The Voice Newspaper: February 2023

£2.50 | FEBRUARY, 2023 • ISSUE NO. 1939

REVEALED Movers and shakers named on the new Football Black List

EXCLUSIVE Black Votes Matter: New figures prove we have the power

SICKLE CELL ‘CURE’ › p46-47

• •

› p12, 14-15

EXCLUSIVE

Siblings say wonder treatment has transformed their lives

FROM THE AWARD-WINNING CREATORS OF JERSEY BOYS THE BROADWAY SENSATION COMES TO LONDON

FROM MARCH 2023 ||| PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE LONDON

*Image is of original Broadway cast. London cast to be announced.

UK trial underway as hopes rise for a breakthrough › p6

Inside THIS MONTH

My housing horror Mum-of-four tells of flat nightmare p4-5

ROUNDUP NEWSPAPER

News, views, stories & videos

The Voice says

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

1. Return Ethiopian Prince remains

Windsor Castle church urged to act

2. Charity Commission ‘weaponised’

Charities regulator in dock after clearing Sistah Space

Fighting our own power?

3. Caribbean population decline

BBC Africa jobs axe Staff furious after Zoom sacking p8

Why is this happening and what does it mean?

Cop discrimination hierarchy Terence Channer on the equalities queue p18

4. Woman dies before dream wedding Sad sudden death in Trinidad for UK mum

5. Personal trainer shot dead

Black Brit gunned down in Jamaica

6. Was personal trainer death a contract killing?

Holy reparations!

Church of England slavery cash rejected p29

Jamaica cops say it might be

7. Hero dad drowns on holiday

UK man was trying to rescue kids

8. Beenie Man ‘could lose leg’

Abracadabra!

No hocus pocus from Magical Bones p38

Fears for reggae star after infection

9. The Apprentice race row TV show ‘erasing dark skinned women’

Grief to gratitude Jessica’s story in kids’ book p45

10. Why the wait?

Long wait before missing appeal over schoolgirl

This issue is 48 pages

WE CAN’T escape politics. The rubbish collection on your road. The availability of social housing. The length of time it takes an ambulance to arrive.

Many of the problems we’re concerned about can be traced back to choices that were made by elected politicians. We can do more than moan about it. We can vote for change.

Our feature (pages 14-15) shows that African and Caribbean voters have more electoral power than we might assume.

Our presence in marginal constituencies is growing, and analysis of new population census data shows we have the potential to sway enough seats to decide who gets the keys to Number 10.

The question is whether we believe we have the power, or lapse into fatalism?

Black voters have long been called ‘the sleeping giant’ when it comes to elections. We are less likely to register to vote, less likely to make policy demands, and when polling day comes we are rarely strategic about who we give our ‘x’ to.

Chuck D famously rapped: Fight the power! But at times we are fig ting o r own ower y ass ming nobody in Westminster cares and nothing will ever change.

Nobody will tackle systemic racism in education, employment, health or housing unless we make them; and we can make them. There are four million of us in the UK. And we increasingly hold the balance of power in knife-edge seats across the country.

We have the power to make demands. And if they don t ear s t e first time ee ma ing t e demands until change comes. It will.

We have the power to organise politically, within all arties or e en to field o r own comm nity candidates. There are examples from other communities to consider.

If we don’t believe we have the power, others do. Our feature (page 12) shows that Labour are starting to up their game on race equality policy.

We think the pressure this paper has been applying on Sir Keir Starmer has something to do with it.

Campaigning works. Our collective power can make even more of a difference if we believe. Let’s make sure no party takes the black vote for granted again.

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

NEWSPAPER

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

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

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

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

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Joel Campbell E. joel.campbell@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk SPORTS EDITOR Rodney Hinds E. rodney.hinds@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk

ADVERTISING AND SALES E. advertising@thevoicemedia group.co.uk NEWS DESK E. newsdesk@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk

CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS E. subscriptions@thevoicemedia group.co.uk

The Voice Newspaper Unit 1, Bricklayers Arms, Mandela Way, London, SE1 5SR T: 020 7510 0340 Web: www.voice-online.co.uk GV MEDIA GROUP LTD

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

|

3

News Feature

Are you looking for love?

With Valentine’s Day nearly upon us, we reveal the most popular ways singletons are finding romance today. By Leah Mahon

F

OR SINGLETONS looking for everlasting love, February 14th — better known as Valentine’s Day — can stir up complicated and difficult feelings in their evergoing search quest for love.

Whether it is unrequited love, toxic exes that haven’t quite got the memo, or the dreaded circumstances of being left on “read” has made dating dynamics — particularly for millennials — a not-so-bed-of roses to navigate.

Among a hook-up culture, and the using friends for benefits, there are still some who haven’t quite lost their way as they look for love.

According to UK statistics, Tinder is the most popular dating app in Britain for lovestuck singles.

Glasgow is the UK’s most Tinder-addicted city, followed by Birmingham, Liverpool, London and Leicester.

But a staggering 50 per cent of single Brits have never asked anyone on a date and an even more dismal 13.6 per cent of online matches have ended in a trip up the aisle.

Anthea Benjamin, pictured above, a psychotherapist from the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), has worked with couple relationships and says the singletons feel much more internalised and societal pressure as love season approaches, but urges for people not to feel that there is something “faulty or wrong” with them.

“This is a new generation where absolutely being in partnership, settling down, building their life with someone is definitely on most people’s bucket list. But everyone has their own timing and rhythm with that,” she said.

“A lot of the self-empowerment movement has all been about learning to love oneself first because often people go into relationships hoping that someone else is going to give them that self-esteem, that sense of self.”

Once a date or two or even a few months of seeing

each other are in the bag, many singletons have usually made up their minds about whether their love interest will become that special somebody. Unfortunately, for some they find out the not-so-romantic way.

According to the dating app Badoo, a hefty 72 per cent of Londoners say they have been ghosted, on average six times each.

Singleton Aisha Francis, 27, says that she has dealt with the fall out of being ghosted while trying to find the one.

“I felt really rejected. I felt annoyed as well. I literally just stopped talktalk ing to him and I think I deleted his number as well,” she told The Voice.

“But when I saw him in perper son, I tried to keep it really mature, but also keep a distance for my own sake.”

Ms Benjamin says being ghosted is an “incredibly painful and very disappointing, confusing” thing to happen. However, she urges eager-for-love daters to hone in on who they are to combat the feelings.

“It’s really important that the person who’s been left in that position is able to put it in perspective, but also that they’re not reliant on that medium to get their sense of self and their

self esteem,” she said. “But it is important when they are feeling disappointed or even angry that they can talk about it, they can have someone who can affirm and really appreciate who they are.”

As the dating process unfolds, Ms Benjamin also encourages people to also be confi-

dent in addressing the all too familiar “red flags,” especially if they make you feel “unsafe or uneasy” for both men and women.

While dating a new guy, Francis recalls how he sent her an unsolicited image of his genitals which she says she dealt with immediately.

“I just immediately said, I’m not that type of person. I’m not interested and I shut it down. I dipped from there,” she said.

Ms Benjamin says that singletons have to figure out whether confronting red flags is worth it for them.

“You have got to make a choice about how invested you

KEEPING ROMANCE ALIVE: You have to make a choice about how invested you are in that person (photos: Getty Images)

are in that person. If this is someone that you are potentially interested in and you think there might be a possibility [to be in a relationship], you might be willing to take that risk and to share that information [that you are not happy with]. There are lots of ways that you can let someone have some feedback without having to be cruel, attacking and judgemental,” she said.

Ms Benjamin assures singletons that romance is well and truly not dead and to enjoy the dating world while being honest, fun and unequivocally themselves in the quest to find their special someone.

I know people who literally within a few months just knew this is exclusive. They quickly got married and are still married. And there are other people who I’ve dated for four months and years before that sort of a big commitment has come,” she said.

“So everyone is different and the relationship will be like a dance. And it really depends on the dance.”

4

| THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

News Feature

‘My sewage and rodent nightmare’

O

N THE morning of October 1, 2021, Esther Idigu, a motherof-four from Hackney, woke up to a nightmare.

As she was preparing to get her children ready for school, she noticed a stream of muddy sewage water and small tadpoles flowing from underneath the door of her basement bedroom.

A sewage pipe behind the wall of the bedroom had burst, ruining the family’s clothes and furniture.

After repeatedly trying to get her housing association London and Quadrant (L&Q) to tackle the many problems in her flat and being ignored, she had feared something like this would happen.

“At first I froze” Ms Idigu, pictured right, recalls. “Then I started crying.

“I ran back upstairs, got my phone and called L&Q. I couldn’t believe that for so long I’d been telling them about the things that needed fixing. Nothing was done – and now this! It was my children who got me through that day.”

Over a 16-year period as a tenant of L&Q, a £12 billion social housing landlord, Ms Idigu experienced a host of problems.

In 2007, while pregnant with her first child, she was living in an L&Q one-bedroom flat when faulty electric wiring caused a fire that could have been fatal had she not stepped out of the property moments before it erupted.

After the fire, she was moved to a two-bedroom flat. But the property was plagued by persistent damp and mould issues.

Despite contacting her landlord several times, little was done to effectively rectify the problem which began to affect the health of her children.

When her youngest daughter was rushed to hospital after experiencing breathing difficulties caused by the worsening mould and dampness, doctors took the unusual step of writing to L&Q to insist that the family

Mum-of-four tells of horrors living in social o sing ats as e erts say black families are getting worst deal. By Vic Motune be rehoused due to the dangers to child health. L&Q did not take any action.

A short time later, there was a mouse infestation in the flat.

The same child who had difficulty breathing inadvertently ate mouse droppings, not knowing what they were, and got sick.

The incident prompted Ms counIdigu’s local coun cillor to write to L&Q urging them famto move the fam ily but again there was no resolution to her nightmare.

The sewage flood proved a breaking point expefor her, an expe rience she says left her feeling “depressed and suicidal”.

L&Q admitted the treatment she experienced was far from satisfactory after she contacted the Housing Ombudsman.

A few weeks after the sewage incident, L&Q moved her to private sector temporary

accommodation elsewhere in Hackney.

However, the property has multiple issues such as no heating or hot water for weeks at a time. And, for a family of five, the two-bedroom flat is still seriously inadequate so overcrowding remains an issue.

In a statement to The Voice, a L&Q spokesperson said it was “sorry for the problems Ms Idigu has been experiencing with her home” and that its responses were “unacceptable”. find a safe and secure home for her family is not uncommon.

Black families across the UK It continued: “An inspector is are living in inhumane and visiting the property to ensure squalid housing conditions, acit is ready for the family to cording to leading social housing move back in, and we remain in campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa.

He has highlighted the poor contact with Ms Idigu and will work with her to advise on find- housing conditions of some ing alternative accommodation tenants on social media. Most should she wish to move home.” of the cases he has posted vidHowever, at the time of go- eos about so far are from the ing to press, Ms Idigu told The black community, with people Voice no one from L&Q had living in homes with damp, contacted or visited her to dis- mice infestations, and broken cuss her housing situation. She ceilings.

Tweneboa said: “I’ve had and her children remain in temloads of black tenants tell me porary accommodation.

Sadly, Ms Idigu’s struggle to they feel they are being left in

STRUGGLE

UNACCEPTABLE: Damp and mould were persistent problems in the mum-of-four’s at Ms Idigu is now in temporary accommodation after what she says was a 16-year ordeal with her landlords

the situation they are in because of the colour of their skin. They have told me they feel like they are being ignored by their councils and housing associations and they are contacting me as a last resort.”

It’s a view Ms Idigu agrees with.

“I definitely felt discriminated against,” she says. “I remember noticing that my neighbours in Hackney, who were mostly black, Polish or Asian, were living in substandard housing.

“But when I saw L&Q housing in more upmarket areas you could immediately see the homes were well-maintained and occupied mainly by white tenants.”

Recently published research paints a broader picture of black people feeling the brunt of housing discrimination.

A report from Heriot-Watt University, published in November last year, found that black people in England are three-and-a-half times more likely to experience statutory homelessness than white Britons This includes rough sleeping, living in temporary accommodation or ‘sofa surfing’.

The research uncovered a disturbing trend — people who have faced discrimination, harassment, or abuse based on their race or ethnicity, in housing, or in other areas of life, are at a higher risk of experiencing homelessness.

It gives the power to landlords to act on racist views they may have Discriminatory landlords are one factor behind the stark figures. Spurred on by the government’s Right-to-Rent policy, which requires them to check the immigration status of prospective tenants, landlords are denying accommodation to foreigners and British citizens from black and minority ethnic communities.

Nadia Hafedh, a member of London Renters Union’s No Borders in Housing Working Group, says the policy has incentivised racism among landlords.

“It gives power to landlords to act on racist views they may have in order to pursue the profits they want,” she said.

“And the complete lack of enforcement or oversight by the government has made it difficult for people from racialised communities to find decent properties to rent.”

According to Tarun Bhakta, policy manager at housing charity Shelter, black families

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

|

News Feature

LEADING VOICE: BLiM co-founder Charisse Beaumont is behind a new music industry anti-racism code of conduct in a bid to create a far more level playing field

GRIM EXISTENCE: Many black families across the UK are being forced to live in squalid housing conditions – this image does not show an L&Q property (photo: Getty Images)

build genuinely affordable social rent homes.”

There are also concerns that the cost-of-living crisis will make the threat of homelessness even worse for people from black and minority ethnic communities.

INEQUALITY

LIVING NIGHTMARE: Esther Idigu claims L&Q did little to stop a mice infestation in her property

are disproportionately suffering because of a broken housing system that is failing to provide safe and affordable places to live.

“There is a huge lack of regulation, particularly in the private rental market, which means that landlords and letting agents who are displaying discriminatory attitudes and practices towards people of colour are getting away with it,” he says.

“Our frontline services hear all the time from people of colour, who are facing the very real threat of homelessness.

“At times they are being refused the opportunity to rent by landlords, either because of racist policies like Right-toRent, or ‘No DSS’ where landlords refuse to let people who are claiming housing benefit.

Added to this, we have really massively failed as a country to

One significant problem is the disparity in wages faced by members of these communities, making it challenging for them to keep up with the continually increasing cost of rent.

In addition to wage inequality, recent cuts in housing benefits threaten to exacerbate an already dire situation for black people struggling to afford high rents.

Bhakta says Shelter is pressing the government to pass the long-promised Renters Reform Bill to tackle these issues.

“The bill includes the promise of a National Landlords Register which can deliver wholesale reform of our private renting market,” he says.

“Under this new system, renters would have greater security in their homes and can challenge unfair rent increases.

“We’ve had promises from the government as far back as 2018 that the bill will be coming. So we’ve waited a really long time, and renters have waited a really long time and they simply can’t wait any longer.”

Better deal for black women in music

By Vic Motune

THE MUSIC industry is embarking on a new journey towards race equality as it prepares to adopt an anti-racism code of conduct later this year.

The code, aimed at tackling the low pay and discrimination experienced by black musicians, was created by Black Lives in Music (BLiM), an organisation that works to address issues of diversity in the music industry.

The code has received the backing of the Independent Standards Authority, and the non-profit Creative UK which plans to implement the code across other creative industries. Several record labels, music publishers and leading industry executives have also given the code their support.

It covers a wide range of issues that BLiM has campaigned on since the publication of a report it released in 2021 which found that 63 per cent of black artists experienced racism in the UK industry, rising to 73 per cent for black music professionals.

Of the 1,718 individuals who were surveyed for BLiM’S Being Black in the UK Music Industry report, 36 per cent of those said their mental health had declined as a result of bullying, harassment, micro-aggression and the use of racist language.

“Even though it’s a voluntary as opposed to a mandatory code, it has the backing of the industry and MPs,” said BLiM cofounder Charisse Beaumont. “As part of the code we will be publishing an annual report on companies that are doing well in terms of diversity and their ability to create a safe environment for black artists.”

BLiM’s code focuses on a set of key issues such as promoting diversity and inclusivity, and fostering a culture of transparen-

cy and accountability. Another of those key issues is equal pay. BLiM has joined with a number of other music industry organisations urging the government to introduce a mandatory ethnicity pay gap.

“Our figures show that only 19 per cent of black women in the industry earn 100 per cent of their income from music, much lower than white female artists,” Beaumont said.

“They often have to get a second job to make ends meet. If you add childcare into the mix, everything skyrockets. Why would you stay in an industry that financially doesn’t benefit you? Black female artists are amongst the lowest paid in the music industry. That needs to change.”

Last year, BLiM gave evidence at the Misogyny In Music inquiry, the first inquiry of its kind, set up by the Women and Equalities Committee.

Beaumont was asked to present the findings of its Being Black in the UK Music Industry report and the specific types of misogyny that hold back black female artists.

“The whole point of doing the original report was to give a voice to the voiceless,” she said. “People use that phrase a lot, but I really mean it. There are people suffering behind closed doors at whatever level in the industry. So to be able to share their experiences on a national stage like the House of Commons so they could be heard was a great honour.

“MPs have been really receptive. This time last year, they didn’t know racism or misogyny was a part of the music industry, especially concerning black women.

“Now they know. The next step is to hold the music industry to account. In terms of making the anti-racist code of conduct mandatory, that might not happen any time soon, but it’s important for MPs to see it established and then to help us roll it out.”

5

6 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

News Feature

Sickle cell ‘cure’ tested in the UK

B

LACK BRITISH siblings with Sickle cell disease who travelled abroad for a groundbreaking transplant say they have been ‘cured’.

Nabila Nakigozi Mpanga, 22, and Fauzan Ssebaggala Mpanga 26, from Newham, East London, crowdfunded so they could get a treatment known as the ‘Haplo Transplant’ in India.

Haploidentical Transplantation is currently being researched in the UK as part of a randomised trial by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

But supporters of the groundbreaking treatment fear the UK drug treatment gatekeepers NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) might stop it being available on the NHS because of cost.

The siblings stayed in India for four months and say the treatment was intensive and had serious risks of complications such as organ failure.

However, since returning to the UK in September 2021, they claim they are now able to do everyday activities that were impossible before.

Speaking to The Voice, Mr Mpanga said: “There is still Sickle cell in us, but it is not a number that can produce symptoms.”

Since his recovery, he said he has a “renewed energy” and no longer suffers from extreme fatigue and describes how he feels now as “a miracle”.

He told The Voice he is now under the care of a cancer team at a London hospital, because part of his treatment abroad involved him having chemotherapy. As a result, he has monthly

Siblings had to fund raise for treatment in India and say it has transformed their lives.

EXCLUSIVE by Sinai Fleary blood tests to check for viruses and monitor the levels of Sickle cell in his system, which is down to two per cent so he is classified as having Sickle cell trait rather than the disease.

Having the trait means you are a carrier of Sickle cell but you do not have the condition yourself.

However, his sister Nabila developed sepsis while undergoing the treatment.

SURGERY

When she arrived back in the UK, she also developed a BK virus, which is bleeding within the bladder and required emergency surgery.

Following that, she spent six months in hospital and her weight plummeted from a UK dress size 10-12 to a size 4.

She said: “I’ve smelt death many times with Sickle cell but I definitely smelt death with this transplant.”

Ms Mpanga has recovered and says she now has energy, has regained weight and is living a “normal life”.

Looking back at how her life was prior to the transplant, she says she “can’t imagine how she was doing it” and believes her and her brother were simply living in a “survival mode” to get through each day.

She added: “How we were liv-

ing, no one should be living like that.”

Mr Mpanga added: “Even though we are much better, it is a process that we gradually go through.”

The ‘Haplo Transplant’ is very intensive and risks can cause complications like multi-organ failure, or even death.

The transplant allows patients to receive a stem cell transplantation (SCT) from relatives who are only a 50 per cent match, such as a sibling who only shares one parent.

The procedure is currently not available on the NHS. The siblings were born in Uganda, East Africa, and Ms Mpanga was diagnosed with Sickle cell at birth. Her brother was diagnosed at nine months.

During their childhood, they missed out on key events like celebrating birthdays because they spent so much time in hospital. Mr Mpanga said the debilitating condition robbed him of a childhood as it meant he “never played” and “never did PE at school” — until he moved to the UK. While in Uganda, their mother told them to find Professor Christopher Ndugwa — a renowned Sickle cell specialist who had been the family’s childhood doctor in Uganda.

She said the doctor gave her and her brother only two years to live if they didn’t get the HapHap lo transplant.

Mr Mpanga said they were inin itially “very excited” after hearhear ing about the treatment but their enthusiasm was short-lived after the NHS initially dismissed the treatment.

They said they “had nothing to lose” and decided to launch a GoFundMe campaign aiming to raise £60,000 to pay for their treatment. In total they received £100,000.

Dr Carl Reynolds is clinical advisor to the NHS Race Health Observatory leading on Sickle cell inequality.

GETTING BETTER: Nabila and Fauzan no longer suffer from extreme fatigue; inset, clumps of Sickle cell block the blood vessel

He said: “There is currently a large randomised trial of Haplo treatment in the UK. That treatment looks like a promising means of making stem cell transplant available to more Sickle cell patients.

“All forms of stem cell transplant carry serious risk, including the risk of death, but it is becoming safer over time and if successful can be a curative treatment. Overall, I see this, and emerging gene therapies for Sickle cell as very promising developments.”

recommendations to address and inequalities identified.”

“Gene therapy remains a promising and rapidly developing area of research but treatments are not yet currently available in the UK outside of a research setting.”

Dr Reynolds said he would always recommend that patients and their families speak to their Sickle cell specialists for advice.

Speaking to The Voice, John James OBE, chief executive, Sickle Cell Society, said: “In England, until our intervention the

The future is potentially brighter for young people who have sickle cell than it was 20 years ago He told The Voice he believes not enough research is being done into Sickle Cell.

He said: “There is a widespread perception internationally that Sickle Cell has been relatively underfunded in comparison to other rare inherited genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis. The NHS Race and Health Observatory have commissioned research to investigate this in the UK with a view to generating evidence for policy

NHS were only funding children for bone marrow and stem cell transplants because they were arguing they can’t fund adults because the evidence isn’t there.

“What we have done is get NHS England to fund adult transplants in England.

“So today, if the commission deems it necessary an adult over 18 can get a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

“However, the issue is when they made that agreement they

limited it to a sibling donor. You would only get funded if the donor was a sibling. It is very limited in terms of siblings because there are individuals who don’t have a sibling.”

He added: “The good news for people living with Sickle cell is there will be a clinical trial for Haploidentical Transplants in the UK. “Sickle cell is the fastest growing genetic blood condition, it is also the most under-invested.

“The future is potentially brighter for young people who have Sickle cell than it was 20 years ago.”

He called for the black community to give blood and continue to speak out about living with Sickle cell to raise awareness of the disease.

Last year, Sickle cell became the fastest growing genetic condition in the UK. As a result, the NHS is issued an urgent call for more blood donors of black heritage to help treat the disease.

According to health officials only 150 donations a day were needed five years ago.

Demand for blood to treat sickle cell has risen by 52 per cent over the past five years and is projected to continue to rise.

For the full feature visit: www.voice-online.co.uk

*Image is of original Broadway cast. London cast to be announced.

FROM THE AWARD-WINNING CREATORS OF JERSEY BOYS THE BROADWAY SENSATION COMES TO LONDON

FROM MARCH 2023 ||| AINTTOOPROUDMUSICAL.CO.UK PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE LONDON A DELFONT MACKINTOSH THEATRE

8 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

News Feature

Uproar over BBC Africa axe Shocked staff left fuming after boss says “no questions” at Zoom ‘presentation’ sacking.

EXCLUSIVE by Lester Holloway

S

HOCKED BBC Africa staff were left fuming after their boss told them they were getting the sack in a Zoom meeting, and then refused to take questions.

The row came after the corporation backtracked over plans to axe UK black local radio shows following a campaign by this newspaper.

A BBC Africa staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Voice that the Director of BBC World, Liliane Landor, pictured below, gave a presentation to African staff where many learnt that their programmes would be axed for the first time, and then said she would not take any questions.

The source said: “In terms of consultation, they really didn’t consult us on anything at all.

They just called for a Zoom meeting and we just find out on the day.

“We expected that there will be restructuring but we didn’t know the scale of the closures. It really took us as a surprise.

“The Africa teams, they didn’t even know during the presentation when they were doing the slides [what was coming]. That’s when they saw that their programmes were actually closing.

So it was quite a shock to them.

“People also complained about the lack of decency, the way the announcement was made. “[Landor said] I won’t be able to answer any questions. She just listed all programmes that will be closed, and she will not be taking any questions after that.”

Some cuts have already been made while worried journalists and production workers await news of redeployments, expected this month.

There are suggestions that experienced Africa staff may be offered “work experience” attachments within mainstream BBC to “see if they fit in.”

The Beeb are slashing several services across BBC World with sourcing saying over 600 jobs

would be lost, almost twice the official figure given by the BBC. This includes dramatic cuts to BBC Africa, including the closure of the BBC bureau in Nairobi, Kenya.

There are suggestions that over 200 jobs will be lost across Africa, including regular freelancers, when their contracts run out in April.

The award-winning Africa Eye team is going. BBC publicity previously described the show as “original, investigative journalism revealing secrets and rooting out injustice in the excitworld’s most complex and excit ing continent.”

Any staff who are retained will join the BBC’s central investiinvesti gations team.

The BBC AfAf rica children’s programme is also being closed down, along with a programme aimed at celecele brating empowempow ered women in the continent.

Some African countries, like Kenya and South Africa, will get one reporter and one camera operator, filing stories to London or Salford in the UK. The cuts also include scrapping of BBC Somalia TV, which shut down in January. BBC Afrique part of BBC Africa, which serves French-speakers, and BBC Swahili, are also facing the chop. In a statement, the BBC

‘DIFFICULT DECISIONS’: The cuts are believed to save the BBC £28.5m (photo: Getty Images)

said it was “totally committed” to bringing “independent journalism” to Africa, but significantly did not pledge a commitment to BBC Africa.

MODERNISING

The cuts are believed to save the BBC £28.5 million, about 0.005 per cent of the corporations’ total £5.3 billion annual income.

Last year the former culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, froze the licence fee for two years which meant a real-terms budget cut.

The BBC source said that the “right-wing government are moving away from engagement with the continent [of Africa].”

Some of the axed BBC Africa programmes will move to digital platforms. The BBC claim they are not cutting back services but modernising as they switch

from traditional linear broadcasting on TV and radio.

However, BBC Somalia won’t be going digital because corporation executives ruled that internet coverage in Somalia is not good enough to make it worth their while, and where there is a signal people increasingly get their news from social media like TikTok. But critics point out that Somalians do not just live in Somalia, they live across the world, including a half a million in the UK who want news from respected journalists.

BBC World TV channel is also being ‘merged’ with the UKbased News Channel. However, some question whether this is really a merger, or merely a cover story for scrapping the BBC World channel. It is un-

derstood that some within the BBC are prepared to lose a share of the audience over the next five to ten years on the gamble that their digital strategy means numbers will pick up in the longer term.

BBC News online reported that radio broadcasts in 10 languages will cease, including Arabic, Persian, Chinese and Bengali, but the BBC told The Voice: “We are not closing any of our language services.”

In 2020, BBC Africa staff accused management of institutional racism including being denied career development opportunities, being bullied, and then silenced by an ineffective complaints procedure.

A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC is totally committed to bringing impartial, independent PROGRAMMES AT RISK: The late Komla Dumor and Peter Okwoche on the BBC Africa set

journalism to people across Africa. Audience needs and habits are changing and we know there is huge potential for digital growth across the continent and building deeper engagement with our journalism.

“The BBC is not closing any language services and will continue to serve audiences in 11 African languages on a variety of multimedia platforms, and some radio and TV broadcasts where they serve large audiences.

“It’s not easy changing our output or stopping programming, but we are in tough financial circumstances and have had to make difficult decisions.”

FUNDED

Paul Siegert, the NUJ’s national broadcasting organiser, said: “The cuts to BBC Africa Service are due to the BBC reducing spending on the World Service by £30m and will lead to a total of around 400 posts being cut, some in BBC Africa.

“These cuts are a direct result of the government’s decision to freeze the licence fee for two years. The NUJ believes the World Service should be funded directly by the Foreign Office as it was before 2011, and we will continue to campaign for that.

“There are direct benefits for the government through soft power and the influence it gets around the globe via the World Service. We will continue to represent our members who work for BBC Africa and face losing their jobs and to ensure they are redeployed elsewhere in the BBC.”

flow temperature down to 60°

Turn your

off lights and

replace an old

you’re not using,

for a new energy-saving

or keep the warmth in by closing all the

Scan for more energy-saving tips or visit gov.uk/saveenergy

at night

10

| THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Windrush75

Windrush second generation pay tribute to their elders A NEW LIFE AHEAD: Those that arrived on the Empire Windrush worked from the ground up and helped create today’s diverse Britain (photo: Getty Images)

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the ship landing at Tilbury Docks, dubbed ‘the diamond jubilee of modern, diverse Britain’. By Richard Sudan

L

EGENDARY POET Benjamin Zephaniah and Howard Gardner, the son of Windrush passenger Alford – both second generation – reveal what the anniversary means to them.

The Voice will be celebrating the Windrush Generation throughout the year and look forward to the celebrations on Windrush Day in June.

Howard Gardner, son of Windrush passenger and pioneer Alford Gardner “It wouldn’t be the same without us,” Howard Gardner says.

“We brought colour and food.

We made this country what it is today.”

Howard should know. He’s a 71-year-old second generation Windrush descendant whose father Alford, 97, is one of the last remaining survivors of the Empire Windrush.

Those first experiences Howard’s father had were tough.

While Alford had felt welcomed in the UK during the war period, the reception in 1948, just three years later, was the opposite.

Heading to Leeds, where he lived in 1944, Alford and his former RAF pals struggled to

find jobs and even lodging in the early days but they preserved and initially rented a house, the first step of making Britain their home.

They formed a cricket team “which was their way of getting to know the locals” with the sport loved in Yorkshire as well as in the Caribbean.

Today, the influences of the first generation have impacted the country in profoundly positive ways, making their mark on all areas of life.

Alford was one of the first black people to join a union in the area, the AUWE Engineering union. He and a handful of others met resistance at first but were eventually accepted among the ranks. It helped them to find jobs in local factories.

Howard was blessed to grow up in a large family, the eldest of eight siblings, but the fact that younger generations in the family are taking a keen interest in the Windrush Generation fills him with pride.

Despite being in his late 90s, Alford has recently travelled to the United States where many of the family have settled. But, Howard tells me, he’d love to introduce me to his dad. As

FATHER AND SON: Alford, left, and Howard Gardner

a third generation Windrush descendant myself, I treasure these conversations.

I wonder what Alford’s secret to a long and happy life is.

“He likes his rum,” says Howard. It can’t be his diet because Alford “eats everything”.

And how does Howard personally view the marking of the 75th anniversary?

“I think it’s recognition. We made the country what is. And the young ones are looking forward to it. They look at it as, without these people like my dad, they wouldn’t be here.”

Professor Benjamin Zephaniah, poet, writer and actor Born in Birmingham, Zephaniah’s parents came to the UK from Jamaica and Barbados. He remains very close to his mum and knows the sacrifices that were made by first generation arrivals.

“There’s so much we have now that can be traced right back to that generation.”

“The term Windrush is more symbolic. There was a ship called Windrush but the year before called the Almanzora that had Caribbean people on it but there were no cameras there.”

The symbolism of

@thevoicenewspaper

Windrush is so important, particularly when we think about culture, the arts and linguistics.

There are so many words from the Caribbean and Jamaica according to Zephaniah, below, that have come part of our collective vocabulary.

“No one would bat an eyelid if a politician said I’m wearing some bling today. Everybody now says I’ve got a film ‘dropping’ or I’m dropping my new album.

“That word dropping comes from the sound system culture where you’d have a record and the DJ literally used to drop it.

Drop that tune Rasta. All those

@thevoicenews

things have become part of British culture.”

Zephaniah’s mother, like so many of that generation had aspirations and big dreams to be realised in the mother country, but had to work from the ground up to achieve their goals. She always wanted to be a nurse but started off working as a cleaner.

“She had a very rose-tinted view of what life would be in England. She genuinely thought she would see people reciting Shakespeare on the streets of Brixton and Handsworth.”

His mother heard the songs about green and pleasant lands and thought England would be greener than Jamaica.

Yet, years later Zephaniah tells me, she still feels she is a guest and remains hesitant to acknowledge any of the obstaobsta cles or racism she might have experienced.

“But she’s not a guest and I’m not a guest”, he says. And of course, that’s the point.

He should know, as the son of Caribbean Windrush imim migrants he is now revered as one of the country’s best loved and most recognisrecognis able poets.

Not just that, he’s blazed a trail and lent a helping hand and brotherly guidguid ance to those inspired by his footsteps.

voicenews

Our elders might have struggled at first, but that experience has created a special sense of solidarity and connectedness that binds us.

Not only did we integrate into society, but we exceeded expectations, maybe even our own, and have helped shape its destiny for the better.

If ever there was an example of a person who has contributed so much to the arts, music, literature and screen, surely Zephaniah is a leading example.

IMPORTANT

But there is of course an important thing to think about whenever we hear the word Windrush, not to diminish the celebrations, but to amplify the journey and truly honour our elders in every meaningful sense.

“I can’t help thinking that we should also take a moment to remember that the injustice that’s been done to the Windrush generation is still ongoing,” Zephaniah observes.

“We can’t even give a date to say it’s over. It is still ongoing. It’s not what was done, it’s what is being done right now.”

Indeed, as we mark the 75th anniversary of the first Windrush arrivals, the community can be inspired by all that has been achieved.

www.voice-online.co.uk

FEBRUARY 2023

THE VOICE | 11

ADVERTORIAL

Windrush 75: free workshops and extra support to help you get National Lottery funding

T

he 75th Anniversary of Windrush in June this year is a major national moment, that will be significant to many communities across the UK. We know how important it will be for those planning to commemorate the incredible legacy of Windrush pioneers.

It’s a great opportunity to bring people and communities together and we here at The National Lottery Community Fund want to help you and your community make the most of it.

AVAILABLE

Thanks to National Lottery players, grants of up to £10,000 are available for community-led events and activities that bring people and communities together to mark this historic occasion. This funding

from our small grants programme, National Lottery Awards for All, will be available for Windrush 75 activities throughout the year, but if you want a grant s ecifically or indr s ay nd June) itself then you will need to apply by 30th March.

SUCCESS

Whether you are applying for funding or t e first time or are an esta lis ed community organisation, we want to make the application process as simple and supportive as possible, in order to give you the best chance of success!

Free workshops to help you with your application: We are holding four free workshops to help potential applicants, especially t ose w o are a lying or t e first time

so you can ask any questions you may have regarding your application or idea.

Sign-up to take part here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/ the-national-lottery-community-fund Confident with applying? yo sim ly want to a ly t at s fine too.

Here is a short guide - shorturl.at/JMNV7 that will help you to avoid some common pitfalls, plus you are very welcome to call our Advice Team for support on: 0345 410 2030 if you need to.

12 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

News Feature

It’s a Labour of love

Starmer moves to win back black vote with the introduction of new race policy group.

EXCLUSIVE by Richard Sudan

L

ABOUR ARE considering a raft of radical anti-racism policies such as fining firms who fail to tackle racism, we can exclusively reveal.

Sir Keir Starmer has responded to mounting pressure from black MPs and party members by setting up a new race policy group which includes Baroness Doreen Lawrence and equalities spokesperson Anneliese Dodds.

The group are fleshing out what a Race Equality Act would look like, and have discussed policies around ending deportations for people who have lived in Britain since being a child.

Other policies include tackling school exclusion rates, giving black-led firms more opportunities to get a slice of government contracts through ‘procurement’, and making companies implement action plans to tackle the ethnicity pay gap.

An awardwinning human rights lawyer, who is a member of the group, laid out radical plans to tackle systemic racism if Labour wins the next general election.

Speaking exclusively to The Voice, Jacqueline McKenzie, pictured above, who is widely praised for her support of Windrush Scandal victims, expressed hope that the ideas from legal and policy experts working with the party will make it into Labour’s manifesto.

She said the group were de-

termined to tackle workplace discrimination, while countering the Tories hostile environment on immigration and asylum.

McKenzie described the ideas as a “good first step” in making positive change for black com-munities.

Since announcing plans to create a ‘Race Relations Act’ in 2020, Labour had offered little detail about what the legislation might entail.

There were concerns from black MPs about rumours that Labour were considering ditch-ing promises in the 2019 Race and Faith mini-manifesto, authored by Dawn Butler and Jeremy Corbyn.

McKenzie said that Labour wanted to build on that document, and go further to make the pledge by Dodds to “tackle structural racism” a reality.

Labour’s move comes after months of pressure over perper ceived lack of progress on develdevel oping race equality policy.

Dodds, the shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, told The Voice: “Labour will make tackling structural racial inequality a key mission in government by introducing a Race Equality Act to deliver security, prosperity and respect for everyone in this country.

“As the next General Election draws closer and Labour prepares for government, the Act is being developed by the Labour

RECOGNITION: Labour group is working up plans to boost workplace equality; below left, how The Voice covered fears that Sir Keir Starmer, below, would backtrack on Corbyn-era pledges to tackle systemic racism (main photo: Getty Images)

share of the billions of pounds paid each year through procuring government contracts.

“There are no black firms that currently benefit at all, African heritage firms. We discussed that at length.”

front bench, working with Baroness Lawrence, policy and legal experts and community groups and this work is ongoing.”

McKenzie revealed some of the details of what Labour’s Race Equality Act might actually mean in practice if the party acted on advice offered by the group.

IMMIGRATION AND WINDRUSH McKenzie said there was a strong consensus in the group that the Nationality and Borders Act should be repealed, with more discussions planned in the weeks ahead.

She said: “To repeal the Borders Act and say we’re not going to deport anybody who was here as a child, thousands of them each year, is quite a radical thing.”

The Act has been heavily criticised by human rights groups and led to controversial attempts by the Home Office to deport potential asylum seekers to Rwanda. The law also gave the government power to revoke citizenship without notice.

RACISM IN THE WORKPLACE There is a need to consider

fines for firms that fail to tackle racial disparities at work, McKenzie said.

“There was a total commitment to that at the employment session, [to monitor] the ethnicity pay gap but also making sure there are real enforcement mechanisms to force it.

“Because just asking people to audit might get employers to think, but without action it’s all performative.”

Racism in the workplace is costing the economy billions each year, and disproportionate black unemployment and the ethnicity pay gap is having a devastating impact on black communities.

McKenzie also argued that black companies should also get the chance to get their fair

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM The group is keen for Labour to act on the Lammy Review to reduce disproportionate sentencing outcomes for black communities. They are set to have an in-depth look at criminal justice in March, including discussions on tackling racial bias in the Crown Prosecution Service as well as the judiciary.

The group could recommend repealing the Tory Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which has been accused of marginalising black and minority communities as well as threatening the right to protest, a fundamental right in any democracy.

The issues which led to the ‘Child Q’ scandal are expected to also be addressed.

EDUCATION AND HEALTH McKenzie said the group is “very committed” to tackling school exclusion rates, and reforming the curriculum to reflect modern Britain.

There was a “broad consensus” for better teacher training, and tackling the disproportionate number of black students dropping out from university, often for financial reasons.

Barriers faced by black people in health, such as quality of

treatment and accessing services, are also on the agenda.

HUMAN RIGHTS ACT The group “are committed to the Human Rights Act” and McKenzie adds: “If it’s repealed before a Labour government comes in then I think they would want to create something very similar.”

The government wants to scrap the Human Rights Act that enshrines the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law, which has proved crucial in securing justice for Windrush victims, preventing wrongful deportations, and has been used in challenging deaths in custody and state surveillance.

NEXT STEPS The big question is how a new collection of race equality policies will look in its final form, what Starmer’s team will do with them, and how many will make the cut for the party’s manifesto at the next general election.

McKenzie is clear that a Race Relations Act is “a very good positive start” but, she added: “it will take years to change the system.

“However, none of it has a chance unless we get a Labour government because nobody else is going to do it.

“It’s a bold, brave innovative and important step for Labour and I hope that policy makers once they see the proposals will see that this is a very important thing to do” Labour now has a unique opportunity to act on these positive ideas, to replenish faith among many of its loyal black voter base that their support at the ballot box will be rewarded.

AUGUST 2022

THE VOICE| 13

#HIVTESTINGWEEK

6-12 FEB 2023

Because HIV can affect anyone.

ORDER YOUR FREE HIV TEST

STARTSWITHME.ORG.UK Produced by Terrence Higgins Trust for HIV PREVENTION ENGLAND Produced Terrencecharity Higgins Trust for PREVENTION ENGLAND Terrence Higgins Trust is aby registered in England andHIV Wales (reg. no. 288527) Higgins Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales (reg. Powell. no. 288527) andTerrence in Scotland (SC039986).Company reg no.

1778149.

Photography

by George

and in Scotland (SC039986).Company reg no. 1778149. Photography by George Powell.

14 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

News Feature

WE HAVE THE POWER

Black vote could decide who wins the next General Election.

EXCLUSIVE By Lester Holloway

T

HE POWER of the black vote could determine who gets the keys to Downing Street, according to our analysis using new population census data.

The myth that most African and Caribbean voters live in safe Labour seats could not be further from the truth.

One in every four black voters living in the top 100 constituencies with the highest black populations currently have a Conservative MP who will be defending a thin majority at the next election.

There are 21 Tory marginals where the black vote can make the difference in these key battlegrounds, and the black population is higher than the MPs majority in 17 of those constituencies.

Recent census data showing the African and Caribbean population has risen to four million boosts the potential impact of the black vote relative to MPs winning margins in the 2019 election.

MAJORITY

Analysis by The Voice reveals almost three quarters (74) of the top 100 seats where the black community live can be swung one way or the other.

In London, 35 of the 73 constituencies have a black population larger than the majority of the sitting MP. In the towns of Milton Keynes, Luton, Wolverhampton and Coventry — which all have two MPs each — the black vote towers over the MP’s majority in every single seat.

Rev Al Sharpton will visit the UK this month to help kickstart the biggest voter registration drive yet, as a guest of Lord Simon Woolley, who was director of Operation Black Vote for almost three decades.

Lord Woolley told The Voice: “As always, elections are won and lost by small margins.

Those small margins can easily be decided by the black vote.

That’s why I’m urging black voters to register to vote, for a greater voice, for greater equality. It takes three minutes. We can decide who has the keys to Downing Street.”

While Politico’s poll of polls shows Labour enjoying a whopping 21-point lead in England, which could give Sir Keir Starmer a 200-plus landslide, sober political observers predict

the result will be much closer. A more realistic outcome considering Boris Johnson won with a majority of 80 at the last election, is Starmer squeaking home with a narrow 30-plus Labour majority.

That means there is all to play for, and while the black vote is famously the most loyal to Labour — 64 per cent of ‘BAME’ voters went for Jeremy Corbyn over 20 per cent for Johnson — even moderate swings in the black vote could sway the next result.

In Chingford and Woodford Green, the black vote is seven times the size of the majority held by former Tory leader and architect of Universal Credit, Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

Kensington, a seat that includes Grenfell, is held by Tory Felicity Buchan, who clings to a wafer-thin majority of 150, a figure dwarfed by almost 9,000 black voters and another 3,000 black mixed heritage voters.

Other vulnerable Tories include Home Office minister Chris Philip in Croydon South, Northern Ireland minister and leading Brexiteer Steve Baker (Wycombe), and Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet).

Labour MPs who could find themselves unemployed if they lost the support of black voters include Liz Kendall in Leicester West (4,000 majority and 7,000 black voters), and Wes Streeting in Ilford North (5,000 majority and 8,000 black voters).

Of the 100 seats with the highest black population, only six have black MPs, with a

seventh almost guaranteed as Miatta Fahnbullah is running for Labour in Camberwell and Peckham.

One of those current six, Paulette Hamilton, who won the Birmingham Erdington by-election for Labour last year, told The Voice: “It’s truly important that the black vote is taken seriously.

“We’ve been in this country a long time and at the moment the black vote is feeling ignored by all parties. We need to educate and develop our communities to understand politics, so that politicians know they can’t take the black vote for granted.”

In the top 100 constituencies

with the highest black populations, only 12 could be considered genuinely safe seats.

There are a further 20 seats where the Labour majority is over 15,000 — which might be considered ‘safe’ — but where the black population is still larger than the sitting MP’s majority.

TREND

Experts say the power of the black vote in marginal battlegrounds is the result of a longrunning trend of black families moving out of ‘inner city heartlands’ to more suburban areas, partly by choice and partly by

displacement such as rents and property prices.

In London, the black influence on seats like Enfield North, Enfield Southgate and Hendon are reflections of that.

The black population has also rapidly increased in marginals like Thurrock, in Essex, where Tory Jackie Doyle-Price’s 11,400 majority would have been just about comfortable if it were not for the rising African population which is larger in number than her majority.

TV presenter Sylbourne Sydial, who has stood for the Conservatives as a local council candidate, questioned whether

TOP 10 MARGINAL SEATS WITH LARGE BLACK POPULATION MP / PARTY

MP’S MAJORITY

BLACK POPULATION

FELICITY BUCHAN (CON) KENSINGTON

150

8,840

ZARAH SULTANA (LAB) COVENTRY SOUTH

401

6,256

THERESA VILLIERS (CON) CHIPPING BARNET

1,212

6,093

JON CRUDDAS (LAB) DAG & RAINHAM

ELLIOT COLBURN (CON) CARSHALTON & WALLINGTON SIR IAIN DUNCAN SMITH (CON) CH’FORD & WDFD GREEN TAIWO OWATEMI (LAB) COVENTRY NORTH EAST

NICOLA RICHARDS (CON) WEST BROMWICH EAST STUART ANDERSON (CON) WOLVERHAMPTON SE

CLIVE EFFORD (LAB) ELTHAM

293 629

1,262

1,443 1,593 1,661

3,758

SOURCE: 2019 MPS MAJORITY. AFRICAN AND CARIBBEAN POPULATION, 2021 ONS CENSUS (NOT INCLUDING BLACK MIXED RACE)

15,377 5,823 7,993 8,128

5,495 5,571

8,862

the ‘power of the black vote’ assumed all black people vote one way as a bloc.

He said: “I may not think the same way as other black persons, and the other black person might not think the same way as me. I believe it’s a fallacy to think as black people we should all be thinking the same way.”

One seat on the outskirts of London where the black vote may have contributed to an increased Labour majority is Barking, where MP Margaret Hodge is retiring.

The Labour candidate who hopes to replace her is Darren Rodwell, a white local councillor who caused uproar last year when, as mayor, he turned up to a Black History Month in furry lion slippers and joked about having “the worst tan possible for a black man”, and “the passion for the rhythm of Africa and the Caribbean”.

He went on to suggest he used to do “swing dance” and “jiggling about”, and pronounced African as ‘Afrikaan’ — similar to how white Afrikaaners in South Africa describe themselves. Rodwell later apologised.

Hodge has a 15,400 majority, which is dwarfed by 24,700 black and 3,100 black mixed heritage voters.

Tamkeen Shaikh, who ran as Conservative candidate in Barking in 2019, said: “You cannot

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

|

15

News Feature OPINIONS: Rashid Nix, a former Green Party candidate, believes political parties don’t want black people to vote; below, TV presenter Sylbourne Sydial questions whether the ‘power of the black vote’ assumed all black people vote one way

‘OUR VOTE MATTERS’: Paulette Hamilton, left, who won the Birmingham Erdington by-election for Labour last year, says it’s truly important that the black vote is taken seriously; right, Rev Al Sharpton, pictured here with Diane Abbott MP, is visiting the UK this month to help kickstart a vote registration drive (photos: PA Images/ Getty Images)

take anyone for granted. I come across a lot of voters who have not made up their minds, they want to know ‘what are you going to do for us?’”

The Voice analysis of the potential impact of the black vote coincides with news that Labour have a new race equality policy group, which includes Baroness Doreen Lawrence (see page 12).

Our findings indicate the power of the black vote is greater than previously thought, and in a tight election could effectively be ‘the casting vote’ over who gets the keys to Number 10.

The impact of the black electorate will be greater still with a rise in voter turnout. Turnout and voter registration are lower than the national average, and there is fear that the new voter ID rules will amount to US-style ‘voter suppression’ that impacts on black and young voters the most.

FOOLISH

Rashid Nix, a former Green Party candidate who filmed the 2010 documentary Why Don’t Black People Vote?, said: “We, as a community, what we are dealing with is so much we of-

ten don’t have the capacity to get organised politically.

“The conversations that dominate are gang and knife crime, racism, and whatever idiotic social media discussion is taking place at that particular moment in time; be it flippin’ Meghan and Harry, Celebrity Love Island, or the Premier League. Really foolish conversations.

“But then you ask ‘who is your local MP or councillor?’ and you get blank stares. We have been completely distracted by frivolity.

“We have the capacity to

completely change society, in terms of fashion and music and stuff like that. But politically, where we can really have an impact, we don’t have an impact.

“The political parties actually don’t want black people to vote, and we’re fulfilling what they want us to do, which is to not come with our demands at the ballot box.

“When we start putting forward an agenda which serves the needs of us as a community, as a group of people, then it becomes problematic.”

16 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

ADVERTORIAL

Produced in association with the NHS

NHS screening could Every year in the UK, tens of thousands of lives are saved because cancers are identified early or prevented through the NHS’s bowel, breast, and cervical screening programmes.

Dr Jo Ruwende Dr Jo Ruwende, cancer screening lead for NHS London, says: “Cancer screening saves lives and I urge everyone to take part when they receive their invitation.

WHAT IS NHS SCREENING?

“Screening can identify problems you might not have noticed. A positive screening result may not mean you have cancer but we need to investigate to see if you have another problem, or something we need to treat to prevent it developing into cancer.

“Sometimes, we detect cancer earlier when it’s easier to treat and your chance of recovery is better.”

BOWEL CANCER SCREENING People in England aged from 60 to 74 years will receive a Faecal Immunochemical test (FIT) home testing kit in the post. Over time, this will include people aged 50 to 59 years, and those aged 75 and over can also ask for one.

You use the kit to take a small sample of poo which is put into a tube to post back to the HS. It’s then tested for small traces of blood, a possible sign of cancer, that are not visible by eye. The presence of blood doesn’t mean you have bowel cancer, but further tests might be required to determine the cause.

“People who complete bowel cancer screening are less likely to die of bowel cancer,” says Jo – an estimated 9 out of 10 will survive when it is caught early.

“But not everyone invited will do their test,” she adds.

“People can think it’s not important because it’s something they do at home. r they might feel uncomfortable about taking a sample of

poo. ut it’s actually very simple and full instructions are included and online at nhs.uk.

You don’t even need a stamp to return it.”

BREAST SCREENING

Women are offered breast screening every three years between the ages of 50 to 70, while women aged 71 and over can self-refer for screening once every three years.

“It’s really important our community understands that breast cancer is one of the most common cancers, and one of the most significant risk factors is age,” adds Jo. “So, when you start receiving breast screening invitations, I urge you to go. Please don’t let fear or embarrassment stop you, breast cancer screening saves lives.

“nhs.uk has lots of information about what will happen at your screening appointment.

This includes how female staff will carry out the mammography, which is a type of X-ray.”

CERVICAL SCREENING

Cervical screening has made cervical cancer one of the most preventable cancers. Yet, 2,700 women in England are diagnosed each year.

Sometimes called a smear test, screening is offered to all women who are aged 25 to 64.

It looks for certain types of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that can lead to cancer of the cervix, the opening to the womb.

Samples are checked for high-risk HPV first and then any abnormal cells. If you have a

Visit www.nhs.uk for information about free NHS screening and cancer

FEBRUARY 2023

ADVERTORIAL

Produced in association with the NHS

save your life negative HPV result, your risk of cervical cancer is very low – HPV DNA is found in more than 99% of cervical cancers. If you have a positive result and abnormal cells, your results letter will explain what needs to happen next.

WHAT IS HPV?

HPV is a group of common, symptomless viruses that are easily transmitted by skin-to-skin contact during sex. HPV usually goes away on its own, but it can also cause abnormal cells to develop which can turn into cancer.

“Some women might think they don’t need to attend their screening because they don’t have sex with men or haven’t for a long time,” says Jo. “But if you have a cervix and have had any kind of sexual contact at any time, you should go for your NHS cervical screening.

“It can be a shock to find out you have HPV, but it doesn’t mean you have cancer and it doesn’t mean a partner has been unfaithful.

You can have HPV even if you’ve only ever had one partner, been intimate only once or not had sex for a long time. Most people will have it at some point without even knowing.”

HPV VACCINATION

Children aged 12 to 13 are routinely offered vaccination against HPV. If you are aged under 25 and have not been vaccinated against HPV, you can ask your GP practice for help to access it now. After having your HPV vaccine, you will still be invited for cervical screening to check for abnormalities as the vaccine does not protect against all strands of HPV.

HOW TO ACCESS SCREENING

Most people registered with a GP will automatically be invited for cancer screening. If you have a cervix but are not registered as female with your GP, you will need to request cervical screening because you won’t receive regular invitations. Trans or non-binary people who are registered with their GP practice as male are not routinely invited for breast screening but can request this, if appropriate.

If you’ve missed out on screening, contact your GP practice or the service listed on your invite, to rearrange it. If you live in the UK but aren’t registered with a GP, you may be able to access cervical screening through a sexual health or walk in centre.

For more information about eligibility and how to access free NHS screening, visit: www.nhs.uk.

If you are anxious or have additional needs, talk to your GP practice, or charities such as Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and the Caribbean and African Health Network (CAHN). You can also hear more from Jo about NHS screening via her recent podcast with Affinity Xtra.

TAKE ACTION ON CANCER

“Please talk to your doctor as soon as possible if something doesn’t feel right. Especially if you think it might be cancer,” says Jo. For example, a cough lasting over three weeks, blood in your urine or poo, an urgent or frequent need to urinate, unusual lumps and bumps, changes to your skin, moles, or a persistent sore.

THE VOICE | 17

GET PROTECTED THIS WINTER

All adults and most children have been offered vaccination against COVID-19 with over-50s, frontline health and care staff and others at greater risk eligible for a booster dose this winter. Many of the same people, and some children, are also eligible for a flu vaccine each year. Find out which vaccinations are recommended at: www.nhs.uk/wintervaccinations or visit a vaccination walk-in centre

YOUR HEALTH IS YOUR WEALTH

Anne, 42, didn’t think she needed cervical screening as she’d been in a long-term relationship with her wife before they’d married.

“It had been over 15 years since I’d last been screened,” she explains, “However, my periods were heavy and my sisters told me that all women needed to go for screening.

“After my screening appointment in spring 2021, I fretted I had cancer. Instead, I was told I had HPV and ‘abnormal’ cells had been detected.

“I had a colposcopy in hospital that summer.

A sample of cells were taken from my cervix and the remainder of the abnormal cells were removed by laser.

“The sample cells were found to be

‘moderate to high-grade’ and were highly likely to have progressed to cancer had they not been removed. Pretty quickly I had a follow-up check and abnormal cells were found again and removed.

“I had a follow-up meeting with my consultant where, after an honest and supportive chat about the fact I still had HPV and a risk of high-grade cells returning, I decided the best thing for me was a hysterectomy.

“After having this in July 2022, I needed six weeks off work and couldn’t do much physically. I don’t regret my decision. Cervical screening saved my life and I persuaded my wife to go for her first ever screening too. Please don’t let fear, embarrassment, or ignorance stop you. Your health is your wealth.”

Bowel cancer screening FIT kits include full instructions for use at home

Visit www.nhs.uk for information about free NHS screening and cancer

18 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Terence Channer

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

Evil trinity of misogyny, racism and corruption

CLASHES: The Met Police were criticised for their handling of the Clapham Common vigil in support of Sarah Everard; inset, police officer avid Carrick has pleaded guilty to 24 rapes against 12 women (photos: Getty Images and Hertfordshire Police)

Why do we have to wait for white women victims to speak out about misogyny before cops look at racist policing?

T

HAT A police officer such as David Carrick has pleaded guilty to 24 rapes against 12 women and 71 serious sexual offences over the course of 17 years, is shocking and disturbing, but not surprising to many activists and lawyers like me, who seek to hold the police accountable.

Activists and lawyers in my field, who fight police corruption, institutional racism and institutional misogyny, are often vilified as being anti-police. We are not anti-police, we are progood-accountable-policing.

Now the public and politicians are waking up to the reality that policing is often viewed as an attractive career choice by men, particularly white men, to facilitate their racist and misogynist fantasies and proclivities.

Why is it such an attractive career choice for these men? The answer is obvious… power.

The power to: Detain a person in handcuffs Use weapons such as tasers, firearms, pepper spray and batons Strip search Kick and punch Kill, maim and humiliate …all under the guise of ‘lawful power’. It is a fact that these are constitutionally conferred (lawful) powers that makes the thought of corrupt, racist and misogynistic policing so scary.

These lawful powers enable and embolden officers such as Carrick and Wayne Couzens (Couzens raped and murdered Sarah Everard).

In 2021, avowed, hardcore rac-

ist, Benjamin Hannam, 23, was convicted and imprisoned for being a former member of far right terror group National Action. He had lied on his Metropolitan Police vetting form about his prior membership of the terror group. I understand from reports that his ultimate ambition was to become a firearms officer — a very frightening prospect.

In 2021, former Metropolitan Police officer Benjamin Monk was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for the manslaughter of former Aston Villa football player Dalian Atkinson — he kicked the black former footballer so hard that he left a boot print on his head. At the time Monk was with his fe female colleague with whom he was having a sex sexual relationship.

It is nigh im impossible to get a convic murder conviction against any police officer in this country and com the police complaints system is po stacked heavily in favour of police officers (90 per cent of police complaints result in no disciplinary action). This explains why Carrick was exonerated after repeated complaints were made against him, thereby allowing him to continue his reign of terrifying sexual assault against his female victims.

In March 2022, at one of my civil damages trials at Nottingham County Court, an ex-police officer sat defiantly in the witness box, unrepentant in his refusal to accept that he was justly dismissed for seeking to take sexual advantage of a vulnerable female following an offduty traffic stop. He felt entitled — refusing to accept that he had

committed gross misconduct by seeking to take advantage of this vulnerable female. He probably felt that his conduct was part of his male privilege.

There are many decent, lawabiding police officers that do not abuse their police powers, but it would be a grave mistake to view extreme cases such as Carrick, Couzens, Monk and Hannam as not providing some insight into the general psyche of far too many male officers.

The high profile case of black female Supt Robyn Williams, highlights the disparities in treatment. In her case, hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal costs were spent hounding her through the courts in a failed bid to sack her for an understandable error of judgement.

By contrast Carrick was given the benefit of the doubt by the same police bosses for sexual assault allegations and allowed to continue his reign of terror.

Police forces were asked by the Home Office to check all police officers and force staff against national police databases to “identify anyone who has slipped through the net” in light of the David Carrick rape scandal.

The situation is dire, the situation is critical! The irony of having to check the police database

for ‘police criminals’! How have we got here? I know… when institutions are not designed for women and black and brown people, you get institutional racism and institutional misogyny. Simples.

These recent revelations have shown just how vitally important it is for us to have robust, uncompromising, impartial, independent police accountability.

It was therefore very concerning to learn that the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigator Trisha Napier resigned over the Bianca Williams stop and search case, alleging that the downgrading of her determination of the officers’ conduct, from possible ‘gross misconduct’ to a lower charge of ‘misconduct’, may have been politically motivated. She told Newsnight “it casts serious doubt on its [IOPC] independence”.

Hence, we need organisations like UNJUST UK, the very powerful community interest company, with the brilliant founder and director Katrina Ffrench at its helm, to push for greater police accountability. It’s been just two years since its inception and it has been instrumental in dismantling the racist Metropolitan Police Gangs Matrix that blighted the young lives of so many.

Questions over the independ-

ence of the IOPC shows just how important organisations like UNJUST UK are in holding state bodies like the police to account.

There is one uncomfortable question I feel I need to pose in all of this though and it is this: Why is it that black people have to wait for white female victims of bad policing for us to say “told you so!” And if you think that there is no material overlap between police racism, police misogyny and police corruption, then you’re deluded!

GASLIGHTED

It is counter-intuitive for black people to have to be hoping and praying for white female victims of police misconduct to queue up so that black people can sneak into the ‘Real Police Accountability’ nightclub (RPA).

When we accuse the police of racism we get gaslighted and called anti-police by those (including some of the very white women who are now outraged at, and are protesting, police misogyny) who seek to justify disproportionate stop and search, use of force and deaths in police custody and downplay the black lived experience. But when we accuse the police of “misogyny and racism”, we are NOT gaslighted — free admission to RPA.

Yes, put those two words together and it feels like a fail-safe formula for challenging police racism. If white male officers are treating white females in this way then how do you think they treat black men and women? For the record I’m not referring to all white male officers, as there are many outstanding ones, but there are far too many that are not.

Officers have to be beyond reproach because of the power they wield, and for there to be sufficient public trust and confidence in them for effective policing by consent. The feeling I get is that us black folk (in line with most nonblack people) generally support women — including white women — in the fight against police misogyny because we know what it feels like to be bruised, bullied and abused at the hands of the police.

I get it… we all have women in our lives, grandmothers, mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, aunties, girlfriends. BUT, that’s where real human compassion and empathy has to kick in, and not just because the black victim is your friend, colleague, favourite sports star or entertainer.

It appears that us black folk continue to need white saviours — how very unfortunate! It looks like white-on-white misogyny is rescuing anti-racism.

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.

AUGUST 2022

THE VOICE| 25

Your Future Health Proud to be one of the leading healthcare providers in Croydon.

We offer treatment for insured, self pay and NHS patients. Simply give us a call or ask your GP to refer you to West Valley Hospital.

For fast access to treatment contact: /WestValleyHospital 020 4579 6234 | westvalleyhospital.co.uk | Level 9, iNTERCHANGE, 81-85 Station Road, Croydon CR0 2RD

West Valley Hospital

20 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

News feature

What is Tony Blair doing in Africa?

The former PM is on the make, busy hooking up African leaders with international bankers… By Lester Holloway

R

WANDA HAS been at the centre of world attention lately.

From accommodating Britain’s first offshore immigration detention centre (yet to receive its first resident), to joining the Commonwealth, to backing of the ‘M23’ militia currently destabilising its’ giant neighbour the Democratic Republic of Congo, to president Paul Kagame facing questions about current political oppression and his role in the 1994 genocide.

But one story has slipped under the radar. And that involves Britain’s former prime minister, Tony Blair. Since being wrenched from Number 10 in 2007, Blair has been raking in millions of dollars from many African nations, not least Rwanda, by selling his services as an adviser on policy and process.

(AGI) charity. Kagame, who has ruled his country for 29 years, wrote a gushing testimonial to the work of the AGI in the charity’s annual report, saying: “In the last two years, it has produced substantive and tangible results.”

AGI, which has partly rebranded to become the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBIGC), claims to be delivering ‘support’ to Rwanda’s government departments – even while the central African country is still involved in the DRC conflict.

Kagame remains accused by a United Nations report of horrifying war crimes and human rights abuses, mainly concerning the 1994 Rwandan genocide but also regarding Rwanda’s involvement in a decade of blood-letting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Social commentator and campaigner Maurice Mcleod said: “Once a prime minister has finished their stint you Does Africa, still recovering could argue they’re free to go from colonialism, really need off and make money how they Blair telling them what to do?

Probably not, but his policy advice may not be his real selling point. Because the true value of Blair lies in his contact book; making introductions between African heads of state and international financier big cheeses like the Rockefeller Foundation.

Kagame has hailed Blair as “a visionary”, while Blair has been appearing in the media arguing that the West should not withdraw international aid over Rwanda’s involvement in bloodletting in DRC, arguing that the “economic miracle” in the central African state would be put at risk.

Rwanda has been getting assistance from the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative

VALUE

They’re buying his contacts and his knowledge, but they’re also buying a spokesman want, but I do think there’s something wrong with a prime minister using contacts he has made for financial gain.

“It’s not like Blair has stood down from speaking publicly about British politics. It seems he makes a ‘rare return to British politics’ every week.

“Who pays the piper calls the tune, and they know what they’re buying when they buy someone like Tony Blair; they’re buying his contacts and his knowledge, but they’re also buying a spokesman who will go out there and spin their lines for them.”

Michela Wong, in her 2021 book Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad, writes that “the Western media had been duped into believing this ‘economic miracle’” in Rwanda

by Blair.

AGI/TBIGC is one of a network of Blair’s charities and foundations, one of which is an interfaith body which at times appears to be really promoting faith in Tony Blair, the statesman, over the benefits of religion.

Team Blair has staff in the president’s and prime minister’s offices as well as in the Ministry of Finance and in the Rwandan Development Board.

They are said to mentor local workers and help them implement policy.

Soon after AGI was established in Rwanda, in 2009, it is reported that Blair led a delegation to the capital Kigalo which included Christian Angermayer, a founder of one of Germany’s largest financial services groups. Famous banker

MUCH TO SAY: Tony Blair speaks to the late Komla Dumor on BBC Africa

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, and his wife Lady Rothschild, visited Rwanda accompanied by presidential guards.

It appears that Blair’s charity is operating as a firm of commercial management consultants, drawing up policies and implementation plans for African governments, while at the same time hooking their clients up with high-level contacts made during his time as prime minister for business deals. In Rwanda, Blair has picked one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

While Blair acts as speed-date organiser between global bankers and the Rwandan regime, last month a Rwandan newspaper editor, John Williams Ntwali, pictured inset, wound up dead after being “regularly threatened”, according to respected international body Human Rights Watch.

Ntwali died in a motorcycle accident on January 18, but Human Rights Watch says it

hasn’t been able to find a police report of any traffic accident at the location.

He is the latest in a long line of government critics who have met a premature end.

Blair’s wife Cherie, a QC, recently represented Rwandan General Karenzi Karake in court following his arrest on an international warrant for ‘war crimes against civilians.’

And Blair himself has appeared in the media, including on the BBC, arguing Rwanda’s case that it should not face any penalties – for example withdrawal of aid - over its support for the M23 rebels which last week seized the strategic town of Kitshanga in the eastern DRC after days of fierce fighting, drawing condemnation from the UN. It’s not just Rwanda where Blair is involved. His charity works in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Guinea and Nigeria.

According to documents at the Charities Commission, Blair aimed to “…pioneer new

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

|

21

News feature

MAN OF PEACE?: Main, Tony Blair is crowned Paramount Chief of the village in Sierra Leone. His title means ‘Man of Peace’(photo: PA); above, Paul Kagame and Blair at No.10 during Blair’s tenure ways of working with African countries, enabling committed African leaders with the capacity to deliver the public services which their citizens have the right to expect, to tackle deep-rooted poverty, and to attract the sustainable investment necessary to build strong economies for the future.”

TBIGC has an annual turnover of £35 million, plus £49m in reserves, and over 300 staff – but Blair’s personal financial arrangements are complex and secretive, with an intricate web of accounts.

Blair and Sierra Leone, the West African state, go way back.

His father, Leo, worked there in the 1970s, and as prime minister he sent 1,000 British troops there to crush the Revolutionary United Front army as they advanced on Freetown.

The public were initially told the intervention was just to rescue British citizens from a worsening civil war – driven by illegal trade in diamonds to Belgium and Lebanon – but it was clearly about much more than that. It was about prop-

ping up a government that was about to fall. And, having secured stability, Britain then delivered training for the Sierra Leone police and army.

Sierra Leone is a former British colony which began as a land for freed slaves from America but was previously dominated by the Koranko and Temne kingdoms.

In 2002, Blair was crowned Paramount Chief of the village of Mahera near Freetown, the capital which was named in honour of the former slave settlers. Blair carries the title of Paramount Chief Bai Sherbora Mathuff, meaning Man of Peace. Literally. Blair made no mention of Iraq in his acceptance speech.

Today, as well as supporting the present government, Blair has turned missionary, with a Faiths Act project in Sierra Leone which somehow merges religion with an anti-malaria vaccination drive.

Cherie is getting in on the act too, linking up with Sia Nyama Koroma, the first lady of Sierra Leone, to develop a mobile phone technology pro-

gramme for women and taking part in an African women’s entrepreneurship scheme.

She has also been working with South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria to “harness the benefits of mobile technology for women entrepreneurs in Africa” in partnership with the

the Guardian pointed out – is funnelled through a “Byzantine” and “opaque” complex web of structures involving 12 different legal entities, and a company called Windrush Ventures No 3 Limited Partnership.

As Africa stands on the cusp

As Africa stands on the cusp of a new economic dawn, is its most pressing need to employ Blair’s flunkeys?

Rockefeller Foundation. Her foundation’s report identifies a “market opportunity” worth US$2bn (£1.6bn) in sub-Saharan Africa. Tony Blair is also helping Sierra Leone promote its’ potentially lucrative tourism industry.

One newspaper report highlighted JP Morgan’s interests in Sierra Leone and the fact that it had awarded a £2m contract with Blair’s foundation.

Blair has made over £50m since leaving office, which – as

of a new economic dawn, is the continent’s most pressing need to employ Tony Blair’s flunkeys to write government policy for them?

Given Blair’s warmongering record in office, which has turned him into an international figure of hate, his value to Africa lies more in his contacts than his reputation.

Introducing Western big business to African leaders doesn’t just make Blair a middle-man, it suggests he wants

Africa’s profits from expanding markets to be expatriated to the West, in the same way multinational agribusiness brought huge tracts of land for commercial farming in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Western agribusiness patent the seeds, import tractors and machinery, provide all the spare parts, export the raw produce to be processed and packaged back in the West, and take profits back to the West. Africans were mere farm labourers.

A key question today is this: over and above the extra labour employed by new businesses moving in to take advantage of Africa’s fledgling boom, to what degree will ordinary Africans benefit?

In a barely reported speech in 2013, Blair outlined his vision for Africa, and identified the barriers to progress as being governance and lack of foreign investment.

He said: “This is not only true of… mining and food production [but also] there remain huge opportunities [in the] expansion of the oil and gas sec-

tors in many countries. It is essential that intellectual capital comes in.

“And for the private sector, for the people in this room, Africa is a great investment destination. The returns are there, the trajectory is positive.”

The message is clear – the new gold rush has begun. The new Scramble for Africa. He appears to be saying: let me, Tony Blair, help design the policies for African governments while you, my business friends, use your financial muscle to grab as much of the growing economy as possible to make profits for you back in the West.

Never mind Chief of Mahera, Tony Blair is on his way to becoming the new King of Africa, and possibly amassing greater riches than all the book deals and speaking engagements combined could ever pull in.

Blair may be pushing 70, but he’s behaving like a young man on the make. And he can feel the hand of African history on his shoulder.

TBIGC were approached for comment.

22 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Michelle Codrington

Union Life

Rogers

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

Life on the picket line is great, more of us should be there!

My parents told me to join a union and I’m glad they did

W

HAT DO Postman Pat and Father Christmas have in common (apart from being old white guys)?

Over the past six months both have turned up at pickets across the country to support their union colleagues.

But there is certain uneasiness as we moved from a summer of discontent to the winter and spring of discontent. Where are the black workers?

As a member of the public (and trade unionist to the core), if I see a picket line of union members taking action against an employer I can’t help but beep my horn or pull up and go and say hello, often with a cake or two in my hands (“Teachers bring the cake” is my personal mantra).

It’s almost automatic, I see people taking action: #Solidarity.

I understand how hard it is for employees to take action against their employer, even harder to get the necessary 50 per cent of eligible membership to return their postal vote (only way that unions are allowed to do legally), but it is even harder to ask members to get up at silly o’clock to go and stand outside, in the dark and cold on a day they have sacrificed their pay for.

For the record, over the years I’ve been in snowy, hail condi-

WELCOME VISIT: Postman Pat is doing his bit on the picket line (photo Getty Images)

tions and warm sunshine picket lines — and I’ve got the pictures to prove I was there.

Being with members on the picket line builds confidence and unity.

You may be standing next to a work colleague you’ve never talked to before, especially with different shifts working for a large employer.

Picket lines mean standing holding a banner, wearing a logoed woolly hat or a sticker, but most importantly you will feel the physical strength of your union.

STRATEGY

Pickets are also good spaces to get information about the strategy or to ask that question you’ve been meaning to ask the rep about.

These are the same people who will have your back in a crisis individually or as a collective. This is your union.

Black members are the lifeblood of the union movement.

If you are first generation (like I am), both my parents told me to make sure I have a pension and join a union, any union, just join.

As a first gen, I had no choice but to follow the advice of my parents. Despite making up a significant part of the public

sector, sometimes it is hard to be heard through formal structures (which are always a mystery unless you have to navigate it).

Not enough of us are reps or branch secretaries, and there are definitely not enough of us who are able to climb to the top of the trade union snakes and ladders.

As black people are always

visible (even when we’re not); it almost feels like it doesn’t matter how many promotions you get, you will still be the ‘Black.. [Insert job title here]’.

So why draw even more attention to yourself? Why be the troublemaker when you are already in a carefully balanced dance of work and guaranteed

pay? Why get out of your warm bed on a non-work day?

The fact that there are so few of us (visibly) on the picket lines means we almost become invisible. We need to be there on the picket line, talking to colleagues, enduring the elements, becoming a fellow member of the union.

Dig out that flask, those thermal socks and that woolly hat because we need to be part of the fight to protect pay, terms and conditions for the youngers coming up behind us.

Oh yeah — and don’t forget the cake. You never know if you’ll bump into Fireman Sam or Thomas the Tank Engine!

Paying workers more is the solution to the crisis not the cause of it C the word in ation’ has become interchangeable with the cost of living crisis’ across the media is just another symptom of the economic crisis the UK is currently in.

That is, we are going through the sharpest fall in real wages for decades. Not that we need to be told that, because we see the real impact of our pay or wages being unable to keep up with the rising costs of items, products and services.

This has not been made any easier by the blink and you miss it mini-budget by Kwasi Kwarteng, pictured, and the shortest Prime

Minister term of office in the UK ever But what hasn’t been the cause, is our wages.

Wages and pay across the UK since 2010 have been kept down over the years due to ‘austerity’ ublic sector wages have been capped at one per

cent or 0 per cent for the past 12 years.

This gives permission to some private sector employers who use the argument that ‘nurses and teachers only got 1 per cent, why should we give you more?’ eachers’ union the NASUWT has calculated that the average teacher working since 2010 has lost about £20k as a real term pay cut. And, like other sectors such as the NHS, local government employees and social work-

ers, we are in the eye of a storm of a recruitment and retention crisis. If you are depending on employees working overtime, then your business model isn’t working.

It doesn’t take rocket science If you can’t attract applicants to your vacancies then either increase the pay award, reduce the workload or do both.

In one of the richest economies in the world, we should be able to feed, house and clothe ourselves, our families and those vulnerable in our community.

As workers, we spend our wages and salaries through taxes, buying

products and using services. We might even have some left over to save for a rainy day.

I may only have a C in GCSE maths, but even I can see that if you pay workers more, the more they’ll spend, the more revenue for taxes which means more money to pay for the public services we as a society depend on.

As long as children are coming to school hungry and parents are skipping meals to make sure their children or elderly relatives eat, we have to ask, who is reaping the rewards of this current cost of living crisis, because it definitely isn’t us

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

|

23

Manchester

CBBC star backs children’s anti-bullying campaign Rhys Stephenson’s help at heart of school’s positivity programme

By Leah Mahon

W

HEN TOLU Ogunware was growing up in Belfast, there were few people who looked like him in the neighbourhood.

CBBC star Rhys Stephenson, pictured below, has joined forces with kids at a Greater Manchester school to tackle bullying and help people like Tolu.

Stephenson is encouraging pupils at the Pike Fold Primary School to write letters for a special “Positivity Box”.

Rhys told Manchester Evening News: “Bullying has become so much more refined in the digital age. You can’t really escape it now, back in the day, you’d be able to go to school and come back home, to your safe space.

It’s paramount we get it into

children’s heads early how horrible bullying is and how damaging it can actually be.”

The CBBC presenter warned that children are not just at risk of physical bullying, but could also lose their lives due to the harsh words from bullies too.

“If you get them positive and happy, they won’t feel like bullying each other because they’ll feel good about themselves.”

The young presenter also gushed how much a privilege it was to be a Positive Post Box ambassador and being able to further help his young CBBC fans.

One of the letters sent to the Positive Box read: “Here at Pikefold Primary School, we have been learning how to be a positive person. It is important to be kind to yourself because you are talented and smart. When I don’t feel positive, my mum cheers me up.

Adopting a growth mindset is super important, don’t let a mood get you down.

You can help your peers by giving them a hug.”

Get a new pair, at a new price Glasses now from just £15

New Vitamin D drive is proving to be so vital A MANCHESTER health network is distributing health and well-being packs to the African and Caribbean community which includes vital vitamin D tablets.

The Caribbean & African Health Network (CAHN), a black-run organisation addressing health issues among the diaspora, teamed up with Salford CVS to initiate giving out 600 packs over three days including essentials like face masks, hand sanitisers and booklets offering tips on how to stay healthy during the cold winter months.

CAHN has urged the black community across Manchester to ensure their vitamin D consumption is adequate as black people are at a greater risk of lacking the nutrient, because

the pigment on their skin does not allow the processing of enough vitamin D. The struggle is more acute during the winter when vivid sunlight is scarce.

Melanin protects the skin against ultraviolet light, but by blocking the sun’s rays, melanin affects the skin’s ability to activate pre-vitamin D – the darker the skin, the less vitamin D is produced.

The initiative sought out to target black communities in Salford, Pendleton and Little Hulton. Charles KwakuOdoi, Chief Officer of C , said: “We are pleased this collaboration will help to improve the health and wellbeing of African and Caribbean communities across Salford this winter. Prevention and self-care are essential for good wellbeing.”

You’re better off with Specsavers Includes standard single-vision lenses only Ask in store for details.

24 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Dotun Adebayo

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

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

Meghan is the star of the show… whether she will be there or not MAD ABOUT MEGHAN: The Duchess of Sussex will be the hot topic for Britain’s press for months to come – whether or not she will go to, or be invited to, her father-in-law’s Coronation in May (photo: PA Images)

Newspapers will keep hating – but people want to see the real queen at the Coronation

O

N CURRENT form, the United Kingdom has a Coronation every 70 years.

This happens to be the 70th year since the last one, so expect one to be coming your way shortly.

And please don’t moan and groan to me about it. It wasn’t my bright idea.

I know all about the cost of living and I know how angry people are at the prospect of gazillions being spent on the somewhat archaic pomp and ceremony that is a great British Coronation.

Yes, gazillions, for no matter how much the king’s representatives try to gloss this one over as a cut-price, inflation busting, knees up, I can’t see His Majesty leaving Westminster Abbey on a horse and cart. Can you?

And that’s not even the trickiest part of it. What should the king do about a ‘problem’ like Meghan Markle? Yeah, never mind the anointed, what about the woman of colour?

world watches. If she’s back home in Cali, the rest of the world bat an eyelid and wonder what all the fuss is about over an anointed one from a small island putting a crown on his head before switching over to the Netflix documentary to hear Meghan’s perspective on why the in-laws would be unlikely to welcome her any time soon.

Funnily enough, given all the media vitriol against her, Meghan is the star of the Coronation whether she’s there or not.

Her absence will cast a shadow over the proceedings because of the question mark over the royal institution’s credentials on the delicate questions of race.

And if she is there, goes without saying she saves

REMARKABLE

Seventy years ago the woman of colour was the Queen of Tonga, they even wrote a song about her attending Her (late) Majesty’s Coronation. She was the talk of the town. The toast of the nation because she was the biggest example of a woman they had ever seen.

Indeed, the last Coronation was remarkable for the very visible contributions of people from across the empire that Britain had at that time.

With the empire gone but still in our minds, the Royal Family need Meghan more than ever to show the world how the empire has informed and reformed it much more than former colonies need a pompous ceremony which cannot help but be a reminder that Britannia (once upon a time) ruled the waves.

If Meghan is there, the whole

the king from accusations of presiding over a ‘where are you really from?’ institution.

It also sends out a strong Sister Sledge-style We Are Family message to the whole country that we may have our differences but we can still work things out. We’re stronger together, and that kind of thing.

But enough of this “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony stuff”, there is a huge spanner heading towards the Buckingham Palace works, at a pace, from over the other side of the Atlantic.

It is of course possible that Meghan stays in Cali and her old man (Harry) comes over for his old man’s Coronation.

Would that be an acceptable halfway point? I don’t think so.

That would be throwing her under the bus… and then to the lions. It’s got to be all or nothing. Because you can already imagine how much more abuse she’s going to get if her Prince Charming shows up and she’s not at his side — the papers will be apoplectic. They’ll stuff it to her for years to come about it.

Because they know it will sell

newspapers. They know that their readers will buy it and start believing it if you say long misenough that Meghan is a mis erable old so-and-so who you dream of the day when she will be paraded naked through the streets with excrement thrown at her (he says it’s a Game of Thrones reference, I say with a obwoman of colour being the ob Clarkject of abuse in Jeremy Clark son’s dream it is more akin to the abuse women of colour were subject to in the days of enslavement).

That is what Clarkson of course was hoping when he decided to abuse Meghan in his latest rant against her.

This time, though, he went too far. Even his own daughter had to publicly distance herself from his comments.

In short, if Clarkson is guilty of the misogyny that his comments about Meghan expose he is a danger to women everywhere. How otherwise would

you describe somebody who dreams of a woman being paraded naked through the streets whilst being subject to excrement being hurled at her? It’s not kinky. It’s beyond BDSM (I know, I had to look it up, too).

It’s a danger to women. Everywhere.

To be a danger to women everywhere is bad enough, but we all know why Meghan is singled out for specific abuse by the British press. We all know... you can pretend as much as they like. We all know.

CHARACTER

Harry is just about old enough to remember Ali G. In fact, come to think of it, he is just the right age group to know every single line from the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy character from the mid-Nineties.

I can’t help imagining the prince doing the ‘Is it because I is black?’ routine every time his wife asks, ‘Why do they hate me

so much? What have I done?’

We (people of colour) have all done it or at least thought it.

Wondered it. For us it is a rhetorical question. We know the answer already (if you have to ask the question): ‘Of course it is’.

Maybe it is not as simple as race. Maybe Meghan’s colour is incidental... maybe. But one thing we cannot escape from is that publicly chastising this particular woman of colour sells papers. Clarkson may have publicly apologised to those he may have offended with his offensive article, but publicly omitted a specific apology to the woman of colour that he abused. I don’t get that. Can somebody explain it to me?

Is that something that goes back to slavery times or is it something that Clarkson has come up with all by himself?

Long live the king’s daughterin-law. Hip-hip? Hooray!

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

AUGUST 2022

THE VOICE| 25

26 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Montel Gordon

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

Calculating Sunak won’t solve equation with maths QUICK-FIX SOLUTION: Rishi Sunak’s plan for all students to study maths up to 18 is papering over the cracks (photo: Getty Images)

Prime Minister needs to look at the numbers that really matter — investment in our underfunded public services

P

RIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak plans to “reimagine our approach to numeracy”, proclaiming he intends to make sure all pupils in England study maths until the age of 18.

Although he does not allude to making A-level maths compulsory, Sunak seems concerned with the numeracy of adults in England.

As he claims, “Right now, just half of all 16 to 19-yearolds study any maths at all. Yet in a world where data is everywhere, and statistics underpin every job, our children’s jobs will require more analytical skills than ever before,” and we are “letting our children down” by sending them out to the world without these skills.

Again, this seems to be another policy plan with no detail or logical feasibility on how this will work.

AUSTERITY

Decades of austerity has made the education sector undesirable to new graduates as teachers persistently remain underpaid, overworked, and compounded with governmental pressure to hit unrealistic targets.

Instead of solving the issue of teachers leaving the profession (and yes, offering substantial financial remuneration to training teachers in subjects like maths and physics is not a solution), the government throws more incompetent policies to solve an ongoing epidemic of failing academic attainment.

Seemingly, it regurgitates the reoccurring ideas of placing supremacy upon STEM subjects, with maths graduates among the most ‘employable’, according to ONS; while the arts and humanities are sidelined.

However, in attempts to make maths a more lucrative subject to study and boost na-

tional attainment, this does quite the opposite. Forcing students to endure a subject for much longer creates resentment rather than enjoyment.

Despite this, maths continues to be one of the most popular A-level choices. According to the Education DataLab, 88,316 students picked maths in their A-levels, with psychology and biology following respectively in the list of desired A-level subjects.

So why is the subject being forced down the throats of pupils?

This plan seems another classist attack upon an already stratified and unequal education system.

It’s another iteration of ‘goalpost moving’ — like the disastrous English Baccalaureate in 2011, which forced students to take a humanities and language subject.

Just like the ‘gold standard’ measures of five GCSEs A*-C under New Labour in 2005, instead of tackling educational stratification, we are compounding students (and those

from minority background suffer the most) with more hurdles to navigate, when in fact, they need support.

The fall-out of the pandemic primarily affected students from inner-cities and lowerincome areas who drastically

fell behind in their academic attainment. Specifically, with the percentage of black Caribbean pupils receiving a 4 to 9 grade in GCSE maths continuing to dwindle.

The figure in 2019 stood at 53 per cent compared to 70 NUMBERS DON’T ADD UP: The education sector is undesirable to new graduates as teachers persistently remain underpaid (photo: Getty Images)

per cent of other pupils. The dwindling academic attainment by minoritised working-class groups seemingly makes this proposition an elitist attempt to stratify different educational outcomes.

This is a model designed by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s through the Education Reform Act, making schools more comparable to a marketplace.

The last edition of the highly controversial Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) table in 2019 placed the UK in joint-17th with Sweden for maths and 15th in science and reading, with China topping the rankings for all three.

With globalisation at the turn of the millennium placed persistently upon the tongue of policymakers regarding education, it seems we want quick results to a long-term solution.

Unfortunately, Tony Blair and the New Labour’s mantra of “Education, Education, Education” — and the coalition’s persistent proclamation

of increasing the education standards — came at a cost.

Those who did not fit the aesthetic were scrutinised and excluded, particularly with black Caribbean students. They are constantly placed as the most excluded ethnic group and are causes for concern in academic attainment.

CRACKS

With the NHS at its lowest ebb, and falling into the terrain of privatisation, Sunak is targeting the wrong sector.

This is papers over the cracks.

A quick-fix solution to solve an ‘issue’ that, in essence, is not a problem.

Our social amenities, such as the healthcare system, are at breaking point; thus, this focus on maths is absurd.

Ultimately, if we want to solve the educational crisis we should be diversifying schools, making the profession more lucrative and beneficial for teachers, and asking ourselves, “What do the students want?”

Share the legacy of 40 years of Black British Lives with loved ones in 2023

With a foreword

by Sir Lenny Henry, this book shares the Black British experience reflecting on what has changed and what remains the same. It is a great read for the family.

BUY HERE

https://voice.sumupstore.com

28 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Lyndon Mukasa

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

Eye on the Diaspora

The cult of suicide in Guyana

CAUSE FOR CONCERN: According to Guyana’s Ministry of Public Security, 70 per cent of the country’s suicides occur in rural regions (photo: Getty Images)

It remains a taboo subject, but we need to start talking to prevent more loss of life

I

N 2014, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that Guyana had the highest suicide rate in the world with 44.2 suicides per 100,000 deaths.

This is four times the global average and it surpasses the high suicide rates of South Korea and Sweden. Even though the suicide rate has fallen slightly, the Caribbean/South American country remains the third highest in the world on average for suicides.

These facts run counter to the notion that black people are far less likely to take their own life, and that suicide is ‘a white thing.’

While this is disproportionate at a global level, what makes the high suicide rate in Guyana particularly shocking is that it is a deviation from many of its Caribbean neighbours.

Guyana, despite its geographic location within South America, is culturally and historically aligned with the Anglophone Caribbean and much of the southern Caribbean (excluding Trinidad and Tobago) have some of the lowest recorded suicide rates in the world.

So what explains Guyana’s high suicide rate? According to Guyana’s Ministry of Public Security, 70pc of the country’s suicides occur in rural regions.

In addition to this, the National Suicide Prevention Plan has revealed that Indo-Guyanese — who make up 40pc of Guyana’s population — accounted for 80pc of the country’s suicides between 2010 and 2013.

The proportion of Indo-Guyanese that died of suicide fluctuated from 65.2pc in 2018 to 50.7pc in 2019 to 63.9pc in 2020 and 73.1pc in 2021. Men have a higher suicide rate than women although more women have attempted suicide and young people are at greater risk compared to older people. Within a Caribbean context mental health and suicide is a taboo and under researched area of research. Of the

available information, in 2017 Antigua and Barbuda had the lowest suicide rate in the world followed by Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica (fifth lowest in the world), the Bahamas (sixth lowest in the world) and St Vincent and the Grenadines (eighth lowest in the world).

According to the WHO, the countries of the Caribbean rank among the lowest in terms of incidences of reported suicide.

However, it must be said that on average Caribbean countries only allocate 4.3pc of the healthcare budget towards mental health.

Within the Guyanese context, studies comparing Guyana to Trinidad and Tobago have attempted to shed more light on what might be happening in the country. Trinidad and Tobago was selected in part because it has a similar demographic structure and a common history with Guyana. It also has a higher suicide rate relative to other Caribbean countries.

PRESSURES

However, Guyana’s suicide rate is twice as high as that of Trinidad and Tobago. This has raised more questions than answers although some have speculated that differences in economic development between the two countries might be an influencing factor.

Neighbouring Suriname might also be a better comparison since the country also ranks among the highest in the world for suicides.

However, demographic and historical differences make a direct comparison difficult though both countries are similar economically.

There might be a number of contributing factors particularly related to economic pressures in Guyana that may exacerbate mental health.

Poverty, income inequality and unemployment have all been identified as exacerbating factors to mental health.

Despite the discovery of oil and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Guyana still has one of the lowest standards of living in the Caribbean with a per capita GDP of $4,240.

Approximately 60pc of Guyana’s 808,726 people live in isolated villages along the coast where jobs and community resources like mental health facilities are limited.

There are also a number of social factors that are under investigation for what may be contributing towards the high suicide rate within a Guyanese context.

One of those factors is alcohol abuse. Studies suggest that alcohol use disorder is a likely contributor to suicidal ideation and attempts.

A 2010 study by the Pan American Health Organisation reported that nearly 80pc of Guyanese adolescents had their first drink before the age of 14.

It is worth noting that the relationship between alcohol and suicide is still vastly underre-

searched and studies in this area are ongoing.

President and co-founder of the Guyana Psychological Association, Balogun Osunbiyi, adds that family dysfunction and domestic violence may have also contributed to Guyana’s suicide rates. Reported incidences of domestic violence is higher than the global average of one out of three women with one out of two women in Guyana between the ages of 15 and 60 having experienced some form of domestic violence.

Social stigma might also be a powerful factor in high suicide rates. Many people in Guyana fear being shunned or stigmatised if they reveal struggles with mental health due to a lack of awareness. This often leads to isolation.

The stigma goes back to an outdated piece of mental health legislation created in 1930 when Guyana was still a British colony.

This legislation defined people with mental health challenges as “idiots” or suffering

from mental “derangement”.

The consequence of this is that many people fear being locked up and isolated which is supported by evidence according to Anthony Autar, a mental health advocate and former managing director of the Guyana Foundation.

TREATMENT

According to Autar, 85pc of patients sent for treatment spend more than five years in a psychiatric hospital and at present there are no laws to protect the rights of patients to refuse services or leave the hospital on their own accord.

The government of Guyana has recognised the significance of this social problem. As a result they have launched an ongoing national suicide plan and since 2015 a National Mental Health Action Plan for 2015 to 2020.

This consisted of training additional psychiatrists, the development of a psycho-social rehabilitation centre and developing more programmes and educa-

tion that targets vulnerable individuals.

The Ministry of Public Health has sponsored an initiative called Cognitive Behavioural Intervention for Teachers in Schools, which aims to train and prepare teachers to recognise and provide mental health support for students in schools.

This programme is set to expand further in the coming years. There is some early evidence that these interventions are working as more Guyanese people are coming forward with their mental health struggles and are seeking treatment.

The National Suicide Plan has shown a 32pc decrease in attempted suicides since the WHO report in 2014.

Hopefully with the expansion of these efforts combined with the rapid development of Guyana, the suicide rate will continue to fall.

Guyana is a country with huge potential and to reach this potential it has to sufficiently invest in the human component of its development.

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

@thevoicenewspaper

@thevoicenews

voicenews

www.voice-online.co.uk

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

|

29

News Feature

‘This is not reparations’

Despite a pledge to invest £100m to ‘address past wrongs’, the Church of England face demands for ‘real’ compensation for involvement in slavery. By Leah Mahon

T

HE CHURCH OF England’s pledge to invest £100 million to “address past wrongs” after their slave trade past has been blasted for not being real reparations.

A report by the Commissioners of the Church revealed its links to a billion pound endowment partly funded by the Queen Anne’s Bounty Act of 1704.

In response to the findings, the Board said the CofE’s dealings in the trans-Atlantic slave trade was as “a shameful and horrific sin” and issued apologies led by the Archbishop of Canterbury for the role they played.

They announced their commitment to addressing “past wrongs by investing in a better future” that will spearhead investment, research and engagement over the next nine years through an impact investment fund.

JUSTICE

Esther Stanford-Xosei, pictured below, a leading reparations expert, criticised the multi-million pound fund for failing to answer the ongoing demands for reparations for black communities still dealing with the ramifications of slavery.

“That fact is this £100 million fund is not reparations. And I think people need to be properly educated on the fact that just because an institution makes a link between its own resources and slavery and people say we’re going to put some money to try and address this issue, doesn’t make it reparations just because someone acknowledges a history of slavery,” she said.

“Reparations basically have to be determined by victims, meaning affected communities, the descendants of enslaved people.

And we don’t yet have a forum or a mechanism that can canvas the will or views of our people collectively to then make a determination as to what we want around reparatory justice.”

The CofE itself has never claimed the multi-million pound fund were reparations or served as reparatory justice in any way despite mainstream coverage of the news.

However, they said they wanted to invest in a “better and fair-

er future for all,” particularly for communities that have been affected by chattel slavery through factors like grant funding.

It comes three years after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, admitted that the Church of England was “still deeply institutionally racist” and an anti-racism taskforce was set up in 2020 to tackle racial bias and discrimination in its ranks.

Ms Stanford-Xosei believes that the recent efforts have only been made by the Church due to the activism of black members in the religious institution.

She went on to say that the Church was following in the footsteps of many UK universities, such as the University of Cambridge and Glasgow University, who have taken the lead in conducting their own research into their connections with the trading of black lives.

However, she warned that it runs the risk of excluding people who have been “harmed by the church historically and in more recent times” from contributing from a grassroots level.

“What they’ve begun to do is divert resources to uncovering this history so they can ascertain what has been done and therefore what their own legal kind of responsibilities might be,” she said.

“But it’s a long way away from reparations. Reparations are not grants, this is what they’re saying that people can apply for grants. They make it very clear that these grants are not necessarily specific to affected communities, which again, is what would be an indicator of reparations. But it has to be people who have been actually harmed get to have a say on how the resources should be utilised.”

The outspoken reparations activist also slammed the Church for being “secretive” after claiming that they have an extensive property portfolio in Africa and the Caribbean around the Anglican Church.

She said the amount of land owned by the Church in the UK remains

'FAILURE': The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welsby, admitted three years ago that the Church of England was “still deeply institutionally racist” (photos: PA Images)

unknown as well as the same for former colonies. Under international law, reparations is defined as five key principles including restitution, rehabilitation, compensation, satisfaction and finally a guarantee of nonrepetition — the returning of land would be among the laws outlined.

The Church of England’s endowment fund totals over £9 billion, which had its origins in the South Sea Company, following its announcement that they would invest £100 million over nearly a decade.

Slave-owner Edward Colston,

whose statue was toppled in Bristol at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, benefited from the controversial endowment.

The multi-million pound sum was blasted by Ms Stanford-Xosei for being a mere “drop in the ocean” and said the initial fund generated from the endowment would actually total £724 million in today’s money.

Reverend Dr David Walker, the deputy chair of the Church Commissioner, told BBC’s Sunday Morning Live that the Church acted “quickly” as soon as the findings of the report were unearthed and said the sum of money was “generous” compared to other organisations who have tried to make up for their part in the slave trade.

He also went on to deny that the £100 million investment was a reparations from the Church of England.

“This is not what’s sometimes referred to as reparations, which is about trying to identify people who are the descendants of individual slaves and to compensate them, because we

The money we are committing is part of a journey of healing actually think the money will be of a much greater impact if it goes to funding businesses and opportunities that make money,” he said. “It’s an impact investment fund so we expect that investment to make money, to earn money and through that money it earns we will be able to make grants that will go to causes that support dealing with the legacy of slavery.

It might be things like education in some of those countries in West Africa or the West Indies or to give people better life choices in the future because their life choices are still hampered by that legacy of slavery from the past.”

Mike Royal, a general secretary at Churches Together in England, said the £100 million investment was a “step in the right direction” and served as “reparations in everything but name only”.

“It is a first step, it is nothing

more than that. It sends the right message to other church denominations and also other institutions about the need for them to undertake this forensic kind of financial examination of their history,” he said.

“The current mission activity of the Church of England is worth over £9 billion. And so £100 million is only roughly one per cent of the value of that fund.

So while it’s welcome, there’s a long way to go, but it sends a message to other institutions.”

Mr Royal added that “several things still needed to be worked on” to determine the benefactors of the fund and whether that will stretch as far as communities in Africa and the Caribbean.

A Church of England spokesperson told The Voice: “It is impossible to repair the damage caused by the generations of human misery inflicted through the Transatlantic Slave Trade in any fair or meaningful way. We think it’s important to understand the truth of our past, apologise for past wrongs, and seek to invest in a better future for us all. The money we are committing is part of a journey of repentance and healing.

“The Church Commissioners see the proposed response as a means of investing in a better future for all. We want to help create a lasting positive legacy.”

30 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Midlands News

IT’S VITAL TO HAVE AN OPEN MIND

By Veron Graham MISUNDERSTOOD: eurodivergent people suffer misconceptions from school age and through life

Keith McKenzie, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, is on a mission to raise awareness about neurodivergence through a variety of projects

A

DISABILITY AWARENESS campaigner whose digital activism brought him to the attention of Google, has called for people with neurological difficulties to be more widely embraced as “citizens, community participants and enterprise leaders, not just candidates for employment and education.”

The appeal from Birmingham-based Keith McKenzie, inset right, came as West Midlands Combined Authority listed supporting 3,000 people with health conditions and almost 900 into employment among its successes in closing the health inequalities highlighted and exacerbated by COVID-19 (as reported on the opposite page).

McKenzie lives with Asperger’s Syndrome, following a diagnosis in his 30s while studying at the University of Northampton.

He has rebounded from personal challenges to develop a variety of awareness projects over two decades to change the public perception of hidden related difficulties including Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Social Anxiety.

He featured in a video campaign to promote his home city building a legacy follow-

ing last year’s Commonwealth Games. Although recognising the strides made in disability awareness in recent times, McKenzie is spurred on to widen societal access by addressing “unhelpful attitudes,” including an accusation that he “appears too positive.”

It was this mindset that enabled him to create an awareness website in support of a Google staffer who lives with ADHD that prompted the tech giant to put him forward for recognition with the regional mental health advocacy group, Thrive at Work in 2017.

The Voice spoke to McKenzie, who is also a graphic designer and self-confessed salsa dancing enthusiast, to see what his route map would be towards a fairer and truly inclusive Britain.

VG: What was it about your awareness website that won Google’s acclaim?

KM: It helped enable a team at Google to be more understanding and supportive towards their colleagues.

VG: What is your approach to disability awareness and advocacy based on?

KM: The awareness website and the projects focus more on human aspects, moving away from medical aspects and generalisations to value a person, regardless of their difficulties or background.

VG: What were the signs that led to your diagnosis with Asperger’s?

KM: I noticed a gap in specific neurological abilities and how I was treated diff e r e n t l y.

Because of this, I developed a personal development reference and note-taking s y s t e m which enabled me to be organised and efficient. Also, when I was at university, I faced many boundaries socially and initially, I was in denial due to the negative implications of my place in society.

VG: Are there misconceptions about the condition you’d like to clear up or help people understand more fully?

KM: Even though there is increasing knowledge of neurological difficulties, there are still outdated attitudes with expectations that those living with them will not display their difficulties in work, education, or volunteering without any

adjustm e n t s .

One of the greatest misconcep misconceptions is that peo some peoassoci ple associate their difficulties with just socialisis ing issues, often disregarding other difficulties (short-term memory, limitation of lateral abilities and anxiety).

I never accept how other people define me, being black and on the autistic spectrum, however, I often get frowned upon for communicating in a way that is seen as too articulate and passionate.

VG: How else does your condition affect how you are received as a campaigner?

KM: Despite being told that there are not enough black men with autism and neurodiverse individuals who speak on such

topics, I do come across unhelpful attitudes and comments that I appear too positive!

VG: Describe how important it is for organisations to help people with life-limiting conditions and recognise what they can do/ work as rather than what they can’t?

KM: There is an increasing movement to embrace people with certain neurological difficulties, but this should not be limited to employment, education or volunteering. We also need to embrace neurodiverse people as citizens, community participants, in relationships and even developers of an enterprise.

There is a lot more to them than difficulties; many have specific talents, but these can only be discovered if the person is fully supported and encouraged over a period of time. Also, as well as understanding and acceptance, we have to equally respect a neurodiverse person’s human rights, dignity and ability

to decide how they deal with situations.

VG: Are there any special comments or requests you’d like to make to the readers, employers, elected officials from your standpoint as a black male living with Asperger’s Syndrome?

KM: Everyone in society needs to have an open mind to listen better to direct and unfiltered voices, experiences and recommendations from autistic and neurodiverse individuals in particular from all diverse backgrounds. I used to be constantly stigmatised within diverse communities: being pressured to hide my difficulties but this can lead to being accused of lacking authenticity. We must discourage demonising a person’s difficulties as shameful.

If we want more autistic and neurodiverse individuals, including those from diverse backgrounds, to excel in all sections of society, we need to all improve in being more patient and accommodating, and have an open mind.

Golfing society looking for new blood

DRIVE: he Caribbean olfing Society is wanting to add more female and younger members to its ranks

AS ITS new season approaches in March, The Caribbean olfing Society C S is looking to add to its already rich history of providing social support through its sporting platform It is on the hunt for a registered charity to support and add more female and younger members to its ranks, which are dominated by the over s

C S came to be when founder member enny Senior met eventual chairman unior arris at atchford Brook olf Club in Birmingham in the mids Later oined by ean Leath and nsel ottinger, all black men with a common love of golf friendship grew as they helped each other improve their game, until the

idea for what became C S emerged, launching in and holding its C S first official event on ood riday C S’ members meet on a monthly basis playing golf at different locations around the country during the season, which concludes in September, and is marked with an end of year gala dinner and presentation evening

Since its inception, C S has provided financial aid to a range of charities combatting sickle cell anaemia, heart disease, breast and prostate cancer, plus Children in eed and those helping vulnerable adults in olverhampton or more information, visit caribbeangolfingsociety co uk

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

| 31

Midlands News

NO BARRIERS IN THE NHS Progress is being made to address the disparities in health and wellbeing that people across the region are still experiencing

S

LOW BUT steady progress is being made to close the regional inequalities gap in response to pledges made during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic by health authorities.

The assertion was made during a recent meeting of the Health of the Region Roundtable which looked at the landscape following the publication of ‘Health of the Region: Addressing health and wellbeing inequalities and the impact of COVID-19 in the West Midlands’ nearly three years ago.

The gathering, which featured more than 100 key regional organisations and included famed campaigner Patrick Vernon OBE, in his guise as chair for NHS Birmingham and Solihull, asserted that 46 of the 65 commitments set out in the report are either being delivered or starting to be embedded to equalise health care and provision.

Among the commitments claimed is a long-lasting physical activity and wellbeing legacy for the region developed by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) delivery partners to encourage people to get active in targeted areas of poor health. This has seen more than 16,000 pieces of Games sports equipment donated to commuCOMMITMENT: Patrick Vernon, chair of Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board; Tapiwa Mtemachani, director of Transformation and Partnership, Black Country Integrated Care Board; Lola Abudu, deputy director of Health & Wellbeing, Midlands Office for Health Improvements & Disparities; Andy Streert, mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair

nity organisations as well as the setting up of physical and mental health activity groups.

In addition to the strides by the Thrive into Work programme in supporting those with life-limiting health conditions, other reported success included West Midlands Fire Service’s programme of signposting residents to health and care services which has resulted in people quitting and being less likely to inadvertently cause a fire.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust achieved the Race

Despite the challenges faced by the the NHS, we’ve made real progress

STRATEGY: Real progress has been made in the health sector in the West Midlands; inset, Patrick Vernon OBE

Code Charter Mark — a framework for achieving race diversity at board and senior levels to improve the diversity and representation of its workforce.

“It’s encouraging to see that so much positive work has been done right across the region over the past two years,” WM elected mayor Andy Street

commented. “I’m delighted to see the substantial efforts our partner organisations have made — in some respects even going beyond what they had committed to in the Health of the Region Report.

“Despite the significant challenges faced by the NHS and wider health sector post-COVID, we’ve made real progress. But

there is more work to be done collectively as we continue to address the disparities in health and wellbeing that local people sadly experience right across our region. I remain hopeful that — by working together — we can do exactly that.”

Vernon said: “The roundtable discussion provided a good opportunity to set out our sys-

tem-wide vision and plans for tackling health inequalities in the context of the challenges that people in Birmingham and Solihull tell us that they are experiencing day in, day out.

“We have put in place a strategy which sets out how we can do this collaboratively with our partners. A key part of this looks at how we commission services

more effectively, focused on making decisions informed by population data, ensuring we measure impact on advancing equality, adding social value and reducing these inequalities. This means we are actively working to direct existing resources to where there is greatest need, making services more accessible and free of barriers.”

Civic recognition for scores of businesses THE FOCUS on health and wellbeing in the workplace continues in the region, with scores of businesses and charities receiving civic recognition for actively promoting the health and wellbeing of their staff.

As part of the Thrive at Work scheme, which was set up five years ago, over organisations representing a total of , employees, were acknowledged for their proactivity and received accreditation enabling them to demonstrate their commitment to good employee

welfare. Dr Julie Nugent, the West Midland Combined Authority’s (WMCA) executive director for economic delivery, skills and communities, said: “Congratulations to all the businesses that have been rightly awarded today for actively promoting the health and wellbeing of their staff.

“It is encouraging to see so many employers empowered to take a positive approach to employee wellbeing and transforming their workplace to become happier, healthier and more productive.”

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

32 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Sade Thomas

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

The Gospel Truth

The real Shadey stands up...

S INCE ITS origin, gospel music has been an anchor for the black community providing hope in the face of injustice and a source of empowerment in advancing social change.

While some may have their views that the black Christian community has lost its influence in reaching those in need, the likes of Seth Pinnock and Still Shadey, real name Luke, are examples of how they use their Christian faith to positively impact their surrounding communities.

Pinnock, right, is internationally known as lead singer and songwriter for award-winning gospel group Seth Pinnock & A New Thing whose most recent album, A New Thing Live!, released in 2019, charted in the top 10 of the

Still Shadey and Seth Pinnock aren’t just about making music Official Christian Music Charts.

Pinnock’s faith is not just expressed in his musical creativity but is the fuel behind his social entrepreneurial initiative, Symphony Schools. A programme set up to support young black men with free extra tuition ahead of their GCSEs. The programme gives young black men the ability to realise their academic potential and enables the Church to be, as Pinnock describes, an ‘evangelical witness’, as students are tutored by Christian

qualified tutors in churches in Birmingham, Manchester and London.

Symphony Schools have seen improvements in predicted grades in GCSE English and science. Pinnock plans to evolve the programme with mentoring opportunities, business insight visit days and so much more.

Similarly, Shadey is taking up space in the music scene.

Last year he received the MOBO Award for Best Gospel Act. The rapper and songwriter’s ability to pen his own experiences of crime, violence and trauma in his recent album, How to kill a Caterpillar, while providing hope, are all elements that make him a Christian artist that is both relatable and a beacon

of light to the secular world.

These past experiences have largely influenced Shadey’s community involvement.

Recently appointed as director of the Croydon-based charity MENT4, Shadey supports young people aged 12 to 17 with emotional and behavioural challenges through mentoring, guiding them to make better decisions. The charity’s work has seen progress in young people’s re-engagement with their families, education and employment.

For both Seth and Shadey, it goes beyond the music, as for them, the gospel is about seeing the most marginalised and vulnerable transformed.

To support SymphonyCo, visit https://wearesymphony.co/ To support Ment4, visit http://www.ment4.org/.

Both Seth Pinnock & A New Thing and Still Shadey’s music are available on all digital platforms

BEACON OF LIGHT: Still Shadey is helping the vulnerable

Support The Voice in 2023

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Get it delivered directly to your door NO. • ISSUE

It’s easy and convenient!

1923

BORN LEADER first

England’s es tain tak black cap al in nation his place e Hall of Fam

JANUARY 2022

e

See insid

021 Month 2 History g Black n ti ra b le

WWW.VOICE-ONLIN

KNOW? U O Y O D Y ARE E H T O WH

Ce

UK

LINE.CO.

OICE-ON

WWW.V

E.CO.UK

Happy New Yea

r to all our reader

TIDE WILL TUR

2 22

THE VOICE PAN EL VERDICT: After a tough year for the black o u t there s roo or hope

A

S O U T H WA R K FREE FOR TAT E M E M B E RS

TATE MOD ERN 25 N OV 2021 – 3 J U L 2022

VOICE panel of past few months for race activists and en- equality Their conclusion “the seed has trepreneurs was echbeen oe has planted” r ta s ost se to deliver change predicted 2022 or go- trade union will ing forward. be a better year leader, Dr Patrick than the last Roach who Black Britain was one. seeing a message, said, in a New Year new generation Looking into their that black workers of activism crystal ball and had the power the panel said entrepreneurship. to force change that although One and tackle panellist said: “The we had survived structural racism. tide is cera turbulent tainly changing.”

Read more › page

Supported by John J. Studzinski CBE With additional support Exhibition Supporters from the Lubaina Himid Circle, Tate Americas Tate International Foundation, Council and Tate Patrons Media partner

Lubaina Himid Le Rodeur: The Exchange Courtesy of the artist and Hollybush 2016 © Lubaina Himid Gardens, London.

ting 25

Celebra

years of

OBV

es 25 to

See pag

£2.50

s

N IN

IVE these EXCLUS ice why lls The Vo otten lusoga te ould not be forg to page 3 O id av , turn ian D ory sh Find out TV histor ack British hist Bl figures of

32

UK BLACK

• ISSUE NO. 1926

ONE’S TO WATCH: Our tips for the top in FEATURE 2022 SPECIAL p36-37

£2.50

8

OCTOBER

2020

26 | THE VOICE OCTOBER 2020

e

wif e and Mid The Nurs ind the Beh

BU SI NE SS GU ID

6th Edition - Digital 2021/22

ADVERTORIAL

OF SP NEWSPAP ER

ORT

AHEA

Mask

RLWC2

1 SPEC

D OF T

IAL

TO COVE P SPORTS RA VOIC GE 24/7 ECO.UK ONLINE. /SPOR T APRIL 2021

HE GA

| THE VOIC

ME

E

African ean &Caribb RESTAURANT FOOD &

OCTOBER ISSUE 5

POWERE

E

2021-22

R 2021

OCTOBE

GUIDE

‘Black Britain and Beyon

U

d’ virtual symposium

CL Culture British Black communities’ e er has c anging glo alised part- are a le to in is created as a reminder, est in in world to nderstand nered with ence and shape dis and perhaps another as equal arities w ilst strengt the Black Brit- stakeholders.” en timely starting point” ing commonalities ain and Beloo The theme and title yond ‘virtual’ symposium ing backwards (Africa) on ‘Being and Belonging’ and sideways (Caribbean o t e sym osi m Be ing and Belonging’, The organisers of to be hosted on 24 is the the & USA), and to continue Octogolden thread ber 2020. The symposi- sym osi m are mo ing orward and which l e weaves ture’s Revd Professor um’s ethos is to provide together Keith yond. the a Magee, world renowned lenary wider understanding a senior fellow in and speakers, performances, relevance to the meaning c lt re stice and glo and the moderated al social justice scholar, “Black Britishness”, to panel take sessions eat ring stock of its achievements public intellectual and inter generational isiting ro essor o and challenges. The leading so symexperts. posium will inspire partic- cial stice at ewcas Participants will a e t e o or ipants, provoke thought, tle University; Ms Sheryl wos a tunity to celebrate and catalyse progress, lic s ea er, senior barrister blackness and being creating a forum that at ini- a leading defence Black in Britain now tiates and facilitates con- barristers and beyond these versations across 25 Bedford Black Row, times, to identify and and an advocate communities locally, re- on articulate their shared issues of race at the gionally, nationally and Bar Secretary Lonnie Bunch. and dis arate c and r ndy internationally. ndy al Castle, a documentary lenges, and to determine “This symposium makes a ma or contri tion filmma er rod cer t re acing strategies y ill and in minating a setting designed how expanding “We believe that change director anaging irec to l our knowledge about timately strengthen this starts with a conversation tor of DocHearts Films.

Black o organiser eryl personal and During UK Black History Nwosu professional community will help all and t ro g t e am said: “We’re here, see that the histories lifi networks.

Month, October 2019, and cation of the voices the we’re embedded here, less t ree egan e eriences o lac to colla o Brit through history, culture, heard’, said Simon Cane, rate on convening ons are both the story of a Executive Director, Black and contri tion UCL ild people and a nation.”

“There are few things Culture. “This is a critical Britons to engage in and ing and solidi ying instit as critically assess t e signi im ortant and as tions, and the very conversation about nec fabric essary the icance o t eir For continuing informani e c l of a society that we as the need to t re t at we want to can better cre tion about speakers, ture, heritage and identity. sometimes ate, a future where understand the forget that Black performers, sponsors e goal ecame to gal history, the impact we have, should we lives are valued as and and registration much vanise Black want t please e ontem orary c Britons, to it, the ultimate stake as any other, a future al in, i.e. lenges that acclaim their visit the events website space in the its future. This symposium faced by black Britons,’, said Smithsonian at www.blackbritainbeyond.org.uk.

Britons

“

We’re here, we’re embedded here, through history, culture, and contribution

Future

”

Histories

Direc tor EYES on me says this ON THE PRIZE ntal he ye S: prestigioushe alth of ar’s tourn troph am disad vantag ent will br ea ed yo ung at k new grou hletes nd in North in focusing of Engla nd “Workin

Our custom

G

ENUIN ies E LEGAC create grabs up for Y will d at RLWC be seeks league long after ’s 21 their final finest have rugby menta to work togeth Rugby kicked ball l health er along Leagu tance partne L C e and rs to offer with its 1 has World Cup munitie in these guidance mitme assisunderl 2021 s and nt to uncert ined will tise of lishing to its comm ain times those in need s an comboth organi use the unities its com unique Officia menta

by Leagu WC20 by estab partne sations vast e perestabl partne l fitness 21’s rships e Cares at the r of Inspira to succes in the field UK M progra L C start and Mentawith ug ugtionAL of to mme UK 1’s sfully L legacyLthe tournaof October L Cares l ealth deliver orking Mental itness L C In the will deliver ment, will also with comm Leagu Charte lead RL Cares, 1 will work Menta e clubs r the work l ealth up need unity Rugby MHUK closely partne head of across for action ugby UK Leagu with L C as well with r Movem the ame’ the countr e Cares Menta progra as campa 1 and ber to l itness and the on a resilien will reach igns to y, year mme which deliver existing L a Charte positiv C 1 and help impac improv olds in is aimed ce , r tful e menta elite sports pathw comm e impact on aims to make at 1 encou around l fitness ays unities rage ugby perform -1 menta throug ogethe Leagu l health conversation ance Septem h the r’ e s ower Movem ally as ber 1 is mma of recogn ber head oldsm munity tive, a ised glob he progra ith, ay’, and orld Suicid of the globat L progra e revent ame’ initiaCares, head of commme the looking mme men’s campa ugby will develo added health forwar ion ign is theme for ped by young with d to workin “ e are on improv charity this year’s clubs’ League men’sbe delivered revent L C orking the athlete which schola to tal ing g profes s, , is ogethe throug and acade rships menta Suicide’ and coach ealth UK 1, Movember together sional h comm youth menta focused r to l fitness 1 -1 educa mies ing menta es, with the parents and and Menequip on campa unity l fitness L C tion will 1 -1 -year-year olds racy L the aim of l resilien ower, 1 efforts be the focus on health Cares have sport athlete the knowle ugby Leagu igns that rector, improv olds ce in worked s and as the said: “AgainL C 1 e perts of and e family will dge, skills adoles raising eracy neede tourna breaki Movem with men’s cent deliver with and aware menta RLWC legacy did ng new ment and ber to 2021 will l fitness their familie tal healthto tackle issues techniques tives ground progra ness among adapt head s and lithe mme be around coach for ugby of the has revealeOffice of with these initiaplayer Planni menes ationa s, ng is Leagu ame’ for d that strong e comthe first already well the ugbyl Statistics holds in the menta suffer being Leagu l fitness underway dispro hosted portion orth of nglande menta sessio in Leeds ately in l illness ns and the area the countr compa rafford red to y the rest of “ hese of figures demon strate the

clubs g with com acr mu Game’ oss the cou nity Rugby will rea League ntry, ‘Ahe ch 8,00 DELIVE ad of 0 you RED ng ath the letes”

The story

ers mak

of Speedy’s

An eye for

Moses Otun

Veget ri n

eci

A Voice Media Group Publication est efs Profiles tering es

Supported

by

e us gro

Delivery

collectible

la and Bleu

w p74

Service

furniture

furniture

p12

Knowing

Emmanue

what you

l Asuquo

A legacy

Uncle John

r nt Listings

are worth

has a pass

of sweet

’s Bakery

p22

ion for financ

e

bread p116

feeding the

nation

SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS

Connecting, Campaigning and Celebrating with our community for 40 years

12 monthly issues £38.88 ONLY! Includes package, postage and our special publications

Simply contact our office on 0207 510 0340 or 0207 510 0353 and pay with any major credit/debit card.

Print subscription can be also purchased by visiting our website: voice-online.co.uk/subscriptions For further information you can email: subscriptions@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk

D BY

AUGUST 2022

THE VOICE| 33

Book On-line @ www.jpshipping.co.uk

JP Shipping Services has been connecting the Caribbean and the United Kingdom since 1929, providing the goods and services that keep us together.

Preparing to ship to the WORLD CLASS SERVICE Caribbean for the FROM THE UK’S Christmas Season? SHIPPER LARGEST CARIBBEAN Local knowledge, Global reach

Antigua - Bahamas - Barbados - Grand Cayman - Dominica - Grenada - Guyana Jamaica - Montserrat - St Kitts - St Lucia - St Vincent - Tortola - Trinidad - Turks & Caicos

COMING SOON

Exciting new developments improveFAST the customer experience!

REGULAR to SERVICES TRANSIT TIMES PACKAGING

• New service offerings to meet our

customers more contemporary e-commerce shipping requirements

LONDON

JP RAM Shipping Unit 14 Lamson Road Rainham, Essex RM13 9YY +44 (0)2075 118 855 sales@jpshipping.co.uk

COLLECTION RELOCATION SHIPPING • New and improved SEA OR AIRFREIGHT • New and improved DOOR•TOMore DELIVERY DOORdetails SERVICE

company website portal

on-line booking

COLLECT ANYWHERE IN THE UK experience

to follow shortly

NEWPORT

JP Shipping Services BOOK ONLINELtd Main ABP Building www.jpram.co.uk Alexandra Dock, New sailing schedules on our Newport website now NP20 2NP Nearly 100 years of service +44 (0)1633 842 062 and still growing! sales@jpshipping.co.uk

PERSONAL EFFECTS - VEHICLES - RETAIL GOODS - COMMERICAL CARGO

34 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Muyiwa Olarewaju

Nothing But Truth and Light

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

This little light of mine

RESILIENCE: Ghanaian-born publisher, editor and writer, Margaret Busby, became the first black woman to publish a book in the UK (photo: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Times are hard but inspiration is within us, and all around us

A

S WE begin a new year, it’s natural to feel nervous about what the future holds, especially when we focus on all the negative headlines.

However, I want to encourage you to have faith and be strong in 2023.

One verse that can provide comfort and encouragement during difficult times is Zechariah 8:12-13, which says: “For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.

And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing.”

These verses remind us that even in the midst of hardship, God is with us and will provide for us.

There will be times we feel like giving up and it can be difficult to know what steps to take to get ourselves on track.

However, there are some things you can do to help you push through. Reflect on your reasons for wanting to give up.

Are they realistic and valid?

Are there any underlying issues that may be contributing to your feelings of defeat?

Understanding the root cause of your feelings can help you address them more effectively.

Remind yourself of your goals and why they are important to you.

Reflecting on the reasons why you started on your journey in the first place can help reignite your passion and drive.

Take a break. Sometimes, when we are feeling overwhelmed and burnt out, the best thing we can do is step back and take some time for ourselves. Allow yourself to rest and recharge

before diving back into your goals. Seek support. Talking to someone who can offer a different perspective or provide encouragement and motiva-

tion can be incredibly helpful.

Reach out to a friend or family member, or seek out a professional counsellor or coach.

Find inspiration in the Bible.

Romans 8:28 says: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”

This verse reminds us that even when things seem difficult and uncertain, there is always a purpose and a greater good that can come out of our struggles.

Take action. Once you have taken the time to reflect, recharge, and seek support, it’s important to take action.

Make a plan, set a goal and

IMPACT: Bukayo Saka has bounced back from the disappointment of defeat in the Euros

take the first step towards it.

Even small actions can make a big difference in helping you regain your motivation and determination. Be kind to yourself. Be patient with yourself and don’t be too hard on yourself. Remember that everyone has moments of doubt and uncertainty, and that it’s okay to take a step back and regroup.

Giving up can be difficult but it’s important to remember that it’s not the end. With the right mindset, support, and action, you can overcome any obstacle and achieve your goals.

Another source of inspiration is a name that you won’t readily see on your TikTok or Instagram.

Margaret Busby, a publisher, editor, and writer, who has made significant contributions to the literary world in the UK. Despite facing discrimination as a black woman in a predominantly white industry, Busby persevered and went on to become the youngest and first black woman to publish a book in the UK. Her determination and resilience serve as a reminder that we too can overcome obstacles and achieve

our goals. Diane Abbott MP is another figure who serves as an inspiration. As the first black woman to be elected to the British Parliament, she has faced her fair share of adversity, including racism and sexism. However, she has remained steadfast in her commitment to be light in her world.

Finally, I want to highlight Bukayo Saka, a young football player who has made a name for himself in the sport. Despite his young age, and the public abuse he has faced which we were all party to during the Euros in 2021 and the World Cup last year, he has already made a significant impact on the field, and his hard work and dedication serve as a reminder that with determination and perseverance, we can achieve our dreams.

In conclusion, as we face the challenges of a new year, let us be encouraged by the words of Zechariah, the examples of Margaret Busby, Diane Abbott MP, and Bukayo Saka, and remember that with faith and determination, we can overcome any obstacle and achieve what seems impossible in 2023.

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

@thevoicenewspaper

@thevoicenews

voicenews

www.voice-online.co.uk

Lifestyle John-Paul Zaccarini’s drops truth bombs p36

MAGICAL BONES PRESENTS ...

Soulful Magic p38

Chantelle Azille on what to do when in Barbados p44

Davinia Tomlinson wants you to know that ‘Cash is Queen’ p45

36 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Lifestyle

‘Bring it all to the party and be seen!’

LOUD AND PROUD: John-Paul Zaccarini is sending a message to the haters with his latest work (photo: Andrea Davis-Kronlund)

John-Paul Zaccarini is encouraging black voices to speak up. By Joel Campbell

J

OHN-PAUL ZACCARINI is artistic director of FutureBrownSpace, a creative space of recovery, discovery and artist development free from white noise and the white gaze.

The space is designed for people of colour (POC) who operate in largely white institutions/ fields, and offers them breathing space to uncensor themselves.

Part of the Certain Blacks Heroes Festival, Zaccarini’s The MixRace MixTape is a stand up, spoken word journey of passion, hope, humour and classism, through which the artist and academic explores the political and emotional minefield of intersectionality in a highly personal and provocative performance.

Heroes is a festival set to inspire and entertain audiences beginning with a celebration of international female musicians Maria Uzor, Helen Adove Hawk, Daphne Sadeh and duo Eastern Strings.

As well as the frankness and humour of Zaccarini, LGBTQ+ poet, stand-up and academic, eroes boasts an e clusive event from legendary grime innovators Ruff Sqwad. s a finale, eroes welcomes a rare visit from LT Beauchamp (AKA Chicago Beau), the esteemed Chicago blues innovator who played on the seminal 19 album Certain Blacks by rt nsemble of Chicago, from which the London organisation takes its name.

Speaking to Lifestyle on how his experiences seep through every aspect of his work, Zaccarini says: “I’m a professor of Performing Arts at Stockholm University of the Arts. I’m also the only professor of colour.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the time I am the only POC in the room. With my sisters and brothers, I call myself rofessor

of the Black Arts, or Professor of Shade since sometimes I’m also the only vocally queer body in the room. “ nd I have a big gob, gifted to me from being raised in lephant and Castle by immigrant parents who upwardly mobilised me through public school ueer mouthy brown boy with an expensive education. No surprise then, that in my performance lecture MixRace MixTape, white boys get a beating, along with #himtoo, #straight pride, #whitehistorymonth and #alllivesmatter.

“Perhaps the only way to deliver my message to this super cis-hetero whiteness with their racial anxiety and fragility was with the witty shade of the queen winding up white boys is one of my favourite things a black rage crafted into hyper-articulate hip hop and the soft brown vulnerability of the sissy boy cat purring inside the panther.

“It was crafty, it was designed to lull a white audience into a false sense of security and to speak to the POC crowd in code – if you know you know and if you don’t then you got homework to do.

“So I perform different identities associated with different insults thrown my way, and I’m in the middle of shame rage

fear anxiety on the intersection of woke, on the cross roads of race and class, the bypass of sex and gender. And this is lecture.

“You can call me Professor Bender. Blackademic. Dragademic. And what happens when all the lights go green and all battles must be fought at the same time? hen you are tired of fighting se ism on the oor while racism ashes up on your screen? omophobia brothers, who got no clue, banging on your door and to the side right-wing queens are ganging up on you. “ re you tired of not bringing all of you to the party? When you have to leave one of you at home so as not to make someone feel uncomfortable? “ ell bring it to the party Bring it all to the party. And it will be a party or it will not be at all Sisters and brothers, turn all your lights green and let yourselves be seen “With your soul and your spirit, our gut and loin, brain and groin, let your chakras speak and endorphins sing while histories spin and puke and struggle births the conception of the everyday divine, the goddess of rhythm and the gods of rhyme.

“The music of the cells, the molecular dance of pasts forming presence, vibrational chance escribe the future In your speculations. And in your fictions, may the past be your tutor May you be present in your prediction.

“Sisters and Brothers – this is the MixRace MixTape.”

Certain Blacks Presents: Heroes, February 2-17 Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6LA John-Paul Zaccarini — The MixRace MixTape February 3

@thevoicenewspaper

Heroes: programme of events FEBRUARY 2 Launching Heroes is an evening of music from beguiling, female stars.

They including Helen Adove Hawk, a multifaceted vocalist, composer and loop station virtuoso. Expect a dreamy fusion of sound, dance and performance from Hawk who started her career as a dancer.

On the same night, Daphna Sadeh and Eastern Strings join forces. Sadeh is an innovative double bassist and composer whose take on classical, jazz and Middle Eastern sounds has resulted in worldwide recognition.

Her performance at Heroes will be complemented

by Bristol-based duo Eastern Strings. The line-up is completed by the striking sounds and visuals of artist Maria Uzor, whose new single Over This blends seductive beats

@thevoicenews

with gritty, energised elements of avant pop, dub and electro. Uzor is a Norwichbased electronic artist and producer. £10/8 8pm FEBRUARY 4 Ruff Sqwad presents Lights Up founded by grime legends Prince OwusuAgyekum (aka Rapid) and Ebenezer Ayerh (aka Slix).

The Ruff Sqwad Arts Foundation (RSAF) was set up in 2017 to help young people reach their full potential in creative careers and life.

RSAF formalises and develops the work that Prince and Ebenezer have been doing since 2014. Lights Up will include spoken word, rap, grime, dance, and musical and performative surprises from Ruff Sqwad members. o fi o a come courtesy of exciting a ofi o

voicenews

The Hitrz, Lil Shakz, Kween Deekay, Cassie, T Roadz and BZ. £10/8 8pm-12am FEBRUARY 17 LT ‘Chicago Beau’ Beauchamp is a musician, writer and publisher who, among many other achievements, was a major contributor to the album Certain Blacks by the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Beau was born on the southside of Chicago in 1949 into a household where the music of luminaries Dinah Washington, Coleman Hawkins, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Ivory Joe Hunter and Ruth Brown provided a constant soundtrack.

Beau will be backed by a band of high calibre UK musicians led by bass player Miles Danso. £10/8 7.30pm-10pm

www.voice-online.co.uk

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

|

37

Lifestyle

Taking it to the candy shop

B

RITISH GHANAIAN theatre-maker Tristan FynnAiduenu prides himself on creating and delivering work which stretches the imagination of his audiences.

Ahead of the four-week run of Bootycandy at the Gate Theatre in Camden, he says he wants to present “a side of a powerful, unapologetic black queer imagination that we seldom see”.

Kicking off on February 13, Fynn-Aiduenu directs the UK premiere of Robert O’Hara’s provocative and funny, Bootycandy, a whip-smart, high-octane, roller coaster ride about growing up black and gay.

With his unique brand of storytelling, Fynn-Aiduenu presents Sutter, who is on a journey. “I think Bootycandy and its form is one that will really speak to other queer black people in the UK and the frenetic, crazy nature of our existence,” Fynn-Aiduenu says.

“Each vignette in the piece is a side of a powerful, unapologetic black queer imagination that we seldom see on the British stage.

This play speaks to me as a queer

Tristan Fynn-Aidenu brings Bootycandy to the UK stage. By Jerome Conway black man still exploring my place in the world and all stuff that has made me who I am today.”

The winner of the 2019 JMK Director Award, Fynn-Aiduenu has directed at venues such as the Young Vic, Royal Court and National Theatre. He is an associate director of Initiative.dkf, and associate artist at Brixton House and Gate Theatre.

IMMERSIVE

His previous works include multi award-nominated productions Sweet Like Chocolate Boy, Little Baby Jesus, Sundown Kiki and For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, for which he won the Black British Theatre Award for Best Director and Best Production.

It’s been a busy decade for Fynn-Aiduenu who graduated with a first class degree in rama with English Literature from Roehampton University and a schol-

arship MA in Writing for Stage & Broadcast Media. He was one of the chosen writers on the Royal Court’s Open Court in 2015 and the Bush Theatre’s emerging writers programme in 2017, was longlisted for BBC Writersroom in 2017 and was a director on the Young Vic’s Springboard course in 2018.

The full cast for Bootycandy includes Prince Kundai as Sutter playing alongside Bimpé Pacheco, DK Fashola, Luke Wilson and Roly Botha.

Looking ahead to the production Fynn-Aiduenu says: “I want to create a show that feels immersive, hyper-colourful, mindbending, messy and imagination expanding – because that is what a lot of the beautiful black queer minds I have met are like to me.”

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, left, and below, Prince Kundai (photo: Yellow Belly Photos) and DK Fashola

Gate Theatre: Theatro Technis @ 26 Crowndale, 26 Crowndale Road, Camden, London, NW1 1TT February 13 to March 11

17 – 18 March 2023

Thuthuka Sibisi

Gregory Maqoma

Broken Chord Dance and a live choir combine to bring history to life.

38 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Lifestyle

B

REAKDANCING MAGICIAN and Britain’s Got Talent finalist, Magical Bones, is set to embark on a national tour with his acclaimed high-energy magic show Soulful Magic.

Bones, given the nickname because of his hard-hitting dance style, brings a set of powerful illusions intertwined with great stories, beautiful music, lots of laughter and, of course, top-tier dance moves is cutting-edge show is more than a deceptive spectacle of grand illusion it’s a concert of Soulful Magic’ “ ep, March we kick-off the tour and go all over the country, more venues than we did two years ago, he tells Lifestyle.

“I couldn’t be more eager to go on tour and keep on sharing my passion with the world “ ith trust at the core, magic can really inspire “I’ve always used magic to share my e periences of street culture and lifestyle and all the heroes that have inspired me this show is a testament to all these things “I have poured my heart and soul into these new effects, pushing myself to the realms of impossibility, and I believe this is my most ambitious pro ect to date.

“My brand of magic is celebrating the culture My first show was Black Magic and that was about changing the narrative “I’d spoken about the fact there is a lot of stigma around the phrase Black Magic’, about what it means “ here’s religious connotations to it and there are a lot of things attached to it “What I wanted to do was use Black’ in a celebratory way and speak about things like we all have a magic in us, our culture, our music “Soulful Magic is ust an e tension of that He added: “It’s a concert of magic I grew up performing magic to music around my house.

“My dad was a very soulful guy, so I listened to a lot of Stevie onder, a lot of Lionel ichie, while I was practicing with cards.

“I was also a dancer, so all of these things in uenced the style of magic I do “So, the show is ust a celebration of the culture and ama ing magic tricks But if you ust imagine bopping your head to a magic trick, which you probably wouldn’t do in a normal scenario, that’s in my show, we’re here to have a lot of fun Bones’ uniqueness resides in his ability to effortlessly combine intricate sleight of hand with mesmerising illusions o one else brings culture to the proceedings the way he does, though

Get ready to marvel at the amazing magic of Bones! he ritain’s Got alent finalist is promising his oulful agic tour will leave new and old fans ali e feeling completel mesmerised Joel amp ell

lready a star in his own right, he is humble enough to admit a lot of the ra mata that those who attend his show e peri peri-

ence is really down to his partner “She actually choreographs a lot of the pieces in the show She’s a dancer herself and she’s

STAR TURN: Magical Bones’ tour hits the road on March

@thevoicenewspaper

also an artistic director, he enthused.

“She does a lot of the behindthe-scenes stuff and builds a lot of the plots and the illusions and does the production value side of things as well as the perforperfor mance side of things, so she is a big part of the show e added “ e both love what we do, we’re both passionate about performance, music culcul ture nd, right now, the ourour ney we’re on is ust a constant celebration Speaking on how they balance their relationship, he addadd ed “ he last few years has reinrein forced that.

“You don’t know what’s around the corner and we ust try and celebrate every moment we have together, whether that be in a work capacity or whether that be at home “ hen you love what you do, it’s really cra y because it becomes part of your life, it bebe

@thevoicenews

comes a way of life, so it doesn’t feel like work. We’re blessed enough to do work that doesn’t feel like work, so we’re so super e cited “With the kind of work we do we’re fortunate enough to y around the world, so we always

“I have poured my heart and soul into this, pushing the realms of impossibility” take a moment to be grateful for what we have e do take time out to acknowledge the ourney we are on and we’re always celebrating and it’s always love is new show is the culmination of more than ten years of

voicenews

stage work that Bones has been performing since his first stage show, he Sleight Of ance 11 , up to his most recent success, Black Magic 191 e says those who attended his last tour will be pleasantly surprised at his growth or those who are attending for the first time, however, he says “prepare to be entertained , as he’s been honing his skills ersatile, ingenious and dynamic, Bones’ originality stands alone. e has quietly built a loyal following through the dinburgh ringe estival, est nd and multiple appearances, including his breathtaking performances as a finalist on Britain’s Got Talent, which the udges described as the “best-presented magic act we’ve ever seen Watch the full interview on The Voice website.

www.voice-online.co.uk

AUGUST 2022

THE VOICE| 39

40 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Lifestyle

Fighting the power

Hip Hop hero Chuck D is behind a series telling the story of the phenomenon. By Joel Campbell

A

SSESSING ‘HOW Hip Hop Changed The World’ is the focus of a BBC documentary executively produced by Hip Hop legend, Chuck D, called Fight The Power.

With the four episodes available on your screens now, the documentary series tells the story of the relationship between politics and the Hip Hop movement, recounting the origins of the revolutionary artform through first-hand accounts and charting the journey of how Hip Hop became a cultural phenomenon, against a backdrop of social and political American history.

Throughout the series, the way in which Hip Hop quickly created a provocative narrative of America is explored by weaving together interconnected moments via intimate interviews with integral players in the movement and archival footage.

Grammy award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Chuck D was at the vanguard of how Hip Hop became a platform for political expression and a vessel toward social justice.

As co-founder of Public Enemy, Chuck explores the lessons in black history and consciousness that his music dispatched while striving to dismantle racial constructs.

Fight The Power, Public En-

PACKING A PUNCH: Chuck D, of legendary Hip op outfit ublic Enemy, pictured inset below, produced the four-part series, now available on BBC iPlayer

“The Hip Hop community has been doing what the rest of the media is only now catching up to”

emy’s groundbreaking single released in 1989, became an anthem that called for unity against oppression and continues to resonate to this day.

It is often called the most important Hip Hop song of all time, is in the Library of Congress and was named the number two Greatest Song of All Time in 2021 by Rolling Stone.

TRUTHS

Prior to a private screening of the first episode Lifestyle attended in London’s West End, Chuck D said: “The Hip Hop community has, from the start, been doing what the rest of media is only now catching up to.

“Long before any conglomerate realised it was time to wake up, Hip Hop had been speaking out and telling truths.

“Working with PBS and the BBC is an opportunity to deliver these messages through new

ways and help explain Hip Hop’s place in history and hopefully inspire us all to take it further.”

Hip Hop luminaries featured in the series include B-Real from Cypress Hill, DMC, Eminem, IceT, Fat Joe, KRS-One, LL COOL J, MC Lyte, Monie Love, Abiodun Oyewole, Roxanne Shanté, and Will.I.Am as well as other culture figures such as ev l Sharpton, Sway Calloway, Walter ‘Hawk’ Newsome, Nelson George, Dr Rosa Alicia Clemente, Soren Baker, Dancin’ Doug Colón (one of the original b-boys), Leah Wright Rigueur, and many more.

Max Gogarty, Commissioning Editor, BBC, says: “Hip Hop is one of the most in uential and culturally defining movements of our time and we feel privileged to be able to bring this story to audiences, in collaboration with one of its founding figures Chuck “We’re grateful to all of the contributors in this series and our partners PBS who have helped tell this important story.”

Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World is out now on BBC iPlayer

‘I’m tr ing to put m self in uncomforta le situations’

NEW MOVES: JAE5

MAKING THE transition from the man being asked the questions by media, to the man doing the asking, hasn’t been the easiest for Grammy award-winning producer JAE5.

Nevertheless, the critically acclaimed artist took to his new role like a duck to water last month.

Having launched a special threepart series on Apple Music 1, the inaugural episode of his radio show, saw JAE5 joined by British Afroswing collective NSG to discuss their previous collaborations, newly recorded music and their recent tour of Africa.

The east Londoner’s evolutionary blend of rap production has earned him prestigious award wins Best Producer MOBOs , nominations Best Contemporary Song Ivor o-

vello 2020; Best Producer MOBO’s 2022 plus multiple BRIT and Mercury nods) and platinum records throughout his career.

Speaking on the new show, JAE5 told Apple Music host Dotty: “I’m getting involved! I’m trying to put out a show, trying to follow in your footsteps. Just want to throw a little motive, get people involved, get some of my friends out, just vibes.”

He added: “We got NSG, that’s fam, that’s my brothers. So I had to get them to come through. Honestly, it didn’t feel like radio, didn’t feel like anything, just felt like us in the bedroom 10 years ago, just talking … I’ve got P2J, just because he’s a producer I respect highly.

“He’s been killing it before I

was killing it, and he’s still killing it, so I had to get him in. And then, my brother, Michael Dapaah, just because he’s just the purest energy and vibes, always, so I just needed some vibes on the show.”

PERSPECTIVES

Elaborating on his conversation with P2J, he added: “You can expect two producers who are doing their things, different perspectives, because everyone thinks we’re competing.

“They don’t know we’re actually friends, and it’s a vibe, and we’re happy to be in the same space and it’s not competitive at all. And even if it is competitive, it’s very friendly, so it’s two people giving their opinion

on the same space but different views on it.

“It’s not a versus battle. It’s actually very appreciative, so it was more… I picked what songs I liked of his and he picked what songs he liked of mine, rather than let’s class who’s better, because it’s not that vibe.”

Candidly, JAE5 admitted he’s still getting used to doing the probing and creating a vibe during the process, it’s a skill he’s developing an appreciation for. He said: ” It’s very uncomfortable, but I’m trying to put myself in uncomfortable situations so I can grow.”

Tune into ‘JAE5 FM’ on February 4 for the chat with Michael Dapaah.

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

|

41

Lifestyle

Unlocking black potential

The Southbank Centre has teamed up with Apple to help young black creatives. By Joel Campbell

I

N THEIR ongoing efforts to address and remove the systemic barriers to career development black creatives face in the arts and creative industries, The Southbank Centre and Apple have announced national partners and further details of REFRAME. The pioneering new talent development programme, brought about to support emerging black and black mixed heritage creatives in London, Manchester and Birmingham, launches with a one-year pilot project between March and August in partnership with arts venues Factory International, Manchester, Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham and Birmingham City University’s STEAMhouse.

It will reach 80 emerging black creatives from low-income backgrounds as well as hundreds of secondary school children in 21 schools and aims to supercharge digital creative skills and help young people reach new heights in their creative careers.

The programme has two strands: The Residency programme, which is open to 80 talented black and black mixed heritage creatives (18to 30-year-olds) who have less than two years experience in their chosen field of film, photography or music.

There are 30 places available at the Southbank Centre, 25 at STEAMhouse and 25 at Factory International.

This free course runs for 14 days and consists of handson creative sessions as well as sessions led by Apple creative experts.

Designed in consultation with leading employers, it will focus on equipping young creatives to use digital tools needed for the future and preparing them for the practicalities of a career in the arts.

During the course, participants will be invited to creatively respond to the climate emergency, to global issues of climate justice, and to the challenges it poses for theirs and future generations, including its impact on young people’s mental health. heir work in film, audio and photography will be presented at the Southbank Centre in August as part of its summer season of multi-artform programming focussing on the climate emergency.

The second strand is Inspire

“This offers children and young people in the city a chance to upskill with leading tech professionals” Schools; 21 secondary schools based in communities that are historically underserved by cultural organisations in London, Greater Manchester and Birmingham, will work with artists, graphic designers, illustrators and climate experts to design their own response to the climate emergency and its effect on them and their communities.

Participating schools will be asked to create a zine, linking its content to one of the UN’s Sustainability Goals.

Each zine will feature poetry, illustration and creative writing and will be a classroom-based project, developing skills in literacy, design, IT and citizenship.

Projects will take place in the Spring 2023 term and the zines will be showcased in an online exhibition at the Southbank Centre, Factory International and Midlands Arts Centre.

Alisha Johnson Wilder, Director of Racial Justice Equity Initiative at Apple, said: “We’re thrilled that the Southbank Centre’s REFRAME program continues to take shape with the selection of new partners in London, Manchester and Birmingham.

We believe the opportunities for young black talent are boundless.

“This new program aims to unlock their extraordinary creative potential and will help them develop new skills that will benefit them well into the future Alexandra Brierley, director of Creative Learning at the Southbank Centre, said: “We’re honoured that the Southbank Centre and its partners in Manchester and Birmingham will be the first pple I funded partnership in Europe.

“We believe that everyone should have equal access to art and creativity.

“We’ll track the onward journeys of the 80 participants in The Residency at the end of the project to ensure that at least 85 per cent have been signposted

into further education or employment opportunities, and we will build a network of relevant cultural and skills development partners who will support this legacy The ground-breaking programme is part of Apple’s global Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI) – and represents pple’s first I e pansion into Europe.

Through Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, the collaboration aims to inspire future generations to take part in building a cultural legacy for the UK. The project aligns with the Arts Council England’s Let’s Create Strategy and the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda, which strives to build sustainable cultural communities across the country.

Randel Bryan, Executive Director of Factory International, said: “We’re delighted to be part of this new cross-sector partnership with Apple and the Southbank Centre to support the next generation of black creative talent in the UK.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES: Reframe is offering young creative hopefuls the chance to pursue their ambitions with two specially created programmes

SOUTH AFRICA’S AWARD-WINNING CHOREOGRAPHER DANCE CONSORTIUM PRESENTS

DIVERSE

“Through partnerships such as these, Factory International is committed to bringing new and diverse voices into the creative sector, supporting the talent of tomorrow to show exactly what they’re made of Sonya Russell-Saunders, head of Creative Learning at MAC, added: “MAC is delighted to be a delivery hub partner for Birmingham, offering children and young people in the city a chance to upskill with leading tech industry professionals, to empower the next generation of creative digital thinkers Professor Julian Beer, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Innovation and Enterprise, added: “As part of Birmingham City University’s STEAMhouse we are thrilled to be a part of the REFRAME initiative which aligns perfectly with BCU values of inclusivity and diversity.

“This pioneering talent development programme will provide invaluable support and resources to emerging black and black mixed heritage creatives from low-income backgrounds.

This programme, in partnership with the Southbank Centre and Apple, will help local artists to reach new heights in their creative careers and make a meaningful impact on society

FEATURING AN ORIGINAL SCORE WITH LIVE MUSIC ON STAGE

UK TOUR 2023 BRIGHTON Dome | 21 - 22 FEB LONDON Sadler’s Wells | 24 - 25 FEB PLYMOUTH Theatre Royal Plymouth | 28 FEB - 1 MAR CANTERBURY Marlowe Theatre | 3 - 4 MAR SOUTHAMPTON Mayflower Theatre | 7 - 8 MAR EDINBURGH Festival Theatre | 10 - 11 MAR BRADFORD Alhambra Theatre | 14 - 15 MAR

MILTON KEYNES Theatre | 17 - 18 MAR SALFORD The Lowry | 21 - 22 MAR NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall | 24 - 25 MAR BIRMINGHAM Hippodrome | 28 - 29 MAR CARDIFF Wales Millennium Centre | 4 - 5 APR HULL New Theatre | 7 - 8 APR NEWCASTLE Theatre Royal | 11 - 12 APR

FOR MORE INFO AND TO BOOK TICKETS VISIT DANCECONSORTIUM.COM

42

| THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

This is Brukout!

by Seani B

February is so fantastic!

This is the month that signals for so many of us that the new year has come to life

S

O JANUARY came and went in a ash he euphoria of the Christmas season followed by the ever increasing tightening of the belt in anuary as we try to start the year the right way ebruary also feels like a rebirth rom the glut of award ceremonies across the globe to the pointed focus towards aster, ebruary is the month that things kick-off CO I -19 aside, I have spent a significant amount of ebruarys in the last few years in amaica, working on creating and producing content for my BBC adio 1 tra show and much more besides his eb will be no different and, at the time of writing, I am counting down the days, hours and minutes before hitting the island and starting the work little further along the Caribbean island line, the twin isles of rinidad and obago also have a peak in ebruary If you didn’t know, this year sees the return of their physical celebration after the drama of CO I -19 over the last few years It seems music makers, producers and artists alike are all aiming to make it a triumphant return to match the anticipation from those who are ying in from all corners of the world his season has a musical added spice though the big time return of ower Soca means the music is power in name and stature here is a distinct change in tempo and frequency in this year’s output “Many of our neighbouring islands have pursued the line of ower Soca over the last si years and had a lot of success with it , Slam adio’s programming director Signal o oise told me “ he demand was definitely there for it, so obviously rinidad and obago would eventually follow ust as he tells me this, he unleashes the new single from Machel Montano and atrice oberts onto me Straight fyah, the perfect thief I wine song

CARNIVAL TIME: It’s going to be party time once again in rinidad and obago as physical celebrations return after the long absence due to the pandemic inset below, Machel Montano, left, and Bun i arlin

and don’t get in trouble when you go home that’s the only way I can find to describe it FYAHHHHHH!!!!! ust as hard is Bun i arlin’s ard ete a track which has the Caribbean on lock at the moment and continues the main man’s dominance of the space and further demonstrates the versatility and the quality of his

work Something that caught my attention and underlines the renewed power within soca is his other track osition, which has the energy of a herd of buffalos running in your direction “I think it’s super important to have the representation of power soca, as for a number of years we have swayed more towards the groovy, because of a lot people and companies thought it could not be marketed throughout the year, riniboi ooice tells me Being a working , I can fully understand that way of thinking I can easily fit in the groovy

sound amongst ancehall and fro beats, but playing more than a few power soca records outside of the core audience can leave you in sticky situations in a club and on radio unless it’s I don’t even wanna say the two obvious choices

back playing the music live and meeting the fans he has accumulated while it’s been on pause “Coming off the back of he oice, a lot of people are appreciating me in the country But I’m also glad to celebrate

“It seems musicians, producers and artists alike are all aiming to make it a triumphant return” riniboi oocie, who started as a power soca artist, has pushed the reach of the music and its visibility here in the UK over the past 1 months with his successful run in he oice UK e is a staple at rinidad Carnival and can’t wait to be

as I’ve also co-penned one of the big songs in the carnival that is called all of ame, so I can’t wait to see how people are receiving that song, he says with a sense of pride hining arish, a song that I premiered on my radio show, is

riniboi’s musical contribution to this year’s mountain of BI songs ven though it’s not a power record, it does have a sense of nostalgia to it ostalgia is all I get from one of my personal favourites from this year’s crop oice’s Long Live Soca drops you in the middle of a pan yard e has a knack of writing those songs that captures an energy from within he sad thing is that I won’t be able to e perience this cultural e perience of a lifetime iary and travel clashes, plus management clamping down on my desires, has stopped me from e periencing the e citement, energy, colour and feel of rinidad Carnival ah miss this Caribbean Bwoi

ADVERTORIAL

Young, Gifted and Black

I

n 1970 when Bob Andy and Marcia emem er Bo ndy will incl de all new riffiths co ered an inter retation of Nina cover versions. imone s oignant and to ical oung e first single o t last year was Britis reg ifted lack on a reggae rhythm lack gae artist Bitty McLean’s take on Bob Andy’s ritish youth culture changed fore er. he et em ay released on w at wo ld a e track went to no in the UK charts and most been Bob Andy’s 78th birthday, October 28, im ortantly it a ed the way for generations . e song was accom anied y a ideo of black ritish youth to em ower themsel es directed y award winning redi wa a and to fulfil their dreams. was shot in London’s Ladbroke As young people viewed Grove.

The more you give to life.

Bob and Marcia sing out their Bo ndy orn eit nder Is the more you’re gonna hearts and move across the son assed away in arc get from life. stage with panache and con2020, leaving an extensive So go on and give, fidence on iconic s ow Top catalogue of music which don’t count the cost. of the Pops, the message was has been covered or adapted And the less you give to life, clear. hundreds of times over and is the less you’re gonna get Over 50 years on, master lyriforms a key part of the greater from life. cist Bob Andy’s legacy in regJamaican canon of original So save your dough, and gae music is very much alive. song writing and recordings. your soul might be lost. is e r ary t to coin Whether through popular inBob Andy, from “Life” (1972) terpretations like Barrington cide with reggae Month in Jamaica ecords release We e y s ersion o oo eri Remember Bob Andy, a beautifully crafted enced or t ro g t e r yt mic ramewor tribute to the late, great singer/song writer o trac s li e eeling o l es erate o known for his love of humanity, depth of soul er or nc ained Bo ndy s melodies and and blazing the trail in bringing reggae music rhythms are woven through the entire fabto the world. ric of Jamaican popular music across more e al m rings toget er eteran reg t an fi e decades. gae artists Beres Hammond, Bitty McLean, Tarrus Riley, Luciano, Romain Virgo, he album e emember ob ndy is a ailable Nadine Sutherland, Richie Spice, Mikey Spice, on all streaming latforms Vinyl and from Duane Stephenson and others to re-imagine 10th Feb 2023 Bo s trac s. rod ced y Dean Fraser “We

“

Photo Credit: David Corio

BERES HAMMOND, TARRUS RILEY, BITTY MCLEAN, LUCIANO, SANCHEZ, NADINE SUTHERLAND, RICHIE SPICE, ROMAIN VIRGO, ALAINE, LUKIE D, MIKEY SPICE, DUANE STEPHENSON, OLAF BLACKWOOD, SHERIETA, QYOR, KUMAR, AND OTHERS JOIN FORCES WITH DEAN FRASER AND ALL-STAR MUSICIANS FOR A 15-SONG TRIBUTE TO THE SONGWRITING LEGEND BOB ANDY.

→ LINKTR.EE/WEREMEMBERBOBANDY CD / VINYL / DIGITAL STREAMING - 10.02.23

44 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Lifestyle

Brimming with Bajan beauty It’s clear to see wh ar ados is a hit with tourists, shining right li e a diamond in the ari ean hantelle ille

B

ARBADOS IS one of the Caribbean’s most famous islands, and it’s a firm favourite with tourists Known for being one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean – not to mention the birthplace of pop royalty Rihanna it is easy to see why it’s such a popular holiday destination.

The island boasts a number of must see attractions including breathtaking beaches along Barbados’ west coast, often referred to as the ‘platinum Coast’ due to its crystal clear waters and white sandy beaches.

Among the popular attractions are the picturesque botanical gardens, the famous Harrison’s Cave, and historic St icholas bbey eritage ailway, to name a few

CHARACTER

Barbados is divided into 11 parishes, all with their own unique character and charm – but all united by the countries warmth and inclusive spirit of the Ba an people It is easy to see why so many return, year after year. aving recently been made a republic, and the late Queen Elizabeth II being removed as head of state, Barbados is proud to have completed its transition in becoming completely independent, while still remaining a part of the Commonwealth Much like the rest of the Caribbean region, Barbados has seen a lot of change in the past couple of years, including a major decline in tourism due to the effects of CO I -19 but the past

WISH YOU WERE HERE: Chantelle enjoyed sun, sea and delicious drinks during her trip

“The Crane Resort was the Caribbean’s first e er resort hotel” few months have seen a rise in visitors ravel agent ayla Marks says “Barbados saw a rapid decline in tourism over the last few years due to the pandemic but we have noticed a remarkable increase in bookings.

“January is usually the quietest but it’s the busiest we’ve seen it since 19 he Caribbean is definitely back in demand with Barbados still one of the most popular destinations.

“There are no longer COVI -19 entry requirements so this has contributed to the in u of tourists hings are definitely improving hatever time of year you decide to come to Barbados, there is always something to do. Whether it be horse racing, swimming with the turtles, sampling the rum or oining in with the crop over festivities nother favourite would be Oistins. Situated on the south coast, it is an active fishing town and famous for its lively weekend activities riday night in particular is where they host “fish fry , an entertaining evening of food and drink along the strip – a must when visiting the island

DREAM DESTINATION: The stunning resort combines historic furnishings with modern facilities and breathtaking Caribbean views

The island has an incredible number of places to stay, with a huge variety of hotels, resorts and guest-houses to choose from. But the Crane resort is unique as the Caribbean’s first ever resort hotel Set within acres on Barbados’ south-east coast and first opened in 1 , it is now fully restored and e panded he area’s main building was a mansion known as Marine illa,

which e ists almost in its original state and forms the east section of the hotel. he Crane offers e ceptional service, with spacious, lu urious accommodation. On-site Residences include the Historic Residences, Residences in the Park and Residences by the Sea. ll carefully combine 19th Century grandeur and furnishings with 1st Century facilities spato create comfortable and spa

cious suites, which retain the elegance and old-world charm of the hotel’s historic past. The organisation also offer a unique opportunity to own under the resort’s fractional ownership scheme, so you never have to leave This truly unique property combines traditional charm with magnificent natural beauty and an idyllic sense of seclusion.

The cliff-top resort naturally

overlooks one of the world’s best beaches known for its powder pink sands and stunning views he resort also boasts private pools, gardens and rooftop terraces, a wellbeing spa, tennis courts and five outdoor pools At the heart of the resort community, The Crane Village offers boutiques, duty-free retail shopping, and a gym, a Calypso Kids Club and conference facilities if travelling for business Although secluded, The Crane beach offers a touch of Bajan spirit with cocktails served out of coconut shells and fresh fish cooked on the beach daily. he Crane is also known for its award-winning restaurants, including oriental restaurant and Italian D’Onofrio’s Trattoria. either restaurant disappointed, both serving e ceptional food If you’re looking for some evening entertainment, bar 1 serves signature cocktails and karaoke, for those that are brave enough.

It is no wonder that Barbados has been ranked top in the world for visitor satisfaction n island that fills you up and captures your heart. l ooms from thecrane.com

19,

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

|

Lifestyle

45

From grief to gratitude Jessica George’s latest novel, Maame, draws inspiration from some of her own life experiences

A

LL HER life, she’s been told who she is.

To her Ghanaian parents, she’s Maame: the one who takes care of the family. Her mum’s stand-in.

The primary carer for her father, who suffers from Parkinson’s.

The one who keeps the peace and the secrets. hen she finally gets the chance to leave home, Maddie, the lead character in author Jessica eorge’s new book, is determined to become the kind of woman she wants to be.

One who wears a bright yellow suit, dates men who definitely aren’t on her mum’s list of prospective husbands, and stands up to her boss’s microaggressions Someone who doesn’t have to oogle all her life choices.

But when tragedy strikes, Maddie is forced to face the risks and rewards - of putting her heart on the line But will it take losing everything to find her voice? hen eorge sits down with Lifestyle to talk about her latest literary offering it’s clear

she has drawn from somewhere deep within in order to bring the book to market.

She e plained “ he title of the book is Maame, which in Twi, a Ghanaian dialect and means to be a mother or woman, and so this is a story that’s basically about how a nickname like that and the responsibilities it comes with, given to someone at a young age, can impact their adult life.

“I have questions about whether it’s a memoir or biographical and I’d rather say certain elements are inspired by true life rather than entirely, because it just wouldn’t be true.”

of dealing with that reality every day.

“My dad passed away in due to complications with Parkinson’s disease, eorge shared “I was a secondary carer so I was at home helping with his medication, food and all of those things It’s odd because I didn’t ever think I would write about something like this It started off as diary entries, when I lost my dad I ust started writing

She added “It follows Maddie, who I like to call a late bloomer because she is doing things later on in life as the primary carer for her father who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

“So it’s basically about her moving out, her first love, her first grief, all whilst dealing with unconventional family dydy namics, new friends, a new ob and ust navigating life via everything and every one.” dedieorge’s book is dedi cated to her father who rere cently passed away sigsig nificant part of Maame details the difficulties

DEDICATION

“ hen it got to a point when I was trying to make it into a story and that’s where the fictional elements came in So yeah, it’s to dad, it’s probably the simplest dedication eveI’ll ever write because I think eve rything else is in the book “Losing my dad was the biggest grief I’ve ever gone through wonderand so it’s actually quite wonder ful to have it in book form, so I can draw on it when memories begin to fade.”

Watch the full interview with Jes Jessica eorge at voice-online co uk

PUTTING PEN TO PAPER: essica eorge says her book, inset left, began as diary entries photo Suki handa

‘I’m committed to transforming financial futures’

BY DAY Davinia Tomlinson is the founder of rainchq, a new concept in fi a a ly for women. o a fi a however has recently seen her o a a o fi book: Cash Is Queen: A Girl’s Guide oS S a Sa Cash. o o a o o o fi a a o o told Lifestyle why she felt it was imo a o oo fi a a a o established as early as possible: “With a a o o o a a a o a o a a ao a a o a o

“In my 20s I realised I didn’t have a clue about managing a household budget” o fi a a a o o a o a we are reminded of the importance of a o o fi a a a o o o o this is even more vital. With research o a o we form our earliest money habits o a o no better time than now to a a a open money conversations with our children and teachteach o o o fi a a o a o a Tomlinson started her career at Fidelity Investments mar and has over 15 years’ mara o a o a a a indus professional services industries. So it’s safe to say then, she has always been savvy

o

a

fi a

a o

a o a a o a a had an interest in wealth creation and o a fi a a “That said, it wasn’t until I became a homeowner in my 20s that I realised a a a o a a a o o a a o a a a a a o o

RELATABLE

Cash Is Queen a a o that’s relatable, fresh and fun, evea o o o a o a a a a a o fi a a a a will last a lifetime.

While the book is called Cash is Queen, Tomlinson said she wasn’t diso a o o o o o fi a a a She enthused: “While my book is called Cash is Queen and I’m como a o fi a a o a o o o women, many of the principles are a a a o o oo “We don’t live in isolation so It is vital that we remember to lean on one a o a o a o a a a a o a a

CASH QUEEN: avinia omlinson continues to create tools for effective cash management

46 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2023

Sport

Our football heroes

We celebrate those making a difference in the beautiful game in this year’s Football Black List A word from FBL co-founders Leon Mann and Rodney Hinds

DUO: Leon Mann and Rodney Hinds It’s that time again – when the latest edition of the Football Black List, published exclusively in The Voice, is revealed.

Once again we are both delighted to see new names on The List which further confirms the growing roles that members of our community are playing within the Beautiful Game. The names on The List are inspiring others and that has always been the intention.

To all the judges we give massive thanks. It was not an easy task whittling down the long list to the names you can see on these pages. Next month all concerned can come together at the FBL Celebration at a brand new home for our delayed 2022 event.

The Football Black List will continue to shine a light on those doing great work within the sport.

The judges are...

Francesca Brown David McArdle Remmie Williams Tony Burnett Alastair Bennett Ged Grebby Mark Bullingham Alistair Patrick-Heselton Mari-Anne Chiromo Lincoln Moses Manisha Tailor Mike Riley Rodney Hinds Leon Mann Drew Christie Nate Williams Sarah Ebanja Richard Bevan Gus Hurdle Chris Paouros Nana Badu Viveen Taylor Vanessa Wallace Samantha Johnson Alosie Ehiogu Delroy Corinaldi Howard Holmes

Administration

LGBTQ+

Sarah Gregorius, Director of Global Policy & Strategic Relations, Women’s Football – FIFPRO Led on FIFPRO’s 2022 Raising Our Game forum, an example of how she has elevated the women’s game at FIFPRO where she is the most senior black woman.

Les Ferdinand, Director of Football – QPR The Premier League legend is co-founder of the Black Footballers Partnership, a group campaigning for racial equality.

He is currently the only Black director of football in the pro game.

EXAMPLE: Sarah Gregorius Jobi McAnuff, Board Member – The FA The first former player to sit on the FA Board, he is a trustee for the Justin Edinburgh Foundation and Thru Life, and appears on Sky Sports and ITV Sport.

Maheta Molango, CEO – Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) One of the most powerful people in football, the PFA’s first Black CEO started in his role in July 2021 and is driving the players’ union with energy and verve.

Deji Davies, IAB Chair The FA The Brentford FC director is the only Black British board member of a Premier League club and was ap appointed chair of the group advising The FA on inclusion in 2022.

Coaching and management Danetta Powell, Academy Manager (Operations) – Birmingham City FC Having progressed through a number of roles at Birmingham City, she now has responsibility for Academy operations, all whilst championing young players and being a volunteer in the community.

Patrick Vieira, Manager – Crystal Palace FC Guided Palace to a 12th-place Premier League finish in his first season in charge and has been vocal on the need for greater diversity in the game.

Aubrey Rogers, Junior Coach – Liverpool FC Instrumental in getting young players from underprivileged areas into the Liver-

INTEGRAL TEAM PLAYER: Paul Nevin pool academy. His infectious style of coaching led to him receiving a full-time role at the club.

Paul Nevin, First Team Coach – West Ham United FC; Coach - England Men’s Seniors His sterling work in assisting David Moyes at the Hammers, who finished seventh in the Premier seaLeague in 2021/22 sea son. Alongside this, he is an integral member of the

England team’s backroom staff.

Vincent Kompany, Manager – Burnley FC The Premier League and Belgium legend has taken to management with aplomb. His Burnley side began 2023 top of the Championship, playing a brand of entertaining football.

Dr Michael Seeraj, Head of EDI – Charlton Athletic Community Trust / CAFC Instrumental in CACT’s work with Charlton Invicta FC – the first LGBTQ+ football club affiliated with a professional club in London – he is an invaluable ally to the LGBTQ+ communities.

Lianne Sanderson, Broadcaster – talkSPORT A shining light in the sports media, working for talkSPORT, Sky Sports News and beIN SPORTS amongst others, she continues to represent both black and LGBTQ+ communities with pride.

Commercial Akinola Fashola, Partnerships Manager – West Ham United FC Alongside his impressive work for the Hammers, he is also thriving in an ambassadorial role with NoTurningBack2020 which seeks to improve diversity within the Sports Marketing industry.

Akua Agyemfra, Brand Manager – Merky; Director – The Balley Consultancy A driving force behind the Merky FC initiative launched by Stormzy earlier this year and a cultural strategist of great acclaim, she goes about her fantastic work quietly and diligently.

Liseli Sitali, Head of Marketing – Sky Sports Undoubt Undoubtedly one of the most influential Black people on the commercial side of football, she leads on all of Sky Sports’ marketing output having enjoyed a stellar spell at DAZN.

DOING GREAT THINGS: Freda Ayisi Freda Ayisi, Content Creator Also a professional footballer for Charlton Athletic Women FC, she’s best known for her YouTube channel ‘Freda Touch’ which has led her to work with Adidas and Sports Direct.

Sofia Thomas, Head of Tax – Juno Sports Tax Sofia provides advice and financial education to pro footballers through the business she co-founded, and tax courses for academies.

She is also writing a book about taxation for athletes.

FEBRUARY 2023 THE VOICE

| 47

Sport Media

Community and Grassroots

Jemma Archer, Senior Producer Whisper One of the leading Black women in broadcast production, directing and delivering highquality work on the WSL and other competitions, her portfolio is an inspiration to young women.

Trisha Lewis, Founder & Manager – Romance FC She is commit committed to creating a sisterhood and forging opportunities for women and non-binary players, both on and off the pitch, through the football collective she co-founded.

Carl Anka, Writer / Journalist – The Athletic Bringing a perspecfresh perspec tive to football debate, through his journalistic talents and social media presence, he excels in both written content and podcasts.

Fatou Jeng, Principal, Broadcast Regulation – BT Sport Setting an example of female leadership in the field of compliance, she is also helping to drive

BREAKING BARRIERS: Pippa Monique diversity as a black woman in a prominent UK sports media role.

Nelson Kumah, Multimedia Football Pro Producer - BBC Sport As well as his strong reputation in production, he is also co-chair of BBC Sport’s BAME Advisory Group, driving important

conversations and implementing change.

Pippa Monique, Broadcaster / Content Creator – Pippa Monique YouTube, The Football Mum Podcast An inspirational figure full of passion and dedication, her content reflects her perspectives as a mother and a woman in the notoriously male-dominated sports content space.

Iffy Onuora, Head of Race, Equality and Inclusion – Premier League Since his PL appointment in 2021, the former professional footballer has led on the ‘No Room for Racism’ campaign’s action plan and also chairs the Black Participants Advisory Group.

Michael Hamilton, Academy Manager - AFC Wimbledon Now with responsibility for performance and strategic development at the club he

Habib OlorukobaComOseni, Com munity Sports Coach - Cray Wanderers Community Scheme and Welling United Deaf Football Club

Kerry Phillips, Manager / Founder – Saving Souls FC The primary objective of the inclusive club he founded is to deliver mental wellbeing benefits, offering free sessions for men in a safe space – all with little funding.

Simon Hyacinth, Co-CEO – Football Unites, Racism Divides (FURD) Having been with Sheffield based FURD since 2007, he has worked on the charity’s ‘Positive Futures’ programme and the Streetkick European tours in partnership with Fare, becoming Co-CEO in 2011.

Players: Off the pitch

Practitioners

Lauren Impey, Referee – WSL / PGMOL ofA match of ficial using her voice to promote refereeing, she consistently reaches out to those who are underrepresented within the profession and volunteers her time to push for greater diversity.

Andrew Lovelace, Chairman - Watford Ladies FC Having reestablished the club in 2017 to elevate women’s football locally, he is continuing to take it from strength to strength and has recently struck a partnership with Brunel University.

A role model to both deaf/ hard of hearing and Black communities, his passion for football is having a huge impact, particularly on children with special needs and disabilities.

WORKING ACROSS SECTORS: Dr Paul Campbell

joined in 2016, he is one of few Black men in the professional game to hold such an influential role Ciaran Baxendale, PlayForward Project Lead – Football BorBeyond Bor ders (FBB) Working Marwith Mar cus Rashford to design a football programme that’s being delivered in partnership with Nike, his hard

work is already benefitting hundreds of young people in the Greater Manchester area.

Dr Paul Campbell, Associate Professor in the Sociology of Race and Inclusion and Inaugural Director of the Institute for Inclusivity in Higher Education – University of Leicester A scholar of race and inclusion across Higher Education and Sport, his work intersects across sociology, history, education and sport and is driven by his commitment to ED&I.

Charlotte Lynch, Content Creator – Leyton Orient Women FC An inspirational mentor for many young people, to whom she regularly gives advice on how to become the best versions of themselves and to keep free from peer pressure.

Bukayo Saka, Footballer – Arsenal FC The England international has teamed up with charity BigShoe to help children in Kano, Nigeria, who are suffering from hernias and brain tumours, with over 100 life-changing procedures already funded.

Raheem Sterling, Footballer – The Raheem Sterling Foundation FoundaThe Founda tion helps those from dis-

advantaged backgrounds to break down barriers and achieve success such as those at Sterling’s old school, with a focus on education, employment and social mobility.

Ugo Ehiogu’s Ones To Watch Debra Nelson – Broadcaster / Presenter / Youth Worker, Football Beyond Borders Debra is a presenter and broadcaster who has worked with inbrands in cluding Gillette and Nike.

At just 21, she appeared in British Vogue discussing her work with girls on the FBB programme.

Cordell LakeBenjamin – Targeted Invention Youth Worker, Palace for Life Foundation His role at Palace for Life is as a Targeted Intervention Youth Worker where he mentors young people in the local area and uses his insight and understanding to connect with them.

J’nae Ward – Events and Digital Content Consultant, Refresh Sports Consultancy and Productions She has led the first two Football Black List: Regional events. The first event in Birmingham, formed the blueprint for all future FBL Regional events, including the second in Manchester.

Andre Gray, Footballer & Charity Co-Founder – The Black Fund The Black Fund provides grants businessto black-owned business es and in 2022 focused upon mental health, partnering with One Young World to identify young comleaders in the Black com munity.

Siham Abdullahi – Junior Assistant Producer, Buzz 16 Siham works on the award-winning, Overlap and has previously edited the Premier League storybook podcast for BT Sport and went to the 2022 Qatar World Cup as a Publisher.

Marcus Rashford, Footballer – Manchester United FC The England forward has contributed immensely to help support children, with his Book Club in conjunction with the National Literacy Trust delivering over 100,000 free books around the UK.

Tyra Mills – Girls Academy Manager, Kinetic Foundation Tyra is truly unique and relentlessly dedicates herself to her everywork every day, whether it is coaching young girls, inspiring them or getting involved in so many game-changing projects.

TOP SPORTS COVERAGE 24/7 VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK/SPORT

OF SPORT NEWSPAPER

FEBRUARY 2023 | THE VOICE

MOVEMENT: Black In Sport Summit team members

Changing the narrative

Sky backing ground-breaking sporting initiative led by university students. By Rodney Hinds

A

GROUP OF young black entrepreneurs have joined forces with Sky, Europe’s leading media and entertainment

company.

The broadcaster has pledged its support to a ground-breaking initiative led by a group of Loughborough University students, the Black In Sport Summit (BISS). The partnership forms part of Sky’s £30 million commitment towards tackling systemic racism.

As part of the agreement, Sky will sponsor the 2023 Black In Sport Summit, to be held at the iconic London Stadium in Stratford – home of West Ham United FC and the host venue for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Now in its second year, the 2023 event will be hosted by Sky Sports News presenter Mike Wedderburn alongside freelance sports presenter Anita Abayomi.

Taking place on Saturday, March 25, it will feature a high-profile line up of key-

note speakers, panel discussions, and networking opportunities with current and future professionals in the sports industry.

Sky Sports will also offer work placements to Summit attendees participating in the BISS ‘Employer Challenge’ initiative.

The BISS team is made up of Bunie Nwizu, Ifunanyachukwu Ileka, Emmanuel Shittu, Faith Oluwaremi, Ladi Ogunmekan, Som E-Agwuegbo, Samuel Ola and Candis Boateng.

BISS co-founders Ogunmekan, Ola and Shittu launched BISS in 2022, in partnership with the University and Loughborough Sport, to celebrate the achievements of black people across the sports industry.

The movement was also borne out of a desire to change the narrative in sport and to tackle discrimination and underrepresentation of black people in the sector. With the themes for 2023 — “ cellence, Leverage, and In uence ,

BISS continues to build a community of current and aspiring professionals in the sector and promotes the idea that a career in sport is available to everyone.

“The progression of BISS from what it

“Hopefully we can create something with an impact that transcends Loughborough.

See you there!” was last year to what it’s becoming this year is phenomenal, said Ogunmekan “It’s now about focusing on progression and the best solutions to the issues that BISS aims to address. BISS is open to people from all backgrounds and I’m really looking forward to welcoming

everyone at this year’s event geared towards students.

“It’s incredible to have the backing of Sky and I’m excited to be working with the broadcasting giant to prepare strategies for us to make a meaningful impact in the industry for students and other aspiring professionals. Hopefully we can create something with an impact that transcends Loughborough See you there Wedderburn added: “I am honoured to co-host the Black in Sport Summit 2023 in association with Sky. “I was approached in 2021 to get involved in the first summit and I umped at the chance to play my part in making a difference to young black people wanting to break into the sport industry Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University, added: “We’re thrilled that the student-led Black in Sport Summit is continuing to grow in scale and impact.

“The team behind the initiative have

demonstrated incredible dedication and desire to raise awareness of the issues facing black people in the sport industry.

“To have the backing of Sky Sports is testament to this hard work and as a university we’re extremely grateful for their support. BISS – and the values it represents – align well with our University’s values and our emphasis on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. I am looking forward to what will be another impactful event

For more information on the 2023 Black in Sport Summit and to secure your ticket, visit: https://msha.ke/blackinsport