused pre-booked accommodation.

The judgement paved the way to the first race equality law.

He returned to Trinidad in 1954, becoming chairman of a new political party, the People’s National Movement, and later taking up the position of

voicenews

Minister of Works and Transport. In 1961, he returned to London as High Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago, and played a significant role in securing the country’s independence a year later.

Lord Constantine died aged 70 at his London home.

He was given a state funeral in Trinidad, and a memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey.

www.voice-online.co.uk

SEPTEMBER 2021

THE VOICE| 37

Been coughing for three weeks or more?

Contact your GP practice If you’ve had a cough for three weeks or more and it isn’t COVID-19, don’t ignore it.

It’s probably nothing serious, but it could be a sign of cancer.

Your NHS wants to see you. nhs.uk/cancersymptoms

Seun Bakare, GP

38 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

GIANTS WHOSE LEGACY LIVES ON

The Voice featured several ‘movers and shakers’ in 2000 who are sadly no longer with us. We pay tribute to them.

Dame Jocelyn Barrow Dame Jocelyn Barrow founded one of Britain’s first anti-racist organisations, the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD) in the 1960’s.

CARD drove forward the first law in 1968 to outlaw discrimination in access to goods and services. She was also involved in the West Indian Standing Committee, which was formed after the Notting Hill riots of 1958.

Jocelyn went on to be part of the Community Relations Commission, a predecessor to the Commission for Racial Equality. She became the first black female governor of the BBC, and was passionate about education. She died last year aged 90.

Professor Stuart Hall Celebrated Professor Stuart Hall is one of the most quoted academics in the field of race and sociology. It is not just his books, as impressive as they are, that make him stand out. He also found fame presenting lectures on BBC’s Open University, bringing his critique to a wider audience, especially concerning race in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain.

He was a leading light involved in the landmark Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain report. Professor Hall died in 2014. A film about his life, The Stuart Hall Project, directed by John Akomfrah, was screened at Tate Britain.

Connie Mark Connie Mark joined the British Army in Jamaica during the war as an auxiliary bookkeeper.

She fought against the army’s decision to deny her a pay rise.

After the war she came to Britain and performed poetry and storytelling. She began promoting oral history events was associated with countless charitable, community and educational initiatives, including the Mary Seacole Memorial Association, of which she was a founder member and president.

After her death, a blue plaque in her memory was installed on Mary Seacole House in Hammersmith, Connie’s former home. Google posted a Google Doodle in her honour.

Bernie Grant Bernie Grant died a legend in 2000.

He was more than an MP for Tottenham, elected alongside Paul Boateng and Diane Abbott in 1987.

He was a fearless warrior for social and racial justice who was subjected to hate from British tabloids and labelled as ‘Barmy Bernie.’

Bernie came to the UK from Guyana in 1963 hoping to become an engineer. He quickly got involved in trade unionism and local politics, becoming a councillor and then making history as leader of Haringey council. He now has an arts centre named in his honour.

Sam King, MBE Sam King came to embody the spirit of the Windrush generation.

The ex-RAF fighter and local councillor was a prominent figure in the community and he jointly set up the Windrush Foundation to keep the stories of this generation alive.

Having arrived on the Empire Windrush ship in 1948, and got involved with the West Indian World newspaper under the editorship of Claudia Jones, and the postal workers’ union.

He went on to run unsuccessfully for parliament as one of the Labour Black Sections candidates. He was named on the 2020 list of Greatest Black Britons.

Val McCalla Val McCalla was the publisher and founder of The Voice newspaper who rose from a poor neighbourhood in Jamaica to become an RAF pilot, an accountant and then gave the black community a voice in the aftermath of the inner city uprisings of the 1981.

He launched The Voice at the 1982 Notting Hill carnival and the paper went on to hold the police to account before and after the Stephen Lawrence murder.

Val passed on in 2002 but left a huge legacy in The Voice.

This year he was honoured with a blue plaque on one of the newspapers’ former offices in Brixton.

27 | THE VOICE AUGUST 2021

ON TRAC – Spiritual and Pastoral Care Online

About the course PLEASE NOTE: this free course is open to people attending faith communities/groups are in South London boroughs of Lewisham , Croydon, Lambeth and Southwark.

“Spirituality can help people maintain good mental health. It can help them cope with everyday stress and can keep them grounded.

Spiritual communities can provide valuable support and friendship” (Mental Health Foundation, 2007).

This 8-week online course, consists of 10 modules designed to provide Black faith and religious groups/communities with some understanding of mental health. The course aims to help you feel more confident in identifying and knowing how to help members of your congregation who may be experiencing mental health difficulties. Over the 8 weeks you will be invited to attend weekly 2 hour sessions, taking place once a week online via Zoom. You will also be invited to complete e-learning activities.

Group sessions will give you an opportunity to learn about what mental health is, to meet mental health professionals and find out more about their role and how the mental health system works.

This course will also help you develop skills around active listening and how to engage with and support congregation members who may be experiencing difficulties. We will also discuss wider issues such as stigma, mental health inequalities, barriers to accessing help within the Black community, and creative ways that we can work together to improve this.

A well-structured pastoral engagement with faith/religious community members can help reduce isolation and stigmatisation, people with mental health may face within their communities. If you feel inspired to work with members of your faith group around issues related to mental health, then we would encourage you to sign up

Learning Objectives Participants attending this course will: • • •

Improve their knowledge and awareness of mental health and illness Develop their ability to support people within their congregation experiencing mental health difficulties Develop the skills and confidence to work with mental health services to promote mental health awareness and help-seeking within their faith communities!

The course is part of a wider research project, that aims to promote mental health awareness, whilst tackling mental health inequalities affecting Black communities. When signing up to this course you will be invited to participate in the research project, as part of the course evaluation and development. This project is led by Dr Louisa Codjoe, who has a strong interest and passion in improving healthcare inequalities and working with Black communities.

DATES:

LOCATION & BOOKING

9th-30th November 2021 and 11th January- 1st February 2022

This course will be taking place digitally via Zoom

For more information contact:

Book for free via the links below using code:

Tania Bunce

ONTRACSAPCO

E: tania.bunce@kcl.ac.uk

W: https://maudsleylearning.com/courses/on-tracW: https://maudsleylearning.com/courses/on on-tracspiritual-and-pastoral-care-online

W: https://ontracproject.com/

spiritualspiritual-andand-pastoralpastoral-carecare-online

40 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

ADVERTORIAL

Ola Babalola Owner of Hair and Beauty Palace Ventures - was thrilled for the grant and says it will make a massive difference to her business going forward.

FISERV, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology that has a significant presence in the UK, recently announced the local launch of the company’s Back2Business programme.

BY ANSHU TANEJA

D

esigned to strengthen small, ethnically diverse businesses and enable them to thrive in a post-pandemic world, Back2Business offers companies the opportunity to apply for £10,000 grants. Programme participants can also benefit from expertise, leading technology solutions such as the Clover® point-of-sale platform from Fiserv, and connections to community partners, at the request of the participants.

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world we live in. While some businesses were able to adapt to the rapidly changing landscape, many ethnically diverse-owned businesses were disproportionately affected. The combination of reduced commerce and reduced transactions hampered numerous small and diverse businesses.

CUSTOMERS Abhi Sapkale, owner of the Skin Destination clinic based in Liverpool, is one of thousands of business owners who struggled to stay afloat. “The pandemic impacted us massively because we were unable to see patients in our clinic and that hurt the business and revenues” he says.

“Our business was classed in the non-essential category, and we had to shut down during all

three lockdowns. Since we could not see our customers, our revenues dried up while expenses like rates and leases on machines were still ongoing. There were still many fixed and variable costs which we still had to bear.”

Born and brought up in India, Sapkale relocated to London after a job offer in 2010, but always wanted to run his own business and recently launched a second clinic in Leeds. Surviving the lockdowns was challenging and while the furlough scheme and a

“

three lockdowns. We literally had no customers, and this affected our revenues drastically,” she says.

Babalola, who was born in Nigeria and is now based near Bracknell in Berkshire, also applied for the Bounce Back loan and a Back2Business grant: “the pandemic caused huge pressures on our finances so these funds gave me the reassurance that I could continue with my business. There aren’t a lot of Afro-Caribbean stylists where we

It’s only because of the help and support that I have received from Fiserv that I can still be in business

Bounce Back loan from the government helped, Sapkale also benefitted from a Back2Business grant from Fiserv. “These grants have helped massively in all regards.”

Ola Babalola, who runs a specialist Afro-Caribbean hair and beauty salon and has a retail beauty business selling a range of products – such as wigs and skin creams – was also severely impacted. “We don’t have any online presence and were forced to close for each of the

”

are located, and it’s very difficult to recruit staff with the necessary expertise.”

According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), there were approximately six million small businesses at the start of 2020 with 0 to 49 employees – accounting for over 99% of total business and with a turnover of over £2 trillion. Consequently, supporting small and local business is essential as they are the backbone of the economy.

Helping small businesses ben-

efits entire communities. During the pandemic, many productrelated businesses were able to move online quickly and Sapkale thought about improving marketing and developing new ways of running his business.

SUCCESS “Technology helped some businesses thrive – for example by using Amazon or Zoom video conferencing – whereas our core business is a personal service and skin treatments obviously cannot be done remotely.

However, we did adjust one aspect of our business model by providing skin consultations online, and some clients still prefer that as they don’t want to travel in. Now we offer a mix of in-person and remote appointments, and it works very well.”

Following the huge success of the launch of Back2Business in America, Fiserv expanded the funding pot from $10m to a whopping $50m in January. It could not have come at a better time for Sapkale: “It was very satisfying to hear that there was a grant available. I was looking for some support. Being closed in the long lockdowns meant we lost so many customers and ran into cash-flow problems. I applied and was overjoyed to be accepted. It’s made a huge difference.”

Babalola was similarly thrilled to receive the grant: “I applied without any expectation but

once I was successful, I honestly couldn’t believe it. I was like ‘is this real?’ I didn’t know how to feel, it was such a relief.”

While Sapkale plans to use some of the £10,000 Back2Business grant towards essential refurbishments, most of the money will be spent in a marketing campaign to attract new customers and restore the business to pre-pandemic levels.

“We hope to create more leads and then invest that money back into the business to hire new staff and take the business forwards.”

ASSISTANCE Meanwhile Babalola plans to use the money to buy stock, to improve marketing, and is also hoping to launch a novel concept which she has been pondering on for a while. “Part of my vision is to apply for a sponsor license and run academy style training in colleges and universities rather than the salons. That will help us increase revenues and positively impact the business.”

Babalola recognises that she oversees a unique company and is very grateful for the financial assistance. “My business is the only one of its kind in this locality, and if we were not here then people would travel far to find these services. It’s only because of the help and support that I have received that I can still be in business. It makes a big difference to have the money there.”

32 | THE VOICE SEPTEMBER 2021

Helping ethnically diverse small businesses get Back2Business Go to fiserv.aeoworks.co.uk/ to apply

to Small Business

Lambeth Children’s Homes Redress Scheme Deadline: Applications for compensation open until 1 January 2022 Lambeth Council has set up a Redress Scheme for people who, as children, were abused or feared abuse at a Lambeth Children’s Home and/or Shirley Oaks Primary School.

There are two types of compensation payment available: n Harm’s Way Payment n Individual Redress Payment To find out more about the Scheme, eligibility and to make a claim, visit lambeth.gov.uk/redress or email redress@lambeth.gov.uk

Below is a list of children’s homes that were run by Lambeth or its predecessor authority (and which subsequently transferred to Lambeth), either within or outside of their area, that provided accommodation for children in care.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

Almond House Hostel Angell Road Calais Street Chestnut Road / Robson Road Chevington House Cumberlow Lodge Garrads Road Gresham Place Highland Road Ingleton House Ivy House / Warham Road

12.

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Knowle Close Lancester Avenue Lancaster Road Leigham Court Road Lorn Road Monkton Street Mount Villas Nottingham Road Rathmell Drive Rectory Grove / Elaine Claire House Samuel House

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Shirley Oaks South Vale Southwood Southwood Discharge Hostel St Saviours Stephany House Stockwell Park The Elms Thornwick Nursery Tivoli Road Woodvale

101859 (1.21)

THE WEEKLY GLEANER 101859 redress scheme 340x268mm Voice and Gleaner.indd 1

SEPTEMBER 23-29, 2021 • 13 02/02/2021 14:03

Lifestyle Liverpool exhibit: Sumuyya Khader makes her debut p44

Coventry BHM: Dub, roots and dancehall p49

WOLE SOYINKA His first novel in 50 years is here

Clementina Elba: I Am The Possibility p53

44 |

THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

Lifestyle

Art

Khader goes it alone Sumuyya’s first solo show in a public gallery looks certain to widen her public appeal VIVIDLY DEPICTED: Sumuyya Khader’s work is inspired by the colourful characters witnessed in everyday life

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

A look inside Deborah Roberts

T

Also at the Bluecoat

Practice Makes Perfect Rosa-Johan Uddoh Always Black Never Blue Sumuyya Khader Open Wed - Sun 11am - 5pm.

Free Entry.

Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BX thebluecoat.org.uk

Deborah Roberts ‘The Burden’ 2019. © Deborah Roberts. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photo by Paul Bardagjy.

15 Oct 2021 - 23 Jan 2022

HE BLUECOAT will present Sumuyya Khader’s solo exhibition, Always Black Never Blue, in Black History Month.

Her work reflects on contemporary life in Liverpool, exploring people and places through illustration, drawing, print and painting. The exhibition marks Khader’s first UK solo show in a public gallery and brings together work produced across her career to date.

This includes a recent return to painting, the medium that first drew her to art, an artistic development that has been supported by a residency at the Bluecoat in the months leading up to Khader’s exhibition.

Khader’s paintings and illustrations capture fleeting moments and snapshots of daily life, originally captured by the artist photographing the world around her.

Khader transforms these snapshots into her compositions, often by flattening images and mixing in abstract shapes, colours and rhythms. Her work often features restorative green spaces, relaxed interiors and still life, including details such as house plants layered with patterns and markings.

The spaces she depicts celebrate the life-giving properties of plants and greenery, and through their precisely detailed compositions also advocate for

“I’m excited to present work that can celebrate black joy” a great sense of care for our surroundings and our neighbours.

Khader’s portraits focus on black subjects and talk to blacklived experience and identity.

Her celebration of people and places is often combined with powerful text, such as ‘STAND UP, SPEAK OUT THIS IS A FIGHT FOR US ALL’, ‘WE FIGHT’, and ‘SAY IT LOUD, I’M BLACK AND I’M PROUD’ reflecting the urgency of the fight against racism and the erasure of black voices, particularly in Liverpool.

Speaking on her upcoming exhibition, Khader said: “I’m thrilled to be offered the opportunity to exhibit my work in my hometown. After a highly politically charged year, I’m excited to present a body of work that looks at celebrating black joy and explores how we can protect the bodies within our community.”

Khader is an artist of empowerment, both through the combinations of text and images in her work and also through the action she takes beyond her studio.

Recent projects have included establishing Aspen Yard, an artist studio based in Toxteth, Liverpool, and Granby Press, a community print shop built as a

resource for the local community to print magazines, newsletters, flyers and artworks.

In October 2020, Khader curated Celebrating Black Liverpool Artists, an outdoor exhibition on the facade of the Bluecoat as part of Liverpool City Council’s Without Walls programme, which celebrated the work of five Liverpool artists and highlighted the lack of visibility for the work of black women in the city.

Marie-Anne McQuay, Head of Programme at the Bluecoat said: “It’s a real honour to show new paintings by Sumuyya Khader as part of a survey of recent works.

She is a pioneering artist, vital to Liverpool’s artistic life with a cultural impact that goes beyond the city.

LUCKY

“We’ve been lucky enough to work with her on a number of projects, including a new installation of tiles and poster designs, and we’re so delighted to present her in the gallery alongside artists Deborah Roberts and Rosa Johan Uddoah for our much-anticipated autumn season.”

Khader’s exhibition will show alongside solo presentations A Look Inside by American artist Deborah Roberts and Practice Makes Perfect by UK artist Rosa Johan Uddoh. The three exhibitions will be open to the public from October 15 to January 23, 2022 and explore the formation of identity.

OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 45

Lifestyle

Art

Positive images created Tate Britain’s Life Between Islands exhibition ready to explore Caribbean-British art HISTORIC MOMENTS CAPTURED: From left, Black Panther school bags, Neil Kenlock, 1970, printed 2010 and presented by Tate Members 2013 and part of Eric and Louise Franck London Collection (courtesy of the Neil Kenlock Archive); Horace Ové’s image of Stokely Carmichael giving a Black Power speech at The Dialectics of Liberation Congress, Round House, London, 1967, courtesy of Horace Ové Archives (photo: Horace Ové)

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

O

PENING AT Tate Britain in December, Life Between Islands will be a landmark exhibition exploring the extraordinary breadth of Caribbean-British art over four generations.

It will be the first time a major national museum has told this story in such depth, showcasing 70 years of culture, experiences and ideas expressed through art, from visionary paintings to documentary photography.

The exhibition will feature

over 40 artists, including those of Caribbean heritage, as well as those inspired by the Caribbean, such as Ronald Moody, Frank Bowling, Sonia Boyce, Claudette Johnson, Peter Doig, Hew Locke, Steve McQueen, Grace Wales Bonner and Alberta Whittle, working across film, photography, painting, sculpture and fashion.

The exhibition begins with artists of the Windrush generation who came to Britain in the 1950s, including Denis Williams, Donald Locke and Aubrey Williams.

It will explore the Caribbean Artists Movement, an informal group of creatives like Paul

Dash and Althea McNish, whose tropical modernist textile designs were inspired by the Caribbean landscape.

The rise of Black Power in Britain will be shown in works such

reconstruction of a fictional 1970s interior, evoking the role of the home as a safe space for social gatherings at a time of widespread prejudice.

Works from the Black Art

“It will be the first time a major national museum has told this particular story in such depth” as Horace Ové’s photographs of Stokely Carmichael and Neil Kenlock’s Black Panther school bags in 1970.

The exhibition will also include a new iteration of Michael McMillan’s The Front Room, a

Movement of the 1970s and 80s depicted the social and political struggles faced by second-generation members of the Caribbean-British community.

Photographs by Dennis Morris and Vanley Burke present

LASTING IMPRESSION: From left, Three Wicked Men, 1982, Tate (credit: Denzil Forrester); Jah Shaka, 1983, collection Shane Akeroyd, London (credit) Denzil Forrester; right, The Spirit of the Carnival, 1982, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (credit: Tam Joseph)

everyday scenes of love, family and social life in the midst of struggle and hardship.

Major uprisings in the 1980s will be explored in works such as Isaac Julien’s Territories (1984), showing the conflict between carnival revellers and the police, and Denzil Forrester’s Death Walk (1983), a tribute to Winston Rose who died in police custody.

Other artists looked back to colonial history and its continuing resonance.

HORRIFIC Keith Piper’s photo-collage Go West Young Man (1987) connects the horrific dehumanisation of Transatlantic slavery with the media’s demonisation of young Black men, while Ingrid Pollard’s Oceans Apart (1989) conveys the co-existence of the Caribbean and Britain, past and present, through intimate everyday scenes.

The exhibition will continue with artists who emerged either side of the millennium.

While the Caribbean-British population forged new identities and communities in Britain, it also became embedded in British culture from reggae and dub to annual carnivals.

Some artists chose to move in the opposite direction from Britain to the Caribbean, including Peter Doig and Chris Ofili, who relocated to Trinidad in 2003.

Lisa Brice and Hurvin Anderson have also both made paintings inspired by their time on the island, including Brice’s After Ophelia (2018) and Anderson’s Maracas III (2004).

The exhibition will end with artists who have emerged more recently, many of whom revisit themes encountered earlier in the show.

It will include new works created especially for the exhibition, including new designs by Grace Wales Bonner evoking the brass bands and parades of the Commonwealth Caribbean, Marcia Michael’s multimedia collaboration with her Jamaican mother connecting her voice and body to generations of history and memory, and a photographic installation by Liz Johnson Artur charting the early development of south London’s Grime music scene.

Life Between Islands is curated

by David A Bailey, Artistic Director of the International Curators Forum, and Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain.

46 |

THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

Lifestyle

Music

Queen of Lovers Rock still reigns

Carroll Thompson is back on the road to celebrate four decades of her masterpiece Hopelessly In Love

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

I

F YOU, like many Lovers Rock fans, rushed to grab yourself a copy of the 40th anniversary reissue of Carroll Thompson’s seminal album Hopelessly In Love earlier this year, then you’ve probably already got your tickets for her upcoming tour this Black History Month.

The ‘Queen of Lovers Rock’ hits 11 major cities and venues across the country in October finishing up at the Albany in London on November 7.

Thompson announced the drop of the newly remastered 1981 classic in July and it will also be released on special colour vinyl and CD for National Album Day on October 15 via Trojan Records, whom she has recently signed to.

‘With its gentle enticing sonics, the album soundtracked the romance of a generation’ Having taken the British music scene by storm in 1980 with her classic single I’m So Sorry, which stayed in the top 10 of the country’s reggae chart for over four months, her breathtaking follow up Hopelessly In Love and album of the same name ensured Thompson’s enduring legacy.

An award-winning singer, songwriter and composer, who not only performed and penned all her work, but also co-produced the vast majority of it, Thompson has arranged and provided vocals for luminar-

ies including Michael Jackson, Sade, Stevie Wonder, Pet Shop Boys, BB King, Annie Lennox and many more.

With its gentle and enticing sonics designed to take you from the dance hall to the bedroom, Hopelessly In Love soundtracked the romance of a generation and has been lovingly dubbed “the album that triggered the baby boom”.

Remastered and re-presented in its original sleeve, the vinyl version has been pressed on high quality 180g colour vinyl, while the CD and digital collections include six bonus tracks, all of which have been unavailable on any format since the early Eighties.

With both physical versions further augmented by newly written sleeve notes and rare imagery from Carroll herself, Hopelessly In Love finally receives the deluxe treatment its status and profound influence has long since deserved.

ON STAGE: Carroll Thompson is taking to the road this Black History Month for a UK-wide tour to mark the 40th anniversary of her seminal album Hopelessly In Love, above right.

The Hopelessly In Love Anniversary Tour dates 19/10 – Nottingham, Glee 20/10 – Manchester, Tribeca 21/10 – Leeds, Wardrobe 24/10 – Leicester, 2 Funky

26/10 – Cardiff, Glee 27/10 – Birmingham, Jamhouse 28/10 – Liverpool, District

29/10 – London, Jazz Cafe 31/10 – Bristol, Fiddlers 04/11 – Horsham, Rec Rooms 07/11 – London, Albany

PROUD TO BE A BLOOD STEM CELL DONOR Julius tells his story.

“This Black History Month blood cancer charity DKMS has launched a campaign to encourage more people from diverse backgrounds to register as potential blood stem cell donors.

“Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer – those that affect the body’s bone marrow, blood or lymphatic system – such as leukaemia, myeloma or lymphoma. Yet, just 2% of the UK population is registered as potential blood stem cell donors.

“Diversifying the register is extremely important to people from our community. For a patient of white, north European origin, there is a 69% chance of finding a matching donor if they need one. This drops to just 20% for those from minority ethnic backgrounds.

“For those with a blood cancer or a rare blood disorder diagnosis, a blood stem cell donation from a genetically similar person can be the only option for survival. DKMS’s database is made up of just 2.3% of donors from a Black African or Black Caribbean background. “I first signed up with DKMS in 2016, having heard of a similar plea on the radio. My wife and my sister – who works in the NHS – encouraged me to register through the charity’s website. The process was straightforward. I was added to the UK aligned stem cell registry, where checks are made to see whether donors match patients in need of a blood stem cell transplantation.

“In 2019, after suffering from a very personal loss, I was contacted by the charity and told that I was a match for someone with blood cancer. I was delighted knowing that my blood stem cells – which replenish naturally – would be used to give someone a chance of life.

“The reality is that you never know if you’re going to be called to be a lifesaver-in-waiting, but why wouldn’t you want to help someone if you could? You might be the last hope for a patient in urgent need of your blood stem cells. And if you are identified as a match, take it from me you’ll definitely be PROUD TO BE A BLOOD STEM CELL DONOR.”

If you are aged 17-55 and in good general health, you could be a potential lifesaver for someone with blood cancer. Start by registering online for your home swab kit at: www.dkms.org.uk/proudtobe

SEPTEMBER 2021

PROUD TO BE A BLOOD STEM CELL DONOR

Many patients with blood cancer need a blood stem cell transplant from a genetically similar donor to give them a second chance of life.

Are you aged 17 to 55?

Please sign up with DKMS today. Be proud to be a stem cell donor.

Julius, blood stem cell donor

Learn more at dkms.org.uk/proudtobe

#ProudToBe

DKMS is the trading name of DKMS Foundation, a registered charity in England and Wales (1150056) and Scotland (SC046917).

DKMS is a limited company registered in England and Wales (08151279).

THE VOICE| 39

48 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

Lifestyle

Health

Looking at the man in the mirror

Cognitive behavioural therapist Josh Hubbins is dedicating his life to improving mental health

BY DARELL J. PHILLIP

W

ORLD MENTAL Health Day takes place each year on October 10.

According to Mental Health charity Mind, one in four people will experience a mental health problems of some kind, while one in six people report experiencing a common mental health problem (such as anxiety and depression) in any given week in England.

With the likes of high-profile global celebrities such as Prince Harry, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Taraji P Henson and David Harewood all having admitted to having had personal battles with their mental health, a subject which had for many decades been taboo among many is now beginning to become a normalised point of conversation with celebrities whom are adored by many saying that it is okay to not be okay, and that those experiencing mental health challenges should open up to those they trust.

Such is the work of Josh Hubbins – a cognitive behavioural therapist and mental fitness coach based in Croydon – who comes across such cases on a daily basis.

The 29-year-old British-born Jamaican, originally from Wolverhampton, moved to south London three years ago where he has been providing therapy to those experiencing difficulties with the way that they think and helping them to find practical solutions which will enable them to reach their goals along their journey to positive mental health.

The second eldest of seven siblings, Josh found himself pursuing a career in therapy after graduating from university with

“I love listening to others and want to help those having difficulties to overcome their challenges” a degree in psychology, as well as having been influenced by the work of his parents.

“There was an ethos in my family of helping others less fortunate than ourselves. My father did a lot of youth work, drugs training and mentoring – as did my grandma,” he says.

“My mother trained and qualified as a nurse before establishing a career in the charity sector.

They heavily influenced my decision to take up a career helping others.”

PASSION

“I decided to become a cognitive behavioural therapist and mental fitness coach because mental health is my passion, I love listening to others and want to help those experiencing difficulties develop practical skills for overcoming their challenges,” he adds.

When statistics relating to mental ill health among the black African and Caribbean diaspora are widely disseminated, it can

often make for rather bleak viewing. Rates of mental health problems can be higher for some BAME groups than for white people. For example, according to the Mental Health Foundation: • Black men are more likely to have experienced a psychotic disorder in the past year than white men.

• Black people are four times more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act than white people (mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/b/blackasian-and-minority-ethnicbame-communities).

There are a number of factors contributing to mental ill health within the black community, including racism and discrimination, social and economic inequalities and mental health stigma.

Yet while these may be the case for many within the black community experiencing mental ill health, Josh takes his role as a therapist seriously in that as a man of colour himself, he can empathise and assist his clients in finding some of the practical solutions needed to help them on their road to recovery.

“It is important that my clients are reassured in knowing that they have a safe space to speak to someone about what’s on their mind and that they are not alone in their struggle, as mental health is something that we all experience, whether directly or indirectly.

“The key is training both body and mind and nurturing them equally, so you are the best you can be.

“Positive mental health requires bravery to take an honest look at ourselves in the mirror, recognise the struggle, be willing to seek the right support

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INSPIRED: Josh Hubbins said his family had an ethos of helping others in the community and become the best version of ourselves.”

Josh believes that positive self-image and solidarity within the black community as a whole plays a vital role in the promotion of positive mental health within the community.

events within respected organisations such as The Voice have all made a positive difference.

“When we as a community are able to see such positive images of ourselves within the mainstream media, it contributes positively not only to our

also continue to be highest amongst those within the black community, Josh feels there are some practical steps individuals can take on a journey towards positive mental health. He says: “Often, the secret to success is found in your routine. Getting adequate amounts of sleep plays a huge role – early to bed and early to rise really helps.

“Positive images of ourselves in the mainstream media TRUST contribute to our sense of worth” “Eating a healthy, “Over the past year, there has been a lot more solidarity within the black community, including movements which have been promoting success in the black community.

“Marcus Rashford’s free school meals campaign, the Kick it Out campaign during the Euros, out of inspiration for the Black Lives Matter marches the creation of Black Minds Matter UK (blackmindsmatteruk.com) and continued coverage of such

@thevoicenews

own sense of worth, self-image and esteem but also to our overall mental health and wellbeing, too.”

While waiting lists for those of black African and Caribbean backgrounds seeking therapy has often been long, once the process is in place, it can offer a lifeline to many looking to bounce back from moments where mental ill health is experienced.

While mental ill health does

voicenews

well-balanced, nutritious meal, supplemented with regular exercise – even in small daily amounts.

Then, finally but perhaps most importantly, not keeping your emotions bottled up inside.

“Talk to someone you trust – a family member, a close friend or even seeking professional help from a counsellor or therapist – these small but significant steps will ultimately lead you to a better place and make yourself the man or woman in the mirror you want to be.”

www.voice-online.co.uk

OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 49

Lifestyle

Music

Systems sound so good Coventry City of Culture Trust plans to celebrate its wealth of musical talent throughout October and November

BY JEROME CONWAY

D

URING OCTOBER and November, Coventry City of Culture will put a spotlight on Coventry’s sound systems with three exciting events bringing Dub, Roots and Dancehall lovers together to celebrate some of the best local sounds, as well as internationally respected names from Coventry’s twin city, Kingston, Jamaica.

Coventry is a city with a strong Caribbean presence, inspiring a wealth of art and culture that has come from the city, in particular the rich music heritage of Two-Tone.

“Music has been a force for good in this city and helped to unify generations” But even before bands like The Specials and The Selecter broke through to mainstream success, Coventry was making a name for itself as a city of Sound Systems.

The 2008 documentary Champion Sound, set in Coventry, shows how from the 1950s West Indian arrivals to the city built their own sound systems with huge speakers and amps,

introducing new Reggae and Ska music to local audiences at parties.

Today there are sound systems still active in Coventry that can trace their beginnings back over 50 years, alongside new sounds starting up to continue the tradition.

Coventry City of Culture Trust have pledged to celebrate the innovation and talent within its communities, highlighting how local artists have been making exceptional things happen in the city for generations, often without vast resources.

SPIRIT

Therefore, sound systems with their DIY spirit and passion for bringing people together have taken pride of place in the yearlong City of Culture programme, delivered in partnership with creative producer Colin Bell, with production management from The Play Maker Group, all with a wealth of experience and passion for sound systems culture and events.

Speaking about the importance of the upcoming events, Bell said: “Music has been a force for good in this city, and the music played on sound systems has unified and inspired generations in Coventry, and now in 2021 we get to celebrate

ON THE MIC: Coventry was well known as the city of sound systems our local sound system Culture, not just the pioneers who have been playing for the last 50 years but also celebrating new, younger up-and-coming sound systems and our first all female sound system.

“Several of the sound systems involved are second generation passed down from their fathers, and our hope is this will both spotlight our Coventry sound systems and stimulate new conversations

and develop new ways of continuing this tradition into the future.”

On October 2 local sound systems Black Crusader, I&I Presents Count C, Irie B & Scooby, Messenger Sound and Sisters In Dub will perform at a Dub and Roots-themed event, and on October 9 Black Magic Family, JB International, Mackabee Studio International and X5 Family World Sound will bring dancehall to the city.

The culmination of the sound systems celebration will be an event titled ‘Coventry meets Kingston’ with local sound systems performing alongside sound systems from Kingston, including Rory Stonelove, Bass Oddessy and Ricky Trooper joining via live stream on November 6.

Tickets for each event can be purchased at coventry2021. co.uk

Coventry Sounds Systems present THREE NIGHTS OF SOUND SYSTEMS CELEBRATING THE BEST OF COVENTRY AND KINGSTON

DUB AND ROOTS

DANCEHALL VIBES

SATURDAY 2 OCTOBER

SATURDAY 9 OCTOBER

COVENTRY MEETS KINGSTON SATURDAY 6 NOVEMBER

BOOK TICKETS ONLINE COVENTRY2021.CO.UK

PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

TOP SPOT: A partygoer celebrates at a previous gathering

50 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

This is Brukout!

by Seani B

A true living legend It’s time to salute the greatest ever saxophonist – the one and only Dean ‘Cannon’ Fraser

W

E HAVE lost so many icons in the last 18 months, and I often wonder if they get the credit and respect that they truly deserve.

It’s time that we give them their flowers when they can smell them.

For Black History Month this year, I wanted to give flowers to a living legend who is still going strong – still touring, still recording and still inspiring – in my opinion he is the greatest saxophonist, Dean ‘Cannon’ Fraser.

Jamaica has had a treasure trove of gifted musicians that have painted the backdrop for some of the reggae classics that we enjoy to this day. Many of these musicians sought refuge in music to take them away from the harsh realities of life - this was their way out.

This was no different for Dean Ivanhoe Fraser who grew up in the countryside of Jamaica but returned to the capital, Kingston, as a young teenager.

Dean found his love for the brass section in a youth club in the community of Trench Town.

He started out playing the clarinet, but it was through the tutelage of his teacher Babe O’Brian that Dean was able to learn the saxophone that would become the instrument that would define his career.

This same teacher also gifted Dean his opportunity to become a member of the popular Sonny Bradshaw Seven in 1972. Dean did not waste this opportunity and showed Mr Bradshaw, the band leader, his eagerness to learn by making sure he was prompt for his practice sessions during his probation period.

He spent many

“Not only is he a craftsman in his work, he also has a genuine diamond soul” years with the band, learning his craft and mastering the saxophone until he desired a new challenge.

He wanted to hear his instrument on the radio, so he handed in his resignation to the band and pursued his next venture.

During his transition of leaving the Sonny band, his childhood friend Ronald ‘Nambo’ Robinson, who he had originally played with in Trench Town in his teenage days, returned back to Jamaica and brought him to Lloyd Parks and We the People Band.

INFLUENCING

This was exactly where he wanted to be! Lloyd Parks and his band opened up many doors for Dean, playing in many different studio sessions for the likes of Joe Gibbs. The band also became the main backing band as they were the musicians that actually made many of the riddims in the studio.

The band became a major success, also influencing the sounds of many bands worldwide, especially on their trip to the UK with Dennis Brown in the late ‘70s where bands like Aswad and others absorbed everything that they brought to the table, and Brass became an important component to the recipe.

Dean’s credits don’t only lie with Dennis Brown, but also with Bob Marley and the Wailers for his contributions on the classic Survival album.

His input to this album was so much that Bob extended an invitation for him to become a Wailer, but due to his commitments with Dennis, that did not come to fruition.

However, that didn’t stop his growth, as after the split of the Wailers, he got the opportunity to work with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer on their solo projects.

Dean has credits on Warning, Nuclear War and Mama Africa from Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer Sings the Wailers.

With such an impressive catalogue and history within reggae music, his drive and determination continued to push the boundaries.

He gained even more credits working alongside Gussy Clark and Donovan ‘Penthouse’ German. lending his skills as a saxophonist, arranger, composer and a writer after impressing their ears with his production of Ruddy Thomas’ When I Think of You that was a big UK hit in 1980.

During all this band work and production, Dean was able to even present himself as the artist releasing several instrumental albums with him and the saxophone as the main artist, with Black Horn Man being his debut in 1980 for Joe Gibbs.

In the 90s, even though the music was computer-based and producers were leaning towards sounds out of a box rather than live musicians, Dean did not disappear into the night.

His worked continued in the 90s, taking a young schoolboy Sizzla to Anchor Studio for one of his first recordings, Explain to Almighty, even before Xterminator and Bobby Digital had recorded him.

Today, you will see Dean Fraser touring the world with the artist that wasn’t an artist at the time of their meeting. Taurus Riley was a friend of an artist Dean was producing but heard him playing the piano and knew this kid was a star.

He recorded the classic Parables album with Tarrus on a shoestring budget with no backing, only passion.

If you watch Tarrus and Mr

@thevoicenewspaper

INSPIRATIONAL: When it comes to musicians who have made a positive difference to their industry throughout the world, the saxophonist Dean Fraser is right there among them (photo: Richard Williams)

Fraser on stage together, you can tell the amount of respect that Singy Singy has for Dean and vice versa.

TRUSTED

There is a trusted relationship between the artist and producer which evidently bears fruits.

“Dean Fraser changed my life in more ways than one,” Singy Singy tells me.

“Personally and musically, and

@thevoicenews

not just my life, but there are so many people who can say this.

He is the reason why I do a lot of what I do in music without fear.

“Working with him builds confidence and character because when it’s work time it is no Joke!

Yet he manages to still make it fun and challenging for me.

“There are other musicians and other sax players, but I for sure know there is only one Dean ‘Cannon’ Fraser.”

voicenews

The Cannon has proved himself as a instrumentalist, arranger, composer and producer, all from his love for the saxophone.

His career has spanned three decades with the ever-evolving and changing sound of Jamaican music.

Not only is he a craftsman in his work, but also has genuine diamond soul, every time I have interacted with this living ledge.

Dean Fraser, I salute you…

www.voice-online.co.uk

THE UNION THEATRE

SEPTEMBER 2021

THE VOICE| 51

Old Union Arches | 229 Union St | London | SE1 0lr

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52 |

THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

Lifestyle

Books

Long time in the making Author Wole Soyinka gives a personal insight into his new novel, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, which he admits has taken him decades to write and to publish

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

W

E HAVE COVID to thank for the Bloomsbury published Wole Soyinka novel Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, the author’s first book for 48 years.

Talking to lifestyle, Soyinka said that this book had been brewing inside him for decades, but he’d never had the time to pull it together, until lockdown.

ACTIVIST

In fact, Africa’s first Nobel Laureate, author, playwright, poet and political activist said there were three separate instances over the last few years that have allowed him to focus his thoughts enough to get it done.

He explained: “This book has been with me for quite a while, I’ve expressed the contents in various forms.

“One or two instances in poetry, in plays, dramatic sketches and the real motivation is just watching the environment decay and people getting lost, so you virtually fantasise what is the next, which direc-

“I was at the point where I must move from playwrights, poetry etc into a diffused exposition of my environment” tion of the development of the present actualities blossom, and that’s where fictionalising comes in.

“So it was not a new book as such, it’s been with me for quite a few decades and I was at the point where I must move from playwrights, poetry etc into a real compact yet diffused exposition of my environment.”

He added: “When I say I have been writing this book for decades, I mean the book has been summoning me, and from time to time I have been contemplating something along those lines.

“I should explain that one of the ironies of the book is that I needed a period of concentration outside of the environment that gave birth to it, and I didn’t have it.

“If I was outside of the country it was either I was fighting some dictator, mobilised all over the world on all levels, I’m talking about Sani Abacha, for instance, but I never really found time to sit down and say I am excluding everything else, until a couple of years ago. “ T h a t was when a young

RESPECTED: Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka; inset below left, Soyinka reads an original poem written for children at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2019

colleague of mine lent me his cottage in Senegal, just outside Dakar, and I was able to sit down and really concentrate and focus my mind on this fictional twin.

“I was there about eight days and then there was a long break again until I found another sanctuary, this time it was Ghana, marvellous, luxurious, where I was able to expend about eight to ten days of absolute concentration.

“Then there was another break and then came COVID which locked me down in Nigeria, and that’s how I was able to finally deal with these demons which had been taunting me and clouding my existence and others too, but I am talking personally, when I use me as the receptacle of all this negative, but it’s general.”

HORROR

In the book, much to Doctor Menka’s horror, some cunning entrepreneur has decided to sell body parts from his hospital for use in ritualistic practices.

Already at the end of his tether from the horrors he routinely sees in surgery, he shares this latest development with his oldest college friend, bon viveur, star engineer and Yoruba royal, Duyole Pitan-Payne, who has never before met a puzzle he couldn’t solve. Neither realise how close the enemy is, nor how powerful.

Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is at once a savagely witty whodunit, a scathing indictment of Nigeria’s political elite and a provocative call to arms from one of the country’s most relentless political activists and an international literary giant.

Born in Nigeria in 1934, Soyinka’s prolific body of work includes debut novel The Interpreters and play Death and the King’s Horseman.

Soyinka fought in the Nigerian war of independence and has subsequently been one of the greatest critics of the Nigerian government.

Having trekked to South Africa with a view to joining the

@thevoicenewspaper

army of voices opposed to the apartheid regime earlier in his life, Soyinka explained that there was a moment of realisation that issues in his own country of birth were far more important to him.

“Upon returning home we found that the problems internally were quite serious. The

participated in, as the whole world did at that time, but along the way our problems became greater, more immense, deeper, more profound than it’s reached in more recent times, to skip some generations, to us watching our humanity deteriorate.

“Until now, today, as I keep

“In the book, a cunning entrepreneur has decided to sell body parts from hospital for use in ritualistic practices” first-generation leaders saw themselves quite literally as neo-imperialists in black skin.”

He added: “They conducted themselves worse sometimes than what we had been fighting.

“So the problem, the fight, become internal. We watched ourselves deteriorate and we watched the problems of apartheid in South Africa that we

@thevoicenews

stressing, virtually a new slave era has been inaugurated and the commodity of that is largely youths, school pupils.

“I see no difference, for instance, in taking kids, kidnapping kids for ransom from schools along a road for commercial transportation and holding them until they are bought back by their parents, by

voicenews

their institutions and sometimes by their states, I see no difference between that and our experience of the slave trade of being enslaved as people.

“I’m summarising, of course, I’m talking about what most depresses me as a human being, as a citizen, as a parent and that is what Chronicles is about.”

CONFINEMENT

Twice jailed, he wrote part of his memoir on toilet paper in solitary confinement.

Soyinka still isn’t completely sure about how the longest of those stints affected him, but talking about how he coped, he said: “It was a strange and of course unique experience for me at the time.

“To be shut away from humanity except of course those who come to feed you who were under orders not to talk to you, to be shut away like that,

www.voice-online.co.uk

OCTOBER 2021

Lifestyle

Books 22 months out of 27 altogether, was not easy.

“Of course, you learn to cope, to create your own micro world, you populate it with creatures of your imagination making sure you’re not dragged down to a non-physical world because there is always that danger you live so much in your mind that you can get too used to it.

“You can get to the stage where you are hallucinating, misreading environment etc, but you pull yourself back and then you reconcile yourself.

MERRIMENT

“So, this is my home, my world, my merriment until I see other things. I think it’s the only way to cope in that kind of situation, not to think at all about regaining your liberty.

“Two things happen when you’re locked away on your own. As I said earlier, you shut out the world but when you regain your liberty I think two things can happen, one; you become so accustomed to withdrawal that you have learned to take it as your reality and you want to continue along that line.

“Or you become almost evangelical that you want to plunge yourself back into the main-

THE VOICE | 53

“I find it a gift that I am able to enter the mind of a criminal, and I enjoy entering the mind of a criminal” stream to see that this doesn’t happen again, you don’t want this to happen to other people because you know it’s not a real way of developing your mind, of being a full citizen, so it can go either way.

“In my own case I’m not sure which way it went because all I can say is I found myself back again, back again to the same struggle, back to the same commitment, perhaps even fervently so, and committed again to that phase of your maturation when you were a student and the whole world of possibilities were open.

“In other words, you regain some of your creative pragmatism. I avoided the word optimism because that is not

easy, but you regain that creative pragmatism in which you can still utilise the resources to hand.”

In chapter one of Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth readers are introduced to Papa D and a seeker. Referred to as a magician and an Apostle, did Soyinka see himself in either of the two intriguing characters?

Who was Soyinka in 2021?

“I think for one who is a survivor you should have a bit of both.

CLEMENTINA ELBA has been teaching early years kids at school for two decades and it was a lack of affirmative text within the plethora of available children’s books in the UK school curriculum that spurred her onto write her latest book I Am The Possibility.

Having already whet her pen with her first book, I Am Enough, under her own company Black Boy Magic Limited, Elba, a mother and business women, is on a mission to ‘empower children so much, that they’re so self-assured that nothing can interfere with their focus and where they are going.’

“I love teaching the early years,” Elba told Lifestyle.

She added: “My babies (I teach) are three to fiveyearso l d , that’s

“I think that the writer goes into every work of art, including painting. A bit of the artist goes into the work, whether one likes it or not.

“For instance, I find it a gift that I am able to enter the mind of a criminal, and I enjoy entering the mind of a criminal, perhaps because I also see the potential in me, but I somehow didn’t go that way.

“But I am able to enter that world, cope with that world and counter it.

“Someone once said to me I have the mind of a policemen, I said ‘you’re right, maybe I have’, that’s what makes me a writer.”

what I have been doing for the past 20 years and my book is called I Am The Possibility and it goes on a journey of siblings, black boys, black girls.

“The boy has vitiligo like my son does.

He’s like, ‘mum that’s me’. I was like, yes it is, it’s based on you.

INTERFERE

Africa’s first Nobel Laureate, author, playwright, poet and political activist, Wole Soyinka; below, Soyinka’s

CRIMINAL

Clementina’s sweet book arrival gives kids the power they need to thrive and succeed

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

MAN FOR ALL SEASONS:

“But it’s showing them what they can be when you don’t let the world’s noise interfere with who you have been created to be.

“It goes through a visualisation process of different career choices; it goes through just believing in themselves.

“It goes through understanding that the possibility lives within them and not externally, and the validation comes from within them as well.

“So, at the back we have incorporated some colouring sheets as well, just to promote fine motor skills, hands-eye coordination and they are surrounded by affirmations as well. They are affirming their greatness at the same time.”

I Am The Possibility was written during lockdown, “time created that I always thought I didn’t have,” Elba explained. She added: “So because of what we do in early years, because our focus is so much on

building children’s self-esteem, self-worth, their values systems, I was like, but what can we do to embed this throughout the curriculum?

“I am blessed enough to have a really supportive school so everything that I have created is embedded within my school curriculum, and eight other schools have my book already.

“I don’t know how all of this has happened.”

Elba’s book will be available from October 16.

It’s the culmination of a journey she never envisioned, but one that feels right.

“My journey of becoming an author was literally from March until August because I then brought my book out on August 1.

“It wasn’t like other people, it felt really like I birthed something inside of me because I have been doing the work that I’m trying to do with families with teachers, I’ve been doing that process.

“Along the way I birthed a new talent inside of me and I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t afraid to put myself out there as I would have been before.”

Search @ourfamilymagic on Facebook for more information.

Where there’s a Will ...

BY JOEL CAMPBELL ONE MORE book to look out for on the store shelves is Will by Will Smith.

N e x t m o n t h sees the memoir by the twotime Academy Award nominee, Grammy Award and NAACP Image Award winner .

In Will, one of the most dynamic and globally recognis ed entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, tracing his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.

The book was written with the help of Mark Manson, author of multi-million bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.

54 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2021

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INCE’S HIGHEST PRIZE England’s first black football captain has taken his place in the national Hall of Fame

By Rodney Hinds

E

NGLAND’S FIRST black football captain Paul Ince has been inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame.

The tenacious former Manchester United midfielder received his award from former teammate, fellow Hall of Famer and England’s first black footballer Viv Anderson at a ceremony held at the newly opened Hall of Fame exhibition at the museum in Manchester in August.

Judges voted unanimously to induct Ince in recognition of his outstanding football career, both as a player and manager, his position as a trailblazer in the BAME sporting community and his work to combat racial prejudice in sport.

Anderson was on hand to formally induct Ince into the

“Paul had passion, courage and resilience and is an influential figure” Hall of Fame, handing over the trophy in front of friends, representatives of his former clubs and family.

Tim Desmond, the National Football Museum chief executive, said: “Paul Ince has fully earned his place in the Hall of Fame, he is a born leader on and off the pitch. His leadership qualities were evident from his first appearances as a teenager for West Ham 35 years ago.

“The first black captain of the full England national team, he represented his country at the highest level and it is important to the National Football Museum that his p i o n e e r-

ing story is told. The image of Paul Ince covered in blood and bandaged after a bruising World Cup qualifier against Italy in Rome remains one of the most iconic football photographs.

“A driving midfield force in the rebirth of Manchester United in the early 1990s, Paul Ince won countless trophies at Old Trafford. It was no surprise that he went into management and became the first British-born black man to manage a Premier League club.

PROUDEST HONOUR: Paul Ince shows his delight as he is inducted into the FA’s Hall of Fame (photo: Chris Payne Images); inset below, in action for Manchester United

QUALITIES

“Paul exemplifies the qualities needed to get into the Hall of Fame. As a player, he was passionate, courageous, resilient and remains an influential figure in football.”

From the age of 14 when he first signed with his home club of West Ham United as an academy player, Ince enjoyed a 21-year playing career in elite football, making 53 appearances for England and a stint as captain during a tour of the United States in 1993.

After beginning his career with the Hammers – the club he grew up supporting – Ince soon cemented himself as a mainstay of one of the most successful Manchester United sides in the club’s history, making 206 appearances between 1989 and 1995 and winning two Premier

League titles – including the inaugural season – two FA Cups and both the European Cup Winners Cup and the Football League Cup. He went on to play for Inter Milan in Serie A, making a UEFA Cup final, before returning home to play for Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Wolves. Towards the end of his career, Ince featured as player-manager for Swindon Town and Macclesfield Town before making the successful transition to manager where he

coached Milton Keynes Dons, Blackburn Rovers, Notts County and Blackpool. Since retiring from football, Ince has made regular media appearances as a football pundit for BT Sport.

EXHIBITION His induction into the Hall of Fame coincides with the launch of the Hall of Fame exhibition which showcases the stories of Hall of Famers and objects of significance throughout their careers. Several objects

have never been on display before. The exhibition features female and male inductees equally as part of the museum’s ongoing commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion.

The Hall of Fame, supported by the Professional Footballers’ Association, celebrates the achievements of those who have made an outstanding contribution to the game, either on or off the pitch.

Visit nationalfootballmuseum. com for more information.

Roses are ready to face Jamaican test

ENGLAND EXPECTS: The Roses can’t wait to get back in action

ENGLAND’S NATIONAL netball team will reunite on court this November and December as they host an exciting ‘Vitality Roses Reunited Series’ that will see head coach Jess Thirlby’s side go headto-head with the Jamaica Sunshine Girls during three days of international netball action on home soil.

Subject to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the ‘Vitality Roses Reunited Series’ will get underway at the Copper Box Arena in London on November 28, before moving on to the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham where the Vitality Roses will play Jamaica for the final two days of the tour on December 4 and 5.

The fixtures give the Vitality Roses

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players and coaching staff the opportunity to come together on home soil as the team continues to prepare for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 where England will be defending their title.

EXCITING This series will also give fans across the country the opportunity to see a fullstrength squad and some of the most exciting netball talent in the world.

This will be the first time since the Vitality Netball Nations Cup in January 2020 that the Vitality Roses will play in front of spectators in England, with venues now welcoming full capacity crowds back.

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The ‘Vitality Roses Reunited Series’ comes after the previously planned contest between the Vitality Roses and Jamaica was postponed back in January 2021 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions in place between the two countries.

Thirlby said: “This is going to be an exciting series for the Vitality Roses and our fans, and is an important part of our preparation for next year’s Commonwealth Games.

“We’ve missed getting out there in front of a home crowd and this will be an incredible opportunity to play a top team whilst reuniting both the Roses players and our supporters.”

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OCTOBER 2021

THE VOICE | 55

Sport

A 2020 vision

Healthy minds and bodies Professor Kevin Fenton, London Regional Director at Public Health England, speaks to Anshu Taneja about how sport can positively impact wellbeing AT: What role do you think sport has played with people across London during the pandemic, and now during the recovery phase of COVID-19?

KF: Sport is one vital component of being physically active and is a crucial part of our strategy of improving health for Londoners.

On a general level, physical activity has been – and will continue to be – a critical part of both our response to the pandemic and our recovery from it.

“Activity has been critical in our response to the COVID pandemic”

DISEASES

AT: Can you tell us about the national wellbeing programmes in place for youths and adults?

KF: With the pandemic, people have certainly been more focussed on their wellbeing because it’s taken such a toll, not only on our physical health but also our mental health and the way in which we interact with each other.

Wellbeing is about our ability to do things that nourish our soul and spirits. There are many programmes that we have in place to focus on this.

Physical health and our ability to be physically active and play sport, whether at a community or professional level, is important for mental health and wellbeing.

Sport is also important for social wellbeing, and we’ve seen people through the course of the pandemic who are dealing with underlying health conditions, unhealthy weight, obesity, chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes and who are at a higher risk of severe disease and death. So being

physically active and engaging in sport is a way of reducing risk to COVID and increasing our resilience.

One of the things I’m most proud of is that London has worked with local authorities and NHS partners to develop online resources and tools that can help people build their resilience and wellbeing and to also take care of their mental health.

The Thrive Programme teaches people how to be in control of their life and is run in partnership with local communities.

ANXIETY There’s also the Black Thrive that looks at the needs for the Black and African communities.

Online, we have the Good Thinking programme, which provides resources to help people with sleep, anxiety, depression, or any other concerns that they may have. These tools are important be-

LET’S GET PHYSICAL: Regular exercise has never been more important, both mentally and physically (main photo: Monstera/pexels.com); left: Kevin Fenton cause they allow us to reach Londoners on a big scale and to have

deep conversations about mental health and wellbeing. So overall, physical activity, playing sport and being active is a key strategy that we are promoting to all Londoners to help increase our resilience in our wellbeing.

As well as these programmes, we also have clinical services

that help people with wellbeing.

Many of these focus on youth and adolescent mental health because the pandemic has had a disproportion impact on young people and so we are very keen to engage in schools, as well as online and through clinical services.

New cricket scheme to be an ACE in the pack

By Rodney Hinds YOUNG BLACK people in Bristol will be given the chance to become professional cricketers thanks to a new partnership between Gloucestershire Cricket, Royal London and ACE – an independent charity set up to tackle a decline in involvement in English cricket from members of the black community.

The African Caribbean Engagement programme (ACE), is expanding to its third city, Bristol, after securing £100,000 in funding from Royal London. ACE was first launched by Surrey County Cricket Club in January 2020 in response to a decline

of black British professional players by 75 per cent in recent years.

By providing talent pathways for young black players through quality coaching sessions, trials were subsequently held for 70 young boys and girls at the Kia Oval in early 2020, resulting in the awarding of 25 cricket scholarships with Surrey CCC. Through their partnership with the ECB, Royal London has pledged to help ‘level the playing field’ by donating £100,000 to the ACE programme over the next two years.

Susie Logan, Royal London’s Group Chief Marketing Officer, said: “We’re imm e n s e l y proud to be supporting the ACE Programme and helping them to expand

Gloucestershire Cricket’s association with ACE was launched on September 16, when England Women took on New Zealand for a One Day International match at Bristol County Ground.

The ‘Royal London x ACE One Day International’ celebrated ACE, Royal London, Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Gloucestershire Cricket Board’s (GCB) and the ECB’s commitment to supporting the creation of more opportunities in professional sport for talented young black people.

CHARITY

EYE ON THE PRIZE: ACE is looking to produce more top black cricketers into Bristol by becoming a Regional Partner.

“We are excited to launch the programme in Bristol and looking forward to working closely with ACE

and Gloucestershire Cricket over the coming years. The opportunities this will generate for young people from black communities will be invaluable both on and off the pitch.”

ACE, whose chair is Ebony Rainford-Brent, the first black woman to play for England, pictured left, became an independent charity in late 2020 after receiving £540,000 in funding from Sport England and a grant from the ECB. That financial support has allowed ACE to so far trial 200 young black people, hand out a total of 65 scholarships and launch its own ACE academy.

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HAVING THE LAST LAUGH: The way Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka has stepped up after his Euro final penalty miss has earned him widespread praise

OCTOBER 2021 | THE VOICE

GUNNING FOR GLORY

TRAILBLAZER: Ben Odeje, pictured main and above, was dropped from the England set up after being hailed as man of the match

Young England star Saka produces perfect response to online abuse after Euro heartache

By Rodney Hinds

A

RSENAL STARLET Bukayo Saka has regularly shown his ability on the field of play, but he is now displaying his mental resilience and toughness.

The 20-year-old, who was one of three players subjected to online racist abuse following their inability to score in England’s penalty shootout defeat to Italy at Euro 2020, has bounced back in style and is touted to play a massive role as the Gunners return to former glories.

Saka, who scored and provided an assist as his team beat arch rivals Tottenham in the recent north London derby, looks back to his

best and many expect him to be central to an Arsenal resurgence. In so doing, Saka became the youngest player in Premier League history to both score and assist in a north

the European Championships that it would be the making of him, and I have seen nothing this season to change my mind.

“The ovation given to Saka after 87

ing reception. The youngster was lost for words as he saw a wall of letters of support from fans when he returned to Arsenal’s London Colney training ground after his international exertions during the summer.

“I said after his penalty miss in the final SUPPORT “Oh my gosh,” was his initial reof the European Championships that action before he started reading through the messages of support. it would be the making of him” London derby – a record previously held by Cesc Fabregas.

Now former Spurs and Stoke City star turned pundit, Garth Crooks, said of Saka after his standout display against the arch rivals: “I said after his penalty miss in the final of

minutes for his exploits in the north London derby said all you needed to know about his performance.”

After his Euro trauma, there has been nothing but support for Saka.

On the opening day of the season, Brentford fans gave him a rous-

“How do I even say thank you for this? Can I just pick it all up and take it home?” he added.

Mature beyond his years, the prodigy was keen for others not to suffer the abuse he had received.

He said: “To the social media platforms @instagram @twitter @facebook I don’t want any child or adult

to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that me, Marcus and Jadon have received.

“I knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive and that is a sad reality that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.

“There is no place for racism or hate of any kind in football or in any area of society.”