Let's Start Somewhere

  Them, me, you, us. By Moyin Ekundayo This article/ rant is very late, and in reading, you find it very clear when bits of it are written. I was trying to navigate certain subjects regarding representation in politics and policies. I hope I made myself clear and you do not get bored.  Alright, I would like to start by saying I am usually a man of my word; this is because, following recent political upheaval, I adamantly proclaimed that "I will no longer be talking about politics, only things that are funny and matter", but here I am again talking about politics. -   This statement was made in a bar in a slightly drunken state.  Many of you who know me know how sincere this following section is; I would like to congratulate Rishi Sunak on being the current Prime Minster and the first Prime Minister of Colour in this country. It is an achievement that should be celebrated as a landmark achievement. Now yes, congratulation is late, but in my defence, I did say I was no...

By Lucy Ward Moving to West Sussex was something of a shock since I had forgotten what life was like outside of the city after living and working in London for more than ten years. Not only because of the change in environment but also because of the lack of diversity. The children went from a very mixed cultural and ethnic school and nursery to predominantly white institutions.  It was very apparent from very early on that this new area and some of its residents were a world apart from our lives in London and I began to understand why many black Londoners are reluctant to relocate to areas where there is not an Afro-Caribbean supermarket nearby. From our Trump-supporting neighbor who shared her disgust of London as I quote, “it is full of blacks” to the child who told my child that she couldn’t join their game because she was “the black kid”. I felt angry that life had forced me to leave Lewisham and that I had brought my children to a place that was so unaccepting of them. I...

By Jamel McFarlane  Where were you when they murdered George Floyd?     By the time this article is released, it will probably be around 3 years since he was murdered. Even thinking about this - brings back bad memories.    I remember scrolling through Twitter and seeing the video. The first time I watched the murder I was mortified. How could a man be treated like that? No matter what he had done, no human being should ever be treated like this.     After everything went down and the world reacted to the video, more and more people started advocating for the rights of black people. People started marching and rioting about it.     Moyin was SU President at the time, and I was Vice President-Elect. We discus sed the riots. Three years ago, my opinion was that there should not be riots as it could make black people look bad. I think what happened was frustrations had been building for so long and people had had enough. George Floyd w...

By Jamel  McFarlane  Do you have a white parent and a black parent?  How do you class yourself as black when your skin tone is brown?  Your family heritage is from Jamaica so you must love Bob Marley and smoke weed, right? What’s your favourite rapper? - You like black music, Right?  And probably the most famous one that most people of colour have unfortunately faced.  Where are you from? I mean where are you really from?  Here is a few statements/questions that I used/still to face as far back as I can remember.  Being a young black man growing up in a predominate white town was a challenge. I moved from London to Ashford around the age of 6 and while I was in primary school I don’t remember having any close black friends. Although were people of colour (POC) in my class.  Obviously, I had the incident in year 5 (see one of my articles). https://letstartsomewhere.blogspot.com/2022/08/at-what-point-do-you-tell-your.html  ...

   By Jamel  McFarlane  Throughout black history month back in October, I looked at how many different organisations, charities and individuals that celebrated black history. It was really good to see the wide range of different ways people used social media to educate their followers and hopefully themselves.  One thing that bothers me is the fact now it's over, what are these organisations, charities and individuals doing next?  It so easy to celebrate black history month for the 31 days in the October then forget it for the next 334 days of the year.  In my opinion black history is only the tip of the iceberg. For real change to happen, you need to assess everything and sometimes even start all over again. Or change the way you do things.  Each of these organisations, charities and individuals are like a house. You know you need to improve the whole house but every year you just keep just replacing everything in bathroom. Yeah it makes the hous...