Say it Loud-I’m Black and I’m Proud
As 2025 fades away, now seems a good time to reflect on the condition of the people of the African diaspora, and by that, I mean those who literally have come from Africa, those descendants of those who originally came from Africa and those who can claim heritage from an African source…..whether they choose to acknowledge it or not!
I have not written a Blog for some months principally because there was nothing I wanted to say and politically it all looked very bleak. It is likely that some will not be comfortable with what I have to say….but I will say it anyway.
Ever since Black people were torn from the African continent as part of the Transatlantic Slave Trade industry and those who subsequently came to the West voluntarily, they have experienced a wide variety of conditions that have impacted physically, biologically, psychologically, and spiritually. That is not to say there were not vast differences within the continent before because there were, but they were not tainted by the values imposed by European association and intervention that declared Black people to be of lesser value than other human beings and it is amazing how that narrative has endured to this very day……a narrative that has reached all parts of the world! The curious thing is that “N” word is known in nearly all parts of the world carrying with it the baggage of inferiority and savagery…..a word that is uttered by those who have never met a Black person!
Western Europe’s relationship with the so called Third World and their cruel intervention tells us very clearly, to quote the words of Brother Malcolm, that “the chickens have come home to roost”. The primary European powers built their economies by the exploitation of the resources and slave labour of African nations and the apparatus built to faithfully exploit was established so deeply that they are firmly rooted and still have the capacity for further and continued exploitation. England, France , Germany, Belgium, Portugal and other nations are still benefitting from the seeds that they have planted and some African nations are slowly trying to extricate themselves but Europe refuses to make it easy. Seemingly parasitic France is deep in debt after Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali cut ties with the Imperial power.
However, now that the template has been established, Russia and China have got in on the act as their economy is intertwined with that exploitation in Africa and the Caribbean, providing opportunities to exploit the growing importance of rare earth minerals such as cobalt, lithium, and manganese, making the continent a crucial player in the global supply chain for green and high-tech industries. As it happens Africa possesses one-third of the world's known reserves, including 80% of its platinum and chromium, 47% of its cobalt, and 21% of its graphite. Sadly, economic exploitation is not enough and UAE The United Arab Emirates that includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi are fully invested in creating wars by arming groups in African countries that they can use to help them to exploit these rare earth minerals and making it seem as if these people are always fighting each other. Yes….they are investing in us fighting each other and then inviting Black people in the West to go on holiday in their home countries to witness how they are spending their ill-gotten gains in their shiny steel and glass shopping centres. So, the next time you book a flight on Emirates Airlines or promote their sportswear or go shopping in the obscenely opulent malls give some thought to their investment in the wars in Sudan, Tanzania, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and other parts of Africa. Gil Scott Heron summed up the situation handsomely when he wrote “Places once referred to as under-developed are now called 'mineral rich….'and the game goes on eternally…..Unity kept just beyond reach”
This is some of the background that we as Black people and Black consumers in the West should be more aware of, so when we talk about Black History, what is going on now should be a significant part of our history in the future…..so we best understand that now. The failure of education institutions to faithfully include Black History in the curriculum is a disgrace and it is my view that teachers of all subjects should have a fundamental understanding of Black History internationally and locally. The consequence is that our own children and grand children with a African heritage are denied knowledge of our own history which can contribute to issues of self-worth making us believe the racist narrative that masquerades as something factual and authentic. We are not doing enough to protect our history and any future Black History work should be dedicated to that end.
Some of you will be aware that I believe that Black people need to take responsibility for preserving our history because it is slowly being eroded. Once the Windrush generation are no more subsequent generations will have little or no idea about Black History, and it will be reduced to well told stories about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Rosa Parkes. There are dispersed pockets of Black History evidence all over the city but no cohesive depository for such evidence to be contained….and the desire and resources to make this happen are slowly diminishing partly because we have not applied the necessary pressures. The sad thing is that there are many people of African heritage who would like to know more of that heritage than the small scraps of somewhat dubious interpretation of Black histories that are wheeled out every October.
When I created Black History Month South in 2005, my vision was that there would be a well-known record of what Black people had done and how we had contributed to the western economy, physically, socially, and spiritually. I had envisaged that we as Black people would be handing down those stories to our children and they to their own children…… little did I know that knowledge of our own history was gradually being forgotten within our own communities let alone the wider communities. I tried to do my bit and together with my friend Stella Muirhead we published a book “The Black History of Southampton 16thCentury-20th Century” a brief guide to significant moments in Black History in our own backyard. This book has been selling regularly over the years but I had thought Black people in Southampton would have produced more evidence and documentation to supplement what we had done.
The real fact is that many people from Caribbean communities are so well integrated that a significant number live within what is euphemistically called “Blended Families” and sometimes issues relating to Black heritage have a low priority, and as they move from one generation to the next Black Heritage becomes even less significant where ownership of Blackness is only acknowledged superficially and performatively. Newer Black communities, mostly from the African continent are very often one or perhaps two generation strong and they have not got to the stage where western cultures have substantially insinuated into their communities…..but their time will come!
So, to return to the original question, what is the position of the Black person in the UK and where are we at in 2025. The demise of the Windrush Generation has significantly contributed to the erosion of the foundations of Black History. The “successful” integration of the Caribbean communities in the UK has impacted on the cohesiveness of that community. The surrendering of a common identity that bound us together is dwindling. The fact that we can now choose other means to identify ourselves other than Black has provided opportunities to be anything other than “Black”, particularly when the Black identity is cruelly misrepresented historically and contemporaneously. Yes, we are more than Black but we have to be confident about our Black identity whilst absorbing other aspects of who we are. The illusion that Black is all to do with complexion has detracted from the political dimension which is something that the powers were not comfortable with.
Unfortunately, we must concede that as glorious as it may sound to talk about “Black Communities” we are not only divided, but we have also chosen to divide ourselves which means that we fail to be supportive of each other. Some of this is a consequence of not sharing knowledge of a common history that involved Black people, Brown people, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Chinese etc in our quest to eradicate Racism. The reality, which is not properly recognised, is that any advantages that those who would have been defined broadly as Black many decades ago, were won and fought by mainly Black migrants of the 50s, 60s and 70s, and other ethnic groups all benefitted from the sacrifices made by these early pioneers and much of this has been airbrushed out of social history. Sadly, when those early migrants needed help further down the road very few of those who benefitted came to their side…..and The Windrush scandal is a perfect example.
We now are at a moment in time when right wing forces and those who call themselves “Patriots” are rightly amused at the way we have divided ourselves into subgroups to a point where some of us have expunged the term Black from any means by which we could be described, and the rather interesting Black & Brown division speaks to that. The racists are rightly amused at our clumsy efforts at trying so hard not to be “Black”……at the same time sending coded messages to our children and sometimes not so coded! My recent exhibition on Colourism raised manty issues around how the complexion of skin of those of African or Asian heritage contributed significantly to ownership of an identity, whatever that was, creating further divisions that has left us fragmented and divided.
Our failure to appreciate that the protest about migrants conflates all of us whether we are light skin, dark skin, Christian, Muslim, mixed race, born here or any other category we have chosen for ourselves….and we will all be viewed as individuals who do not necessarily have a right to be here no matter how British or English we think we are!…..and that includes ironically the present Home Secretary. The trouble is that each of the subgroups probably believe that they have more of a right than some of the other subgroups……and that is how they keep us divided…..and Black & Brown faces in high places help to sustain this unfortunate charade. Interestingly White migrants very often do not carry the stigma of being outsiders as they can very easily be absorbed……and that buys into the more shameful aspects of Colourism.
Some of us are trying to ensure that our history is preserved. We are only just confronting the truth about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, hundreds of years later, which is a story of bravery and survival. Furthermore, if we take control of the knowledge of the sacrifices that Black people have made more recently and the immense contributions we have made and are still making there is a chance that our children, grandchildren and those who had not valued their Black heritage will not be looking for alternative identities that deny their “Blackness” and will not be embarrassed to say, in the words of James Brown….” I’m Black and I’m Proud”.