The Voice Newspaper - May 2022 by thevoicemediagroup

MAY, 2022 • ISSUE NO. 1930

2022-23

MAY ISSUE 6

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Jamaica’s Kamina for the Commonwealth!

Manage your money in hard times

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LIFE SUPPORT Cost of living crisis sparks community heroes into action

OCKETING fuel bills and the rising cost of living is sparking members of the community to step up to support families pushed into poverty. Experts predict the black community will be once again hardest hit in this crisis with more parents unable to feed their kids as inﬂation outstrips wages. Solomon Smith, founder of the Brixton Soup Kitchen, says he has seen the number of people using his foodbank double. With the worst yet to come, a renewed community spirit to help each other survive these hard times is growing. Anti-poverty campaigners are encouraging voters to hold politicians to account as they knock on doors ahead of the May local elections and demand action. . Read more › pages 6

TACKLING HUNGER: Solomon Smith (centre) with CC Foundation

Inside THIS MONTH

Abuse victims shortchanged Black survivors of sex abuse scandal speak p4/5

ROUNDUP News, views, stories & videos

1. Mighty Diamonds Lead Singer Shot Dead Shock and sadness at the murder of ‘Tabby Diamond’

2. BLAXIT: Black Brits head for a new life in Africa and the Caribbean 3. School ‘justified use of N-word’ Mum’s fury at Catholic school for backing teacher

4. Jamaica ‘to remove Queen as head of state’ News from JA during visit of Prince William and Kate

Adultification and Child Q Where does it come from? p18

5. Child Q: Teacher ‘sacked’ after calling police on black schoolgirl Repercussions from the shocking strip search in a Hackney school

6. Child Q wasn’t regarded as a girl because she is black

Britain’s new colony Experts dissect UK detention centre in Rwanda p20/21

Kelechi Okafor talks about the adultiﬁcation of black girls

7. Black baby image row and medical racism Terence Channer asks what the row over an illustration says about healthcare

Solace in the soil Cloud Gardener brings high rise to flower show p42 Hamilton’s classic display All 7 winning cars at Silverstone p46

The new fight for racial justice

THE 10 MOST POPULAR STORIES ON VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK

Feature on people in search of a better life overseas

End of the party? Nightlife is changing as councils clamp down p14/15

The Voice says

8. Chris Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith sparks uproar That Oscar slap

9. Will Smith was a disgrace Black men are trying to tell young black men not to react, writes Lester Holloway

10. Dear Priti Patel… Primary school kids write to the Home Secretary demanding justice for Windrush victims

RECENTLY, we marked Stephen Lawrence Day, a moment to remember the tragic racist murder in 1993 and his legacy. Sadly, the ‘Stephen Lawrence agenda’ – recognising and tackling institutional racism – has long since slipped off the political agenda. The slip began under the last Labour government who set up the Macpherson inquiry. After around eight years, ministers said the recommendations had been “fulfilled” and many Stephen Lawrence working groups were disbanded. That talk paved the way for the Equality Act 2010, which replaced race equality laws and abolished the old Commission for Racial Equality. Critics warned this would turn the clock back 30 years on race. And here we are today. A governmentcommissioned report led by Tony Sewell which sought to deny institutional racism; ministers gaslighting the black community; and civil servants who don’t do real equality impact assessments. The Stephen Lawrence agenda hasn’t been seen in the corridors of power for 15 years. It survives to an extent in the current Labour approach to race equality policy and in Sadiq Khan’s London City Hall, but that’s about it. Meanwhile, institutional racism lives on in the police and the disproportionate impact on the black community of COVID, the cost of living, access to housing, employment, health and fiscal policy. Part of the reason we got here was because the media focus was on Stephen Lawrence as a case rather than the Macpherson report.The agenda also held that racial injustice could be fixed by tweaking the system instead of recognising the system itself was the problem. Today, Black Lives Matter exists in a context of demands to dismantle systemic racism and bring in transformative change. The Stephen Lawrence agenda has been superseded by a more radical vision where race equality needs to be critical to the aims of society. While the Conservative government seeks to distract from institutional racism, for others, the Stephen Lawrence agenda is too corporate-friendly. They want more than unconscious bias training and tickbox targets. They want equity and equal life chances from the cradle to the grave. The demand is now penalties against institutions and companies where action to tackle racial disparities is not taken seriously. The powerful may have hoped Macpherson would disappear, but it has been replaced with something far more radical. And the fight for this is just beginning.

Got a story? email us at yourviews@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk

This issue is 48 pages NEWSPAPER

EDITOR Lester Holloway E. lester.holloway@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk

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NEWS EDITOR Vic Motune E. vic.motune@thevoicemedia group.co.uk

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MAY 2022 THE VOICE

The big interview

Jamaica’s Senator Kamina in bid for top Commonwealth job

VISION: Kamina Johnson Smith’s rise has been smooth and rapid (photo: Jamaican HC)

Senator Kamina Johnson Smith promises a more proactive approach. By Lester Holloway

AMINA JOHNSON SMITH, Jamaican Senator and foreign office minister, apologises for keeping me waiting. She drops a hint the call was about her candidature to be the next Secretary General of the Commonwealth, the very reason for the interview. She greets me with a warm smile and we sit down in an oak-panelled room at the Jamaica High Commission in London, in the watchful presence of the High Commissioner himself, Seth George Ramocan. We are here because the race to be the next S-G of the Commonwealth is wide open – and Senator Johnson Smith is one of two Caribbean candidates; the other being the incumbent Baroness Patricia Scotland QC, who is better known as a British politician but in fact runs as the candidate of Dominica. The pair will compete next month along with Kenyan minister Monica Juma. One thing we can predict is that the winner will once again be a woman. Johnson Smith’s rise from lawyer to Senator, and now senior minister in Kingston, has been smooth and rapid. The daughter of a diplomat, minister and former High Commissioner to London, Anthony Johnson, she credits her father as a huge influence before and

It has been encouraging to know that your country is standing with you after his death in April last year. She looked a little emotional when remembering her father, but soon composed herself and was back in her stride. So why did she want to run? “Jamaica is running, it’s not just me”, she insists. “It has been phenomenally encouraging to know that your country is standing with you. So there’s a strong national pride element. But it is, of course, about what we bring to the table.” The Senator is diplomatic by nature. When asked for her thoughts on the Commonwealth, she answered: “We know there’s issues, but we hoped those issues can be resolved, through discussion, etc. But it appears they have not been.” She would not elaborate much, but did raise what she believed was the absence of a Commonwealth response to the COVID-19 crisis: “There was no Commonwealth response. And

part of the feedback that has come to Jamaica, from some of the members of the Commonwealth, has been that this was a missed opportunity. “And they do feel that new, cohesive, and uniting leadership from Jamaica could actually deliver a different Commonwealth in that regard. One that’s more responsive, and one that cooperates greatly to respond to the needs of its members.” The Commonwealth of Nations is currently made up of 54 states, shortly to be 55 when Rwanda joins next month at the next Heads of State meeting in the central African capital of Kigali, when members will also vote for a Secretary General.

Johnson Smith said several nations had encouraged Jamaica to put forward a candidate, “not just one country, contrary to the narrative.” This hinted at a rejection of the idea that Britain was a key backer. Does she have a good relationship with the government in Westminster? “Yes, absolutely. I think so.”

POSITIVE

It will be no surprise if Boris Johnson’s administration does not back the incumbent Baroness Scotland, who was Britain’s first black Attorney General under Gordon Brown, after a series of negative stories have

appeared in right-wing media outlets. Johnson Smith won’t be drawn on the shenanigans, and is keen to run a positive campaign. She sees the Commonwealth as having the potential to leverage finance for development and to alleviate the impact of climate change for member states, a point she returns to several times. But the lure of cash isn’t the only selling point. Johnson Smith is also promising a bigger voice for small states, and more ‘consultation with stakeholders’, which sounds like greater internal democracy. Who is she as a person? I ask what makes her happy. “I’m actually quite a happy person!”,

she laughs. “Family makes me hugely happy. Yoga makes me peaceful happy. An early morning jog.” The interview is peppered with her laughter, in fact. How would she describe herself? “A bit of a workaholic”, she admits. “And I use the word ‘bit’ advisedly”, she adds with another laugh. She prides herself on being “the world’s best auntie” to her sibling’s children (she has a big brother and two sisters). She has no children herself but is happily married to Jason Smith. Johnson Smith is undoubtedly charming, and it remains to be seen how many member states will be casting their vote for her next month.

through features, interviews and analysis pieces. You’ll also find a wealth of information on everything from black dolls, books and toys for children, natural hair and skincare products to authentic African-inspired clothing and Caribbean food and drink. The guide’s publication follows research from the Black Pound Report 2022, produced by culture change consultancy

Backlight, which found black and minority ethnic consumers have become an increasingly important economic force. They have an annual disposable income of £4.5 billion – the figure for African Caribbean consumers alone is £1.1 billion. Importantly, these are increasingly vocal about using their sizeable buying power to invest in companies where they know they are being catered for.

UK BLACK

BUS INES S GUID E

2022-23

nity’s economic empowerment. The guide will again shine a light on a variety of black-led firms that are creating employment for thousands of people and using technology in innovative ways in industries ranging from haircare, property and cuisine to fashion and retail. These businesses span London, the south-east, Midlands, and the north and the story of their success will be told

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THE VOICE is continuing to champion black-owned businesses through the sixth edition of its Black Business Guide. The guide, out in May, will highlight a variety of blackowned businesses and initiatives from around the country. The successful launch of the inaugural Black Business Guide in 2018 saw The Voice take a lead role in providing a platform for the black commu-

MAY ISSUE 6

Become a part of the movement to support black-owned business

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News feature

COMPO PAYOUT SLASHED SURVIVOR: Raymond Stevenson, a former Shirley Oaks resident, has produced a report detailing the historic abuse (photo: Marcus Hessenberg); right, paedophile Jimmy Savile is said to have visited the children’s home (photo: Getty Images)

Hundreds are still to receive compensation for suffering in ‘paedophile’s paradise’ children’s home where Jimmy Savile was said to visit. By Lester Holloway

LACK VICTIMS of sex abuse at a council-run children’s home say they are getting less compensation than white victims. Lambeth Council, in south London, stands accused of shortchanging black survivors of historic abuse at the Shirley Oaks home by using psychologists and criminal records to reduce payments, a claim the council denies. A lawyer for many of the victims said the way the council were calculating ‘economic loss’ was penalising black survivors by assuming they would not have had successful careers even if they were not abused. Solicitor Imran Khan, right, who represents up to 100 victims at Shirley Oaks, says these systems are racially discriminatory, and called for an independent inquiry to look into claims of racially unequal outcomes. Lambeth Council denies the claims and insists black victims are being “adequately compensated.” Notorious paedophile Jimmy Savile is said to have visited Shirley Oaks — nicknamed ‘Shirley Hell’ — where child

abusers operated with impunity. Several staff have been jailed for the historic sexual abuse, while others facing accusations have committed suicide. The council apologised to victims and paid out £108 million to 1,610 victims, with 626 claims yet to be concluded. Shayne Donnelly, 55, who entered the home as a baby in 1968, was abused from five or six years old. He said that the council’s Redress Scheme was like suffering twice. He told The Voice: “It feels like you’re up against the system over and over. They came in with a really low offer, it was disgusting. Then you have to fight to get a bit more. It’s like they were playing a game with us.” Both he and his brother were abused by the same man, swimming instructor ‘William Hook’ — real name Anthony Wenzel Petermichl — who was jailed for ten years in 2001, after pleading guilty to 26 charges including indecent assault and buggery. Donnelly has spoken to ‘quite a few’ former residents who quit the compensation process because they could not handle reliving their nightmare, and said the scheme should be run

independently of the council. Last year the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) report into Lambeth found that sex offenders had infiltrated children’s homes and foster care, with “devastating, life-long consequences for their victims.” The council “put vulnerable children in the path” of sex offenders, and only disciplined one senior staff member despite receiving complaints of raped, indecently assaulted and sexually abused from 707 former residents, the IICSA report found. The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (SOSA), run by former Shirley Oaks resident Raymond Stevenson and his business partner Lucia Hinton, produced a 130-page report

‘SHIRLEY HELL’: William Hook, real name Anthony Wenzel Petermichl, was a swimming instructor at the children’s home, left

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for the council in 2016 detailing historic abuse and how the paedophilia problem took hold in Lambeth from the 1950s onwards. SOSA, which represents victims, said they have identified 120 perpetrators, over twice as many as were picked up from the Operation Middleton police investigation. Stevenson, founder of SOSA, told The Voice: “At worst, Shirley Oaks was a paedophile’s paradise, but the kids had a unity and a bond which is why we’ve come together. I consider those people my brothers and sisters.” Stevenson, who was physically but not sexually abused, is calling on London mayor Sadiq Khan to sack Lib Peck, the former Lambeth council leader who set up the redress scheme and is now head of the Violence Reduction Unit at City Hall. He said: “I don’t believe the Mayor is stupid enough to appoint someone if he knew their full history involved setting up a redress scheme that discriminated against black people. “We say she is not the right person to be leading this service which is about bringing communities together.” Assembly members in London are also questioning Peck’s involvement in the Lambeth compensation scheme. Caroline Russell, Green Party assembly member, has referred

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the matter to the monitoring officer, who in turn passed it to the mayor’s chief of staff David Bellamy, while Susan Hall, leader of the Conservative group at City Hall, is also asking questions. Stevenson said the funding SOSA received to help survivors through the compensation process was axed when they refused to endorse the scheme, a claim denied by the town hall. Stevenson is currently banned from entering council buildings after the council accused him of using “threatening words and behaviour”

The Voice: “Even some white survivors are saying they don’t see why they’re getting more money than the black people. You know, which is true. They got substantially more than us.” Lawyers for the council are understood to calculate the compensation offer according to the level of trauma and economic loss they judge each victim has suffered. Psychologists have been hired, and old care records - including those allegedly written by perpetrators — have been assessed. Lawyer Khan told The Voice: “What was happening is

They came in with a really low offer, it was disgusting. Then you have to fight to get a bit more towards Peck at a public meeting, a claim Stevenson strongly refutes. Many survivors are frustrated at the system of bargaining towards an acceptable offer. The first offer from the council is often regarded by victims as low. During negotiations, which can take months, they are forced to relive their trauma. Milton Thompson was the first case of sexual abuse to come to light at Shirley Oaks. Now 70 years old, he was abused from the age of nine in the early 1960s. He told

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Lambeth lawyers would look at these reports, and psychiatrists will say, “well, some of these young people when they were young, they came from dysfunctional families. Their parents have psychiatric illnesses, and therefore not all of the trauma they’ve now got comes from sexual abuse.” Khan said the idea of genetic predisposition to mental illhealth is not based on science and disproportionately hits black victims. Institutional racism meant their parents were more likely to be classified as

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MAY 2022 THE VOICE | 5

News feature

FOR SEX ABUSE VICTIMS

A VICTIM’S STORY

Shayne Donnelly mentally-ill. “I told their lawyers ‘you can’t say 30 per cent of their trauma came from this and 70 per cent came from that’. As far as economic loss is concerned, black applicants have been losing out. “If you’re classed as educated subnormal, Lambeth lawyers will say, ‘well hang on, they would never have achieved anything in life, so they haven’t lost anything’. On both respects, black applicants would have got, and will be getting less in terms of compensation.” Khan estimates the difference in awards between individual black and white victims could amount to tens of thousands of pounds. He wrote to the council’s legal department in early March about racial disparities in compensation awards, and says if the answer is not satisfactory he will ask the Equality and Human Rights Commission watchdog to investigate. There is growing concern about the exclusion of a black children’s home called The Melting Pot from the redress scheme. Even though the council set up the home in 1970 and placed up to 80 children there until it closed in 1991, the town hall ruled that it was not covered by the scheme because it was a charitable organisation. There were a number of cases of sexual abuse from this home, which recieved some of its funding from the council. A town

hall source accepted that ‘horrendous abuses’ took place there. Lambeth denied requesting criminal records on sex abuse victims going through their redress scheme, however The Voice has seen an email from Detective Chief Inspector Dan Setter of Operation Winter Key investigation into child sex abuse to SOSA dated July 2020 which suggests Lambeth did ask the police for information. Setter writes that in 2017 “Lambeth had asked for checks to be made on five victims. These checks were conducted and an answer was supplied. Thankfully no details of any convictions were found”. Claims that disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile visited Shirley Oaks appears in a report by SOAS to the council. The victims’ group did not comment on the matter, but victims who The Voice spoke to had heard about his visits but had not personally seen him. Several children, including Donnelly, were taken ‘on holiday’ to Jersey by sex abusers from Shirley Oaks. Donnelly’s eldest brother had seen Savile on the island. The council said it was aware of the claims about Savile visiting the home. The Greens in Lambeth are making the scandal one of their key issues on leaflets ahead of the local elections next week, and the party’s national equality and diversity officer Rashid Nix

told The Voice: “It’s outrageous to traumatise people that have already suffered horrific trauma at the hands of an institution that was run by Lambeth. And to then racially discriminate against people is unforgivable.” Nix said the council had learned nothing on race since their High Court defeat in May last year over a ban on members of the Nation of Islam holding an event in Kennington Park in 2017.

PRAISED A local government source said Lambeth had been praised for their model of how to run such a compensation scheme, but Khan poured scorn on this saying: “Lambeth have made out the scheme has been world class, and instead of engaging with us and looking at the flaws, they’ve just suggested there’s nothing wrong.” Lambeth council denied that any officer received criminal records from police, and said: “Having a criminal record is in no way relevant under any circumstances to a survivor’s eligibility for compensation under the Redress Scheme.” The council said it continues to recognise SOSA, even though the premises ban on Stevenson remains in place. They paid Stevenson’s Urban Concepts company to support engagement with victims and survivors through the redress

process but once the scheme was established victims were provided with independent legal advice and support. A council spokesperson said: “Lambeth has gone further than any council in the UK in developing the redress scheme which was established in 2018 after extensive consultation with victims and survivors. It is regrettable that SOSA did not endorse the scheme. “But as the abuse dates back as far as the 1930s some survivors have been nearing the end of their lives without redress, acknowledgement or the support they deserve, so it was important the Redress Scheme opened as soon as possible. “The scheme is open and transparent way, with external and internal reviews to ensure that’s the case. It offers far more comprehensive financial and non-financial redress than any other alternative in the country, and we believe it is just and fair.” Lib Peck was unavailable for comment. A spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime said: “All due diligence — which included an awareness of the investigation of historic child abuse in Lambeth — was conducted in relation to Lib Peck when she was appointed as Director of London’s Violence Reduction Unit in 2019.” The Metropolitan Police were approached for comment.

THE headmaster abused me, and I was getting abused by a man who was living covertly in our house. I accused the headmaster, then I got expelled from the primary school and I had to see an in-house psychiatrist, who also was an abuser. So for me, I had it from everywhere. I’m devastated. Me and my whole family. Each and every one of us was abused, and we all kept it to ourselves. I suffered from severe depression. It always comes to bite you. You have your good moments but then it’s always there. It’s always there. I’ve lost people who grew up and they’ve taken their lives. You’ve got people in mental institutions because of all this. I tried [to kill myself] when I was young, I hung myself in the grounds. I was very fortunate, my brother saved me. They cut the

rope from my neck. I was actually hanging there dangling at the end of a rope. It was that close. I was always told I’m not going to live ‘til I’m 20. All them sort of things are in your mind. My abuser used to do like ‘eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a n****r by the toe’ when he was interfering with me, and stuff like that. It affects you in so many different ways. The apology [from the council] wasn’t sincere because they still tried to cover up, not giving us all our care files. Mine was wafer thin; that didn’t represent 17 years of being in care. And then when we campaigned we got volumes back. We had the psychiatrists reports written by the perpetrators which were being taken into account in deciding our claims, and it felt like you were getting victimised again.

6 | THE VOICE MAY 2022

News feature

‘We can’t eat’ – the families being suffocated by hunger VITAL ROLE: Solomon Smith, founder of the Brixton Soup Kitchen (photo: Getty Images). Inset below left, MP Abena Oppong-Asare

The cost of living emergency is pushing more black families into poverty, but community heroes are stepping up. By Richard Sudan

“

E’VE GOT people who wait outside of the bins by Tesco and Iceland waiting for them to throw away food, standing with bolt cutters to cut off the locks to see what food they can find.” These are the words of the founder of Brixton Soup Kitchen, Solomon Smith, describing the rising in desperation he is seeing among local people. Black communities are braced to face the worst of the cost of living emergency in the coming months, with many more black families pushed into poverty, cold and hunger. Alarming government data published last month showed that black communities are four times more likely to suffer food shortages — or, to put it more bluntly, starvation.

SERIOUS Unemployment in black communities is at around nine per cent — over double the white average — and the picture becomes even more serious. This might sound like a horror story out of Dickens’ London but this sobering news is becoming reality, and is a scathing indictment of so-called ‘modern Britain’ in the 21st century. What’s frightening is the actual figures of those suffering could well be higher. In fact, community activists and charities are all sounding the alarm bell as energy bills

They say if it wasn’t for us, it would be another week without eating rocket, along with food prices, and inflation — currently seven per cent — far outstrips wages. Numbers of those attending the famous Brixton Soup Kitchen have doubled in the last year, according to Smith, and more black people are suffering mental health issues, experts say. “Brace yourself” is their message, because if we thought years of austerity were bad, things are about to nosedive. The number of food banks expanded massively since the financial crisis over a decade ago, and the need has continued to grow during the ‘recovery’. The Trussell Trust alone has as many food banks in the UK (1,200) as there are McDonald’s restaurants. The Trust predicts the need for emergency food will expand yet further as the cost of living emergency bites. Smith, who founded the much loved Brixton Soup Kitchen in 2013, knows all about the immense pressures on black families especially, and they offer African and Caribbean foods. He said: “We get a lot of people saying that if it wasn’t for the Soup Kitchen supplying them with

groceries, it would be another week without them eating. We get a lot of parents saying that they’ve never had to steal before but they’ve had to go to the market to literally steal vegetables and food. I have parents coming to me in tears, telling me that if it wasn’t for the Soup Kitchen their kids wouldn’t have had uniforms.” Poverty is a killer, and the inability of families to feed themselves and heat their homes will erode people’s physical and psychological health. It has and will continue to cost lives. Some London boroughs with the highest black populations, and Birmingham, have among the worst mortality rates. While Britain often prides itself on being a so-called first class democracy, it is evident that black communities are often living as second class citizens. If Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic revealed and further exacerbated racial inequality in Britain, then the impact of the cost of living crisis will represent the equivalent of throwing chip fat into the fire. In plain terms, the impact of struggling for basic survival during a cost of living crisis, set against a national backdrop of undeniable institutional racism, has and will continue to severely impact all areas of life for black people.

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Where to get advice and support... MONEY You may be entitled to financial support l Citizens Advice National Helpline, England: 0800 144 8848 Wales: 0800 702 2020 l Support with debt, housing and credit score: citizensadvice. org.uk/debt-and-money/

citizensadvice.org. uk/consumer/energy/ energy-supply/get-helppaying-your-bills/grantsand-benefits-to-help-youpay-your-energy-bills/ LIVING COSTS SUPPORT l citizensadvice.org.uk/ benefits/help-if-on-a-lowincome/if-youre-struggling-with-living-costs/ WELLBEING

Bank can help – visit: thehygienebank.com/ MENTAL HEALTH HELP l The Black African and Asian Therapy Network: baatn.org.uk/well-beinghealth-and-healing/ l mind.org.uk/ HOUSING

l Struggling to pay energy bills? You might be eligible for grants:

If you are struggling with essentials, the Hygiene

If you are struggling with homelessness or may become homeless, visit: l shelter.org.uk/

Abena Oppong-Asare, MP for Erith and Thamesmead, one of London’s poorest areas, said that black and Asian communities were already suffering before the pandemic. She said: “The cost of living crisis isn’t a new thing. We’ve had this Tory government now for the last decade and inequality has widened. When the pandemic happened, I was getting contacted by people that were losing their businesses that had been running since the 1980s which had collapsed overnight. It’s tragic. “The government needs to do something like a race equality strategy, and a national strategy for health inequality. We need

an urgent national discussion about this.” Makayla Forde, an academic, activist and artist, told The Voice that black women will bear the brunt. “Black women are at the intersection of racism and sexism. Not only do we occupy the vast majority of low-paid, service or care giving jobs, often gendered work, but we are also more likely than any other ethnicity to be the head of a single parent family.” But she adds: “Black people have always found a way to survive. Against all the odds, we have found ways to adapt. Online, black women have come together to create safe spaces where they can offer and obtain

help. Black women continue to knit supportive networks together out of the fabric of a disintegrating society.” Desperate times have resulted in new initiatives springing up to support families in need, as community groups attempt to plug the gaps which the state has neglected. Many community workers believe that far from being a source of shame, our communities lifting each other up in times of need should fill us with pride. Other communities do it, and we have to ensure we do the same to survive these next months and years, they say. We owe it to ourselves, young people and future generations.

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The first major exhibition on the Caribbean textile designer who transformed British design

Althea McNish 2 April – 11 September 2022 Free entry William Morris Gallery, Forest Road, London E17 4PP

Colour is Mine Photo: Bill Patterson. Courtesy N15 Archive. The Althea McNish Collection

8 | THE VOICE MAY 2022

News

Who wants to be a millionaire? PAYBACK TIME: Roy Ledgister wants to help provide others with the opportunity to be a success. Inset left, how his rapid rise to become the UK’s youngest Senior Law Partner at just 24 was reported. Below, Ledgister as a schoolboy

Entrepreneur Roy Ledgister rose from humble backgrounds, and now he’s giving away £1m to help boost small business. By Vic Motune

T’S HARD to find a successful entrepreneur who doesn’t have faith in their own abilities. For example, just take a look at Michael Jordan, Jay Z, Oprah Winfrey, Daymond John — all people who have been hailed for the self-belief that has been central to their achievement. But business success is not just a matter of having a strong sense of self. The ability to get back up time and again after failing or experiencing a setback is a crucial part of entrepreneurship. There’s no doubt that launching a business can be a tough endeavour. Several obstacles need to be negotiated — applying for and getting a loan, hiring staff and finding repeat customers. However, for some, there are even bigger hurdles to negotiate. This is a fact Roy Ledgister, the multi-millionaire founder and CEO of innovative property and tech investment firm Convivia Group, can vouch for. He founded Convivia, a company which has secured multi-million pound investments to revolutionise the delivery of

I believe in the power of mindset and anyone can change their life through a few simple steps sustainable affordable homes, after becoming the UK’s youngest senior law partner at the age of 24 and then later qualifying as a barrister. The 48-year-old grew up in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, in the days before it became an affluent neighbourhood. His mother, Joyce, who moved to Britain from the Caribbean in the 1960s, worked hard to raise him and older sister Tracey to believe they could accomplish anything they set their minds to despite the tough circumstances the family faced. Ledgister recalls only realising his family was not well off when he noticed his school friends paid for their own lunches while he had to rely on free school meals. But the high expectations his mum set for her children laid the foundations for the business success he enjoys today. “My mum was the typical sort of black mother. I’d tell her ‘Mum I got a B’ to which she’d respond ‘well why didn’t you get an A?’ I’d tell her ‘Mum I got an A’ and she’d say ‘Well why didn’t you get an A*?’ And after telling her I got an A* she’d ask ‘why didn’t you get better than that?’ She’d al-

ways tell me I needed to work twice as hard as a white kid. “I knew if I had to turn it on I’d turn it on. But interestingly, you know, from very early on, I realised life not was not fair. In school they pick on a black boy whenever anything went wrong. And I was very sensitive to those comments. But something in me realised that ok, life’s not fair, crack on.” Ledgister was just 12-yearsold when his interest in business was first peaked by a self-help audiobook, The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J Schwartz that had been given to his mother.

MOTIVATIONAL “My mum worked for a bit for a company called Amway back in the day,” Ledgister recalls. “It was like a network marketing type of company that sold cleaning products. While working for them she was given this motivational audiobook. “This tape was saying, you can become this, you can do what you want. The tape really struck a chord with me so I began listening to it all the time. I didn’t fully understand everything what was being said but I was 12 and I was hooked.” Ledgister continues: “Around the same time my sister start-

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ed going out with a guy who was a sales manager up in the Midlands, and he was well into this motivational stuff. So he’d bootleg all his sales tapes and give them to me. “So while my friends were talking about Snoop Dogg, I’d be thinking about Aristotle. I’d listen to these tapes every night before going to bed.” He quickly began to apply these new insights. “To test these ideas even further I decided to experiment with my schoolwork. I can’t remember the subject I chose but it was one where I was regularly getting Cs and Ds. I thought to myself ‘on this next homework, I’m really going to go for it in a way nobody’s ever gone after it before’. “I go to the library, I research it, I end up knowing things even the teacher didn’t know. And, lo and behold, I get an A plus. Cool, done, try it with another subject. And again, another great result. And I thought, ‘it’s true. I really can influence what happens in my life’.” Continuing to apply these ideas to his own life enabled

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Ledgister to reach some impressive milestones. After deciding on a career in law as a 15-year-old, he later spent time shadowing barristers before going on to study law at Coventry University. Ledgister was the UK’s youngest Senior Law Partner at just 24 when he started his own practice, Ledgister Solicitors. He later became a successful barrister acting on behalf of a host of influential figures. But he later decided to walk away from his six-figure salary. Armed with nothing more than the can-do mindset, he succeeded in raising £50m within six months for a new property holdings venture. He pivoted again years after, applying his approach in creating his current company the Convivia Group. Last summer, Ledgister finalised a private equity investment deal worth hundreds of millions to bring Convivia to the forefront of the public housing sector and is now focussed on creating a sustainable affordable housing solution that will revolutionise the public hous-

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ing sector both domestically and internationally. Now he is set to launch another project that is close to his heart. The property tycoon is aiming to give away £1 million as part of a YouTube show he has created called Millionaire Mentor, which aims to find young entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds. The series will follow 15 candidates aged 18-24 as they compete for investment, with the final five selected to launch their own business in partnership with Ledgister — each receiving an initial £200,000 investment and regular mentorship to help hone their business knowledge and experience. Applications to take part in the series open from April with the final five candidates due to be selected in September 2022. Part of his motivation in creating the series is to showcase the link between mindset and business success, whilst highlighting undiscovered and ambitious talent in poorer UK areas. He added: “I’m a big believer in the power of mindset and anyone can change their life by following a few simple steps.” For further details about Millionaire Mentor, visit www.millionaire-mentor.co.uk

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News

Conroy’s band of brothers A charity is helping to provide mentors to boost young men’s mental health and steer them away from crime. By Vic Motune

VER HALF of the nearly 80,000 prisoners in UK prisons have poor mental health according to a recent analysis from the Institute of Psychiatry. Campaigners also point out that children and young people who come into contact with the criminal justice system are three times more likely to have mental health problems than those who do not. The startling figures have led the Institute of Psychiatry to claim the UK’s prison system is facing a crisis of unmet mental health needs. It’s a looming crisis that one man is determined to do something about. Conroy Harris was recently appointed as the chief executive of mentoring charity A Band of Brothers (ABOB). Founded in 2009, ABOB works with young men who have been involved in the criminal justice system, many of whom have experienced traumatic events early in their lives such as the break up of the family and being placed in care, or who may have struggled with issues such as substance and alcohol abuse and homelessness. The aim is to help them transition to an adulthood that is not only crime free but one with a greater sense of purpose and responsibility.

Often, at the heart of issues such as drug and alcohol addiction are mental health problems As the new ABOB chief executive, Harris says one of his key aims is to generate a national debate about how the criminal justice system can better support the mental health needs of male prisoners, an issue which Harris’ supporters say is key to reducing re-offending rates. “That is a very big aim of mine” he says. “In my view, mental health services in this country are not set up to deal with too many co-modalities. But we have to remember that often at the heart of issues such as homelessness or drug and alcohol addiction are mental health problems.”

UNIQUE He added: “Politicians might call for tougher sentencing or more prisons. But that’s really archaic and Victorian. There are different models of justice used around the world. Maybe it’s time we started looking at some of them.” After a successful career work-

VITAL SUPPORT: Young men and ABOB volunteers at one of the charity’s retreats. Inset below left, ABOB chief executive Conroy Harris ing for a range of mental health organisations across the UK, Harris joined the charity in 2016 after launching ABOB group in Oxford, where he now lives. Among the various initiatives, it runs a unique rites of passage mentoring programme for young men between the ages of 18 and 24 who are either at risk of being involved, or have been involved, with the criminal justice system. The weekend retreats are an important part of the programme and involve a combination of rituals and group discussion which provide the young men with a safe space to challenge the underlying causes of their behaviour. Following the weekend away, they are paired with a mentor, an older man from their local community with whom they will meet weekly over a 12week period. At the end of the programme, the young men and their families are invited to a graduation evening event which completes their initiation and sees them become life members of ABOB. Although this may sound like an idealistic attempt to recreate time-honoured rituals practised

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in other parts of the world, Conroy says they are desperately needed in a society in which 95 per cent of prison inmates are men with many experiencing mental health issues. “In communities where these traditions still exist you often see less of these dissonances in how young men behave towards the wider community

get, what you can take from the world in order to further your individual needs. “Within this changed economic system, where industry doesn’t have as much space for young men to go into apprenticeships for example or there is a lack of opportunities for them to learn about what responsibility to the wider com-

Rites of passage mark the start of them taking responsibility for the village, for their communities and for themselves or how they behave towards women because rites of passage mark the start of them taking responsibility for the village, for their communities and for themselves,” he says. “When you take that away, as has happened in many Western societies, what you get are swathes of disaffected young men. The financial and economic systems under which we now live tend to send out the message that the most important thing is what you can

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munity might mean, it’s no surprise that so many are struggling with questions like ‘Who am I?’ or ‘Where do I fit in?’ Conroy’s own tough life experiences have given him unique insights on these issues. Born in Antigua, he moved with his family to Nottingham in the early 1960s. Like many who arrived in Britain as part of the Windrush Generation Harris experienced racism as he was growing up. Leaving home at 16 to join the RAF provided

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some form of escape. However, when he left after six years of service, he experienced what he describes as “many difficult years”. These involved petty crime, a short spell in prison, homelessness and the challenge of being a single father. While this period had an impact on his mental health, it also prompted him to embark on a mission to support other men who had similar experiences. One particular incident while working as an independent advocate for people sectioned under the Mental Health Act had a lasting impression. “I remember walking on to this ward and a man wanted to see me” he recalls. “He was a young black guy, similar build and complexion to me. And it was a sliding door moment, it really shook me up. “I thought in different circumstances it could have been me sitting there in hospital and him sitting where I was. It made me realise that often, the line between good and bad mental health is so thin. Being able to work with people to improve their mental health and boost their sense of self is massively important.”

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MAY 2022

Dotun Adebayo

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

News

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

Lessons are never learnt Child Q’s horriﬁc experience is nothing new — history is repeating itself with police strip searches

HEN YOU see the front page headline ‘STRIPSEARCH HUMILIATION’ next to a photo of a young black woman, you know what’s coming, don’t you? You don’t need me to tell you that this is obviously a story about Child Q, the Hackney schoolgirl who was subjected to a shocking and racist strip-search by police officers who ignored her pleas that she was menstruating at the time. Except this headline isn’t about Child Q. It’s not about a school in Hackney. But it is about an innocent young black woman being strip-searched (officially) while she was menstruating. Surely not? Surely Child Q was an anomaly? Surely the barbaric way in which she was treated is a throwback to how brown girls in the ring were treated back in the bad old days of enslavement? Surely it could never happen again? At least that’s what I was thinking just a few weeks ago. Then I stumbled on this headline from February 28 1995 on page 7 of that week’s edition of The Voice (where else?): NO APOLOGY FOR STRIPSEARCH HUMILIATION — JA VISITOR ORDERED TO REMOVE CLOTHES DURING HER PERIOD The article tells the story of a mother of three who arrives to visit family and friends in Britain and is subjected to the

FIGHT GOES ON: A Black Lives Matter protest in London (photo: Getty Images). Over the years, black people have been subjected to indignities such as the strip-searching of an innocent your mother, as reported by The Voice in 1995

Surely it was an anomaly and could never happen again? most humiliating of searches under the pretext that London has a serious drug problem. This sort of thing used to be standard for passengers coming from the Caribbean generally, but also passengers coming from Africa. There was no science to the search. I have undergone several myself. There seemed no rhyme or reason to it.

UNINTELLIGENT One time, back in the early Eighties, when I tried to breeze through Heathrow with my dreadlocks flowing, can you imagine that the customs guy, before donning some latex gloves and telling me to bend over, actually had the audacity to say, “Come on. where is it? We caught Peter Tosh with some the other day, so we know you’re hiding it somewhere”. Well, whatever they were looking for and wherever they looked, they didn’t find it. And so it was with Child Q and this visitor to the UK in 1995. The authorities searched and searched and searched and found nothing. The ‘in-

telligence’ that they rely on to demean and stereotype us is unintelligent and, indeed, unintelligible. And yet they persist. In Child Q’s case, it was the school that ‘grassed’ her up. It was her own school, her own teachers, who called the police and accused her of smelling of weed. And this was in the middle of her exams. Can you believe it? In the case of this story in The Voice from 27 years ago, it was just a general sense that anybody coming from Jamaica must be a drug mule. That ‘intelligence’ still lingers, believe me. Go to Gatwick on any given day and you’ll see what I mean. And whereas you would like to think that they have learnt their lessons when it comes to strip-searching girls who are menstruating, I’m just not confident that they have. Even when the stats shows, as they did 27 years ago, that strip searches generally have gone down, I bet the figures for black people being strip-

searched is still way above any other passengers coming into the UK, and I bet you your bottom dollar that they use the excuse that it is about location, location, location, rather than being about race, race, race. In my case, they put two and two together and got dreadlocks, which I was used to not

suggesting that whatever I went through at the gloved hands of racist border guards was anything like the degradation that Child Q went through. As we have seen from the response of the community, Child Q was beyond the pale and we are not prepared to put up with this kind of treatment of our girls.

An apology from the PM would help to ensure this is a country we can have faith in just on returning to Blighty but on the border of the former Yugoslavia and Greece, on the road/motorway border between Holland and Germany, almost every time I returned to Sweden, and on the British coastal ports of Harwich and Felixstowe. That was the price I had to pay back in the day for travelling while black. Now, I am not for one second

There is only so much a people can take and, like the Ukrainian people who the prime minister has gone out of his way to support, we are prepared to lay down our lives to ensure that no black girl (daughter, sister, cousin) will ever endure the humiliation and ongoing suffering of Child Q. But no apology? NO APOLOGY? No apology from Customs &

Excise at the time. They’re not even bothered. But an official apology from the prime minister in the case of Child Q, and a promise that no black child will have to endure such circumstances again, would have gone a long way to ensuring black Britons that this is a country we can have faith in. That we can have children in. Without fear of what might happen to them and how they might be treated by officials even when they are on their period. The echoes of 1995 in the Child Q case should be a history lesson to all of us that this has been going on a long time and if it were not for the pages of a newspaper like The Voice, there would be no record and history of the abuse that black people have suffered at the hands of racists — official and unofficial — in these here British Isles. We’ve come a long way, and yet we haven’t got very far. Everything’s changed, and yet nothing’s changed.

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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News feature

NIGHTLIFE EVOLVING AFTER THE PANDEMIC Tighter regulations and social media are redeﬁning how black communities socialise. By Sinai Fleary

HE PANDEMIC, tighter late-night regulations and social media are redefining how black communities socialise and party in London. Black nightclub owners are responding by creating new outdoor daytime celebrations to create a festival-style vibe. Venue entrepreneurs also say they are experiencing new problems securing visas for black artists which is leading promoters to put on concerts in the Caribbean, Europe or Africa and marketing packages for British black music lovers to get around the issue. For one black club owner in east London, the pandemic has prompted him to bring in a new team to provide different experiences and address concerns about social distancing. Eddy Augustine, inset, is the owner of Visions Banqueting Suite, which first opened in Dalston in 1990. He told The Voice he has no choice but to adapt after the pandemic. He said: “As the way of going out and enjoying yourself is evolving, the venue has to evolve with it to stay current.” The club recently re-opened

after the pandemic and is now known as The Mix. The club is run by Mr Augustine’s son and a new team, who are using things like livestreaming, music video shoots, open mic sessions and up close and personal live performances to keep new and existing customers happy and ensure they can practice social distancing if that makes them more comfortable. Mr Augustine says the club was initially used by the community for weddings, christenings and funerals, and provided a place for churches to hold functions on a Sunday – but things have drastically changed. “We are not doing as many weddings because they have dried up in the community and now we are in a different world and people’s courtship is different, and this has impacted the club,” he said. According to the Greater London Authority, nearly 14,000 people go to a gig in a grassroots music venue in London every night and, for Mr

Augustine, he is keen to attract as many of these customers to his club. He told The Voice that over the last 32 years he has seen dramatic redevelopment to the local Kingsland area of Dalston. He said: “It was slowly gentrified over the last 15 years, with the empty garages near the club converted into apartment buildings, and this had a knock-on effect with things like noise levels. “When I first opened Visions, it was deemed a prime-trading area and now it is a residential area, and all the clubs in the area have closed down for one reason or another.” Mr Augustine says it is important for club owners to work with local authorities and the police to ensure their business fulfils its duty of care to its customers and subsequently stays open. While looking back at the success of his venue, Mr Augustine says he’s extremely proud his club is still operating after the pandemic, and it is an integral part of the community that provides many of today’s

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top DJs with opportunities. The night-time economy is very lucrative. According to figures from the Greater London Authority, London’s grassroots venues bring in £92million to the economy every year. But for some black nightclub owners in Hackney, they say stricter rules around late-night trade has led to some clubs failing to secure late-night licences to cater to their core black audiences and has ultimately led to closures. Keith McIntosh, from Hackney, east London, was the owner of Silent Whispers Nightclub in Homerton for 10 years, but surrendered his licence after his club was targeted in a robbery. He told The Voice: “When we first opened up, it was a training centre providing sound engineering training for unemployed people in the community. “But in 2000, I opened up another space in the building and made it Silent Whispers. We got a late-night licence, which is the best licence, and could stay open until 6am.” Mr McIntosh says he left the club with people who he thought he could trust and, while he went home to rest, it

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was targeted in a robbery. He believes he was left with no option but to surrender his licence. “I was feeling so down about what had happened. If one person objects to you having a licence it goes to the committee, and if the police are objecting to you having a licence it makes things very difficult for you to retain that licence,” he added.

UNFAIR He told The Voice he now spends his time between representing other black nightclub owners who are fighting to keep their licences and recording music under the name Keith Mind Link. He said: “I have been organising and holding demonstrations in Stoke Newington about the unfair treatment we face as a black community, and the next one will be in June.” Hackney Council says licensing applications are treated on their own merit and all club owners are required to apply for a licence if they are selling alcohol, hot food or drink between 11pm and 5am. A Hackney Council spokesperson said: “It’s a legal require-

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ment to apply for a late-night licence. Applicants must demonstrate how they will not impact negatively on neighbours and the surrounding area. They must also demonstrate how their operation will promote public safety, prevent crime and disorder, public nuisance and protect children from harm. “Each application for a new licence is determined on its own merits, in line with the Licensing Act 2003, guidance issued by the Home Office and the Council’s Licensing Policy.” The council told The Voice areas like Shoreditch and Dalston have a high proportion of licensed premises and experience serious issues such as disorder and nuisance, and these parts of Hackney are considered a “special policy area.” In addition, in order for anyone to gain a licence in these areas the council states: “Businesses must demonstrate that the proposed activity and the operation of the premises will not add to the cumulative impact that is currently being experienced in these areas.” The council also said they do not record the ethnicity of applicants.

www.voice-online.co.uk

MAY 2022 THE VOICE | 15

News feature

Daytime festivals are the future BLACK entrepreneurs are responding to strict indoor-venue capacity rules and other indoor-related regulations by creating new outdoor daytime celebrations, which allow the black community to experience “a sense of freedom” at outdoor festival-style events. Wendy Cummins, below, is the owner of the Radiate Windrush Festival, which has been celebrating Windrush history and the British Caribbean community since it started four years ago. Speaking to The Voice, she said: “In 2018, I knew that we needed to be outdoors, I was ahead of the curve and I looked around and thought ‘what do we have’? “Other communities were able to have their outdoor celebrations and village fetes, and were enjoying, celebrating and expressing their cultures and, for us, the only thing we have outdoors is Carnival. “For me, it wasn’t good enough. There were people doing things in the open landscape, but not enough.” Ms Cummins told The Voice that owning and running an outdoor festival comes with many challenges and “getting access open space” is not as easy as people may think, and putting up any kind of infrastructure only adds to the costs. With over 15 years’ experience in

organising events, Ms Cummins says the “weaponisation of licensing” during the 1990s and 2000s caused a stagnation in the number of places where the black community can socialise, forcing many to return to home-based parties — which were prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s. She said: “There’s been a weaponisation of licensing for a very long time and a weaponisation of policing around our social culture. I started Radiate Festival because of the social marginalisation of our community and because we need to be outdoors too.” Ms Cummins said the pandemic put all event organisers under the same restrictions and regulations, which prompted innovation across the sector and ultimately birthed a renewed demand for “daytime brunch culture.” Her two-day festival takes place in June and visitors can experience a range of music, art, fashion, hair, dance and food, all celebrating different black communities in the UK. Ms Cummins believes outdoor daytime festivals are the future of black socialisation in the UK and urged those entering the sector to think about “land ownership and longevity” to ensure the black community can have “safe spaces” not just for today, but also for the future.

TAKING CENTRE STAGE: The Radiate Windrush Festival is guaranteed to be a big hit

Party like it’s your birthday BIRTHDAY parties and christenings have always been an essential part of black British life. But experts believe these types of private parties are becoming more popular because there are no age restrictions and don’t require ID and, therefore, the entire family can now celebrate together – creating special intergenerational gatherings – which can’t be recreated at nightclubs. Natasha Lynch, is the founder of N-tertain Events and an event planner from Shepherd’s Bush, west London. She told The Voice the black community is spending more money on parties because it is a celebration the whole family can enjoy. She said: “Our community is definitely spending more on parties because they are catering for different age groups at one party, so they want something for everyone. We want more décor, we are requesting things like popcorn and hot dog machines and, before, these would only be used at funfairs.” Ms Lynch said she has witnessed a “cultural shift” in the communities’ attitudes towards funerals and Halloween. She said: “My bookings for funerals are

FAMILY CELEBRATION: N-terrain Events are proving popular becoming more child-friendly too, with people choosing to include balloon displays and candy floss machines. “There has definitely been a cultural shift in how we are doing funerals, they are much more happy now, and we are getting requests for the deceased person’s name to be put in lights and they want the entire hall decorated. “Funerals are no longer what they were 10 years ago, they are not even being

called funerals anymore, but are referred to as celebration of life, which is great. “Halloween is becoming more acceptable in our community because people see through social media, with black Americans, you don’t just have to dress up as a witch or devil, but you can dress up as your favourite celebrity and pay tribute to them.” Ms Lynch believes social media is also driving the demand for parties to “look great so pictures and videos can be shared online.” According to Ms Lynch, other cultures are also influencing how the black British community celebrates in the UK. She said: “American culture has influenced so much of how we celebrate things in the UK. I am doing more baby showers and gender reveal parties, and these are not traditionally our celebrations.” But Ms Lynch added she is also getting more requests for traditional Caribbean games like dominoes, cards and Ludi boards to be included in her parties. “It’s nice to see our traditional culture being included in modern parties, and because families of all ages now party together, the elders are teaching the youngsters to play things like dominoes and Ludi, which keeps our culture alive.”

History of black nightlife BRITAIN’S black communities have always found a way to socialise. During the 1950s and 60s, ‘Blues Parties’ were popular house parties started by the West Indian community, who often faced racial discrimination and segregation from mainstream pubs and clubs. These parties allowed the community to hear new music from the Caribbean and authentically indulge in the culture many had left behind. They provided more than a chance to shake a leg, they provided safety, security and sense of unity. When black nightclubs eventually opened, many were forced to close due to unfair police targeting and harassment. Nightclubs in Britain have steadily declined since 2005, when the government granted pubs and bars the right to serve alcohol after 11pm. In 2022, there are many black nightclubs still open across the UK, and they deserve our support in order for us to grow as community.

Foreign festivals help beat visa headaches SECURING visas for some black artists to perform in Britain can still create problems. Leading promoters are now putting on concerts in the Caribbean, Europe or Africa and marketing packages to British black music lovers to get around the issue. The Voice spoke to one concert promoter, who didn’t want to be named, who said: “There are some big superstars who can’t get a visa to come to England, so what we are doing now is booking them in their home country or in places like Europe, and selling the concert to British music fans, who are desperate to see them but can’t. “It is working very well, the music is very powerful and people are willing to travel across the world to hear it.” This concept has been happening for decades, as every year black Brits head to Jamaica to experience authentic reggae concerts such as Reggae Sumfest in July or Rebel Salute

in January. Ghana is also becoming increasingly popular for black Brits during December because of its series of colourful events showcasing West African music and culture. Afro Nation is the fast-growing music festival that has expanded in recent years, with events taking place in Portugal, Ghana and Puerto Rico, with each event attracting thousands of festival-goers from the UK. This year, Jamaica’s biggest dancehall party Dream Wknd is heading to Malta, and it has already become one of the most talked about events among black British music lovers. Founded by Grammy-winning artist Damian Marley, the Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise is a calendar highlight. The six-day, five-night chartered cruise is now in its ninth year and is a reggae musical extravaganza that encapsulates a Caribbean cruise experience along with live performances from Reggae’s biggest stars.

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News feature

Adultification of Child Q ‘was rooted in slavery’

PROTECTION: Not enough thought is given to how vulnerable black girls may be feeling (photo: Getty Images. Posed by a model). Inset below, left to right, Jahnine Davis, Louise OwusuKwarteng and Michael Mumisa

Black academics say history must be understood in order to get justice our children deserve. By Leah Mahon

HE ‘ADULTIFICATION’ of Child Q is just another way to describe the racist dehumanising of black children, experts say. The term was widely used last month as the harrowing story of the black schoolgirl who was strip-searched while she was menstruating hit the news. However, black academics say the concept of adultification needs to be understood in its historical context to understand what happened at the Hackney-based school. Child Q was wrongly accused of carrying cannabis by a teacher and subjected to an intimate search by two police officers. No other adult was present, and her mother wasn’t called. Three officers remain under investigation by the police watchdog and two others have only recently been removed from frontline duties following the public outcry. The safeguarding review revealed that racism “was likely to have been an influencing factor” in what happened to her, and that if she had been a white child, she wouldn’t have endured what she did when taken away from her classroom. Adultification bias is a complex discrimination that sees the identities of race and childhood collide, while

ridding black children of their innocence and the necessary safeguarding treatment of them, too. The Georgetown Law Centre on Poverty and Inequality confirmed the phenomenon as recently as 2017 in a study of 300 parents. Researchers found that participants believed black girls, particularly those aged five to 14, were less innocent than white girls. Jahnine Davis, a PhD researcher and co-founder of Listen Up, a charity that aims to safeguard and protect black children, says black children are perceived as “potential perpetrators” due to this dangerous bias.

VULNERABILITY “The innate vulnerability and innocence that black children have is excluded from that sense of vulnerability,” she tells The Voice. “So, on one hand, we have this decrease of vulnerability, decrease of innocence, but an increase of responsibility and culpability. It means black children are more likely to be met with suspicion and to be engaged with as potential perpetrators, engaged with as those we somehow need to safeguard others from, rather than acknowledging that black children need to be protected and safeguarded, too.”

This form of bias and what happened to Child Q needs to be looked through the “intersectional lens” that shaped her ordeal, says Davis. In 2018, she led research into adultification bias, called Where Are All The Black Girls? that steered its focus away from the often-told experiences of American girls in North America, and instead moved towards black girls growing up in the UK. She said: “I’m a black woman with two black children in Hackney. The various different stereotypes which are associated with me are going to be based on gendered racism, classism and all of the other intersections, meaning I’m more

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likely to be perceived as being angry, aggressive, loud, rude, fiery, innately sexual, the ‘hypersexual Jezebel’, all of these various different things. Having the somehow super-strength to be so strong that you can

the perception of young black girls today in school like Child Q can be understood as far back as slavery. She said: “Black women were only seen as just for breeding, but also you take examples like

Researchers found participants believed young black girls were less innocent than white girls just withstand abuse. When it comes to black girls, the value is placed within objectifying black girls. It’s this erasure of value and this constant over surveillance of them in terms of how they look, not fitting the kind of Eurocentric standard of beauty, the colourism which exists.” The medical phenomenon of black people being able to withstand more pain was also borne out of ideologies in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, where black women and girls, in particular, faced near-death through experiments in pregnancy and childbirth without anaesthesia. Dr Louise Owusu-Kwarteng, an associate professor in sociology at the University of Greenwich, told The Voice that

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Sarah ‘Saartjie’ Bartman, where there was the fetishisation of her body, her bottom. Then we have the media, and all the historical ideas and representations of black women, it all becomes commodified to almost sell a product. “It’s a triangulation of what happens in the media and how this feeds into our institutions like the police today.” Speaking to The Voice, Michael Mumisa, a professor of classical literature and intellectual history at Cambridge University, said: “Before adultification, bias didn’t exist as a concept, we used to use the term dehumanisation. I think dehumanisation is a more accurate term, because it is someone treating another person as

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if they’re not human to justify how you treat them. That can be traced back to slavery, colonialisation, and it also goes back to a key part in Western civilisation. What happened to Child Q wasn’t caused by anything, it is an example of how racist minds and hearts behave towards black people. We could end up over-analysing it a lot, instead of simply describing it as it is — it is an evil act against black children.” Some black academics believe that because feminism focused on the experiences of the white Western woman, other voices became marginalised, so black girls and black women experience a kind of liminal intersectionality. Earlier this month, The Voice reported on the disproportionate number of black people subjected to strip searches in London, which was higher than their white counterparts. A Freedom of Information request revealed that 9,088 strip-searches were carried out on children, including 2,360 on children under the age of 16, between 2016 and 2021. Calls for a complete restructuring of laws and policies is growing, as the issue is not procedural mistakes but instead deep, ingrained bias.

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FEBRUARY 2022

THE VOICE| 19

20 | THE VOICE MAY 2022

Asylum and Immigration

UK’s Rwanda asylum plan John Bosman

AMPAIGNERS HAVE expressed outrage over Priti Patel’s plan to deport asylum seekers to an offshore detention centre in Rwanda — and deny them the right to return to Britain even after winning their claims for asylum. The Home Secretary claimed refugees who win their asylum claims to settle in Britain will instead only have the right to start a new life in Rwanda — a country with a heavily criticised record of human rights abuses and political oppression. The Home Office top mandarin was overruled by Patel and staff are in open mutiny about the “processing and resettlement” policy, with talk of a strike, and civil servants reportedly comparing the proposals to the Third Reich on an intranet noticeboard.

SUSPICION The plan has also been compared to people trafficking, with Karen Attiah writing in the Washington Times that “the trafficking of vulnerable people to and from Africa and its former territories overseas has been something of a historical pastime for Britain”. The fact that ministers have clarified no Ukrainians will be

Figures show that 61 per cent who arrive in boats have their asylum claims accepted sent to Rwanda feeds suspicions that this is a detention centre for people from the Global South. The policy has the stench of racism about it, as it suggests the real aim is simply to keep black and brown people out. It is disappointing that some mainstream media outlets, such as the BBC, carried the government line that the Rwanda plan is about tackling “illegal asylum seekers”, which is diametrically opposed to the internationally accepted idea that the act of seeking asylum is not illegal. The British government’s attempt to redefine “economic immigrants” as applying to all single males should be roundly rejected. There is no evidence to support the government’s view. Immigration minister Tom Pursglove told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the gov-

ernment won’t discuss details to avoid “giving succour to traffickers” yet MPs need details in order to scrutinise and hold ministers to account. Government figures show 61 per cent of people who arrive in boats have their asylum

claims accepted — even in a Home Office accused of harbouring a “culture of disbelief” towards refugees’ stories. The United Nations estimate that 70-80 per cent of all asylum seekers in Britain have a “good claim” as they fled na-

tions where violent political oppression is real. Even the Council of Europe, whose governments preside over various levels of hostile environments, oppose the British plan. The CoE Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja

Mijatovic, said it “runs the risk of seriously undermining the global system of international protection”. Human rights lawyers say the concept of deporting people before they have made a claim and refusing to let them back

Britain’s new colony wasn’t created overnight THE HOME Secretary and immigrant witch-hunter Priti Patel announced a partnership with the Rwandan government for a repatriation scheme, seemingly ‘solving’ the ongoing issue of migrants crossing the English Channel. Their transportation over 3,500 miles away is to a land plagued with human rights atrocities and still recovering from the schism of civil war almost three decades ago characterised by the infamous Tutsi genocide where over 500,000 were killed in 90 days. Time after time, the draconian laws and policies introduced by the British government on immigration only iterate how whiteness reinforces the message that those who are not white are

This scheme has been a long time in the making — and shows who isn’t welcome. By Montel Gordon not welcome. The scheme elucidates the explicit racism in British foreign policy and general attitudes. After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the government welcomed refugees with open arms. It even introduced a scheme that paid British citizens £350 a month to house a Ukrainian family – and of course, no Ukrainian refugees will be sent to Rwanda, which is pretty telling. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), at least 52 migrants drowned in the English Channel trying to reach

Britain between 2018 and 2021. I wonder why the same humanity and genericity are not given to them? I guess we can make our conclusions why… Similar repatriation colonies/schemes do exist. Australia has an agreement with the government of Nauru, where the island has become an asylum camp. What differentiates this Rwandan camp and displays the foolishness of the scheme is that successful asylum applicants in

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Rwanda will still be unable to come to Britain. Instead, they will freely start a new life in Rwanda! Whereas the Nauru camp costs Australian taxpayers $220 million annually, Britain’s offshore colony in Rwanda will cost up to £120 million. With Nauru in the Pacific Ocean, alongside Australia and Rwanda over 3,500 miles away, why is this scheme nearly half as cheap? This also exemplifies

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the neo-colonial chokehold European nations such as Britain maintain over Africa. Although portrayed as a “processing centre”, it is an asylum detention camp with the detainees only crime was fleeing for their livelihood.

The people from the nations listed have all suffered from the internal strifes of civil war and conflict (which include the notorious war on terror), which Western countries such as Britain have been complicit. Since the post-war years, the shared fear was that mass migration from the Commonwealth would disintegrate with the native English stock; immigrants were people to be feared and loathed.

This Rwandan repatriation scheme did not occur overnight Tension had been brewing for years over the migrant crossings of the Channel. But ask yourself, would you risk death in the Channel for £40.85 a week to live here? As a nation, we have become dehumanised by the suffering of lives as news crews would parade the Channel and watch the suffering of refugees without a care in the world. While some may see this as a distraction from partygate, I think otherwise. It is an event in the timeline of recent years reiterating there ain’t no black in the Union Jack. But why would we expect any better from this government?

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COMPLICIT

MAY 2022 THE VOICE | 21

Asylum and Immigration

slammed for discrimination DANGEROUS JOURNEY: Over 28,000 people crossed the channel in boats last year after safe routes were closed off by the government. Below, British Home Secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan foreign minister Vincent Biruta (photos: Getty Images)

if successful falls foul of the principle of “fairness” that the government says they want the system to uphold. Rwanda has a lower life expectancy, 12 years below that of Britain (69 to 81), and has a population density of almost double (525 people per sq km, compared to 281 in Britain). If any nation has reason to say it is “full”, it is Rwanda. Britain has previously accepted the claims of all asylum

seekers from Rwanda, a country which is accused by Human Rights Watch of “enforced disappearances and suspicious deaths of government opponents”. The solution to stop dangerous boat crossings is to provide safe means of travel. If Westminster really wants to filter refugees before they enter Britain, at least set up processing centres in France, where claims can be decided.

The manufactured ‘crisis’ of immigration Solicitor Jacqueline McKenzie writes that Britain must respect its obligations... NEWS THAT the UK government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Rwanda for an asylum deal has met with criticism from the UNHCR, migrant NGOs, lawyers, politicians, faith leaders and even Home Office staff. The government’s rationale is to stem the numbers of people crossing the Channel, just under 29,000 in 2021. To the UK government, a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1948 International Declaration of Human Rights which protects asylum seekers and refugees, these crossings present a crisis. But they don’t. In the past five weeks, Poland received two million people from Ukraine and with sanctions forcing four million people to leave Venezuela, two million are in Columbia with 300,000 in Trinidad and Tobago, a country with a population of 1.4 million. This is a reprehensible deal – the com-

modification and human trafficking. The UK government has manufactured the notion of a crisis. Refugees are not illegal migrants. What we really have is the ongoing racialised practice of migration in relation to black and brown people, as with the Windrush scandal and deportations. Critics of the plan point to Rwanda’s high unemployment and low GNI, weak healthcare system and life expectancy a decade shorter than the UK’s. Others look to Rwanda’s bothersome human rights record on everything from LGBTQI rights to women’s equality, and its treatment of political opponents and refugees who mostly languish in camps. The UK, one of the

richest countries in the world, wants to derogate from its responsibilities and offshore vulnerable people to one of the world’s poorest countries. The Rwanda plan is posited as concern for the safety of those making the crossings but if this were the case, the UK would make better arrangements under the border agreement with France, the Le Touquet Treaty, to assuage the risks and receive those qualifying for protection in the UK.

LANGUISH Nor is there evidence the plan will act as a deterrent or disrupt the role of the traffickers. People fleeing persecution will continue to move and those moves are going to involve risks in the absence of formal schemes. The UK government could manage the processing of claims more expediently and allow those waiting for decisions to work sooner. It is a badly managed system which causes people to languish in accommodation, mostly of poor quality, with the costs entailed; mind you, no one knows what Rwanda will cost and that

scheme is uncapped. The £120 million mentioned so far is a set-up cost. It is a myth that people leave their homelands to settle in an inhospitable country for the sake of it. Three times as many asylum seekers make applications in France than in the UK and France pays up to £20 a week more in asylum support. It is not the case that everyone wants to come to the UK. Of European countries, the UK is seventh on the list for receiving asylum seekers and 85 per cent of the world’s asylum seekers and refugees go to developing countries. The fact that the UK and its allies cause most of the push factors that cause people to leave countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia should cause our reflection, not our derision. The solutions to global problems lie in international cooperation not isolationism. The UK must respect its treaty obligations and protect refugees. Jacqueline McKenzie is partner and head of immigration law at Leigh Day Solicitors

‘You measure a country by its humanity’ LANDING THEN shipping vulnerable, traumatised people half way across the world is cruel and shows a lack of empathy and humanity. It is neither world-beating nor world-leading. Israel tried the same scheme in Uganda. It did not work. Australia’s similarly inhumane experiment with Nauru and Papua New Guinea led to self-harm and suicides. It has now closed. I doubt any nation is looking on with envy. Would the Home Secretary consider this acceptable for her own family when they fled Uganda? At that time the UK came up with a safe route. Creating safe routes for refugees is part of her responsibility not blocking entry and certainly not offshoring a perceived problem.

An Immigration Lawyer writes... The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was drafted and signed by the United Nations Conference in 1951 to protect those fleeing persecution in Europe. It was later amended by the 1967 Protocol to protect everyone around the world. These documents define the term ‘refugee’, and set out their rights and the legal obligations of states to protect them. “Asylum seekers” is a recently invented derogatory term used by the press. Refugee protection is for those forced to leave their countries through fear as they have been, or will be, persecuted. There is no such thing as an illegal refugee.

Once they arrive, a refugee has a right not to be expelled unless on grounds of national security or public order. Recognising they are unlikely to have flown in with a passport, they should not be punished if they entered illegally if coming direct from the country where their life or freedom was threatened. They should present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good reason for their illegal entry or presence.

The UK was one of the 26 countries that drew up and signed the Convention but as we have seen during the EU Withdrawal negotiations, this government confirmed it was happy to ignore an international agreement whose terms it proposed. The proposal to send people that Home Office data shows are mainly refugees is deeply worrying. It is not just ignoring the rule of law. You measure a country’s humanity by how it treats the most vulnerable. There are many reasons that

refugees choose to come to the UK, a choice the Convention allows. Most often it is the simple reason that they speak English or have some connection, whether friends or family. This is a direct legacy of centuries of British adventure, interference and exploitation in their countries. They believe the UK to be a country that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms. Despite the rhetoric, there are generally no safe routes to claim asylum in the UK. The Nationality Bill going through Parliament includes a provision to outsource processing asylum claims if people arrive other than through safe routes. It will be Catch-22. The UK is an island nation. This measure

will do nothing to stop people resorting to boats. Given what we have seen with Windrush, we can guess the people likely to be sent to Rwanda are not white. The Home Secretary accusingly asks critics of her plan what they would do. In 2016, CAFOD, with 25 other British NGOs, wrote a joint letter to the Prime Minister asking that as a matter of urgency: “The UK should take a fair and proportionate share of refugees, both those already within the EU and those still outside it…. Safe and legal routes to the UK, as well as to the EU, need to be established.” Read the full version of this article at voice-online.co.uk

22 | THE VOICE

MAY 2022

Finance

Manage money in uncertain times COVID-19 and the rising cost of living have hit ﬁnances, but help is available, says Danielle Ferguson

E ARE living in uncertain times. Recently, you may have been caught off-guard by higher bills and payments, uncertain income due to the Covid-19 pandemic, or the loss of a job. If you have money worries, you are not alone. Our research shows nearly half of people don’t feel confident in managing their money daily. Despite this, many people may not get help. It can be tempting to ignore problems, but it’s really important to tackle them head-on, so things don’t spiral out of control. Here are some steps you can take now to find a way forward. Cut back on household bills There are ways to make your income go further by cutting

back on costs, and finding out what help is available. Firstly, setting a budget can help you see what you are spending and where you could cut back. The next step is to find ways to cut the cost of household bills. You can shop around to make sure you’re getting the best deal on things such as phone and broadband costs. Comparison sites are a good way to do this. If you call your supplier, they may be able to give you a better price if you’re considering leaving. Many people might be worried about the high cost of energy bills at the moment. Switching won’t save you money right now, so it is worth looking at ways to reduce the amount of energy you use. It can be hard, but you could save 10 per cent of your heating costs by turning

down the thermostat by one degree. Also, doing things like making sure you unplug phone chargers, not leaving things on standby and using energy efficient light bulbs are good first steps to reduce energy usage. Check what support you are entitled to If you have suffered a sudden change in your income, or living on a low income, you might be entitled to benefits you don’t know about. In fact, around £10 million a year is unclaimed by people who are missing out. Use a benefits calculator to see how much you could get. There are also charitable grants you may be eligible for from charities, professional, faith, and other local organisations. With a grant, you don’t have to pay the money back. If you have unexpectedly become ill, lost your job or made redundant, you should check if insurance policies you may have include accident, sickness and unemployment cover. This can sometimes be included as an add on to mortgage agree-

WAYS TO BOOST INCOME

BE CASH-SAVVY: Look at ways to cut your bills (photo: Getty) ments and some other financial products. Falling behind on bills If your income has been squeezed, you may also be worried about falling behind on bills. The consequences of not paying off some bills can be more serious than others, for example, if you do not pay your council tax, a bailiff could be sent to your home or you could face court ac-

tion. This is why it’s important to pay priority debts first. MoneyHelper’s new Bill Prioritiser tool can help you sort out bills in the right order and tell you what to do if you’re struggling to pay. This could include how to talk to your providers and agreeing a payment plan, or what support you might be entitled to. If you have already missed a payment, seek free and confidential debt advice by using

l Review ways to cut household bills l Check what benefits you might be entitled to l Use comparison sites to check if you are on the best deal for your mobile, broadband and other bills l Use MoneyHelper’s Bill Prioritiser tool if you’re worried about falling behind on bills l Talk to your providers if you’re worried about missing payments the locator tool on the MoneyHelper website to find an adviser near you. Taking the first step to face money worries can be hard, but don’t go through it alone. Many people report a great sense of relief once they reach out for help. For free, confidential and

impartial money and pensions

guidance, visit moneyhelper.org. uk or call 0800 138 7777.

Have your say on how railway stations could work better for you

etwork Rail and Design Council are asking for feedback on rail stations of the future, and how to ensure they are welcoming and feel safe to all, with virtual reality pop up experiences, workshops and online as part of ExploreStation ExploreStation is an ongoing initiative with the goal of ﬁnding out what people need to create great station experiences for passengers and communities now and in the future. Stations are integral parts of the British commuting and leisure experience, and involves moving through and waiting in a public space while we board. Network Rail wants to know how we can improve that experience for everyone, while also making the most of railway infrastructure so they serve communities and help mitigate climate change. Members of the public are being invited to have their say on these important matters that

affect everyday life. Will better signage and information, better lighting, more trees and planting at the entrance, more seating and community enterprises, such as coffee shops, make people’s experiences of a station better? ExploreStation asks these questions and more and is holding events in May across Britain and online to ﬁnd out what people think and want. Sign up to attend the free events at: https://bit.ly/ explorestationbooknow Ahead of events in May, designs have been published online, with the public being asked for their views in a comprehensive and inclusive digital engagement platform. Commissioned by Network Rail and delivered by Design Council in partnership with The Glass-House Community Led Design, Digital Urban and Commonplace, ExploreStation offers exciting ways for people to engage with new station design

concepts from 7N Architects. 7N Architects has produced a design that can work in different places and in different conﬁgurations – known as a kit of parts. The end result will be an overarching design blueprint for our future stations. The public engagement programme enables participants to interact with 7N’s proposals in depth and in a variety of ways, including experiencing what the proposals will look and feel like. People’s points of view are a crucial part of the conversation, helping to shape the evolving design in different areas of focus – from feeding back on the design principles to the way the station will be integrated into local neighbourhoods based on the needs of the people who live there. ExploreStation’s activities will take place across Britain through May 2022. At immersive virtual reality pop-up experiences from Digital Urban, visitors will see a modular station materialising before their eyes. Wearing headsets, they’ll get an opportunity to test out

what if feels like to move around a new station with luggage or pull up in a train alongside the platform and new-style roof canopy in view of a distinctive clocktower. They’ll hear train announcements and experience the new design right down to the detail – as well as ﬁnding out how the design concept responds to local communities and the character of different places. The aim is for people to have fun while ﬁnding out more about the proposals, so they can offer their informed views. IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCIES Each pop-up immersive experience offers the option of bookable or walk-in slots from 10am – 5pm each day (10am – 6pm in Hereford and Paisley). The full guided experience takes between 15 and 20 minutes. In consideration of Covid-19, all touch points will be cleaned between visits.  York (National Railway Museum): 4 and 5 May

 Shildon (Locomotion Museum): 7 and 8 May  Manchester (Science and Industry Museum): 11, 12 and 13 May  Hereford (Shell Store): 16 and 17 May  Paisley (Telfords Paisley): 19 and 20 May

GIVE YOUR FEEDBACK NOW https://bit.ly/ explorestationbooknow COLLABORATIVE DESIGN WORKSHOPS  Central Liverpool: 11 May, 6pm – 8.30pm

everyone, will focus on how the HUB station accommodates people who identify as neurodiverse and/or have a learning (intellectual) disability or physical disability.  Online workshop on Zoom: 24 May, 6:00 - 8:00 pm So far, ExploreStation has already engaged with thousands of participants at workshops in Bristol, Cardiff, Shefﬁeld and online. Together with comments from more than 6,000 visitors to the website, this feedback is informing the detailed design proposals that the public can access at ExploreStation online and in the second round of engagement in May.

 Central Manchester: 12 May, 2.00pm – 4.30pm

HAVE YOUR SAY

 Central Brighton: 25 May, 5.30pm – 8.00pm

The portal is now open for feedback on the second-round design proposals at:

There will also be a dedicated workshop which, while open to

https://bit.ly/explore stationbooknow

FEBRUARY 2022

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24 | THE VOICE

MAY 2022

Midlands News

by Veron Graham

PORTRAIT DISPLAY CELEBRATES GRASSROOTS HEROES Photographic exhibition puts a spotlight on community sport in the West Midlands as the region gears up for the Commonwealth Games

S A prelude to the Commonwealth Games and part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival’s six-month celebration of creativity, a photographic exhibition celebrating the West Midlands’ sporting communities has opened at selected leisure centres and outdoor locations across greater Birmingham and the Black Country. People, Place and Sport chronicles the achievements of 25 people who take part in grassroots sport each week through stunning portraits

I wanted to shine a light on the sporting hubs tucked away in our landscape and recorded conversations. The exhibition is a joint effort between Sandwell-based community arts organisation Multistory and inde-

pendent artist Jaskirt Boora. Showing until August 31, the portraits will be on display at Bournville Green, Birmingham Coach Station, Moseley Road Baths, St Pauls Square in the Jewellery Quarter, Haden Hill Leisure Centre, Hadley Stadium, Wednesbury Leisure Centre and West Bromwich Leisure Centre.

EMPOWER The full exhibition will also be outdoors at Sandwell Valley Park, from July 4 to August 31. Individuals featured in the exhibition include Amelia, a young Thai boxer at Fearless MMA Wrestlers in Balsall Heath and Julius Hunt, first team captain at Aston Old Edwardians Rugby Football Club. Accompanying their portraits are recorded conversations about what sport and the Commonwealth means to each of them. Interested in celebrating untold stories while exploring visual representations of gender, ethnicity and place, Boora creates work with the aim to empower and give voice to marginalised communities. She told the media: “I wanted to shine a light on the sporting hubs tucked away in our landscape, away from the large stadia, where grassroots sport takes place on a weekly basis. “All the individuals I met are dedicated to their sport

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FOCUS: Julius Hunt, first team captain at Aston Old Edwardians rugby club. Inset left, Thai boxer Amelia be it as a captain, coach or hobby. Collectively, they are representative of the people of the region, and I can’t wait to share their portraits and stories.”

Sandwell. As the region gets ready for the Commonwealth Games, we hope that Jaskirt’s portraits will bring inspiration and enjoyment to both sports and arts fans alike.”

It is an exciting and timely exhibition, celebrating fabulous individuals from everyday sporting communities Raidene Carter, executive producer for the Birmingham 2022 Festival said: “People, Place and Sport is an exciting and timely exhibition that celebrates 25 fabulous individuals from everyday sporting communities right across Birmingham and

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Emma Chetcuti, director of Multistory, said: “Jaskirt’s photographic stories are relevant and relatable and are being exhibited back in the communities where the portraits have been made to acknowledge and celebrate the everyday

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sporting communities across Sandwell and Birmingham.” Running from March to beyond the conclusion of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in September, the Birmingham 2022 Festival aims to entertain and engage over 2.5 million people in person and online. Delivering over 200 projects across the region including art, photography, dance, theatre, digital art and more the festival will embrace local culture and generate lasting change and a creative legacy beyond the games with funding to community led projects from Birmingham City Council’s Creative City Grants scheme. For more, visit birmingham2022. com/festival

www.voice-online.co.uk

MAY 2022

THE VOICE | 25

Midlands News

CARRYING THE BATON Black Pounds Project founder proud to be representing the region at relay ahead of Birmingham 2022

HE QUEEN’S Baton will return to the West Midlands on July 18-28, in the final 10-day countdown to Birmingham 2022. Baton-bearers have been specially selected to represent their counties and carry the baton through their local communities, including CJ Lloyd Webley, founder of the Black Pounds Project. He said: “I am so honoured to have been chosen as a Batonbearer for the West Midlands. Being able to carry the baton in my home area is so special, the anticipation is really ramping up for the Queen’s Baton Relay and Birmingham 2022, I’m thrilled I get to play a part in it.” The confirmation of Batonbearers comes following a public nomination campaign in January 2022, from which approximately 8,000 nominations were submitted, then reviewed by regional selection panels made up of representatives from youth organisations, charities, universities, community leaders, and representatives from local authorities. Baton-bearers have been selected in all nine regions of England and embody the diversity in

As a tradition of the Commonwealth Games, the Queen’s Baton Relay celebrates, connects and excites communities across the Commonwealth and highlights untold stories and unsung local heroes from the places it visits.

The anticipation is really ramping up — I’m AWE-INSPIRING thrilled I get Lisa Hampton, head of the Queen’s Baton Relay, said: “The to play a relay aims to excite and celebrate part in it communities not only around communities across the country. From local heroes to inspirational school children, the Batonbearers come from all walks of life, backgrounds and vary in age — with children as young as 12 taking part — and each take on issues that matter most to them. Baton-bearers will play an integral role in the Queen’s Baton Relay when it returns to England this summer, taking on the oncein-a-lifetime opportunity to carry the Queen’s Baton in their region and building excitement for the highly anticipated Commonwealth Games. They will join over 7,500 Baton-bearers that have already passed the baton between communities on the international journey.

the Commonwealth, but here in the host country of England. “This journey would be nothing without the community of Baton-bearers that bring the relay to life. We’ve seen it internationally, and we can’t wait to see it in England. “Our journey through England is an important one. “Not only is it the finale to an epic international journey spanning eight months, but it’s an opportunity to engage with and celebrate individuals who work hard to ensure their community is a special place. “We want to showcase these awe-inspiring stories; celebrating the diversity of England’s communities and the people working hard to make a difference.”

KEY ROLE: CJ Lloyd Webley, of the Black Pounds Project, will help carry the baton in the relay

NEWS IN BRIEF l A Coventry youth club which was established to help prevent and tackle knife crime in the city has won a national award. Fridays, launched in 2019, won a National Crime Beat Award for its innovation and successful crime prevention initiatives. Knife crime is rising in many large cities across the country and has been for a number of years. The charity focuses on keeping young people aged between 11–18 safe and off the streets by offering different forms of entertainment across the week. Fridays also helps young people secure a stable income, as they reach working age, by putting on CV workshops and life skill sessions. The Crime Beat award is designed to recognise charities that provide the most innovative and successful crime prevention projects for young people. Fridays have offered a wide range of activities to keep youngsters off the streets and engaged in positive activities, including electric go-kart making projects and the opportunity to sing in a choir. Tyler Campbell, the founder of Fridays, said: “I still can’t believe it. It was so shocking to hear that my char-

ity would be recognised in this way. “The award will help to open so many doors for the charity and will help us expand in the future. We’ve been working hard for a number of years now as volunteers but going forward, we hope to be able to take on paid staff and improve our offering for young people even more.” West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster said: “I am delighted to see that Fridays is being recognised for all the positive work it is doing. “We know that if we can engage young people in really positive activities then the chance of them becoming the victim or perpetrator of a crime or anti-social behaviour really diminishes. I hope to see the work of Fridays continue and the project expand as it is proving to be a force for good.” l The patriarch of a Birmingham family who attended Floella Benjamin’s stage play, Coming to England, at the city’s Repertory Theatre recently, has spoken in glowing terms of the production. Dr Gregory Roberts was joined at the show by his teenage son and wife,

h a v ing won tickets that were m a d e available to the community and schools by JN Bank UK via a competition on New Style Radio. “The depiction of Trinidad in the colonial days and the early days in the UK was good, as were the actors that presented what was a great story,” he said. “This production was a welcome change, something our children do not often get opportunity to see: black actors in leading roles playing parts that relate to their own history. “I would recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it and I would like to express my thanks to JN Bank UK.” The Voice has run a reader competition to win tickets to see Coming to England. l A start-up film school seeking to grant opportunities to underrepresented communities has named sea-

soned writer Kit De Waal as its new patron, joining Adil Ray, Big Narstie, and Antonio Aakeel on Screen and Film School Birmingham’s high-profile roster of student mentors. Whilst still in its first year, the school is making great strides in industry engagement and are forging relationships with real experts in the world of the creative arts. Kit is a popular addition to this illustrious group. Kit is an award-winning writer; her debut novel My Name is Leon won the 2016 Irish Novel of the Year and is being adapted for the BBC. This adaptation is currently being produced by Douglas Road Productions, which was founded by Birmingham hero Lenny Henry. Set against the backdrop of the race riots in Birmingham in the 1980s, this tender and inspiring tale balances gritty realism with charm and gentle humour, exploring the issues of identity and belonging. Kit’s other works include The Trick to Time (2018), Becoming Dinah (2019), and Supporting Cast (2020). She also has written for BBC, Radio 4, The Old Vic and The Abbey Theatre in Dublin and co-wrote The Third Day for SKY/HBO/Plan B.

The school’s mission statement is to seek out existing and emerging talent, particularly from underrepresented communities, to access, generate and develop ideas they feel will make compelling viewing across film, TV and digital platforms. “I’m delighted to be a patron of Screen and Film School Birmingham,” said Kit, pictured above right. “It’s a privilege to be right at the beginning of the journey for so many talented young people and I look forward to sharing skills, knowledge and knowhow with the Film School and the students. And it’s on my home turf, too, so it couldn’t be better!” College principal Hannah Stevenson added: “It’s exciting for us all to have people who have such strong ties to the region that share our vision. Kit will undoubtedly bring her experiences as a successful writer to the table when mentoring our students.”

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

| THE VOICE MAY 2022

Lyndon Mukasa

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

Eye on the Diaspora

It’s an oil-rigged system Should oil and gas-rich African countries step in and save Europe from its dependency on Russia?

HE RUSSIAN invasion of Ukraine has exposed the dependence of the EU on Russian oil and natural gas. Through this dependence, much of Western Europe has effectively provided the funds that help to fuel the ongoing destruction in Ukraine. This has led to a re-examination of Europe’s energy options and a scramble for new sources of oil and natural gas that could help Western Europe escape its dependency on Russia. One of the key regions under interest are the oil rich areas of West and North Africa. For some, there is an argument to be made that this is a significant opportunity for African countries that would accelerate economic growth. Many argue that a scramble for more oil and natural gas could potentially push back the already scant pledges on reducing greenhouse gas emissions made at COP26 in 2021. Much of the EU has pledged to phase out a third of Russian oil and natural gas by 2023. As a result, many oil-producing African countries have been

positioning themselves in order to meet increasing demand from Europe. Natural gas reserves in Africa amount to 620 trillion cubic feet with Nigeria holding the largest reserves on the continent at 200 trillion cubic feet. Many governments in Africa are looking for investment to improve infrastructure for the export of these fossil fuels.

DILEMMA: Nigeria is already exporting 20 per cent of its oil to the United States

INVESTORS At present, Nigeria has been pushing local investors such as the African Export-Import Bank to provide alternative funding sources for an expansion in natural gas production. Despite the potential opportunities on the surface, much of the African continent is already heavily dependent on the export of primary products that are exported to the West for manufacturing and industry. The problem is that with already weakened state systems and institutions, it is unclear how African countries will be able to adequately benefit from the extraction and production of oil and natural gas if they are

not benefitting now. Nigeria, for example, already exports up to 20 per cent of its oil to the United States and while the West African country has seen consistently high GDP growth for the past 20 years, this hasn’t translated to a high standard of living for all its citizens. Oil and gas-producing African countries find themselves in an awkward position when it

comes to the potential demand from Europe. There is a risk that in an effort to replace Russian oil and natural gas, the pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be undermined. This is because there is already an ongoing energy crisis where the price of oil has surpassed $140 a barrel. Moreover, effective green energy is still years away from

being able to fully replace oil in the short term. African leaders and policy-makers who are aware of their country’s vulnerability to climate change, must make a decision as to whether economic growth is more important than the climate crisis that they could contribute toward should they manage to meet European demand for oil and natural gas. Africa is al-

ready the most vulnerable region to the effects of climate change and the world is at a critical juncture where it needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately. But economic development is still a matter of urgency for African policy-makers and this will be a delicate tightrope that Africa must balance in the years to come.

Can African and Caribbean countries cope with the growing food crisis? THE WORLD is once again in the midst of an unprecedented global food and energy crisis that could create further economic strain and social and political upheaval across the world in years to come. While the current Russian invasion of Ukraine has contributed to this crisis, it is evident the origins of the food crisis can be found in a combination of different factors that have been present among many African and Caribbean countries for decades. The Caribbean has been vulnerable to a food crisis for decades due to its over-reliance on food imports. According to the World Bank, between 80 and 90 per cent of food is imported into the region. Only Guyana, Belize and Haiti produce

more than 50 per cent of their own food. Over 2.7 million people in the English-speaking Caribbean are now food insecure with 71 per cent of people surveyed citing higher than usual food prices. In terms of energy, the Caribbean has some of the highest electricity prices in the world. These prices fluctuate with the price of oil due to most countries in the region using diesel and heavy fuel oil to generate electricity. Efforts to transition to greener and cleaner energy has slowed down due to economic contraction of 14 per cent from the pandemic and the region is likely to reduce agricultural exports to make up for the food crisis. In Africa, the food crisis has been steadily increasing over the last ten

ECONOMIC STRAIN: African countries are feeling the pain of Ukraine’s crisis as supply disruptions push up food costs.

years due in part to the climate crisis. In West Africa, the number of people who were in need of emergency food assistance rose from 7 million people to 27 million people across Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad

and Mali. Additionally, malnutrition is on the increase across the Sahel with 6.3 million children aged six to 59 months projected to be affected this year. In terms of energy, most African countries are typically produc-

ers suffering from energy shortages and higher prices. For oil and gas-producing countries, the energy crisis largely started in 2020 due to declining demand during the global pandemic. In addition, prices started to increase as demand in the West and China has started to shift towards renewable green options. Ultimately, the energy crisis in Africa can be attributed to a build up of long-standing issues related to inadequate infrastructure as well as ongoing security concerns in Nigeria, Mozambique and Algeria that limit production. However, renewed energy demand from Europe could in the coming years reduce some economic strain across West Africa.

Lyndon Mukasa is a writer and researcher. He studied International Development at the London School of Economics.

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28 | THE VOICE

MAY 2022

Muyiwa Olarewaju Nothing But Truth and Light

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

Let’s never forget that a better world is in our hands None of us will go far wrong if we always try to remember the words of Jesus when he said ‘love one another the way I love you’

HERE IS no hope! We should all pack up and go home! Back to where we came from! If you heard that today, chances are the first thing you’d say to yourself is, “well, I am home…” The reality wherever you are in the world today is that the world is a different place from what many of us dreamed about growing up. Now we understand better why some older folks we encountered when we were younger seemed so pessimistic about everything. The headlines from across the world read like the scenes from a bad dream: “Cost of living set to rise”, “Man shot dead

by police”, “Economy slowing down”, “Leader of country found guilty of…” In the middle of all this is the light that the love of God in Christ Jesus offers. It’s hope that’s easily spread.

NOBLE There is a saying that whatever you focus on becomes your reality. However, I’m not sure how true that is as I’ve been focusing on an image of a slimmer, fitter Muyiwa for a prolonged period and I’m still waiting for my six-pack to show up! By now you’re probably laughing at me, saying “what’s wrong with this joker?” To a degree, this is what a lot of us

BE THE CHANGE: Giving a helping hand can make a huge difference to others and can help to make the world a better place (photo: Getty Images). Inset below left, The New Gospel reimagines the story of the life of Jesus do — we’re unhappy about our situation, our world, and we keep wishing it will change. Here’s a noble idea for us all to be the change we want to see, to be the light in the darkness we see around us. To do that, we have to first embrace the light and freedom Jesus himself offers all of us and believe that every action we take makes a difference. Can you imagine if you made up in your mind right now that the next time you see your brother or sister next door you’d take a moment to say or do something that leaves them better than the

moment you met them? Imagine if you decided to give a family with young children that you see regularly vouchers that could mean their shopping for the week is done, or at least a part of it. Now I know the worry might be that we don’t want to

be able to feed their loved ones here in the UK. These are the things we read about in the so-called ‘Third World’ countries and are moved to tears to take action. There are no television adverts with dramatic music to

Will you spread some love, a hello, a smile, a kind word that could be the difference? insult anyone by suggesting they are destitute, but think about it yourself: energy costs have gone through the roof and the cost of food has increased, yet the level of income has pretty much remained the same. There are reports of mothers skipping meals in order to

show you how bad the life of the person you’re looking at right now is. Look closely and all you’ll see is the best presentation they can muster to appear like they have it all together. You know that game — you play it, too. So here’s the question:

will you dare to step beyond your comfort zone and spread some love, a hello, a smile, a kind word that could be the difference to someone today? John the Apostle captured the words of Jesus in his writing of the Gospel of John chapter 15 verse 13: “… This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends…” We all have our struggles, great and small, but the one who is perfecting us is Jesus, and he’s greater than them all. Let’s make this happen, let’s stop dreaming of a better society and make it happen. You change your world one action at a time, I do the same… Together we change the world!

Muyiwa Olarewaju OBE is Station Director at Premier Gospel Radio, a TV & Radio Broadcaster, and Principal of gospel group Muyiwa & Riversongz

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Spotlight

MAY 2022

THE VOICE | 29

DOPE BLACK DAD MARVYN: LET KIDS LOVE THEMSELVES M

ARVYN HARRISON grew up in Hackney, East London, and was raised by his single mother. As an adult, his career led him to the music and advertising industries, where he spent a full decade. Fathers’ Day in 2018 proved to be a big turning point for Marvyn. Now the father of two young children, he set up the WhatsApp group Dope Black Dads for the handful of fathers he knew — a way to share experiences and support one another. The Dope Black community has grown outwards across social media, live events and a Webby Award-winning podcast to over 250,000 members worldwide. Last year Marvyn won Influencer of the Year at the Black British Business Awards. Back in 2020, after George Floyd, Marvyn was asked by the media what he did to positively reinforce his children’s view of themselves and combat racism. His answer: a daily affirmations practice, designed to make them feel better about the challenges they face. This family routine has led to Marvyn’s first children’s book, I Love Me! — a collection of positive affirmations pitched perfectly for young children stepping out into the wider circles of nursery and school. Marvyn said: “How children deal with everyday things — like challenging climbing frames, dropped ice

PROUD: Marvyn Harrison is delighted with I Love Me!

creams and heavy bags — can be the difference between negative emotional impact or an ability to move on powerfully.” And Marvyn has seen firsthand how saying affirmations can help. “There is a delightful joy when your child goes from feeling sad about what they can’t do to saying the affirmations ‘I am brave’ or ‘I am strong’, which leave them smiling and optimistic. It changes you as a parent because you know deep down you have taught them something lasting.” In the book, the awardwinning illustrator Diane Ewen captures the likeness of Marvyn and his children, Ocean and Blake. The pages burst with energy and colour. We see them looking into the mirror each day to practise their affirmations, and how these powerful words help with all the ups and downs of typical family life. Marvyn concludes: “We teach our children many things like using cutlery, to walk and speak. But when you give them a tool that empowers the mind, it can be profoundly moving. Now this skill has been immortalised in a book for all children and I am incredibly proud to share it with the world.” I Love Me! is published by Macmillan Children’s Books. Twitter: @Marvyn_Harrison @ creative_dy

30 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2022

MAY 2022 THE VOICE | 31

Terence Channer

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

Whether loud or quiet, all black voices matter We need to talk about self-censoring over race to avoid offending potential employers

HERE IS a tension between some black people who are vocal about anti-racism and those who are not. That tension relates to the notion that there is a moral obligation, or duty, to do one’s bit in the fight against racial oppression and injustice. I felt this tension in a recent LinkedIn online post, when I referred to a close long-standing professional friend who admitted to me that he could not react to some of my anti-racism posts because he was looking to change jobs. The frustration in his voice was palpable. He feared a prospective employer might check his online activity and see that he had supported my posts on anti-racism and it might jeopardise his chances.

PRAGMATIC He messaged me on WhatsApp with his reactions instead. He also decided to post less on anti-racism to improve his prospects of landing a new role. I expressed that I fully supported him. “He’s just being pragmatic. I’m a realist. Racism is real.” The sad reality is that some of us (black or white) will have to frustratingly do this for selfpreservation, peace of mind and promotion, when dealing with powerful employment structures, providing that it is not at the expense of personal integrity. We should not feel the need to apologise for this. The majority of those responding sympathised and supported my friend’s position. But there were some dissenting views: “I think too many use this as an excuse for saying or doing virtually nothing too often. What frustrates me no end is thinking about all the sacrifice our ancestors and civil rights leaders made over the centuries” —DB “Your social activities count more than your CV, but it’s better to be rejected by a company

This is not about allowing racism to run its course unchecked because of your stand on racism, and their future micro agressions (sic) which will harm you more in the long run. Everyone must fight their own battles and sometimes we want to keep it low, but at which cost?” — NV “If you feel you need to make an adjustment to protect your content from possible employers that might NOT be supportive of racial equality … then your (sic) risking your own personal integrity … there’s no other way to spin this … this is the reality … and those employers don’t deserve you!!!” — VCD “It’s sensible to choose your battles. At the same time extensive code switching, (choosing to hide your authentic self) comes at cost. The balancing act is a challenge. I sympathise with your friend” — RR “That’s what we call a slave… Defriend him immediately. He is compromised and will sell you out in a heartbeat…Those are the ones that will remain in the west when we return home…” — AJT Some questioned why he would want to work for an organisation that does not support him on anti-racism. I have reflected on this issue and I remain very reluctant to be prescriptive in telling black people that they must speak out or do more. This is not about being defeatist or allowing racism to run its course unchecked. Often, personal anti-racist advocacy is about choosing battles carefully and when to fight them, i.e. being smart and pragmatic by tailoring and adjusting. It should not be at all costs. Maintaining personal integrity in this context

does not necessarily mean selfsacrifice or being a martyr. Some of us have the advantage of being self-employed and therefore having greater latitude to speak on anti-racism issues so openly. Others, like my dear friend, can offer quiet support. The reality is that many black people are working for employers that don’t satisfy their standards on racial equity but take the pragmatic step to remain in employment to pay the bills, because unlike some of us they don’t have the power and privilege to be able to walk out today and start a new job tomorrow. That is the sad reality.

SUPPORTIVE In any battle, there are various divisions. Some are in infantry, some in the navy, some as spies gathering intelligence, others beat the drum and blow the trumpet. It is not a case of ‘one size fits all’. It’s such a shame that we have to walk this tightrope. Are we to suggest that Rosa Parks, in that single act of civil disobedience, had somehow redeemed herself for the times she had sat at the back? Are we to suggest the other three ‘coloured’ people, sat in the same row, who complied by giving up their seats, were cowards? For every Rosa Parks, there were millions who sat at the back of the bus. In fact, 99 per cent of the time Rosa, wanting a quiet life, sat at the back. However, on that historic day, she could take no more and decided to take a stance. Let’s remember those who suffered in silence but benefited from the heroism of Rosa Parks. Parks famously stated: “…the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” When I consider the deep impact Parks had following that 1955 Montgomery bus incident, I can’t help but reflect on what Paul Stephenson and Roy Hackett achieved with the Bristol bus

INJUSTICE: Many black people feel silenced by the racism they want to fight against (photo: Getty) boycott eight years later. They were undoubtedly inspired and encouraged by Rosa Parks. I fully appreciate many black people have benefited from hard-fought anti-racism gains, without making much of a contribution, e.g. by speaking truth to power, marching, taking the knee or being vocally anti-racist. I do not have a problem with that, save that I am concerned the fear of a racist backlash

single-celled amoeba. We need to be careful about criticising those not in positions of power for not pulling their weight. We need to be sympathetically supportive and encouraging; speaking out should be a personal decision not a personal duty. Let us be mindful of the fact that many black people, are victims of racial discrimination, therefore find speaking out to be frustrating, painful and traumatic.

For every Rosa Parks, there were millions who sat at the back of the bus may be what is silencing some of us, i.e. the very racism we are speaking out about is effective in muting some. Of course, to quote a few clichés, there is strength in numbers and many hands make light work, but black people are not a

The fight against racism is a very hard fight — just look at how far we still have left to go after centuries of fighting this injustice. The power of racism is what we are up against. Those of us who are vocal anti-racism advocates could be described

as courageous, but those who choose not to be vocal, who feel for whatever reason that they do not have a voice, are who the courageous give a voice to. Some of us will feel the need to make adjustments. I have no problem with this, so long as it is not at the cost of our integrity by way of a compromise too far; there is no need to apologise or feel guilty for doing so. I am not encouraging silent victimhood, I am simply saying that black people, particularly those not in positions of power, should be at liberty to speak out or be quiet, without pressure to perform or conform to expectations. Let each individual personally decide whether they are doing enough for the cause — may they be encouraged and inspired by the likes of Rosa Parks, Paul Stephenson, Roy Hackett and the many unsung heroes, who advocate for us all in the fight against racial injustice.

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.

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32 | THE VOICE MAY 2022

Community news

News

Aunt Mama aiming for a double century 104-year-old Imogene Robinson attributes her long and colourful life to her Christian faith By Deon P Green

G “

IVE GOD the glory, it is him that has kept me here; now enjoy yourselves.” The words of Imogene “Aunt Mama” Robinson, who celebrated her 105th birthday with family and friends at Protheroe House for seniors in Tottenham, where she attributed her long life to her Christian faith. Born in Belfield St Mary, Jamaica on April 13 1918, Aunt Mama is a real stalwart of God, and the only living founding member of the New Testament Church of God in Tottenham. Asked the secret behind her age, she replied: “Mi na tell you the secret, if mi going to tell anybody is mi doctor mi telling.” However, she added as she wiggled in her chair: “Thank the Lord, I feel good like I could lift you up.” Aunt Mama, who arrived in Britain in 1961, added: “I have no children but mi pick up one.” Her adopted child, Dawnette Walker, reinforced the religious and colourful nature of Aunt Mama. Ms Walker told The Voice that Aunt Mama is from a

She is an example of hard work and dedication to the Lord family of longevity, having a sister who lived for 103 years, while her mother’s sister lived to 105 years. Adopted from childhood, Dawnette said Aunt Mama is the third child of 13 siblings. She was very organised, outgoing and always looked smart and decked out in a nice hat to top it off. “She is an example of hard work and dedication to the Lord,” said Paul Williams, who has known Aunt Mama for some seven decades. He told her: “I wish you all the best, good health is on your side; you look beautiful; we give thanks for you being here, you are an inspiration to all of us.” Her friend Grace Streker complimented her on how good she looks for her age while asking her if she could still dance. Aunt Mama responded: “Mi caan do the wiggle, but mi can try the twist”, as she held hands and

attempted the dance move. Over the years, Ms Robinson held several posts including an ancillary worker at St Michael’s Hospital in Tottenham, as well as being a carer for both adults and children. Aunt Mama had words for the younger generation. “Dem young people nowadays too bad, mi just want to tell them to behave themselves. When I was young I put them in order,” she said. And how long do you intend to live? “Well about 200,” she giggled. Aunt Mama brought down the curtain on the celebrations, saying: “I give God thanks for his goodness, kindness and love. I have been through hard times, but God knows everything; so I want to give God thanks and praise.” She then rendered the song, I Love You Lord, as her throng of well-wishers joined in. Carol Pusey, General Manager of Protheroe House, told The Voice that the facility built some six years provides for senior citizens from 50 years old to live independently as possible, with a care team on site. The accommodation has 50 one and two-bedroom flats that are self contained with vacancies for more residents. BIRTHDAY GIRL: Clockwise from above, Imogene with daughter Dawnette Walker and friend Grace Streker, blowing out the candles on her cake, receiving a card from a well-wisher, and taking a congratulatory call

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MAY 2022 THE VOICE | 35

Lerone Clarke-Oliver LGBTQ+ Columnist

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

Jamaica should scrap its colonial-era anti-gay laws LOOKING TO A BETTER FUTURE: The black LGBTQ+ community in Jamaica has faced discrimination (photo: Getty Images)

As debate rages about removing the Queen, the island’s LGBTQ+ community has a message ...

OLLOWING IN the footsteps of Barbados, Jamaica moves to drop Queen Elizabeth as head of state — but what does this mean for the island’s maligned LGBTQ+ community? Jamaica, all eyes are on you! It’s been over a year since an international tribunal found Jamaica’s government responsible for violating the rights of two of its LGBTQ+ citizens. While the ruling was issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in September 2019, it could not be reported on and was marked confidential until early 2021.

RELIC The commission said: “Jamaica was responsible for the violation of multiple rights of the claimants, including the rights to humane treatment, equal protection before the law, privacy, and freedom of movement and residence.” The Jamaican government has stated that it intends to join Barbados by removing the

The break from the past will be of no purpose without full human rights for all Queen as head of state as bygone British imperialism loses its grip on former colonies. However, Jamaica has remained silent on whether it plans to also remove colonialera laws, primarily ones that penalise same-sex intimacy. The colonial-era laws call for penalties that range from 10 years to life in prison, with one including enforced hard labour. Much like Barbados, Jamaica must ensure the Queen’s reign isn’t the only colonial relic it does away with. Their record on LGBTQ+ rights is behind that of Barbados. Neither one of the two ma-

jor political parties in Jamaica has expressed any official support for rights for its homosexual citizens. As the commission highlights — as recently as 2019 — two gay men and a lesbian were forced to flee following near-fatal attacks. Survivors Gareth Henry, and Simone Edwards argued that the laws against “buggery” and gross indecency (originally imposed by the British colonial administration) violated their human rights and “legitimised violence towards the LGBT community” in Jamaica.

Henry was battered by a policeman in front of 200 onlookers and now lives in Canada. Edwards was shot several times outside her home in 2008 by people who intended to kill her, she lost a kidney and part of her liver — no charges were brought. She now lives in Europe. The commission urged the Jamaican government to repeal the sections of the 1864 Offences Against the Person Act that criminalise consensual sexual conduct between men and recommended enacting antidiscrimination laws to protect

LGBT people. It also advised training for the police and security forces, who have long been complicit in, or perpetrators of violence and harassment against the LGBT community themselves. As Jamaicans continue to demand full reparations — including economic compensation — and take decisive action in their own interest while reckoning with the harms of their colonial past, the path ahead for LGBTQ+ Jamaicans remains uncertain. In 2019, both Prime Minister Andrew Holness and the Leader of

the Opposition Peter Phillips announced their opposition to the legalisation of same-sex marriage. The break from the Queen and a colonial past will be of no purpose if the future Jamaica builds for itself doesn’t include honouring the full human rights of all its citizens. Jamaica must, and can, make this path count for all. The well-known Maya Angelou quote is fitting: “The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.” Jamaica, all eyes are on you.

Where are the queer black love stories on British television?

VISION: Empire co-creator Lee Daniels (photo: Getty Images)

STORYLINES on British soaps have always had the unique ability to create discourse across the country. But while queer storylines have littered programming in the past two decades, broadcasters still seem to shy away from fully exploring queer black love on British screens. Granted, on-screen representation has taken much-needed leaps in recent years, with queer black lives being illustrated in all our messy, three-dimensional glory on shows such as Pose, Orange is the New Black, and Sex Education, and to a lesser extent, on the big screen, in films such as Moonlight. But aside from the glossiness of

Hollywood and Netflix, where are the needle-moving storylines that really, truly get into British living rooms? The narratives that challenge perceptions? The US, unsurprisingly, leads the charge when exploring queer black experiences on screen, but typically black gay characters and their relationships are relegated to B-storylines, which simply means these stories rarely get given the chance to flourish. This may give some insight into decision-making on the part of UK productions which often look to the US for replicable trends. The BBC’s EastEnders is renowned for its disposable queer black charac-

ters — the first, Della Alexander, appearing in 1994. The most recent, Tosh Mackintosh, was a domestic abuser, portrayed by Rebecca Scroggs, and did little to offer audiences a positive portrayal of the queer black people and families that exist in the world. The queer black experience is not a monolith, and this should present a golden opportunity to create meaningful television. Perhaps inspiration ought to be taken from the mega ratings hit that was Empire. Co-creator Lee Daniels, whose real-life experiences with his father inspired the relationship on the show, has said he wanted Empire to “blow the lid” off the “rampant” homopho-

bia in the black community. The backlash wasn’t pretty. Anti-gay viewers lashed out at Daniels on social media throughout the first season. They threatened him, as well as his children — but he never relented, the ratings grew, and awards were won. More recently, I May Destroy You and Years and Years have provided rare examples of layered portrayals of the queer black experience, but British viewers are still faced with a wasteland of representation. And while great strides in representation have been made, there’s much more to do. In the UK, authentic queer black representation is very much a work in progress.

Lerone Clarke-Oliver is a PR, publicist, artist manager and ghost writer. He is a commentator on the black LGBTQ+ community and contributor to a number of media outlets.

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36 | THE VOICE MAY 2022

News feature

Kimba putting youth on the write track By Darell J. Philip

E CAUGHT up with performance poet and recording artist, Kimba Ha-Saum Bush-Ramsey, who is on a mission to get the youth to Write the Wrongs in their life. The 44-year-old, currently living in Richmond, London, originally from Trenton, New Jersey, has published his debut book, a tale emanating from his own coloured and vast experiences. Sitting down with Darell J. Philip, Bush-Ramsey speaks on what drew him to writing and why he wants to use the word to inspire the next generation.

The Voice: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Kimba: I’m a former All American football player who started writing poetry and songs during university while studying drafting and design. I’ve loved music and art from a young age. But it wasn’t until University that I discovered my love for writing, art, a necessity for creating music, performing lyrics and singing. Whilst in

university I met and eventually married Susie – an athlete and artist from the UK. We lived in Kentucky for a few years before moving to London in 2007. Immediately upon arriving in London I took to the underground music and poetry scene and found an audience, which led to me performing, writing, and recording lots. As well as having just released my first officially published poetry book Write the Wrongs for ages seven plus, I also run workshops in schools across the UK, empowering young people with the gift of words. The Voice: Kimba – is there a meaning to your name and if so what is it? Kimba: My father named me and told me my first name means warrior and my middle name prince. So my stage name is my full first name, although growing up everybody called me Kim. When I went to university my environment was totally new and everyone there only knew me as Kimba. I’ve gone through several stage names in my artistic life but eventually

grew most comfortable using my birth name as I felt it naturally and perfectly suited me. The Voice: Share with us the work you do in schools and what the response has been to it. Kimba: The work I am privileged to do within schools allows me to educate, empower, and enlighten young people with the gift of writing. Far too many people see writing as a chore and not a gift. And the transformative power of performance is often totally disregarded, dismissed, or undervalued. Writing, memorising (I prefer to call it internalising) and speaking are three of the most powerfully timeless faculties we as human beings have. And it is my mission to infinitely affect the world with the positive power of writing and performance. I can be booked through www. authorsabroad.com to go into schools for half or full days and do creative writing, poetry writing, song writing and performance workshops with age groups starting as young as reception all the way up to GCSE, college, and university level.

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The response has been amazing, not only from students but also from their teachers who often admit they’d never previously witnessed their students producing writing to the level that comes out of our sessions. The Voice: You recently released your debut book: Write the Wrongs — where did the inspiration for the title come from? Kimba: The title came from the revelation that writing empowers every individual to correct the wrongs they feel society desperately needs. It’s a poetry book that explores the upbringing of an inner city youth who loves arts, sports, culture, and who desires fulfilment in life. There are very imaginative pieces, humorous, solemn, reflective pieces, a bit of everything in there really. I rap, sing, produce and play sports. So you’ll find a lot of rhythm in my writing and a love for linguistic twisting. I believe anyone who appreciates poetry and certainly performance poetry will really enjoy it. It’s written for everyone to understand and appreciate what’s being said.

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The Voice: What are some of the wrongs you have had to right during your childhood/ youth years? Kimba: It’s only been quite a few years later but I’ve been realising in increasingly greater degrees the power writing, music, the arts and performance have to combat or treat emotional trauma. Over the last ten years I’ve begun to discover how emotional trauma can result in deteriorating mental health, which is not often recognised until it’s too late in my cultural demographic. About three years ago my younger brother passed away at age 34 due to deteriorating mental health issues. I still can’t believe it and am brokenhearted over it. He was a beautiful, extremely bright and intelligent young man. So a lot of what I write is about the internal dialogue going on in the subconscious during our youth. How we feel about ourselves and others we share spaces with; how we navigate life from the variety of starting points we may have and making the most of it in hope, faith, and action.

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The Voice: What message do you want to get across to readers of your book? Kimba: My overall message is nothing is impossible. You deserve to live the life you were born to and capable of. But no one is going to give it to you. You have to decide to write the wrongs through word and deed. Inspiration is everywhere. Necessity is the mother of creativity but you have to take consistent, daily action though the desired result won’t come easy or overnight. That’s been so hard for me to swallow as I became an adult and life got more challenging. But I found my footing through creative writing, music and just my loves and hobbies which weren’t necessarily encouraged pursuits in my youth. But I got there eventually. I’m here now. Write the Wrongs (2022) published by Caboodle Books can be purchased for £5.99 plus shipping directly from Kimba’s website: www.kingkimba.com This interview is dedicated in memory and honour of Kimba’s late and beloved younger brother, Ronald Graham Watkins Jr. (April 21, 1985-Sept 8, 2019)

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Lifestyle Michael Ahomka-Lindsay stars in Legally Blonde p38

Rene Germain new book is Black and Great p44

THE CLOUD GARDENER Jason Williams p42

JME: ‘I missed WhatsApp investment’ p45

38 | THE VOICE MAY 2022

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Lifestyle Exercise

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Get down to the park... Legally Blonde heads to the great outdoors this summer BY JOEL CAMPBELL ICHAEL AHOMKALINDSAY can’t wait to play love interest Emmett in the upcoming production Legally Blonde, part of the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 90th anniversary billing this season. The actor, right, told Lifestyle there was a lot of noise in his house when he got the call confirming he had landed the gig. Looking forward to the role, he enthused: “I was really excited. Really, really excited.” “I had an amazing time in the audition process, so I was hoping for the best. Everyone I met,

I connected really well with, so I was excited.” “I remember in the audition process we had an impromptu chemistry read, I was in for a couple of songs and a scene and Courtney (Bowman) was coming in just after me, I don’t know if it was planned or not but after I did my bit Courtney came in and was like, ‘do you guys want to do a scene together?’ “And I was like, ‘yeah, let’s do it, why not.’ “I’d never met her before and after the read I was like, you know what, if that girl has anything to do with this production, I want to be a part of it. It was lovely and we just bounced off each other so well.” This year’s Legally Blonde musical is directed by Lucy Moss. Bowman takes the cen-

KEY ROLE: Nadine Higgin plays Paulette

tral role of Elle Woods. Nadine Higgin, who plays the hilarious Paulette, understudied the original West End role back in 2009. Speaking on her experience of working with Moss this time around, she said: “She’s so intelligent. The way she interrogates texts and I am someone

who does their homework. I’m sat in that room and she is asking questions and presenting thoughts that I have not even began to think about. I don’t know how her mind works but I think she is incredible.” Legally Blonde, written by Laurence O’Keefe, Nell Benja-

min and Heather Hach, is based on the novel by Amanda Brown. Higgin said she loved being involved with the production over a decade ago, but she was looking forward to the challenge now that she has evolved as both an actor and a person. “I had this written on my vision board that I put up, I do it yearly,” she revealed. “I put it up in December last year, I really wanted this job and I’m not going to lie if I didn’t get it I would have been vex. “So when I did get that call, I was screaming. I might have had a few tears, it was a very happy moment for me. “I really wanted it. I’m not like that with all my work, it meant a lot for me, it was a full circle moment.” Amoka-Lindsay trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His theatre work includes Rent at Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester and the UK/Ireland tour of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He’s never done open air theatre, but he heaped praise on

Moss and the rest of the creative team for enabling him to feel comfortable ahead of the first performance. “I’ve never been in an audition where I actually felt like I was creating, bouncing and having fun. “And she was so here for it in that moment and it translates into the room as well. We’d come in and both put our ideas in and then find something in the middle or sometimes just go with one or the other. There was so much detail.” Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 90th Anniversary season also includes 101 Dalmatians, a newly commissioned musical written by Douglas Hodge and Johnny McKnight, from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris, based on the book by Dodie Smith. Antigone by Barber Shop Chronicles writer Inua Ellams is the second commission from the theatre in 2022. Legally Blonde, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, May 13 – July 2, 2022, tickets from £25

FEBRUARY 2022

THE VOICE| 39

Two pieces from the next generation of leading UK choreographers

Shades of Blue

Matsena Productions

House of Absolute Warrior Queens

6 - 7 May 2022

40 | THE VOICE

MAY 2022

Lifestyle

Television

Josette’s doing the most Acclaimed actress talks about her latest roles in some of the biggest dramas of the year so far BY JOEL CAMPBELL HEN JOSETTE Simon OBE and I sat down to discuss all things Anatomy Of A Scandal, which is showing on Netflix, it’s hard not to digress. The six-part series, a sexual consent scandal amongst the British privileged elite, has all the ingredients of a must-watch programme and Simon clearly enjoyed her role as defence lawyer. However, as the youth of today would put it, Simon is ‘doing the most’. Always challenging herself from one role to another, Simon will also be featuring in upcoming BBC drama, Crossfire, later this year. In addition, she has a role in the eagerly awaited Anansi Boys, which – as The Voice announced last month – has Whoopi Goldberg cast as Bird Woman in

“The scenes are difficult for my character particularly, who is defending this man” the series adaptation based on Neil Gaiman’s internationally beloved novel. Remaining tight-lipped on particulars, Simon said things were ‘going great’ where Anansi Boys was concerned. “I play a very particular character, I don’t get to see most of the cast to be honest, just because of who I play and they’re not involved in that part of the story. “I play a very world-weary, dry-witted, seen-it-all-before, worked-very-hard-to-get-towhere-she-is chief superintendent, who is investigating a case within the story.” She added: “It’s a really

big cast actually, and what’s so great about that is when you start a job, you go into the make-up trailer to do your make-up or talk about what you might look like — although mine is very quick because I have no hair styling to go on and the character doesn’t wear much make-up. Nevertheless, you always have in the makeup and costume department, all the headshots of the people involved, all along the wall, with their characters and who they are playing.”

CHALLENGE: Josette Simon has told of her upcoming parts in Anatomy of A Scandal and Anansi Boys

FANTASTIC She added: “It’s always a nice opportunity to see who is involved that you weren’t aware of. “I’ve never seen, first off, such a long gallery of headshots and I’ve never seen so many black people. Amazing, fantastic.” Simon says her fervour for intense and difficult roles knows no bounds, and those who tune into Anatomy Of A Scandal will

see her going ‘head-to-head’ with cast members during fiery scenes. These were moments she

relished. “I think the overall narrative through the story is something that will, I hope, hit an audience just because of

the themes and the topics that it raises,” Simon enthused. “Especially the court scenes with Michelle and I, we really go head-to-head. “They are difficult scenes, and for my character particularly, who is defending this man who comes from a very elite background. “He’s very much a Tory and very much a privileged Eton, Oxford boy. He’s had everything easy and I’m defending him. “The thing about being a QC is that it doesn’t really matter what you personally think, your job is to win the case.” Watch the full interview with Simon on our website now to find out more about Anatomy Of A Scandal, Anansi Boys and Crossfire, a story of survival and resilience, set in a luxurious resort in the Canary islands, which follows unsuspecting holiday makers and hotel staff forced to make monumental split-seconds life or death decisions.

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MAY 2022

This is Brukout!

THE VOICE | 41

by Seani B

Keep an eye on Skeng When it comes to expressing what he sees around him, this exceptionally talented young man has few peers T THE beginning of the year, I told you about a few artists that you should keep your eyes on for 2022. Skeng, a young artist rising out of the streets of Spanish Town, Jamaica, was one of those mentioned. His team “The Ratty Gang” and “First Nation”, who is headed up by Jahshi, have been causing an assault on the dancehall space globally. Skeng Don’s buzz in the streets was cemented by his hit song from 2021 Gunman Shift, which has been creating nothing less than Karaoke scenes worldwide. All you have to do is play the beginning of this song and the ravers will do the rest, singing the song line for line with no hiccups. If you are not versed to street language and were to look up the word Skeng, you would see that its description is not the friendliest in the world. Hearing the artist Skeng on stage with his trademark slangs, “Ayye Bwooy, Ayee Gunman” pretty much confirms what he represents. Having knowledge of all of this, you would think his fan base would be a hardcore following of young males. You would be so wrong! At his recent sold-out shows in the UK with his “Uncle” Govana,

IN FULL FOCUS: Skeng has created a real buzz on the streets

“There may be many truths in the music, but there’s also a person behind it” as he describes him, it was the masses of females that were reciting his “emotional gunman bars” (more on that phrase later) line for line. This was when I got the opportunity to meet Skeng. I was unsure of what to expect when meeting him. If I was to judge him from his string of hits like Protocal, Brrp and Shift, then I should be walking strapped, but I know better. Music is art and, though there may be many truths in the music, I know there is also a person behind that music. I think this was the case here, thinking I also met 20-year-old Kevon Douglas who quickly told me that ‘I don’t do interviews’. “I knew from yard that you were the only person I would want to talk to when I got to England”, which humbled me.

Gaining the trust of any young person nowadays is not the easiest thing to do, and hearing him open up and be honest told me there was more behind the badness. Getting to that was difficult as Skeng the artist reappeared when we sat down. At the beginning of our conversation, it felt he had to reiterate that “I do it for the streets, it’s the streets I sing for. I just put what I love into something that I love”. This is where a member of my team offered his description of the music “Emotional Gunman Bars”, which brought a massive smile to Skeng’s face. “Yeah man, dat bad”. For me it made the music sound like art.

I think his defence was up as the music has been under attack and his brand of dancehall is in the spotlight. But I didn’t want to just focus on the obvious, I wanted to understand the artist to know why his pen flows in the manner it does.

The team ah the maddest ting, everybody has their part to play. Work we ah work mi G and we nuh have no time to play. The gang structured Seani B inna the realest way.” This made me laugh out loud because with his grimy deep voice it sounded so menacing,

“I do it for the streets, it’s the streets I sing for. I just put what I love into something that I loved” I saw a glimpse of this when he spoke about “The Ratty Gang”. “Ratty Gang is a movement, a family,” Skeng tells me. “The whole ah we start from one and then started branching off in the music and elevate from there.

and he knew it. Skeng did go on to elaborate about the gang, and the team of beat makers, producers and engineers that have helped craft the new sound that is coming from Jamaica. “John Coop, Di Truth, Shako,

Iva Mops from First Nation,” he reels off. But this hasn’t stopped him from working with producers outside of the camp. Top producer Russian, who crafted the song 23 for a him, seems to have good chemistry. “Russian is a G. He reached out and sent me a beat and voiced and sent it back. But then when mi reach ah him foot mi voice more songs, it’s just mutual energy.” With songs like Taliban alongside Stalk Ashley furthering his reach and broadening his artistic pallet, I can only see 2022 getting better for this young talent who showed me a side to him many may not see through his songs. This is a young kid expressing what he sees around him, which may not be to everyone’s taste, but as he grows and sees the world as he is now, I’m sure that the subject matters too will also grow. Keep keeping your eye on Skeng Don!

42 | THE VOICE MAY 2022

Lifestyle

Gardening

Finding solace in the soil ‘Cloud Gardener’ Jason Williams is hoping to inspire others with his Chelsea Flower Show design BY JOEL CAMPBELL N KEEPING with The Royal Horticultural Societies’ vision to enrich everyone’s life through plants and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place, Jason Williams is encouraging all and sundry to come down to this month’s Chelsea Flower show so he can inspire you to become more green-fingered. Williams, who uses the moniker the Cloud Gardener, started his own journey a couple of years ago when he found himself cooped up in his Manchester flat with nothing to do. The pandemic-induced lockdown in 2020 meant immediate isolation and instant withdrawal from his usual 50 to 60-hour working week in the hospitality sector as a general manager. Walking onto his balcony one day, he decided to make better use of the space by growing flowers and vegetables. Using his time in this way had a cathartic effect on his anxiety and depression. He’d found solace in the soil. “I started off my balcony garden in March 2020. I’d just moved into the property and had a nice balcony space. Then we went into lockdown and didn’t have much to do,” he explained. “Garden centres were still open and I just remember buying one Marigold and, all of a sudden, my whole garden grew, it expanded and I really began to appreciate my space.” Garnering a healthy following

“There really is nothing from my garden that can’t be done on the 18th floor. I’ve done it” on social media, as more and more people connected with his work, the Cloud Gardener used being situated on the 18th floor as the inspiration for the name of his upcoming presentation at the Chelsea Flower Show. The Cirrus Garden, named after the highest clouds in our atmosphere, will combine the spectacle of a show garden with a practical real-life sustainable garden focused on increasing the biodiversity within urban areas and a tranquil setting for mental health. The garden features wildflowers, perennials, herbs, seating area, a vegetable garden and a fish pond to fertilise the garden. “With my original cloud garden, what sometimes happens is, especially early morning, I can go out onto the balcony and I’ll just be in the clouds, the fog and mist “It’s just really prevalent some mornings and it gave me the name the Cloud Garden. So with the Cirrus Garden, the Cirrus are the highest type of cloud in our atmosphere so it kind of made sense in my mind to have another variant.” Williams says having successfully flirted with Marigolds,

PRIDE AND JOY: Jason Williams, inset, shows off his Manchester apartment garden and, below, his presentation at Chelsea he moved on to salads and vegetables. It didn’t go as swimmingly as he wanted, and getting to grips with the ecosystem up on high meant making adjustments to the process.

SUCCESS The lessons have put him in good stead. Visitors of his presentation at the Chelsea Flower Show can take elements of the concept, plants and design, and replicate them on their own balconies with success. The Cirrus Garden is designed to reflect the deep purples, reds, yellows and oranges of a sunset. The garden’s signature plant will be the Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Magic’, which thrives on a warm sunny balcony as the black leaves absorb the sunlight. Although often considered weeds, dandelions are the pollinators on the Cirrus Garden along with other wildflowers. Williams is looking forward to presenting his work and engaging with the people who may not have previously felt inclined to attend the Chelsea Flower Show. He’s a unicorn in the space, one of a few black men doing what he’s doing. The south London-born gardener understands the need

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and power of representation and is chomping at the bit to deliver what he believes will entice others like him to the industry, whether as a recreational pastime or a vocation they want to take up. He enthused: “I’m really grateful to the RHS for taking the risk on my garden. I say risk, but I have been very clear from the beginning when I designed the garden and submitted my application that the whole idea about my garden was I am attempting

to create a beautiful show garden but it must be accessible. “The plants I am using must be plants that everyone can go and find in their local nurseries, because I think, especially when it comes to show gardens and flower shows, for people like myself and others who live in urban cities and urban environments, a lot of what we see is not achievable. “What I’ve had to learn is flower shows and show gardens are pieces of art and, from an out-

side perspective, if you weren’t aware, you would see these show gardens and feel like you couldn’t replicate it. “So, what I am trying to do is create art but also accessibility. If anybody says my garden is impractical and can’t be done, well, actually, the whole garden is based on my cloud garden which I’ve worked on for two years. There is nothing from that garden at Chelsea that cannot be done on the 18th floor, because I’ve already done it.”

Honouring the ‘Mangrove Nine’ DESIGNERS TAYSHAN Hayden-Smith and Danny Clarke will be presenting Hands Off Mangrove at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. The Mangrove tree is a symbol of diversity, coexistence and resilience. Hands Off Mangrove, pictured, is reflective of the community of Notting Hill where the ‘Mangrove Nine’ stood up in the face of adversity and inspired positive change for future generations and, as an ‘ecosystem engineer’, home to thriving, biodiverse ecosystems. The mangrove sculpture stands proud in the garden at 4m high, with nine main roots honouring each ‘Mangrove Nine’ member. The corten steel, rebar roots create a protective canopy, under which communities can gather,

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sit and reconnect with each other and nature. Immersed in a garden abundant with pollinators, edibles and ornamental plants, the crushed concrete path represents the harsh challenges and threats of racism, poverty and violence of life in 1960-70s Notting Hill, many of which endure in our communities today.

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FEBRUARY 2022

THE VOICE| 43

L’ATISSE L CASA L CASA featuring a World Premiere of short film Dutopia by L’atisse, with live DJ Sets from NAVA LDN playing soulful hip hop, future beats and R&B.

19 - 20 May 2022

44 | THE VOICE

MAY 2022

Lifestyle

Books

Black power in the workplace The book space was missing a crucial text, according to author Rene Germain — so she filled it with Black and Great: The Essential Workplace Toolkit LACK AND Great: The Essential Workplace Toolkit was brought about to address the lack of career guidance that specifically supports the black community. Author Rene Germain told Lifestyle it was a “careers book for black students and professionals featuring open letters, interviews and insights from over 20 leading black British voices sharing their career journeys”. Those include: Beverley Knight, Sir Steve McQueen, Trevor Nelson, Christine Ohuruogu and Ashley Walters. Writing in her own words, Germain explained what she had pulled together, why and

“Our entire existence is defined and characterised by inaccurate stereotypes” where she hoped it would be most valuable. “Through personal anecdotes and real-life examples, I’ve written chapters on key career and workplace topics such as salary negotiation, crafting a personal brand, overcoming imposter syndrome, navigating career pivots, preparing for the future of work and more. “The idea for Black and Great came to me in 2017, a year after I had graduated from university and fully immersed in the corporate world of financial services. “It didn’t take long for me to realise, based on my own experience and what I could see, that the black workplace experience was different, often times challenging. “There are so few black people that get through the door across many industries, but even once we get in, we’re faced with racism, microaggressions, we’re underpaid and lack progres-

sion opportunities. Our entire existence in these organisations is defined and characterised by inaccurate stereotypes and colonial tropes. “As an only child of West Indian heritage, one of the first people in my family to attend university and without a network of people who could help me navigate these environments, like many young black people, I felt unprepared. “I started to blog about my workplace learnings on Medium to share advice to black students that were soon to graduate or at their beginning of their careers like myself.”

MOTIVATED

She added: “I’d get so many messages from people wanting further advice or thanking me for writing about experiences they could relate to. “I started to realise there was a need for careers advice that catered to our community. “As I started to look for career advice in the form of books, podcasts and other mediums to help me with my own career, I noticed what existed was totally devoid of the black experience. “It was like we didn’t exist. White writers were providing ‘one size fits all’ career advice that was meant to work for everyone, completely ignoring the multiple challenges that underrepresented employees, black

VALUABLE ADVICE: Rene Germain wants to help other black professionals with their careers employees face in the workplace and why. I knew the advice they were providing couldn’t be easily applied by us which motivated me to start working on an alternative in 2018. “A careers book for us, by us which centres our voices and experiences. A careers book which celebrates black people from a variety of industries including medicine, law, music, technology, advertising, financial services, sport and more because we are not a monolith.

A careers book with actionable advice and templates. “A careers book which recognises the importance of community for black employees in predominantly white institutions. “When I was writing Black and Great I thought about the black people like me who never had a black doctor growing up, never had a black school teacher or university lecturer, whose teachers only encouraged them to pursue sports or music, so didn’t know what was truly possible.

“I thought about the black people starting out in their careers, ambitious and determined to go far, but not sure how, who can’t see a blueprint. “I thought about the black professionals a few years in, knowing they are underpaid, considering a career pivot, maybe in need of a sponsor but they don’t know where to begin. “Black and Great is the careers book that we needed when we were kids, as students and need now as adults.”

Spotlight on seven decades of books to celebrate jubilee BY JOEL CAMPBELL HOSEN BY an expert panel of librarians, booksellers and literature specialists from a “readers’ choice” longlist, BBC Arts and The Reading Agency recently announced the titles for the Big Jubilee Read, a reading for pleasure campaign celebrating great reads from celebrated authors from across the Commonwealth.

“This is a real opportunity to discover stories from across continents” Coinciding with Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the 70 titles consist of 10 books from each decade of the Queen’s reign. A selection of literary offerings have been produced

by authors from a wide range of Commonwealth countries such as Guyana, Jamaica, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago.

ENGAGE

Renowned authors ER Braithwaite, Bernardine Evaristo, Marlon James, Andrea Levy, Zadie Smith and Derek Walcott are some of the names included. The campaign enables readers to engage in the discovery and celebration of great books and shines a spotlight on lesser-known books and

authors that deserve recognition. Suzy Klein, head of arts and classical music TV at the BBC said: “The list of 70

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books — 10 for each decade of Elizabeth II’s reign — is a real opportunity to discover stories from across continents and taking us through the dec-

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ades, books that we might never have otherwise read, and reading authors whose work deserves a spotlight to be shone on it.”

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MAY 2022

THE VOICE | 45

Lifestyle

Podcasts

No more time on Switchback Powerful new podcast series shines a light on success of prison rehabilitation charity and the world of youth crime BY JOEL CAMPBELL OR THE first time I went to jail, I got arrested literally the day before my 18th birthday. I spent my 18th birthday in Braintree police station,” says Serge in the first episode of Time & Again, a powerful new podcast series that lifts the lid on the world of youth crime, doing time and going straight. The series, produced by Switchback and independent radio production company Beautiful Strangers, provides a fresh and searingly honest glimpse into the thoughts and experiences of six young men who have recently been to prison and built a new life away from crime on their release. Launched last month, the factual podcast about young men making a new start after prison went to number one on Apple Podcasts “New and Noteworthy”. Alice Dawnay, the founder and CEO of the prison rehabilitation charity, explained why she felt the first-person testimonies had gone down so well. “Making a podcast is a complete departure for Switchback,” said Dawnay. “Youth violence, drug crime and county lines get so much airtime in the UK, but we so seldom get the voices and perspectives of young prison

“

“I wasted five years of my life in the system, I can’t afford to waste any more” leavers themselves. The stories in Time & Again underscore what we know from 14 years of running Switchback: firstly, what a massive impact social and racial injustice has on young Londoners’ lives, and secondly, how the current system of release is failing.

INSIGHT “While Switchback’s focus remains supporting as many young prison leavers as possible to make a fresh start, we believe their experiences provide a crucial insight into the factors driving and perpetuating youth crime. “The human and economic cost of reoffending is huge in the UK. All of us stand to massively benefit from addressing these failings within society and the justice system.” Based in Tower Hamlets, since 2008, Switchback supports young Londoners in finding their way out of the justice system in order to build stable, rewarding lives. Trainees are often from the poorest areas of the capital. A third are from the London bor-

GOING STRAIGHT: Serge has turned his life around thanks to the Switchback programme oughs of Islington, Newham, Hackney and Haringey, which have some of the highest levels of poverty, crime and knife crime in the country. Seventy-five per cent of the charity’s trainees have been convicted of a violent or drug-related offence. In stark contrast to the national average, which sees around half of those leaving prison back inside within 12 months, just nine

per cent of Switchback trainees reoffend. Some 55 per cent go into long-term employment. In the first episode of the podcast series, Serge, who grew up in Hackney, east London, details his story of how it all panned out after his first stint behind bars. After tiring of the negative cycle he was immersed in, he decided enough was enough. “I wasted five years of my life in

the system. I can’t afford to waste any more time. I signed up [to Switchback]. — it’s the best decision I made. “I’m working at the moment. I’m an apprentice (and have my own business). You just have to keep that same energy that you got on the roads, you convert it, transition that energy and put it into something that you are passionate about. Anyone who

feels like their life is over, feels like they ain’t got nowhere to go. Trust me, fam, there’s a left turn somewhere or a right turn somewhere along the road. Life’s not over fam. I’m in a good space. “I’m fully focused. Got my daughter in my life. I have a plan. You water this plant ’til it blossoms. Gonna water this plant.”

I wish I’d invested in WhatsApp, says rapper JME

SOCIAL STRATEGY: Grime rapper JME, also inset

IN BBC Radio 5 Live’s podcast How We Hustle with Yianni, grime rapper JME discussed his social media preference when it comes to promoting himself recently. The enigmatic star also detailed how he missed out on one of the biggest opportunities to invest in a tier one platform that would have had a vast impact on his life. Expressing his regret at not investing in WhatsApp, he said: “I believed in the company from the early days and should have supported it.” He added: “When WhatsApp first came out in the UK, it wasn’t working on T-Mobile. “So, I messaged the devs and said ‘Hi I’m JME, I’m from the UK, WhatsApp is not working for me’.” “I got emailing this guy from the company and helped him get in touch with T-Mobile to get the right ports. I was also speaking to him about parties and raves. “Next thing I know, WhatsApp gets sold for billions. From the inception of WhatsApp, I was on it, so I should have invested then.” A popular figure on Twitter, JME shone a

light on why he didn’t ever transition over to Instagram. “I have Twitter and was on there posting pictures. When Instagram came out and I found it was a picture site, I thought there was no need for me to get it.” Questioned on his business strategy and presented with the notion that Instagram was

an essential platform for promotion, JME replied: “I’ve already got the audience I want. When you start in your career, you want to get to the top. But I’ve already got there. “Now, I only want an audience that know me and care about me to listen to my music.” The artist, who also revealed in the interview that in the early days of his career, he used his ‘student loan to pay for my CDs that I made’, said the parameters for what he considers a successful career were defined a long time ago. While it may surprise many, or not, if you’ve really followed his journey, JME said that a conversation with a fellow artist helped shape his thinking. He enthused: “When I spoke to Ed (Sheeran) before he was big, he said his goal was to be one of the biggest artists in the world. “I never wanted to do that. I just do what is honest to me and real to me. I don’t have to do anything else.” You can listen to the full podcast here: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0c1gxqj

46 | THE VOICE MAY 2022

Sport

Hamilton’s Classic display All seven World Championship-winning cars on show at Silverstone. By Rodney Hinds

N A special tribute to Sir Lewis Hamilton, all seven of his World Championship winning Formula One cars will be displayed at The Classic this summer (August 26-28), courtesy of the Mercedes-AMG and McLaren Formula One teams. It will be the first time ever that all seven of Hamilton’s title-winners have been seen together — and where better to stage such a spectacular showcase with fans able to get up close to the cars than at Silverstone, the circuit on which he has enjoyed so much success and public adulation?

“Lewis is already a legend and his successes will forever be celebrated” To date, the 37-year-old sporting superstar has won a record-breaking eight home British Grands Prix at the legendary Northamptonshire venue — an unprecedented number, which could be further extended by the time The Classic opens its

gates over the bumper August Bank Holiday weekend. The not-to-be-missed firstever public display of all seven title-winners includes the #22 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-23 in which Hamilton won his maiden crown in 2008, plus the six #44 Mercedes’ in which he won further titles in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

AMASSED Born less than 50 miles from Silverstone in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Hamilton cut his teeth racing karts from the age of eight. He then switched to single-seaters in 2001, graduating to Formula One with McLaren in 2007, having amassed multiple junior titles. As well as winning a joint-record seven World Drivers’ Championship crowns (tied with Michael Schumacher), he also holds the record for most F1 wins (103), most pole positions (103) and most podium finishes (183), among other supreme achievements. He was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours List. “It’s a real privilege for us to have all seven of Lewis’s title winners on show at The Classic this summer,” said Nick Wigley,

HISTORY-MAKER: Sir Lewis’s cars will be showcased. Inset, left Hamilton in action in Australia CEO of The Classic promoter Goose Live Events. “Lewis is already a legend and his incredible successes will forever be celebrated as a major milestone in motorsport history. “This very special display will also be another of the standout highlights under this year’s

‘Best of British’ banner at The Classic.” All seven Lewis Hamilton title-winners will be exhibited in an exciting new feature area set right at the heart of the threeday bank holiday festival. Providing exceptionally good value, all tickets for The Classic include access to the Lewis

Hamilton Showcase as well as both racing paddocks, open trackside grandstand seating, all three nights of live music, the newly announced Foodie Fest plus the vast majority of the fabulous family entertainment and attractions on offer — all being enhanced for the August Bank Holiday in 2022.

Stars line up for The Hundred’s spectacular summer of sport By Rodney Hinds EVEN MORE men’s and women’s superstars have been snapped up to take part in The Hundred this year ahead of another explosive summer of world-class sport and family-friendly entertainment. The first year of The Hundred proved a big hit with families and young people in particular relishing the mix of fast-paced cricket with music and family entertainment off the pitch. Eight teams, based across seven cities, compete in men’s and women’s matches across the height of the summer holidays. Sanjay Patel, managing director of The Hundred said: “With a host of star players confirmed, The Hundred will have fans on the edge of their seats with world class sport, as well as bringing more family-friendly

BIG HITTERS: Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell, right, will be among those taking part in The Hundred this summer entertainment off the pitch. In the women’s competition, we have the best players from across the world

taking part including Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney and Sophie Devine, and we are confident we will set a new

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benchmark for the women’s domestic game. “On the men’s side, it’s great to

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see a mix of new overseas stars like Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell alongside returning stars such as Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine. “It is also brilliant that some of the best domestic white ball players including Tom Banton and Joe Clarke have been recognised and picked up early. Get your tickets for The Hundred now so you don’t miss out.” West Indies star Andre Russell, a new signing for the Manchester Originals, added: “I’m excited to get across to the UK and get on the field for Manchester Originals this season. “Emirates Old Trafford always has a brilliant atmosphere and the fans seem really up for it! I’m looking forward to joining the likes of Wanindu, Jos, Salty and the rest of the guys and seeing what I can bring to the side.”

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MAY 2022 THE VOICE | 47

Sport

Collective look

By Rodney Hinds

IRMINGHAM 2022 Commonwealth Games has unveiled the uniform that thousands of volunteers and staff members will be wearing at the Games. The uniform design for technical officials and the formal outfits for delegates have also been revealed. The uniforms will be worn by over 14,000 people from across Birmingham, the West Midlands and beyond, who make up the

‘Commonwealth Collective’ — a community of passionate and dedicated people who will play a vital role in helping to deliver the biggest multi-sport event in the UK since London 2012. The Commonwealth Collective will be a visible presence in the city and across the wider region for more than a million spectators who will be visiting the West Midlands during the Games. A number of students from the city have worked with Birmingham 2022 to shape the uniform design, which has been inspired

by Birmingham’s architecture and rich cultural heritage. The uniform features patterns and inspiration from iconic buildings across the city with a wave pattern inspired by local architecture. These are included on all upper body garments, such as the polo shirt, gilet and waterproof jacket. The uniforms have been produced by Coleshill-based workwear company, Incorporatewear Ltd, who has taken steps to ensure the production process is as sustainable as possible. Any

KITTED OUT: Volunteers got a first glimpse of the uniform they will wear at the Games

excess material will be made into sports bibs for local schools and clubs, forming part of the Games’ legacy.

SOUL Volunteers from the ‘Commonwealth Collective’ were given an exclusive first glimpse of the uniform as part of the orientation kick-off to their training journey. Each member of the collective will receive two polo shirts, trousers, waterproof jacket, gilet, belt, bag and hat. Over 41,000 people have ap-

plied to volunteer across more than 300 different types of roles to help the Games run smoothly. Volunteers were selected earlier this year and will altogether receive approximately 250,000 hours of training and complete one million hours of volunteer service. Two-time Commonwealth champion Colin Jackson, who has been supporting the Birmingham 2022 volunteer campaign from the beginning, said: “Volunteers are the heart and soul of the Commonwealth

Games and play a hugely important role in making both athletes’ and spectators’ journeys very special. “They are often the first people that visitors to the city meet, and the uniforms will help them stand out from the crowd and give them that special recognition they deserve. “I really hope the volunteers share my excitement and will wear their uniforms with pride, knowing the difference they will make as they embark on their journey with the Games.”

Rugby League World Cup grants open for applications By Karen Palmer RUGBY LEAGUE World Cup 2021 (RLWC2021) has announced that the CreatedBy small grants programme is open for applications The CreatedBy small grants programme has already made a significant contribution to growing the sport, with over £1.6 million granted to date benefiting 18,787 participants by providing kit, equipment and facility improvements, thanks to the National Lottery and Sport England. Clubs and community organ-

isations are being encouraged to make the most of a final opportunity to apply for a grant from the remaining funding pot of at least £400,000 available to support the growth of the sport. The tournament, which will now take place from October 15 – November 19, comes with a commitment from the government to invest in grassroots rugby league, and prior to the pandemic, the CreatedBy small grants programme supported almost 200 projects including funding for lawn mowers, ball-stop netting, refurbishing clubhouses and

equipment to deliver after-school sessions Jon Dutton, chief executive of RLWC2021, said: “We had to make the difficult decision to pause our

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small grants programme last year but, with less than 200 days to go until the rescheduled tournament begins, I’m delighted we are able to re-open this programme, allowing yet more organ-

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isations to benefit from a fund which has already made a significant difference in local clubs and communities. “Thanks to the investment from the National Lottery players and Sport England, we have at least £400k to invest. We encourage any club or community organisation interested to make an application, particularly if the funding can be used to make improvements that focus on environmental sustainability that will help to reduce a club’s financial outgoings, or increase participation from girls, women, and disability sport.”

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OF SPORT

MAY 2022 | THE VOICE

MOMENT OF PRIDE: Ian Wright receives his award from Premier League chief executive Richard Masters. Below: Wayne Rooney, Patrick Vieira and Vincent Kompany were also honoured

THE WRIGHT CHOICE The former Arsenal striker couldn’t have felt prouder to take his place in the Premier League Hall of Fame By Rodney Hinds

N EMOTIONAL Ian Wright has revealed his pride in being named in the Premier League Hall of Fame. The effervescent Wright and Didier Drogba were among six recent new inductees into the exclusive group. The striking duo, who had so much success at Arsenal and Chelsea respectively, were joined by Sergio Agüero, Vincent Kompany, Peter Schmeichel and Paul Scholes.

HONOURED They were selected by the public through an online vote, and the Premier League Awards Panel. They join Wayne Rooney and Patrick Vieira as this year’s inductees and were formally honoured at a star-studded event at The Shard in London. On his induction into the Hall of Fame, Wright said: “When I found out, it was extremely emotional and humbling. I have received so many

messages from fans which is incredibly touching. It’s the stuff dreams are made of to be amongst this group of elite players. I want to dedicate my induction to Steve Coppell who first took a chance on me, to take me off the building site and give me my chance at being a professional footballer.”

have played with any of the current list of inductees, it would have to be Paul Scholes. He’s one of the best to ever play in the Premier League.” Former Manchester City ace Kompany said: “This moment is difficult to describe, but I am incredibly honoured. I may have depended on my

“When I found out, it was extremely emotional and humbling. The messages from fans were touching” The ceremony, which was hosted by broadcaster Kelly Cates, saw each of the players formally receive their Hall of Fame medallions from Premier League chief executive Richard Masters in front of their families and guests, including TV host and former England star Gary Lineker, music artist AJ Tracey and YouTubers Chunkz and Elz the Witch. Vieira, leader of Arsenal’s Invincibles, added: “If I had the chance to

teammates at times, but I also tried to make others better.” When asked about fellow Hall of Fame inductee Agüero’s Premier League winning goal 10 years ago, Kompany added: “Chaos is the best way to describe that first title win. Balotelli was involved, obviously! “Sergio decided to have the worst game of the season up until that moment. He told me before the game, ‘don’t worry, I’ve got this’ but up until that moment he didn’t. Still, to this day

did.” I want to thank him for what he did. Premier League boss Masters said: “The latest additions to our Hall of Fame were all world-class players who helped define different eras of the Premier League with their unique skills.”