Butterfly Magazine Issue 22

Black

Excell2ist Page 2

Vol. 1 Issue 22 18th September 2020

Valerie A. Campbell

p i h s n o i t a l e R een The

In collaboration with

Queen

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Transform your viewing...

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es Channel

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food

Credit: In Amma’s Kitchen

Nigerian Jollof Rice Recipe

A Brief History of Jollof Rice, a West A frican Favourite

How to Make Ghanaian Jollof Rice

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Benachin Senegambian Jollof

Controversy

Credit: www.theguardian.com

Credit: Netflix

Why I Made Cuties by Franco-Senegalese Maïmouna Doucouré

Cuties

Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.

Cuties controversy sparks

#CancelNetflix campaign Transform your viewing...

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21 25 30 31 32

The Disruptor

Valerie A. Campbell

Mr Right, Mr Wrong

Contents Cover: Valerie A. Campbell Credit: Contributed

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The Library

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Bakita: KK

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iChurch: Messiness in Marriage

Toots Hibbert

Reggae Music

Lighten Up

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Guyana

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Men’s Health

What’s on the Screen?

Controversy

Read with Ree

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Current Affairs 6

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Food

Transform your viewing...

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Freedom is Mine with Fayida

Editor-in-Chief Beverley Cooper-Chambers EDITORIAL TEAM Karen Ferrari Simone Scott-Sawyer Editorial Researcher Tasina J. Lewis Marketing Team Marvin Osemwegie — Marketing Director Michael Brown — Social Media Analyst Financial Strategic Advisor Nastassia Hedge-Whyte, MAAT, ACCA,ICAJ Regular Features Rhea Delaney (London) Joshua Grant aka Sports Arrow (London) Fayida Jailler (UK) Bakita Kasadha (UK & Uganda) Chi-Chi Osemwegie (London) Design Editor Rusdi Saleh Graphics Butterfly logo by Wayne Powell (Jamaica)

Fashion

Laughter

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THE BUTTERFLY MAAG TEAM

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Sports Arrow

In Conversation with Ade Daramy

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Last Word

Submit a story: communications@butterflymaag.com Ad copy should be submitted Friday for the following week’s publication.

Butterfly Magazine published weekly on Fridays.

Butterfly magazine is published weekly by BUTTERFLY MAGAZINE LIMITED, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE, UK. Tel: (44) (0) 203 984 9419 Butterfly ™ 2015 is the registered trademark of THE LION AND THE LAMB MEDIA HOUSE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without written permission from the publishers BUTTERFLY MAGAZINE LIMITED. Advertising enquiries: communications@butterflymaag.com Address all correspondence to: communications@butterflymaag.com No copyright infringement is intended

Credit: Britain Got Talent

Current Affairs

Critics Say an Entertainment Show is not the Place for Political Statements Breaking News

Credit: Good Morning Britain

Diversity take to the stage with POWERFUL Black Lives Matter performance

OFCOM WILL NOT INVESTIGATE DIVERSITY’S PERFORMANCE

Complaints Complaints after from dance group Viewers Diversity performed

a moving Black Lives Matter routine on Britain’s Got Talent have risen to over 21,000. Piers Morgan believes that the routine was appropriate and necessary, but political commentator Calvin Robinson disagrees.

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THE LIBRARY

Basil Watson, Artist chosen to create Martin Luther King Jr. Sculpture SEPTEMBER 12 1988

32 Years since Category 5 Hurricane Gilbert hits Jamaica with winds of 175 mph and devastated the island 8

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Credit: Sebastian Ioan

Inside Guyana

a n a y u G Woman is a Blessing

Credit:Ding

by Steven Ramphal

Credit: Tonya Archer

The History of the Three Guyanas

A Trip To Kaieteur Falls!

5 Fast Facts About Guyana Transform your viewing...

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What’s on the Screen?

The Screeners’

TV Choice

Illustration by Wayne Powell (Jamaica)

WELCOME TO THE VIRTUAL LIBRARY

Welcome to our Virtual Library !

Feel free to browse around and choose any book to read, all you have to do is click on the book cover to get the link.

Enjoy!

Credit Guardian

Man

Credit: Will Smith

John Botega quits‌

Bel Air Transform your viewing...

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Credit: Netflix

woman

Credit: Netflix

Mara Brock Akil creator of Girlfriends

The High Note 12

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‘Girlfriends’ Cast Reunites for 20th Anniversary

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small child

Credit: Bino and Fino

DJ ARCH

Learn About the Flags of Some African Countries With Bino and Fino Transform your viewing...

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Credit: Jimmy Kimmel Live

TOP VIOLINIST Tyler Butler Figueroa on America’s Got Talent 2019

Credit: Innovative History

OLDER CHILD

WOW! She’s Just 12 Years Old But... Watch What Simon Does After She Opens Her Mouth!

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Malenga Mulendema Developing Mama K’s Super 4 (TV Series)

Credit: Independent

young adult

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Coastal Elites

Enslaved Transform your viewing...

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gen z

Credit: TriForce Productions

Credit: Michael Jr.

Father and Son Duo

Laugh our Mask Off 16

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Bel-Air

Watch Out. This show is coming back

Credit: Netflix

grandPA

The MOST IMPORTANT Conversation of 2020 - Black History Panel Di old day dance Judy Love

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Prejudice TOOTS HIBBERT “You cannot exalt yourself” says a man whose modesty, faith and generosity of spirit are manifest in this 1995 interview. It is then, left for others to observe that the history of Jamaican music would be much poorer without the contribution of Toots and the Maytals. We start at the beginning, in Clarendon, where his church singing, he recalls, “made people joyful”. Age 13, a country boy in Trench Town, he discovers the Coptic faith. Learns the barbering trade, proceeds from singing while cutting hair to cutting dubplates (with King Edward), before coming under the tutelage of Studio One’s Coxsone Dodd.

Years of chart success follow, notwithstanding a ganga bust and prison stretch (“54-46 That’s My Number”). We hear about the origin of the word reggae, the philosophical and spiritual outlook embedded in the name Maytal, and much more.

Reggae historian and Blood & Fire co-founder Steve Barrow poses the questions, while D.J and filmmaker Don Letts keeps Toots in the frame— and begs a coupla tunes.

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Credit: Palm

grandma

Read with Ree

We would love to hear from you!

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Freedom is Mine

Ecuador

BY FAYIDA JAILLER

A

fro-Ecuadorians make up roughly 10% of Ecuador’s population, putting them at 1 – 2 million. The majority of Afro-Ecuadorians live in northern coastal regions, in the province of Esmeraldas as well as in the Valle del Chota in the Imbabura Province. The capital Quito and the city of Guayaquil both have a significant black presence.

Enslaved Africans were first trafficked to Ecuador in 1553 by Jesuit preists. Afro-Ecuadorian slaves worked in agriculture, gold mining, domestic work and ranching. There was a particularly high number of slaves in the Choto Valley were enslaved Africans grew cotton and sugarcane.

This famous painting by Andrés Sánchez Galque depicts Afro-Ecuadorian Francisco de Arobe and his sons, Pedro and Domingo, during an official visit to Quito in 1598. Francisco was a political leader from

the Esmeraldas coast who swore allegiance to the Spanish king in exchange for the governorship of an extensive region populated by Afro-Ecuadorians.

There are two important dates regarding the abolition of slavery in Ecuador. In 1821 the Spanish crown outlawed international slave trafficking, though this did not mean the immediate emancipation of slaves on Latin American soil.

The second date was 1852, when the ratification of the Fifth Constitution meant landowners were compensated by the government for freeing their slaves.

The rich cultural heritage from the African ancestors lives on in the Afro-Ecuadorian population today. Afro-Ecuadorian culture is famous for 20

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Marimba music. The name is taken from the main instrument used in the genre which is the marimbas.

Afro-Ecuadorian dishes contain beans, chicken, fish, rice and plantain, which speaks to their African culinary heritage.

In 2006 the Collective Rights of Black and Afro-Ecuadorian Peoples law was passed. Two organizations dedicated to advocating AfroEcuadorian social and political rights include The Afro-Ecuadorian Development Council (CONDAE) and the Afro-Ecuadorian Development Corporation (CODAE). These organizations work with the government to inform policies and strategies for improving black communities.

Since 1997 October 2nd has been celebrated as Afro-Ecuadorian day. Across Esmeraldas and other regions with a high black population, there are religious, cultural and artistic events in celebration of their African heritage.

Credit: Sekayi Tigere

Welcome to the Disruptor

To be a disruptor in business is to create a product, service, or way of doing things which displaces the existing market leaders and eventually replaces them at the helm of the sector. [`the disruptor]

The Giseto Company

Credit: Jeff Koinange

Less Talk More Action

Jeff KOINANGE on RwandaTV His rise to media stardom and advice to young journalists Transform your viewing...

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Credit: Black Excellene Exce

llist

Credit: SABC News

Black Businesses Understand Customers Outside of the Community?

Black Excellist: 10 Young Black Entrepreneurs & Millennials 22

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Young Entrepreneur Maseko on His Watch Business

Only 11 of the Big Four’s 3,000 UK Partners are Black

Why Do

Black Businesses Fail?

Alicia Keys & NFL Launch $1 Billion Endowment Fund for

Black Business

Credit: abcnews.go.com

R&B star Alicia Keys, with help from the NFL, has started a $1 billion endowment fund to support Black businesses and communities. Her goal is to empower America …”I am personally committed to creating meaningful conversations to hold corporations and institutions accountable for their contributions to racial justice,” she told the outlet. “Through our collective action, we can end the needless and preventable agony created by systemic racism. We are pushing for an aggressive agenda to meet the urgent need of proper access, opportunity and inclusion.”

Alicia Keys sends special message to Savannah College of Art and Design graduates Transform your viewing...

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A Pop up Store in John Lewis Opportunity Black Economics has been contacted to see if there are any black-owned businesses who would like to trial space in a major UK department store - (John Lewis) to sell your products in shopping centres with high footfall.

Dates we are looking at are the weeks beginning 12th October and 19th October. You can do one week, or more.

The space would be a Pop up Store for one week at a cost of £300+vat per week. Or price could be cheaper if you share a space with another business.

Products can be Fashion, Cosmetics, Art, Furnishings, Toys, Food (pre-packaged).

If you are interested, or know another business who would be, please contact Dawn on 07960 932 860, drop an email to info@ blackeconomics.co.uk

Hughie Crawford’s Update on the future of his shop Artz Designer Wear.

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BYP Network job opportunity Freelance Online Engagement Officer BYP Network (https://byp-network.com) is looking for a UK based freelancer to be an online Engagement Officer for BYP Network.

It’s a 5-10 minute a day role and we’ll be paying £100 a month (pro rata) for your time.

We are looking for one candidate to oversee the BYP Network ‘Sport Enthusiasts’ group.

Please fill in the form below if you are interested in the role. Please indicate in your response your experience in sourcing and sharing Sports related news, or what makes you a suitable candidate for the role.

lead Story

p i h s n o i Relat ueen The

By Simone

Valerie A. Campbell

Scott-Sawyer

Q ue

“To know the difference between right and wrong” BM: So who is Valerie A Campbell?

I am an Enhanced Relationship Coach who helps women to enhance all areas of their relationships, not just the romantic ones. My method is based on the biblical teachings to love your neighbour as you love yourself, which essentially means, you cannot give what you do not have. So, the secret is to love self first, in order to pay it forward.

BM: How did you end up on this path of self-discovery and self-love?

I have spoken openly about being abused as a young girl and this experience led me to unwittingly lock myself in a self-imposed tower, I was lost to myself and failed to recognise my own value. This meant that the ensuing years found me steeped in self-sabotaging behaviour as a result of the trauma I suffered. A series of life events, good and bad, including my managerial role which put me in charge of over 100 men, would provide me with some of the vital lessons to combat the negative beliefs I had about men.

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These men were also my friends and this provided me a unique insight into the inner workings of a man’s mind. A woman first learns how to be treated by a man by the standard set by her father. Simultaneously, I also embarked on a period of profound spiritual growth, renewing my mind, learning to surrender to Spirit and allowing God’s universe to unlock the doors for me to flow.

BM: What inspired you to write the book?

In my early 20s I had a profound experience, effectively telling me ‘there was no difference between right and wrong’. I heard the message audibly and with crystal clarity. A revelation that I knew without a shadow of doubt was the truth.

I kept searching for confirmation, not because I doubted it but because I wanted to properly articulate its truth to others and have it received and understood well. Moreover, the other voice, the one that immediately critiques your actions would challenge this countering the message that there is a difference between right

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and wrong with surely everyone knows this, right? So, this led me on a journey and the voice I heard and recognised as the voice of God’s Spirit began to convey its meaning – as the years went by it started to unveil layers of truths to me. As a result I began to realise that these truths, which were renewing and healing my mind were not just for me. It feels like medicine that cannot be confined to a man-made clinic and had to be shared.

This inspired me to write The Difference – to use it as a medicinal tool for the mentally ‘sick’ so they could receive healing through the book.

BM: You have written two previous books, what connection do they have with this book?

The first book I wrote is called ‘She’s Got That Vibe’. The Spirit led me to write that book is based on the same principal that there is no difference between right and wrong. One day sitting in my bedroom, thinking how do I distinguish myself from other coaches out there. I got the message again, this time with a little more context: there is no difference between Mr Right and Mr Wrong, there is only you and your perspective - your story. So, the learning curve for me was this: you never attract more than how you feel about yourself. ‘How you see’ is based on what you believe and what you see is your judgement. In effect what you see, shows up in your life - you create your reality. For instance, I come across some women who often say from their experience that all men are liars. However, what they may not realise is that, that judgement will determine what shows up for them, as your mind always wants to be right! Wayne Dyer, an American self-help author, said it best: ‘when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change’. It is all you. You are a creator, as is God your Father.

I contributed a chapter called “Eve’s chapter’ to an anthology series called the ‘Blind Spot’ compiled by Sonia Poleon. Here I describe the story of my childhood, which in essence led me onto the path for wanting to know the difference between right and wrong. I had been physically, verbally and sexually abused by my

about you - what God says about you . We live in a world of truths and untruths. The truth is God’s vision – how He sees things and how He created us. Anything outside these parameters is an illusion, an untruth and is rooted in lies and deception. What humans tend to do is defend those untruths and illusions. When we break down those illusory constructs around us and stop being defensive, we release ourselves from a place of leaning on our own understanding, to leaning on Christ who is within us: the true ‘Self’.

So, transformation begins when you can stop leaning on your understanding from your personal perspective, to leaning on God who sees the picture in its entirety. We were never designed to live independent of God. Ultimately we cannot serve two masters, so the message I am conveying is that there is the master of truth and untruth, and if you are lost you can choose to be found. father as a child. Since then and even beyond that experience, I suppose I subconsciously questioned the difference between right and wrong, as to a child your parents are your gods.

Lisa Nichols from ‘The Secret’ described Eve’s story as ‘phenomenal’ because in essence, I am trying to help readers make that leap from the darkness to the light. As I grew wiser, I recognised there was a bigger picture I was not privy to at that point in my life, however it was my quest to discover it. I describe how it shaped me and what I learned to show that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

BM: What is the message you want people to receive?

Stop being defensive and instead, be defenceless. Once you stop being defensive i.e. working hard to maintain the construct of false beliefs you have of yourself your tower around you, you have a choice to be defence-less.

This means breaking down those walls and allowing God’s light to shine in a very dark place, in effect enabling you to embody the truth

BM: Your book has an interesting cover, what made you choose the cover?

I did not choose the cover, the Spirit did. One day I came across a leaflet in the mail it had two glasses of water printed on the front, with the caption asking: Can you can spot the difference? The glasses of water looked identical - it inspired me to ask myself: ‘what is the difference? Spirit guided me to use this concept so that the observer of my book cover would have the same reaction ‘I see no difference’. In effect having the answer to the question but not realising. In life we have the answers within, but if we do not realise it then how can we act on it?

We tend to seek what we already have. This was the reason for the cover design. Spirit, all-seeing, always knows the answer, as it is beyond our perspective.

However, when you submit to Spirit to be used as an instrument, you will be drawn to HIS ways and HIS target audience.

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BM: Why is one’s perspective neither right nor wrong?

This is because it is based on a partial picture. We only see part of the picture, whereas Spirit has vision and sees the full picture. In order to see truth reveal itself, we must suspend judgement, which is what the belief in: ‘there is no difference between right and wrong’ allows you to do – it allows you to step back and not lean on your own understanding, but on His, on Spirit’s understanding. Then, and only then will truth reveal itself.

BM: Is it wrong for a child to be abused?

By this, you mean is it evil? Absolutely! But if you ask is it wrong? For me, this elicits a different response. In the context of the grand scheme of things, to which I am not privy, I suspend judgement. God has given us free will 28

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and most often our choices are not the will of God. However, we are not designed to judge perfectly as we do not have the full picture.

Looking back on those past traumatic events in my life, I see them as preparation for my purpose, I can see how they led me down the path I am on presently. Today I see it as ‘there is nothing to forgive’. There is a biblical scripture that says all things work together for good for those that love God. Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing, hence the need to rise without judgement above any situation, to allow for God’s truth and his vision to materialise and therefore for God to judge accordingly.

Take Jesus as an example – evil was inflicted on him, however, knowing the purpose for which he came, was it wrong? Once again, context is everything.

BM: You mentioned Forgive... how do you see that?

When you look at situations through the NDBRW [No Difference Between Right and Wrong] filter, you immediately suspend judgement. You may never see the fuller picture, but it is ok to put your trust in God as you know He will judge perfectly in accordance to His will. It is a liberating feeling to not judge. When you do not judge, the next logical question then is: what is there to forgive? It is a tough pill to swallow, however this truth will set you free.

The beauty about the truth is that it is real and cannot be attacked. It is changeless: everything else outside the truth is a lie.

BM: You are now our resident

relationship columnist - why did you embark on romantic relationship coaching?

I was searching for answers and Spirit directed me there. I was searching for answers. As part of finding love for myself I sought it outside of myself and experienced some bad relationships along the way, and in the pain I cried, “God help me”. It was by no means an overnight process.

There were significant touch points along my journey. I remember one incident, where Spirit gave me a vision to an answer of many questions I had regarding romantic relationships. I hastily drew it down as I felt compelled to do it, like I was a pencil in the ‘hands of Spirit’. I refer to the drawing as The Queen diagram.

How To Attract A Quality Man That Will Adore You

Another significant incident: one night whilst in bed, I jack-knifed out of my sleep to, again, the audible voice of spirit, this time it was very loud, ‘How can I change you with walls all around you?’ I recall the vision: I saw a square formation of four lines of rubble, it was a tower that had collapsed – it was broken down. I did not understand the vision at the time, but I remember feeling relieved at the sight of the broken tower. It was years later that I realised the tower represented the false construct of beliefs I had built around me. God showed me I was a Queen of great value and that I needed to believe that. I instinctively knew that I had to break out of the web of negativity that I had built around myself. Getting to grips with that thought was not an over-night process. I needed to release and transcend my own selfjudgement. By this time I had forgiven my dad.

I understood the message loud and clear and I realised that God had done a wonderful work in me. The trauma had the greatest impact on my romantic relationships and I therefore had to surrender to self-love and appreciate my self-worth. I am aware I can be stubborn, but I allow myself to be guided by Spirit and it prevails. My prayer is for God to restore me and it is this healing that I wish to share.

BM. Anything else that you would like to add?

Yes, I would like to invite the readers to send me any questions. This allows me to gain more wisdom in my field as I take them to Spirit if I do not have the answer. My objective is to free minds from the matrix of lies and have them see themselves as God created them.

Valerie is also offering her readers a complimentary vibes check consultation call at:

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Mr. Right, Mr Wrong

Why There’s No Such Thing

As Mr Right

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Lighten Up

e v i t c e j b u is S

I

was surprised to open Twitter recently to find BBC3’s Black British comedy series Famalam trending, not because it was igniting much needed laughter during these uncertain Covid-19 times, but because it was derided for its so-called racist content. And this was coming from Black people. Comments like, ‘Famalam blatantly mocks Jamaicans’, and ‘Stupid Famalam is out of order...as Black people we need to do better’ left me wondering, are we holding ourselves back by being too critical of the content we produce?

Compared to the majority of television shows, Famalam undeniably stands out due to the fact that there really isn’t that many programmes, of any kind, which have an all Black cast. Naturally, the eyes of the nation, and Black Twitter, continues to be firmly focussed on what our community has produced. It can go either way. It can become an instant classic or be dragged through the dirt from the viewing of just one episode.

While it is true that some of the sketches on Famalam can be considered tired stereotypes, it is also true that other parts are genuinely funny.

A sketch featured in episode two, where an office worker is serenaded by a drill squad, caused sections of Twitter to go as far as to call the skit ‘iconic’.

Black Twitter is notorious for being harsh, particularly when it concerns the perceived lowering of our prized culture, so it is not surprising

By Melissa Osborne

that Famalam, a show bold enough to take comedic risks, caused a stir. But, calling for an Afro-Caribbean centric comedy to be cancelled because you don’t like the first episode of a new season seems counterproductive.

How are we going to get more diverse shows commissioned, when the target audience only has negative things to say when these productions are given the airtime that we argue is not forthcoming enough?

Surely if we want more shows with a predominantly Black cast, delving into aspects of the good (and bad) areas of our vast culture, then we need to focus on what is positive about the ones that have already been given the greenlight. Focus on the cast and the fact that shows like Famalam has made it to a third season. Focus on the production values - anything other than the fact that you personally think the sketches are unfunny.

Comedy is subjective after all.

Credit: BBC

Comedy

Hi, I’m Melissa. I am a writer, born and raised in London, England. I enjoy keeping up with current affairs and I love to watch a thought-provoking documentary. Spanish telenovelas and Manchester United are my weakness.

As is my cat, MJ.

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Photo: contributed. Bakita Kasadha

Bakita: KK

SPEAK YOUR

TRUTH Meet Bakita: KK

Overcoming self-stigma to achieve your potential

[

Bakita Kasadha is a writer, researcher, health activist and poet better known as BAKITA:KK.

[

“No one can tell our stories like we can� underpins her why.

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Click for video

faith on tv

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iChurch

Letitia Wright

Acting was

My God

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Credit: Marriage Today

Messiness in Marriage Credit RepresentTV

Michael and Natalie Todd

COUPLES QUIZ Part 1 34

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Hypolink Relocation

Package

LONG STAY RATE FOR 1 – 2 MONTHS

H

YPOLINK Village is centrally located within the centre of the tourism district on the main highway close to shops, banks, and other facilities.

300m away from the beach. (see our website for more details) We are offering a special rate for people that want to relocate to The Gambia.

We are aware and concerned that returnees face many difficulties when they are ready to resettle in Africa. Therefore, we have joined with recognised, experienced, established individuals and companies to assist and facilitate a smooth transition from the Diaspora to Africa.

We are offering people staying one month or more assistance in the following areas: Preferred accommodation rates @ £20 per night for 2 people sharing a one- bedroom and a living room Self-Catering service Apartment with ensuite Bathroom Preferred accommodation rate @ £35 per night for 2 people sharing a one Bedroom and a living room Luxury Apartment with ensuite Bathroom Preferred accommodation rate @ £40 per night for up to 5 people sharing a two Bedroom and a living room Luxury Apartment with 2 ensuite Bathrooms Seminars on site with land owners, Bankers, Diasporas and Building contractors Individual advice to suit your needs based on our 15 years of experience in The Gambia

We shall work with you in advance to make a tailor-made programme to suit your needs and budget, we shall hold your hands throughout your search for a new beginning.

We also offer a working holiday where you can learn how to build your own property using cost effected Adobe compressed earth blocks.

HYPOLINK Village Resort Bertil Harding Highway, (Palma Rima Junction), Opposite Kololi-Road, The Gambia, West Africa.

WhatsApp: +220 788 9883 or +447752151551 Email us: hypolinkvillage@gmail.com See our Resort Tour | Like us on Facebook | Map our Location | See our Gallery Website: hypolinkvillageresort.com Find us on: booking.com and expedia.com For reference only: This offer is only available directly from HYPOLINK reach us via the details above.

Interested in relocating to the Gambia

The Gambian borders are expected to be open soon.

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Men’s Health

Credit: Funk Roberts

7 Best Exercises

Diabetes.org.uk

Credit: Praise on TBN

To Help Men Lose Belly Fat Fast

Ethnicity and Type 2 Diabetes 36

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Tyler Perry: When God Has a Dream for Your Life

Fashion

Lucien Clarke x Louis Vuitton

First skate shoes of the French brand Transform your viewing...

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Relax

LAUGHTER GOOD FOR THE SOUL

When Bill Gates Saved Apple!

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Naomi Osaka wins on and off the court My Wife’s Bathroom Shelf

Grandma dancing

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Sports Arrow

Naomi Osaka

World’s Highest-Paid Female

Naomi Osaka

US Open 2020 Winner’s Speech 40

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ers v n o In C

m a r a D e Ad

ith

) 2 t ar P ( y

nW o i t a

Ade Daramy – Writer, Broadcaster, Historian, Editor, Poet, Social Commentator, motivational speaker, Media trainer, a man of many talents and a master of words.

Rebel with many causes

E

xpulsion! Because we are all Black does not mean we like each other!

My first rude awakening to racial discrimination came when I was selected for the prestigious Grammar School.

Because of my Mandingo surname, the principal refused to list my name on the register, and I was told it was a Christian school. My father was summoned to the school and it was then the head of the school realised my lineage and that in fact my great-grandfather, Bishop TS Johnson was a former Principal of the school. Two years later, I was wrongly reprimanded by Reverend Davies, one of the teachers for reading a magazine, which he referred to as an ‘obscene publication’ and my refusal to be caned eventually meant I issued leading to my expulsion was expelled. On the day in question, my father again attended, once more. So off I went on walked the headmaster through the magazine, page by page another scholastic adventure, and refuted their allegation and ensured that the decision was this time outside Freetown, to reversed, as there was no basis for the expulsion. Shortly after this incident, my end-of-term results came through, which Christ the King College, CKC in Bo a college run by Catholic were rather unfortunately, less than what was expected, and priests and where the teaching it seemed I unwittingly gave the school a golden opportunity staff were 95% White. My to victimise me once again. A very negative school report was brother accompanied me to the school, which made it fun, and it was here that I discovered and Clock Tower near began nurturing my creative the centre of Bo, talents, debating and writing.

Sierra Leone The school was prestigious it had a lawn tennis court among other facilities and churned out some good tennis players. In fact, the entire national team was made up of boys from the school, and it was the only boys’ school in the country where tennis was as popular as football.

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BM: You later moved back to the UK - why?

John Amadu Bangura was the Sierra Leonean Ambassador to the United States in 1967, and served as Chief of the Defence Staff of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces from 1968 to 1970.

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While at CKC, my love for radio broadcast was now bordering on obsessive as I took a transistor wherever I went so I could listen to ‘your choice’ music broadcast on Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service. In those days we could even get service from radio stations in neighbouring countries like ELWA, a radio station in Liberia. The school dormitory at CKC happened to border a cemetery and as I started to develop a reputation as being a bit of a rebel, my father worried that it was only a matter of time before I got into more trouble. The threat of expulsion proved too much for him and a move back to the UK was arranged. In no time, I was back in the UK attending a boarding school, Crookham Court in Thatcham village, in Berkshire. The population was approximately 15,000 at the time. We joined what was called ‘the summer school’, meant for boys coming from foreign countries. I remember my brother and I being light years ahead of our peers in our English classes, so while they toiled over the little nuances of English grammar, my brother and I were able to take advantage of the sports facilities and really hone our footballing skills! While at Crookham Court I observed prefects abuse their power, arbitrarily meting out sanctions for no real reason.

By this stage, having been at the receiving end of injustice once too many, I had developed an acute sense of equity and fairness and approached the headmaster requesting that the school implement a ‘court system’ to judge whether the prefects’ bookings (your name went into a book and you were ‘grounded’ at the weekend, unable to go into town), were justified. The teachers would sit and listen to the evidence on both sides, judge and in no time the bookings by prefects no longer existed. It seems the seeds to be a voice for the voiceless had been sown since the incident at my last school being expelled for no justifiable reason.

It was while I was here that my father passed away. I would later discover that my father’s best friend John Amadu Bangura had been brutally executed in 1971.

My father started drinking heavily as a result and this eventually led to his demise. He was quite the character and while already a heavy drinker, would make his own wine while in Sierra Leone, but he loved his Johnnie Walker whisky. My hero, the orator, who could speak for hours without writing a speech, died in 1972, leaving me bereft. I left school in 1974 but forging life in the 1970s in England without a dad was tough.

In an attempt to deal with the grief of losing a parent and navigating life in the 1970s, I became a very ‘conscious’ individual as pertained to socio-cultural and race issues. As such, I detested television programmes, such as the Black and White Minstrels Show, which, I confess I had watched growing up in Sierra Leone, without a hint of irony.

I started looking instead for inspiration from the likes of Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and their conscious music and to the Reggae music coming out of Jamaica, which had moved on from the largely party sounds of Ska and Rocksteady, to addressing social issues.

Racism was rife in that period and I fully embraced the black power concept. West Ham was the only football club in the early 1970s that had black players (Clyde Best, a Bermudan and Ade Coker, a Nigerian) and it was normal for white boys to shout out the ‘n’ word at blacks.

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Credit: West Ham United Fan 71

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Interestingly, then there was a sense of solidarity, which developed, as Black people would often greet and nod at each other on the streets, not so much now anymore.

Many years ago, during the Notting Hill carnival Ade ended up in an incident at a tube station with a chap who playfully pulled a handkerchief out of a ticket inspector’s pocket. The ticket inspector overreacted by slapping him and this chap slapped him back. The incident quickly escalated, the police were called, and he ended up being taken to the infamous Paddington Green police station for questioning.

Ade offered to accompany him, as a witness after all this was an innocent situation, which had suddenly turned nasty.

It was about to get worse, upon arrival Ade was to witness the raw and insidious side to the police who advised to the ticket inspector to fabricate his story to say that he was assaulted by the young man and, that he had tried to snatch his watch, hence him being arrested. Despite Ade’s protestations for the truth to prevail, he was rebuked by the police and told to stay out of it. As a result, this innocent man was arrested, charged, and due to appear in court.

They parted ways that fateful night, but this incident always bothered Ade. The guy was locked in a cell and he could not reach him.

A year later, on his way home, having taken ill at work, quite randomly, Ade spotted this same guy who had been wrongfully charged with a crime he

did not commit, on the bus taking him home. Ade went up to him to confirm he was indeed the same person he had accompanied to the police station that night. It had been so long ago that he did not recognise Ade. It turned out that the man was due to appear in court the next day for the assault charge, and was likely going to be sent down for a crime he never committed. Of course, Ade offered to be his witness, his only witness, to the incident.

Imagine the incredulity of the prosecutor when Ade turned up at court, seemingly from nowhere, to effectively turn their case on its head! Even My father, just before the the chap’s defence lawyer 1967 General Election, in which was thoroughly bemused he won a parliamentary seat. by this sudden turn of This photo was used as pa events. Nevertheless, rt of his election poster and flyer de they went through sign. the process required to permit Ade to testify. The judge, apprehensive at first, quickly warmed to Ade when he discovered Ade’s pedigree and his paternal connection to the Middle Temple inns of court, where his father qualified as a barrister, much to the vexation of the prosecutor. Disbelief lurked in the courtroom as all parties struggled to make sense of Ade’s sudden appearance as the enigmatic, lastminute.com witness, which not only radically changed the temperature of the courtroom.

A degree of examining and cross-examining took place and then the killer question from the Judge, which would now prove whether Ade was a phony or a phenomenon. He was asked whether he would he recognise the two arresting police officers on that fateful night. A line up was arranged, Ade was asked to pick out the offending officers and within a millisecond, correctly identified the dishonest police officers leaving the Judge no choice but to throw the case out of court! The wrongly accused, now a free man collapsed to the floor overcome with emotion.

What happened in that courtroom was nothing short of a miracle!

Next Week: Find out why Ade changed careers.

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