The Voice Newspaper: April 2022

APRIL, 2022 • ISSUE NO. 1929

MEDICAL STUDENT’S UKRAINE NIGHTMARE

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Black Brits head for a new life in Africa and the Caribbean

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education for their kids. The rising cost of living is also contributing to the trend. .

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Inside THIS MONTH

Building generational wealth. Our experts tell you how p4-5 Child Q’s human rights were abused.

Lawyer Terence Channer looks at the case against the cops p8 Dear President Zelensky… Dotun Adebayo says he’ll open his home to Ukrainian refugees when the racism is acknowledged p17

ROUNDUP NEWSPAPER

News, views, stories & videos

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

1. British army soldier faces deportation Our exclusive about a soldier who fought for Britain in Iraq but faces being sent to the country of his birth, Zimbabwe

2. Hundreds of Africans trapped in warzone Our initial report about students prevented from leaving Ukraine by racist officials

3. Jamaica to remove Queen as head of state News from the royal visit as Jamaica plans to follow the example of Barbados

4. Child Q teacher sacked after calling police on black schoolgirl Repercussions following the shocking strip-search on a 15-year-old girl in Hackney

5. Strip searches becoming common practice against black kids News that black children are massively over-represented in 9,000 strip-searches

6. Child Q: Three cops under investigation More developments in the shocking case, following large public protests

Emancipating ourselves from colonial nostalgia.

Montel Gordon says the young have broken the chains. p20

7. Animals were evacuated before African students

More news about the racism faced by black students trying to flee the Ukraine conflict

8. Kelechi Okafor: Girl Q wasn’t regarded as a child

Koffee is simply phenomenal p41

Our columnist looks at the issue of adultification of black kids resulting in them being treated as adults

9. BBC all white on the night The public service broadcaster does not have a single black person in a commissioning role

10. Reparations now, demands Barbados PM

Arsenal’s Celia – a local legend p47

The Voice says

Mia Mottley backs demands for Britain to pay up for the damage caused by enslavement

This issue is 48 pages

Child Q is part of a bigger picture

THE SHOCKING treatment of Child Q — who was strip-searched in a Hackney school — is about more than the trauma suffered by this girl. It is reflective of the misogynoir experienced by black girls and women every day.

In this wider sense, the case is connected to cops taking sick photos of the dead bodies of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, pictured below; of the death of Sarah Reed after being failed by the authorities; and Joy Gardner who died after being bound up with tape on an immigration raid way back in 1993.

There is also a connection to the shocking racial disparities in the way black women are treated by the criminal justice system, and the fact that black women are up to four times more likely to die during childbirth.

Medical staff make assumptions about black women being able to withstand more pain while giving birth, or are more sceptical when they complain of being in agony.

What these cases have in common is that they are all connected by a casual disregard for the welfare of the black woman and girl.

Officials give less regard to levels of distress and pain compared to white women.

And the fact this problem spans the police, Crown prosecutors, the NHS, prison and schools is proof of systemic and institutional misogynoir.

Black women are less likely to see the perpetrators of domestic and sexual abuse charged and prosecuted.

And when the perpetrators are charged they are less likely to be convicted, which suggests black women victims are less likely to be believed.

The ‘adultification’ of Child Q — cops treating her as if she was older — must be addressed through new safeguarding procedures.

We demand an end to the racism suffered by black women and girls across society.

Child Q did not happen in isolation; it is part of a picture. As we demand race is on the agenda, it is crucial that misogynoir remains in focus at all times.

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

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Big interview

‘I DIDN’T THINK I WOULD MAKE IT OUT OF UKRAINE’

ORDEAL: Now safe in England, Korrine Sky has made it her mission to help Africans trapped in Ukraine. Below from left, images by Korrine of the escape from Ukraine (main photo Getty Images)

Medical student Korrine Sky tells of danger and racism when fleeing the warzone. By Richard Sudan

W

“

HEN THEY were segregating us they weren’t doing it on the basis of nationality, they were doing it on the basis of colour” Korrine Sky, 26, faced a traumatic and drawn-out ordeal as she tried to flee the warzone as Russian troops advanced. Facing barriers from racist soldiers and officials, she stared down the barrel of a gun and faced menacing vigilantes during her harrowing four-day escape to safety.

Now safe in England, she has made it her mission to help Africans still trapped in Ukraine.

As Russia began shelling Ukraine, Korrine, her husband and others made for the Romanian border but faced danger at every turn, freezing weather, and a lack of food and water. They drove west from Dnipro, near Mariupol, where they were studying, in a beat-up old Mercedes with little more than hope and a prayer, picking up another African man along the route.

She told The Voice: “The Ukrainian government is just giving out guns to anybody.

There are vigilantes everywhere.

At one point we stopped on the road for a bathroom break and we were approached by men with guns who were not officials.

“We explained that we were students and were unarmed. It didn’t matter. They pointed their guns at us and said that if we didn’t leave in five minutes they would shoot us dead. After that we didn’t stop unless we had to. I really didn’t think we would make it out. I still can’t believe it.

My mind is still there.”

As she made her long journey out of Ukraine, Korrine began to tweet about the other African students trapped in the country or facing hostility at borders.

Like thousands of black and non-white people, she experienced Apartheid-like segregation in the midst of war. Black people were the last to be allowed through the border, despite international law making clear that all refugees have an equal rite of passage to a safe country when fleeing a conflict zone.

Scenes caught on phone cameras and spread on social media include a black mum with a baby refused on board an evacuation bus, and officials in Ukraine pull-

They said if we didn’t leave in five minutes, they would shoot us ing black people off trains. As the war enters its second month, many black and non-white people are still trapped in Ukraine, Korrine says. They are desperate, hungry and struggling with physical and mental health.

As the missiles rain down, some are said to be suicidal. Korrine fears the experience will psychologically scar people.

And there’s another heartbreaking element. Some of those caught in the middle of Russia’s invasion already bear the scars of conflict from back home on the African continent. They made it to the relative safety of Europe only to find themselves living a new nightmare. Korrine said: “There’s people who fled war back home and came to Ukraine for a better life. Now imagine the PTSD of being in a war zone.

“They are not trying to be too consumed about the situation they are in. Anything could happen to them at any point. Some people already have underlying mental health problems.”

And, just as was the case in Libya, the instability that war brings, creates extra vulnerabilities for black people.

“We’re having increasing concerns about trafficking,” Korrine says. “We know how high risk black people are with people trafficking. You’ve got girls and women and children pretty well travelling on their own through

the country. Anything can happen to them. Things like that can happen to people in the UK from someone just getting in a taxi. So imagine what it’s like in Ukraine.”

Despite this, she said support for those stuck in Ukraine is either minimal or non-existent.

Those left behind are at the mercy of both Russian soldiers and nationalist neo-Nazis, some of whom are in the official Ukraine defence force of the Azov Battalion.

SAFETY

No-one is coming to save them. Even the pets of Ukrainians were able to cross to safety before they let Africans through. She said: “Even during the evacuation in Sumy, organised by the Red Cross, the first people they took were

the Asians. It took grassroots organisations like ours getting on the phone to get the Africans evacuated. It nearly didn’t happen. You could see Africans walking to the border for hours on foot.”

Korrine has now focused on assisting those left to the mercy of war, founding Black Women for Black Lives, a non-profit which has helped thousands of Africans escape the country.

She’s exhausted and still feeling the trauma having narrowly escaped the bombs herself, abandoning her studies. But she keeps busy around the clock, organising and getting the word out.

The United Nations and the African Union have condemned the racism inflicted upon African, Caribbean and Indian students but Ukraine’s prime minis-

ter Volodymyr Zelensky has said nothing about the issue in addresses to the British parliament and MEPs in Brussels.

Speaking to British MPs, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko said “problems arise” when foreigners appear to be prioritised for evacuation.

The British government tried to pretend that they had never heard of the problem. In answer to a question by Labour’s Abena Oppong-Asare, Tory Commons leader Mark Spencer said: “If that is true, it is shocking, and I will ensure that the foreign secretary hears of her comments and investigates the matter.”

Some of those potential future doctors may be among the students still holed up in places like Kherson, praying that they can evacuate to safety. The situ-

ation is bleak and time is running out. According to Korrine they can’t access proper food. There are no charities or NGOs stepping in. “Some of the younger students in Kherson have been in that situation for so long now, they just don’t think they are going to make it out. They might laugh with you on the phone and make jokes. But they are in pure survival mode now” she says.

Born in Zimbabwe, Korrine’s dad was an activist and outspoken critic of the government in Harare. When Korrine was five, the entire family fled to Leicester under threat from Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF enforcers. She lives in the city with her mother and has a one-year-old daughter. It was Korrine’s journey to Continued on page 29

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| THE VOICE APRIL 2022

News

Money Matters

FOUR WAYS TO BUILD UP

Despite the forces that hold black communities down, there are steps people can take to invest. By Vic Motune

E

QUALITY CAMPAIGNERS have long pointed out the seemingly ever-widening differences in wealth and income between black people and other communities invariably translate into similar disparities in political power and influence.

In part, that debate has embraced the question of how black communities can create generational wealth by passing down assets such as property, businesses and investment to the next generation.

Building generational wealth is no easy task but it’s an especially uphill battle for black Britons when you take into account the fact that, on average, the community has less family wealth to begin with. According to a report by think-tank Reso-

lution Foundation in December 2020, people of African heritage typically hold the lowest wealth (a median figure of £24,000 family wealth per adult), which amounts to less than one eighth of the typical wealth held by a person of white British ethnicity (£197,000 family wealth per adult).

So, how do we go about building wealth that can last for generations to come?

While societal changes are needed to address wider issues such as the ethnicity pay gap and employment rates, The Voice’s panel of experts say there are steps that can be taken right now to start building wealth. These involve being informed, putting in place good planning, and no small amount of persistent effort.

BUILDING FOUNDATIONS: The widespread protests, left, that followed the death of George Floyd in May 2020 sparked debate about the links between economic and racial inequality, but there are moves we can make to build wealth (main photo: Getty Images)

Why buying property makes sense INVESTING in property is often cited as one of the most lucrative ways of building generational wealth.

If you look at the investments of most wealthy families, it almost always includes real estate in one form or another. It is an asset that not only creates cash flow now, but increases in value over time.

However, it may be hard for many black Britons to see themselves as property investors, especially if they are struggling to get on the property ladder in the first place.

According to a June 2017 House of Commons briefing paper, black people are much less likely to be property owners than their white or Asian counterparts.

However, Essex-based property entrepreneur Melissa Lewis is passionate about encouraging more people from the community to become property investors and achieve the kind of financial independence that comes from running a successful property portfolio.

MINDSET

She says a change of mindset is critical for people who want to invest but are hesitant.

“Property is an investment strategy, so you need to take a long-term view, say over a 10 or 15-year period” Lewis says. “So whatever money you have available, whether it’s say £20,000,

whether it’s less, whether it’s more, you are not going to see your return straightaway.”

However, the entrepreneur says there are also a range of property investment strategies that do not require much in the way of extra cash to invest and can yield cash flow more immediately.

“There are strategies like rent to rent,” she explains.

“Let’s say for example a landlord has a four-bedroom house he wants to rent out for £1,000 a month. Through this strategy you legally agree to manage the property, find tenants and charge £500 a room. So you’re making £2,000 a month.

“The landlord takes his cut and after you’ve covered your tenants’ utili-

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ty bills, council tax etc the rest of the money is yours.

“It can be time consuming but the extra income you accumulate can be used to invest in another property that can generate wealth over the long term.”

Lewis says she is encouraged by the growing interest in this field.

“I’ve seen groups of black women who have got together and decide that they’re all going to put x amount into a pot, and get into property together. It’s good to see. Difficulties arise though because people are not prepared for risk. Property, like any type of investment, comes with risk but the rewards can be great.”

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STRATEGY: Melissa Lewis says we should take a long-term view

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Money Matters

News

GENERATIONAL WEALTH Starting a business can be an uphill struggle but the rewards are out there FOLLOWING the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, there has been a renewed focus on how business ownership can empower the black community.

The launch of the inaugural Black Pound Day later that year saw a surge in the numbers of consumers from all backgrounds who wanted to support black owned businesses.

Multi-millionaire public housing entrepreneur Roy Ledgister, who is in the process of launching a YouTube business reality show called Millionaire Mentors, firmly believes that generational wealth can be created through business ownership. But he says it is vital that budding entrepreneurs seek out the support of mentors when the going gets tough.

Several studies highlight the uphill battle that black business owners face.

According to a 2021 survey by the Black Business Network less than half

‘ADVERSITY IS PART OF THE PROCESS’: Roy Ledgister with wife Naomi – the entrepreneur firmly believes that generational wealth can be created through business ownership

It’s less about business mentorship, and more about life mentorship of Britain’s black business owners — 43 per cent — trust banks to support them, which in turn affects their ability to grow.

“If I’m honest, it’s less about business mentorship, and more about life mentorship” says Ledgister.

“Many businesses fail because people hit the buffers, things go wrong and they pull the plug. But that’s the very point at which you need to double

down because that’s where the magic is about to happen. I expect difficulties everyday and I don’t run from them.

People look at me and think ‘he’s an overnight success’. But it took me 36 years of refining my philosophy,

Play the markets

INVESTING in stocks and shares can provide individuals with an opportunity to build wealth passively over time.

This can seem daunting to someone who has never invested before.

But a good place to start, says Emmanuel Asuquo, a qualified financial adviser with 15 years’ experience, are tracker funds which offer low fees and long term growth.

PROFITABLE

“Basically a tracker fund, like the Standard and Poor’s 500, is a stock market index which tracks the performance of the 500 largest companies listed on the stock exchange in the United States,” he says.

“If you wanted to invest in large profitable companies like Amazon, Apple, Google or Facebook, it would be very expensive to buy individual shares in these companies. But if you can spare £50 to £100 a month you can invest in an index that includes them.

“As the fund performs better over the time, the index will go up. All you have is just put your

ADVICE: Emmanuel Asuquo says tracker funds offer low fees and long-term growth money in on a regular basis and you can do that through a stocks and shares ISA, tax free, and your money will build over time.”

Asuquo also recommends life insurance as a generational wealth tool.

“This is one of the first things I recommend to clients, which often comes as a surprise.

“There’s two ways you can do it. You can either get life insurance to a certain age, so let’s say to 80 or 90, or whatever. Or you can get a whole life insurance where you get a lump sum of money. So if anything happens to you or you die, as long as you’ve made those payments, that is wealth that can be passed down to the next generation.”

24 years of knocks and setbacks.”

He continues: “I see so many people from our community who start a business and when things go pear shaped they give up. I could have done that so many times. However,

the important thing to remember is that if you have faced adversity, as many black people have, you are better equipped than many others to be successful because adversity is part of the process.”

Teach your children money habits that will last a lifetime

STATISTICS reveal that in families whose wealth is passed down through the generations, it tends to decline as members deplete it without replacing or building it.

According to experts, talking about money with your children is one less obvious step to ensuring that family wealth continues to grow. It’s not just about passing down assets but also the knowledge and practises that lead to financial independence.

It’s an approach that Lee Townsend, a father-of-two from Croydon, takes with sixyear-old daughter Naomi.

“Your legacy is as much about what you invest in them while you’re alive as it is your last will and testament,” says Townsend. “Naomi will get money or gifts from us or other family members.

She has three different piggy banks. There’s her main one where the bulk of her savings will go. The second piggy

LEGACY: Lee Townsend bank is for short or medium-term goals, things she might want that I’m not prepared to buy. And the third one is for charitable giving.”

Townsend continues: “We’ll regularly empty those piggy banks and take them to the bank. I recognise that the bank is not necessarily the best place to invest all of your money, but it’s about teaching them that money mindset while they’re young.

“It’s not just about spending on stuff she can enjoy

but thinking about medium, short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. Naomi is only six-years-old, but she prides herself on going to the bank and making a deposit.”

Townsend says that open and honest discussions about the household budget are an important part of developing this money mindset.

“I’ll say to her, ‘This is how we run the household. I earn a certain amount of money each month and I’ve got to try and make it stretch between x, y and z. If I make a mistake, I deprive you of certain things. And as a parent, I’ve got a responsibility to provide for you’.”

Too often kids don’t even get this very basic explanation from their parents.

They’re just told no. But you need to give them an explanation or a rationale so that they can reason through money decisions and work them out in their own head.”

l The Voice does not endorse any particular business or

investment opportunity. We advise readers to do their own research to make choices that are right for you.

6 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

News

JN Bank a finalist for premier banking award T HE OSCARS of the banking world revealed their finalists with JN Bank UK in the running to take a top prize.

The annual British Bank Awards, run by Smart Money People and voted on by customers, is a much sought-after recognition of excellence in the banking sector.

The management and staff at JN Bank UK welcomed the news and said this was a testament to the confidence that customers have in the service.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on 5 May, following a 10-week voting period which ends on 4 April. Last year over 90,000 votes were cast amid fierce competition between providers.

The awards are now in their eighth year and growing in popularity. JN Bank UK is shortlisted in two categories, Customer Service Champion and Best Personal Loan Provider Earl Jarrett, chief executive officer of JN Bank UK’s parent organisation, The Jamaica National Group, said that the nomination was a recognition from its customers of JN’s values of respect, compassion and commitment to excellence.

He said: “It speaks volumes to the quality of the Board of Directors, management and staff of JN Bank UK, and their commitment to deliver not just a product, but an experience that builds the confidence of those served by the bank.

“At JN Group, we have a her-

itage of over 146 years that put people first and take pride in listening to our customers, finding a way to assist them to achieve their financial goals.”

Launched in 2020, JN Bank UK, a subsidiary of The Jamaica National Group, was the first Caribbean owned bank to be awarded a full banking licence

by UK regulators and offers retail savings and personal loan products.

JN Bank UK is up against Habito, The Melton Building Society and Updraft in the category of Customer Service Champion and Bamboo Loans, Novuna, Post Office, RateSetter, Updraft, Zopa for the title of Best Personal Loan Provider. Award categories span the vast range of the banking sector, with specific categories for innovation, new entrants to the market, ethical providers, influencers, and many more.

For more information on the services of JN Bank UK visit www.jnbank.co.uk.

VALUES: Earl Jarrett, chief executive officer of JN Bank UK’s parent organisation, The Jamaica National Group. Inset left, Warsan Shire was the guest speaker at Women’s History Month

JN Bank embedded in the community

HUB: JN Bank’s flagship offices in Brixton

JN BANK’S modern Brixton office has hosted numerous community events.

JN Bank UK is a digital bank, however as a mutual organisation JN Group understands the importance of supporting communities, and in following its vision to ‘enrich lives and build communities’ it has a flagship community branch in the heart of Brixton at 410 Brixton, London SW9 7AW The office, which opened in 2020, welcomed events including health, education and cyber

awareness. Reporting on the office launch, The Voice wrote: “For far too long, black Britons have been poorly served by high street banks. For whatever reason, British banks have not treated their black savers and borrowers equitably.

Now, finally, a change has come. JN Group’s first bank in the UK will change high street banking forever and grow black Britons stronger economically.

A bank of our own is a game changer.”

Other events include one for

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young women to celebrate women’s history month with guest speaker Warsan Shire who wrote poetry for Beyonce’s Lemonade album.

ACTIVITIES

The flagship offices, next to the Brixton Academy, have been put to good use and there are plans for many more activities open to the public.

A prostate cancer charity ran five events raising awareness of the need to catch the disease early. Men who had suffered pros-

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tate cancer were invited to talk about their experience with their partners, family and friends. The sessions reached over 600 participants. There has also been a digital cyber security awareness event in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police.

And the office hosted the launch of a transformational leadership programme designed to improve public health and wellbeing in Lambeth and Southwark by focusing on breaking the link between race and poor health outcomes.

www.voice-online.co.uk

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8

| THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Terence Channer

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

The human rights of Child Q were abused

Government plan assault on very rights that are supposed to protect kids against strip-search abuse

I

F THERE were ever a case that fit the description of inhuman and degrading treatment it is that of Child Q. Coming at a time when the government seems intent on watering down the protections afforded to us all under the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998, now is an opportune time to consider the impact of the Act and why we should be very concerned by current proposals to repeal it.

I first became aware of the Child Q story very shortly after the news began to break in mainstream online media.

My initial reaction was that it was fake news. It sounded so horrendous that I desperately wanted it to be fake news. I was relieved when I googled the story and found nothing. However, minutes later the story began popping up in mainstream media.

When I read the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP) report I was utterly appalled at the reprehensible way in which this child had been stripped of all dignity and comprehensively humiliated. I squirmed as I read it not only had the teachers become eyes and ears for the police in neglecting their safeguarding obligations, but had become their nostrils too.

Article 3 - Prohibition of torture

Article 3 of the HRA states that: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

The pretext of the smell of cannabis has been the single most effective ruse the police have had at their disposal in unlawfully policing the black community.

To be clear, there is no suggestion that the teacher in the Child Q case did not smell cannabis. However, it’s particularly interesting how the alleged smell of cannabis precipitated a search far more inhuman and degrading than had she been detained by police after walking the streets smoking a spliff.

DEGRADING

It would appear that the officers who attended, instead of concluding that the clothing and bag search was sufficiently proportionate, instead ramped up the abuse to inhuman and degrading proportions, in breach of Article 3 of the Human Rights Act (HRA).

I am confident that had Child Q been white, either there would have been no police involvement, or police conduct would have ended within minutes over the telephone.

Diane Abbott made a similar point at a recent demo.

The HRA 1998 came into force in 2000, enshrining the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic British law.

To say that the HRA has been unpopular amongst certain Right-

ANGER: A protest at the treatment of Child Q. Inset left, Diane Abbott (photos: Getty Images) leaning individuals and the right wing press, would be a gross understatement.

The human rights of hundreds of black, brown and white children like Child Q are being breached in a multitude of ways. Fortunately for them, they have recourse to the protections afforded to them by the Human Rights Act and in particular article 3.

Public authorities such as the police and schools, have a positive obligation to act in a way that is compatible with the HRA. The Child Q case starkly demonstrates a serious failure to do so, but also demonstrates

that Child Q will be able to seek a financial remedy by way of compensation under the Act.

tion manifesto. I fear that the government and other public institutions such as the police

My initial reaction was that it was fake news. I desperately wanted it to be fake news What is greatly of concern are government proposals to replace the 1998 Human Rights Act with a British bill of rights further to Boris Johnson’s reform pledge in the 2019 Conservative party elec-

and schools, would be far less accountable under a British bill of rights. I fear that there would be a watered-down version of article 3. Why? Because the whole rationale for repealing the HRA is to make state

bodies less, not more, accountable.

Black children are disproportionately strip-searched in comparison to white children. Therefore, a repeal of the Human Rights Act would disproportionately affect black children.

The Human Rights Act is central to safeguarding the rights of children when they come into contact with public bodies.

The sickening case of Child Q is a timely reminder as to why we should resist any attempt at replacing the Human Rights Act with a bill of rights.

Terence Channer is a consultant solicitor at Scott-Moncrieff & Associates LLP who specialises in police misconduct, injury and healthcare law. He is a passionate anti-racism advocate.

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APRIL 2022

THE VOICE| 9

KNOW THE SYMPTOMS OF A HEART ATTACK The NHS is here for you ou

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ach year there are over 80,000 hospital admissions in England because of heart attacks, The overall survival rate for people experiencing a heart attack is seven in 10 and this increases to nine in 10 for those who come forward for early hospital treatment.

The symptoms which may lead to admission can vary depending on the person’s gender. While the most common symptom in both men and women is chest pain, if you are a woman, you are more likely to experience other symptoms such as shortness of breath, feeling or being sick and

June Davison

having back or jaw pain.

Additionally particular concerns have been raised about women delaying accessing available treatment and care – whilst men are more likely to recognise the symptoms of a heart attack, women may tend to dismiss symptoms. It is widely recognised that a women’s risk of a heart attack increases after the menopause, so if you are in this age group, it’s important to take these symptoms seriously.

Even though heart attacks more frequently affect men, 35,000 women are admitted to hospital following a heart attack each year in the UK -which is an

average of 98 women per day, or 4 per hour.

There are many factors which negatively impact the risk of having a heart attack, such as smoking, a high fat diet, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and being overweight or obese, So eat a healthy, balanced diet, don’t smoke and try to keep your blood pressure at a healthy level.

■ The Voice spoke to June Davison,

Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), who said: “A heart attack is a serious medical emergency that requires urgent medical attention. It happens when there’s a sudden loss of blood flow to a part of the heart muscle – without enough blood and oxygen, your heart can be seriously damaged.

“Symptoms can vary from person to person, but the most common signs include pain or discomfort in your chest that happens suddenly and doesn’t go away. Other symptoms include pain that spreads to your left or right arm, or to your neck, jaw, back or stomach.

For some people, this pain is severe, while for others it can just feel uncomfortable. You may also feel sick, sweaty, light-headed, or short of breath. Despite common misconceptions, these symptoms are similar in both men and women.

“Every minute counts, so if you think you or someone else is having symptoms of a heart attack, call 999 immediately. Don’t delay, as getting swift treatment can reduce the amount of serious damage to your heart and could ultimately help to save your life.”

Shushila Hirani AT THE FIRST SIGN, ALWAYS CALL 999 Shushila Hirani was enjoying her evening when she started feeling chest pain.

In good health generally, she dismissed the symptoms and went to bed. But the next morning Shushila woke to find the chest pain had not improved and had now spread to her arm.

“I should have called 999 immediately but ended up making my way to the hospital. “I never thought it would be a heart attack, I just thought the chest pain might be because I’d been doing some lifting the previous day,” says Shushila.

Kept in hospital overnight, Shushila was sent to have a stent fitted. Since then, she does more exercise and has made positive changes to her lifestyle.

Now she tells everyone to act at the first sign of any symptoms.

“My advice to anyone with signs of a heart attack is don’t delay, call 999 and tell them your symptoms.” says Shushila.

UNDERSTANDING THE EARLY SYMPTOMS CAN REALLY HELP SAVE A LIFE The early signs of a heart attack can vary, the most common include squeezing across the chest, a feeling of unease and a sense that something just isn’t right. The early symptoms of a heart attack don’t always feel severe.

It can be easy to dismiss the early signs of a heart attack, but it’s never

too early to call 999 and describe your symptoms.

SYMPTOMS OF A HEART ATTACK CAN INCLUDE:

● chest pain – a feeling of pressure, heaviness, tightness or squeezing across your chest

● pain in other parts of the body – it can feel as if the pain is spreading from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back and tummy ● feeling lightheaded or dizzy ● sweating

● shortness of breath

● feeling sick (nausea) or being sick (vomiting) ● an overwhelming feeling of anxiety (similar to a panic attack) ● coughing or wheezing

The chest pain is often severe, but some people may only experience minor pain, similar to indigestion.

While the most common symptom in both men and women is chest pain, women are more likely to have other symptoms such as shortness of breath, feeling or being sick and back or jaw pain.

Call 999 immediately if you think someone might be having a heart attack. The faster you act, the better their chances.

It’s never too early to call 999 and describe your symptoms.

For more information visit: nhs.uk/heartattack

10

| THE VOICE

APRIL 2022

News

Overcoming with a smile – Floella’s story

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ARONESS FLOELLA Benjamin entertained a generation of children in the 1970s and 80s, and her childhood memoirs of coming to England as a Windrush child have now been turned into a musical.

The musical at the Birmingham Rep, which stars Paula Kay as Floella, tells the story of encountering racism from hostile Brits in Beckenham, the south London neighbourhood where she grew up. The former BBC Play School

presenter has adapted her 1997 best-selling book Coming to England for the stage, which describes her journey from Trindad as a child, and what it was like growing up in Britain in the 60s and 70s.

It is a story of determination, standing up to bullies and fighting for what she believed in.

Her experiences have already been turned into a BBC children’s TV drama and used as a CBeebies bedtime story.

Floella in BBC children’s show Play School

There’s always hope in the face of adversity...

“ MY story of Coming to England is

about belonging, people moving from one culture to another which I hope will resonate with people everywhere.

I’m thrilled to be associate producer of the stage musical of Coming to England, adapted from my bestselling book which was written through the eyes of young Floella. It tells of my childhood experiences.

Being part of a happy family in Trinidad, then suddenly having that life torn apart when my parents answered the call to travel to the Land of Hope and Glory to help rebuild Britain.

The story portrays the trauma suffered by left behind children who faced a harsh life that took away confidence and love.

It shows how the happiness of my family reunion is short lived here in England because of the adversity I had to face as a ten-year-old Windrush child and the barriers I had to break

Baroness Floella with Paula Kay who will play her in the musical

down on my arrival. But this is a story of resilience, love, confidence and self belief, showing people, especially children they can overcome any barriers placed before them with determination and a smile.

My message in Coming To England is that there is always hope, no matter what you’re going through and that everything happens for a reason.

I want the audience to experience every type of emotion high and low, to laugh and cry, to be enthralled and mesmerised by the creativity of this spectacular production.

I hope through music and dance the vibrancy of the Caribbean will come alive in Coming to England on stage and make the heart soar with pride and leave you with an uplifting feeling, inspiring audiences to feel that joy and energy and splendour of a celebrated life.

Win tickets to see the musical Coming to England in Birmingham WHAT are fans of Baroness Floella Benjamin children’s show known as: A. Play School Ba-bas B. Play School Children C. Play School Babies Email your answer to: competitions@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk or write to us at: Competitions, The Voice Media Group, Unit 1 Bricklayers Arms, Mandela Way, London, SE1 5SR. Deadline for entries 7th April

”

Baroness Floella Benjamin

@thevoicenewspaper

@thevoicenews

voicenews

www.voice-online.co.uk

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

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

Colour is Mine Photo: Bill Patterson. Courtesy N15 Archive.

The Althea McNish Collection

12 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

News feature

The prince and the Powerlist

Charles hails the contribution of influential black Britons at Clarence House event THE PRINCE of Wales paid tribute to the achievements of black Britons at an event honouring people featured on the Powerlist, the list of the most influential people of African, African Caribbean and African American heritage in the UK. Charles hosted the event at his residence, Clarence House on March 1. The Powerlist was launched in 2007 by a former New Nation editor, Michael Eboda, to highlight black role models to young people.

The list is also published in book form and is distributed for free to schools across the

United Kingdom. In a speech he delivered during the event, Charles told the audience he was “very impressed” by their success.

REWARDING

“I have been so impressed to hear what all of you do and the success you have been having and the way many of you go about trying to find new talent in all sorts of dark corners around the country and everywhere else,” he said.

He said it had been “enormously rewarding” to meet attendees who had been helped

by his charity, the Prince’s Trust.

“I think some of you have been helped by my Prince’s Trust at some point in the last 45 years, so meeting one or two of you has been enormously rewarding for me”, he said.

Charles jokingly added that those helped by the trust do not often admit it, until they are “unbelievably successful”.

“I can’t tell you how proud it makes me to find so many people who very often don’t always let on that they were helped by the trust, until finally when they become un-

It’s a real pleasure and a real honour to be surrounded by all these fabulously talented people believably successful”, he said.

The Powerlist, now in its 16th year, honours successful individuals from a wide range of fields, including business, science, technology and the

arts. Homeland star David Harewood, Young Vic artistic director Kwami Kwei-Armah, and former UN under-secretary Baroness Amos were among the guests at the Clarence House event.

Harewood told PA News he spoke with the prince about his acting career.

“I have been out of the country for the past 10 years, he asked me what sort of work I have been doing,” the leading actor said.

“I explained I have been playing everyone from members of the CIA to high rank-

ing members of the Republican Party.”

Harewood added that it was a “real pleasure” to be surrounded by so many talented people.

“It’s a real pleasure and a real honour to be surrounded, not just by the prince, but by all these fabulously talented people on the black Powerlist”, he said.

Baroness Amos said it was “always a pleasure” to come to Clarence House and meet the prince. “(Charles) has been extraordinary in really working to bring communities together”, she said.

MAKING AN IMPRESSION: Left to right, Charles meets actor David Harewood and composer Shirley Thompson; Baroness Amos, and actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah

APRIL 2022

ADVERTORIAL

THE VOICE | 13

IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR:

Now open – new exhibition explores how Caribbean workers shaped London and its transport

New beginnings TFL staff left to right: Gloria George, Winsome Hull, Sherelle Cadogan, Josh Burrell, and Ashley Mayers

V

isitors to the London Transport Museum, which is in the heart of London’s Covent Garden area, can learn about the huge contribution that people of Caribbean heritage have made to transport history and present-day London. Personal oral histories from past and present generations of Caribbean descent help bring individual experiences and struggles to life in a new Legacies: London Transport’s Caribbean Workforce exhibition.

Many people know about the history of Windrush but are less familiar with London Transport’s (LT) advertising recruitment campaign to attract employees directly from the Caribbean to London in the 1950s and 1960s. After the Second World War, as the ties of the British Empire started to loosen, the UK’s need for workers coincided with the Caribbean population’s need for jobs.

From 1956 to 1970 LT recruited about 6,000 employees directly from the Caribbean to the UK. The experiences of new employees are explored in a re-edited short film called Arrival which revisits interviews with recruits from the Caribbean, which was filmed for the Museum in 1994, in historic advertising posters, ar-

Sherelle Cadogan chive photography, and neverbefore-displayed objects.

The new Caribbean recruits arrived with high hopes of life in Britain but were shocked to be faced with hostility and racism and struggled to find places to live. The new employees worked as bus conductors, station staff and canteen assistants, track maintenance and building work. Though most were skilled and well-educated they had to take basic, low-paid work and often found promotion difficult due to pervasive racism.

Yet despite these great challenges, many enjoyed their work. New social and sports clubs were set up, such as the London Transport Caribbean Association, which helped with everything from holidays to assistance with funerals in the Caribbean.

Most of the initial Caribbean recruits were men, but women also took up jobs at LT, especially in the numerous canteens that in 1956 helped to feed 87,000 staff. These new cooks

soon introduced new Caribbean flavours and recipes to traditional British food.

Today, LT’s successor Transport for London (TfL) includes a new generation of Londoners, some of whom are relatives of the first Caribbean recruits. Ashley Mayers, a Customer Experience Manager, has three generations in his family that have worked for London bus services.

‘There is a history of buses in my family, my grandad was a driver, my dad worked on the computer systems in bus garages and now I work in customer experience for buses’ said Mayers.

A big thank you to the Advisory Board

An Advisory Board of people of Caribbean heritage advised exhibition curators on the narrative, object selection, language and tone, and design, as well as the wider Museum team on the promotion of the exhibition, events, and the development of school sessions.

London Transport Museum would like to thank this team for their enthusiasm, ideas, and invaluable feedback.

For more information visit: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/legacies

 W IN A PAIR OF FREE TICKETS

London Transport Museum is giving away five pairs of free tickets to see the new exhibition Legacies: London Transport Caribbean’s Workforce.

Please select the correct answer to this question: What year did London Transport launch its advertising campaign to recruit Caribbean people to work on the London Transport system?

A. 1948 B. 1956 C. 1994 Please email the correct answer to The Voice at: competitions@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk Competition closing date: 31st May 2022

One pair of adult annual pass tickets per entrant. Kids go free.

Terms and conditions apply. Tickets are valid for 12 months and allow unlimited day-time entry but must be activated by the end of September 2022.

Subject to terms and Conditions:

www.ltmuseum.co.uk/terms#-conditions

COMPETITION

14 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

News feature

Blaxit: Black Brits quit UK Covid and the death of George Floyd prompted a reassessment of priorities for many black people, who have decided to leave the UK for a better life. By Sinai Fleary

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ANY BLACK Brits are relocating to parts of Africa and the Caribbean for a better quality of life.

Years ago Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line helped transport black people who wanted to go back to Africa or the Caribbean. Now the Blaxit trend comes amid the rising cost of living and failure of government to tackle systemic racism.

These are key reasons why black British families are choosing to go ‘back home’ for good. In recent years, the pandemic and post-Brexit xenophobia has driven Blaxit, as black communities in the west move to countries in Africa or the Caribbean to restart their lives.

The term was coined after Brexit, by academic and human rights activist Dr Ulysses Burley III. Blaxit combines both the word black and exit and simply means black people exiting.

Speaking to The Voice from Grenada, Zoe Smith, 41, said the move to the Caribbean island was her only option, as the British education system continuously failed her 11-year-old son.

She said: “Seeing the way that my son was dealt with in the school system, watching black boys getting stopped by police, and being worried about knife crime, I just made the decision not to go through that.”

Ms Smith is a writer from Watford, and is of Grenadian heritage. She moved to Grenada in July 2021, after meticulously planning the trip for over a decade.

WELLBEING

She told The Voice that there is more to life than what is in the UK. “My grandparents moved to England because they wanted a better life for their children, and my parents and I are university-educated and had great professions, but in terms of wellbeing and that gift of just being well in yourself, the UK was lacking a lot,” she explained.

“For my children, I want them to have more than just a career, I want them to know who they are, be centred and grow up somewhere where they are not harassed,” she added.

The mother-of-three studied

Italian at university and lived in Italy for a year.

When she returned, she knew living in a big city in the UK was not for her.

While working remotely in 2014, she spent six weeks in Grenada, which was her “trial run” that enabled her research schools, communities and the cost of living on the island.

She returned to Britain, but just couldn’t find herself staying and planned her permanent return to the Spice Island.

After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Ms Smith started a YouTube lifestyle series called The Exodus Collective — which shares stories from those in the black community, who have decided to move to different parts of the Caribbean and Africa to find a sense of peace.

“We wanted to show people it can be done and you don’t need to wait until you are retired, I wanted to show ordinary people if you put your mind to it, it can be achieved,” she added.

Ms Smith said the most important part of planning a relocation is to know “why you are moving” and not view the Caribbean as “an escape”.

@thevoicenewspaper

In July 2021, she decided to leave the UK with her three children, aged 11, six and five.

Ms Smith, who is a single parent, continues to work remotely, and her children have started local schools and are thriving in their new environment.

She said: “My children go to schools that are small and

which took some adjusting to, like the incredibly laid-back pace or “island time” that the country moves at, but Ms Smith says she doesn’t miss the “unhappiness and greyness” of life in Britain.

The mother-of-three urged those in black British communities to make it their duty to

The people are genuinely happy and say hello and smile at you — there is a real sense of community that is lacking in the UK where the teachers are black and they don’t have low expectations of them.

“It’s the simple things like driving around the island and seeing the sea and greenery, but also the people here are genuinely happy and say hello and smile at you, and there is a real strong sense of community and that is lacking back in the UK.” “I just love being in a black country!” she added.

There are a few challenges

@thevoicenews

bring their children and grandchildren back to the Caribbean or Africa so they can “keep their culture” and be proud of their identity.

“I think it is essential for black British communities to take their children and grandchildren back to the Caribbean or African countries because you want to know who you are and where you are from,” she added.

When asked how she would

voicenews

describe living in Grenada, Ms Smith beamed and said: “It’s a wonderful feeling and it is liberating.”

For Sharon Akumiah, from Wimbledon, south London, life in the capital was becoming very stressful, so she made the decision to relocate to Ghana in September 2021.

Ms Akumiah’s parents are both Ghanaian and came to the UK in the 1970s.

She was born in 1983 and remembers spending a lot of time in the west African country during her childhood — which made the transition easy for her.

She told The Voice: “In 2017, I came to Ghana on a holiday and met my now-husband, and I was going back and forth.

We had plans for him to come over, but then the pandemic hit and working from home became very stressful. I had several family members and friends passing away from Covid, and I just felt I needed a change in environment.”

Ms Akumiah has been a solicitor for five years and said that being a black woman in the law profession was very challenging at times.

www.voice-online.co.uk

APRIL 2022 THE VOICE | 15

News feature

for Africa and Caribbean The dream of moving back to Africa is not a new phenomenon

MAKING THE JOURNEY: The Black Star Line, set up by Marcus Garvey, inset below left, prepares to transport African-Amercans to Liberia. From far left, Sharon Akumiah has relocated from Wimbledon, south London, to Accra, Ghana; Zoe Smith, from Watford, moved with her three children to Grenada in July 2021

“It’s no secret that we still face a bit of racism and discrimination in the profession and, in fact, both the Bar Council and the Law Society have realised that they need to do a lot more,” she added.

IN 1861, more than 15,000 freed and free-born black people in the US and 3,198 African-Caribbean people relocated to Liberia.

Our historical leaders like Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X preached that the only way for black people to be truly liberated is to return to the Motherland and many of their followers acted on their philosophies and made the move across the Atlantic.

In 1914, Garvey, who was a black nationalist and Pan-Africanist, founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and advocated for black people to physically return to the African continent.

Five years later, Garvey founded the Black Star Line, and purchased two ships to provide transportation for those wanting to return to Africa. By 1948, Emperor

One of the major differences the solicitor has quickly noticed is how natural hair is embraced in Ghana.

She said: “In the UK and in a corporate environment, I was very conscious about the way

my hair was and when I was transitioning from having my hair relaxed to natural, a senior colleague negatively commented on my hair. But here, it is not a problem and that is quite liberating.”

Know before you go...

Zoe Smith’s top tips for moving to the Caribbean:

l Apply for citizenship — with a lot of islands, you can only apply through your parents, and few where you can apply through grandparents. The pandemic showed us being stuck is not fun, so having options is important. l Check out the Exodus Collection on YouTube and that will open your mind to what options

are available. Also, know why you want to move and understand what makes you happy.

l Research online, but visit islands you are interested in because it will help answer questions and ease uncertainties.

Sharon Akumiah’s top tips for moving to Africa: l Spend time in the country you want to settle in — a holiday is very different from living

in a country full-time.

Research what you will do for work, accommodation, business, and schools, if you have children. l Have an idea about your income. Money can go very quickly and prices are increasing. Employed work is quite rare unless you have a really good skill that they need, so have a plan. There are a lot of opportunities for starting businesses, just make sure it is viable. l Have a plan if it doesn’t work out, so you can go back easily without any hassle.

Many of Ms Akumiah’s friends have also been returning to different parts of Africa, like Zambia, Zimbabwe and The Gambia, and she was inspired to do the same.

She is currently enrolled on a course for legal professionals who gained their qualifications abroad, which will enable her to practise law in Ghana after a year. She revealed that her course has seen its highest number of overseas students this year, with many from the diaspora wanting to practise law in Ghana full-time.

She said: “Last year, there were only 40 international students, but this year there are 120, and that speaks volumes.”

“I wanted to come back and see how I can contribute to my country of origin, and also the whole George Floyd movement made me reflect on my life in the UK,” she added. “I have family in Belgium and when I have visited them I have experienced racism, and that made me question, ‘why am I here in Europe when I can be somewhere where I am loved?’

My husband is here and that was a big part of my decision.”

During her early twenties, Ms Akumiah was travelling back

to Ghana regularly. Today, she credits those journeys for helping her to feel right at home in 2022.

But she has experienced some challenges such as understanding the local languages.

Ms Akumiah is from the Ga tribe in Ghana, and admits she doesn’t understand the local languages of Ga or Twi as much as she should — but is learning more every day through conversations.

EMBRACING

She is based in Accra, the capital, and says it has rightly been labelled “one of the most expensive cities in Africa” and those coming should have a sufficient financial plan in place.

The law student describes herself as “an Amazon queen” who was once a keen online shopper but says she had to adapt because the convenience of online shopping is not really available.

Healthcare costs has been the biggest surprise for Ms Akumiah and she said it can be “expensive” and if she “requires treatment, she has to pay for it herself”.

However, despite these issues she is embracing her new life

Haile Selassie donated land in Shashamane, in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, to members of the Rastafari movement in Jamaica and other African-Caribbean people wishing to settle in Ethiopia.

Today, members of the Rastafari community continue to campaign for repatriation to Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. In 2018, Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo launched the Year of Return (TYOR) to commemorate 400 years since the first enslaved people were brought from Africa to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619.

TYOR welcomed 1.5 million tourists and generated a staggering 1.9 billion dollars in revenue as a result from Year of Return activities.

Ghana is believed to be the number one destination for African-Americans and diaspora Africans in 2019. and has much more of a worklife balance.

In 2019, Ghana and Jamaica announced there would be a visa waiver agreement between the two nations to encourage migration and a closer bond between Africa and the Caribbean.

According to Ms Akumiah, this government incentive is driving a growing Jamaican diaspora community in Ghana.

“There are a lot of expats here, people from the Caribbean coming home to find their roots and end up staying here,” she added.

Ms Akumiah has a clear plan for her future, which includes working between Ghana and the UK only as a consultant and not an employee, as she is keen to keep the flexibility of being able to work wherever she wants. But, ultimately, she said Ghana is where her heart is and it is where she plans to start and raise her family with her husband.

“The plan is to set up home here, there are a lot of opportunities to buy property here and there are specific mortgages for people who are from abroad and we want to make Ghana our forever home,” she said.

16 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Kelechi Okafor

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

Polymath & Baby Girl

CHILD Q WASN’T REGARDED AS A GIRL BECAUSE SHE IS BLACK

We need to recognise that the adultification of black children is a symptom of racism

T

HERE ISN’T much I can say that hasn’t already been covered in the discourse around what happened to Child Q. For those who somehow missed it, in December 2020 Child Q was temporarily pulled out of her exams because her teachers accused her of smelling like cannabis.

This led to one of the teachers calling the police and those police officers performing an inhumane strip search of Child Q. Child Q’s mother was not informed before or during the incident, which raises major questions about the safeguarding violations that took place.

Child Q was then sent back to her exams as if being wrongly accused of being in possession of cannabis and then being forced to remove her sanitary pad while menstruating, were all perfectly normal things to happen to anyone let alone a 15-year-old girl.

ACCOSTED

This could only happen because of the adultification of black children which is a symptom of racism.

I want to talk specifically in this case about the adultification of black girls, because it is something that I have experienced.

As black girls, we grow up in a world that tells us that simple things like innocence, childlike wonder and protection by society are things which are unavailable to us. As children, we are treated as mini-adults and accosted with adult consequences to our age appropriate be-

OUTRAGE: Supporters of Child Q protest outside Hackney Town Hall (photo: Getty Images).

Inset below left, Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch claimed the public anger expressed at the girl’s treatment was evidence of a progressive society

We grow up in a world that tells us things like innocence, protection and childlike wonder are unavailable haviours. This is unfair. What happened to Child Q would not have happened to a 15-yearold middle-class white girl, because the police officers would have been very aware of the violations they were enacting.

Due to the inference of masculinity placed upon blackness, black children have to fight that much harder to have a semblance of what can be classified as trauma-free childhoods.

Black girls are therefore not considered by society to be girls because to be racialised as black means being disallowed participation in the type of girlhood or womanhood that was crafted to give purpose to white femininity and thus, white supremacist heteropatriarchy.

It is important to highlight the gendered nature of Child Q’s treatment because it was a mixture of sexism and racism, thus misogynoir.

This is why it is not

enough to speak on this issue merely on the basis of race (although we should be aware of the various ways in which black men and boys are constantly violated by the state) but also on the basis of gender.

I am pleased that so many people spoke up in support of Child Q but I am disappointed in the way that those who claimed to be shocked by Child Q’s experience, then became complicit in further trauma for her by revealing her school and ultimately her identity.

The report written about Child Q also included statements from Child Q herself and what I gathered from it

gain by having her identity exposed and all manners of people invading her privacy?

Why is it that people struggle

The gendered nature of the treatment was a mixture of sexism and racism, misogynoir is a young girl who is deeply traumatised to the point of self-harming.

What do you think she would

to use sense at times like this?

Protecting black girls also includes respecting their wishes to not be identified publicly.

Kelechi Okafor is an actor, writer, public speaker and host of the Say Your Mind podcast and founder of Kelechnekoff Fitness studio.

Lastly, I would like to use this time to express my continued disappointment at the lack of shame Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch possesses.

To infer that the support Child Q has been shown is proof of a progressive society is a big lie from the pits of hell and it is this type of gaslighting which enables more harm to be inflicted on the most vulnerable in our already racially minoritised communities.

FEBRUARY 2022

THE VOICE| 17

18 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Dotun Adebayo

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

News

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

Dear President Zelensky...

I will open my home to Ukrainian refugees when you apologise for the way Africans have been treated in your country

D

EAR PRESIDENT Zelensky, I’m assuming that you didn’t get the tweet I sent the other day calling on you to apologise to the entire African and south Asian diasporas for the inhumane way your border guards treated black and brown students trying to flee your war-torn country as the first Russian shells fell on your major cities.

It was shocking. To see your officials beating back desperate human beings trying to leave the country like millions of others, just because of the colour of their skin, was at the very least inhumane and potentially tantamount to a war crime. How else should we describe the deliberate targeting and selection of people to die as opposed to those who would be allowed to leave the theatre of war with their lives intact?

Not only is it arguably a war crime (I will leave that to the interpreters of the Geneva Convention to decide) but a racist war crime at that. Not even the demagogue Putin has been accused of a racist war crime.

Talking of President Putin, as you have for the last month or so, one of his justifications for his “war crimes” is that Ukraine is run by Nazis. An accusation that I am assuming you find particularly offensive given your Jewish heritage. Indeed, history shows us that Russian state-inspired pogroms against Jewish people go back centuries.

Officials beat back desperate human beings because of the colour of their skin

SPOTLIGHT: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (photo: Getty Images).

Inset below left, black refugees in Ukraine (photo: Wotjek Radwanski/ AFP via Getty Images)

But scenes like we saw at Ukrainian railway stations and on the border with Poland of African and Asian students being beaten back by Ukrainian border guards to allow white people to escape the Russian bombardment cannot escape a comparison with any other peoples who have been discriminated against on the pain of death just because of their race.

INHUMANE

This is why you, of all people, need to apologise. Because you get it. And as everybody knows by now, you are a master of diplomacy, a king of PR as we have seen when you quoted Churchill to a packed house of Commons and you cited Pearl Harbour to a packed Congress.

And yet, you have studiously avoided even a reference to the disgusting and racist inhumane behaviour of those under your authority.

As the great Anglo-Nigerian satirist Nels Abbey describes it, this treatment of our people in

Ukraine may yet turn out to be “the worst PR disaster in the history of Ukraine”.

Many black Brits who at the start of the war were supportive of the legitimate rights of the Ukrainian people to live free, have turned their backs on the plight of Ukraine and couldn’t care less.

A caller to one of my radio programmes, an Asian man, told me how he had bought a crate of tinned baked beans with his own money to donate to the relief effort to support besieged Ukrainians.

He loaded his car with the beans and was driving to a depot in Tulse Hill in south London to deliver it to a Polish charity which was collecting to help your people, when he heard a news broadcast about the treatment of African and south Asian students in your country. As a result, he did an immediate U-turn and drove back home because he could not bring himself to help in the aid effort.

Now that may not mean much in the light of the war (what’s a crate of beans after

all?) but remember, no matter what our government may be telling you, we the people of Britain cannot stand united in our support for your nation whilst people like us (people of colour) are being mistreated by your people.

How many people of colour do you think will be opening their homes to Ukrainian refugees even with a government incentive of £350 a month? I can guarantee that it is not as

to do right now than address this unpalatable issue. Like you, black Britons have much more pressing issues to deal with.

Supporting our daughters from the racism in this country which has seen a young black girl being strip-searched and humiliated whilst she was menstruating is far more important to many black Brits than the destruction of Kyiv, Mariupol and Kharkiv.

I think that white lives matter more to the Ukrainian border guards than black lives many as would have otherwise done so. I for one am proof of that.

I was willing to offer my spare room to Ukrainian refugees when the war started, even without a government incentive. But I just can’t bring myself to do it right now.

President Zelensky, I know you might argue that you have so many more pressing things

The police and the education system, not to mention the local authority, are under intense fire from our community as a result of this shocking episode.

But at least they have apologised.

Personally, President Zelensky, I think that white lives matter more to Ukrainian border guards than black lives, so I am not holding my

breath for an apology from the Ukrainian commander-in-chief.

But black lives matter a lot to us, as do white lives.

Remember, we do not judge Ukrainians on the colour of their skin. We judge them in their hour of need based on our shared humanity.

When Ukrainian refugees arrive in our neighbourhoods (as invariably they will, given our neighbourhoods are the least expensive) we will treat them with the love we will treat any human beings who need a helping hand.

We will not push them to the back of the queue. We will not treat them like animals to fend for themselves under fire. We are a loving race.

If that’s what you believe your people are, President Zelensky, you will apologise to Africans and Asian people for the way they were treated by your officials when they were fleeing for their lives. And I will open up my home to Ukrainian refugees.

DOTUN ADEBAYO, BRITAIN’S MOST CELEBRATED BLACK BROADCASTER, IS KNOWN AS THE KING OF THE NIGHTTIME AIRWAVES. ALL VIEWS HERE ARE HIS OWN. LISTEN TO HIM OVERNIGHT ON BBC 5 LIVE FROM 1-5AM SATURDAY MORNINGS - MONDAY MORNINGS & 1AM - 4AM ON BBC RADIO LONDON (WEDNESDAY TO FRIDAY MORNINGS). FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER: @dotunadebayo

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

Emancipating ourselves from colonial nostalgia Chickens have come home to roost and the demand for reparations is now unstoppable

I

T’S NEVER short of controversy whenever the royals visit the Caribbean. As the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge end their tour of the Caribbean, they have not been welcoming to a warm embrace ahead of the Queen’s platinum jubilee marking 70 years on the throne.

An open letter comprised from the Jamaican Advocacy Group told the royals they won’t be celebrating the platinum and called for reparations from Britain for slavery. They also pushed for Jamaica to become a republic.

This letter was signed by legal professionals, activists, academics, engineers, doctors, politicians, and religious leaders.

As legendary dancehall artists Beenie Man summarised on Good Morning Britain: “We are just here, controlled by the British, ruled by the British law when you go in the court, it’s all about the Queen, and the Queen serves and the Queen this and that — but what are they doing for Jamaica? They’re not doing anything for us.”

Britain’s relationship with Jamaica stretches back to 1655 when the island was acquired by the then Lord Protectorate Oliver Cromwell in a series of battles in the Caribbean with the Spanish over territories for the growing expansion of the transatlantic slave trade.

The brutal and grotesque enslavement of African people was the largest forced migration history with the conservative number of African people enslaved just shy around 1012 million who were forcibly transported to the ‘New World’.

Their displacement and subsequent work on plantations created surplus wealth for western nations such as Britain, contributing to how it became ‘Great’.

Caribbean historian Sir Hilary Beckles in his 2007 article Slavery was a long, long time ago: Remembrance, Reconciliation and the Reparations Discourse in the Caribbean, estimates reparations for the transatlantic slave trade to Caribbean nations at $7.5 trillion – Britain has continued to denounce the

BRUTAL ENSLAVEMENT: Around 10-12 million African people were forcibly transported to the ‘New World’. Inset left, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have not enjoyed a warm royal welcome on their recent visit to Jamaica (photo: Getty Images) possibility of reparations for Caribbean nations and people affected by the transatlantic slave trade.

But how can we forget the infamous ‘compensation’ paid to enslavers with the abolition of slavery 1833? The £20 million lump sum is around £20 billion in today’s climate with the debt only recently being paid off in 2015, the money was reinvested into education, railroads, the architectural landscape of cities, banks, and more.

The same year in 2015, upon visiting Jamaica, then prime minister David Cameron told the country: “We should move on from the painful legacy of slavery” despite out of the £20 million compensation fund given to enslavers, benefactors were members of his family.

As Professor Kehinde Andrews outlines in his book Age of Empire, Cameron’s ancestor Sir James Duffy received

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£3 million. Similarly, his wife Samantha Cameron descended from William Joliffe, who received £3 million.

Another reality facing Britain is how the monarchy does not fare the same as it did; as I discussed in my article in January, people are not as fond of the Royal Family as they once

love for ackee and saltfish (the national dish of Jamaica) and be in the jubilance of the videos of the royals dancing and being greeted by the many Jamaicans upon their arrival.

This generation has seemingly emancipated themselves from the colonial nostalgia and contentment for the British Em-

While Britain has basked in its wealth it gained from countries like Jamaica, the latter has suffered from poverty were. The generational disconnect to the royal family is strife.

To my Jamaican grandmother, who was born and raised in colonial Jamaica during the 1930s, the royal family remains the aristocracy of Britain and its ‘values’. She would take pride in discussing the Queen’s

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pire, understanding the harsh realities and subjugation of colonialism and its impact on the underdevelopment of the land.

The royal family is an establishment built upon empire and imperialism. The relationship between Britain and Jamaica is not mutually beneficial with

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slavery playing a pivotal role in the economic underdevelopment of the country.

While Britain has basked in its wealth and glory it gained from countries like Jamaica, the latter has suffered from persistent waves of poverty giving the people poor employment and lack of educational opportunities. The monarchy is outdated, and their handling over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle only created more animosity, particularly from Black Brits and Black people across the diaspora.

The demand for reparations will continue to grow. They will not be greeted with jubilance and open arms rather questions and demanded answers on reparations as Britain and Jamaica’s relationship continues to deteriorate.

Finally, the chickens have come home to roost and the time for reparations is now.

www.voice-online.co.uk

APRIL 2022

T

HE GEORGE Floyd protests helped push black toys into large retail shops where they were previously absent, according to black parents.

Before the rise of Black Lives Matter, major toy shops had few toys aimed at African and Caribbean children, prompting singer Jamelia to make a TV documentary about the problem in 2017.

The Voice investigated whether anything had changed since then by visiting leading toy stores in the capital to see how diverse the toy shelves really are. Our survey of toy shops in both Westfield shopping centres and Hamleys found the situation had improved but there was less choice for black boys.

The Entertainer store is the UK’s largest independent toy retailer, with more than 170 stores nationwide. The Voice found toys based on the new Space Jam film which featured basketball icon Lebron James.

On a visit to their branch in White City, west London, 16 different black dolls were on display that catered for different age groups, and there was a similar picture at the Stratford City branch in east London.

While there were black action figures on the shelves, they were all based on film and TV characters, like Star Wars or WWE wrestlers.

DIVERSITY

The black action figures that were available highlight the push for on-screen diversity is having a knock-on effect in the toy market.

Mother-of-two Sharon Campbell, from Kilburn, north west London, believes the recent global Black Lives Matter protests have forced retailers to cater to black consumers.

She said: “There has definitely been a shift because five years ago there wasn’t this much choice. I personally think the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that happened afterwards are something to do with it.”

The toy industry in the UK is a lucrative market that is growing steadily every year.

According to Statista, the revenue of the toys and games market surged in recent years, going from approximately £4.9 billion in 2013 to over £7.1 billion in 2021.

A total of 34 per cent of primary school children, and 32 per cent of secondary

WHY BLACK TOYS DO MATTER TO KIDS Five years after the Jamelia documentary, and following the Black Lives Matter protests, toy shops are finally getting diverse, writes Sinai Fleary pupils, are from a minority ethnic background so any failure to cater for diverse communities would ultimately be doing their business a disservice.

But for some black parents, many of the toys that are in shops do not go far enough to represent black communities.

Roselyn Fleary, from Bromley, south east London, said having more toys with black skin and white features available in the high street is not something the black community should be celebrating.

She said: “My daughter would mimic what the dolls looked like when she was younger, they had long silky hair, whereas she had long hair herself, but it wasn’t silky, so the bath towels and sheets she put on her head were a representation of the silky hair.

“Those memories of my daughter came back to me with my granddaughter and I said ‘no, she is going to have toys that are a resemblance of herself’, we are going to get

the toys with the harder quality hair and the flat nose,” she said.

In 2020, Ms Fleary wasn’t able to find a black doll with black features for her granddaughter, so she made her one. Since then, she has launched her own brand called Roz Dollz, which has steadily grown. The brand of-

as “Noah’s Ark” in High Holborn, London, in 1760.

During our time at the Regent Street store, which is spread over seven floors, we found an array of black dolls from the Bratz and Barbie brands.

Barbie was first launched in March in 1959, and is manu-

factured by toy company Mattel, Inc. Barbie’s friend, Christie, who is African-American, was introduced in 1968. But an official black Barbie wasn’t created until 1980. Despite the global popularity of Barbie, the doll was forced to undergo a rebrand to appeal to more diverse audiences.

M a t t e l intro-

MAKING A POINT: Jamelia highlighted the lack of black dolls in UK stores on This Morning; far right, Desiree Asomuyide and her son

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News feature

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: Roselyn Fleary and some of the dolls she has created

I said ‘no, my granddaughter is going to have toys that are a resemblance of herself’ fers a variety of handmade dolls with African print clothes, different skin tones and hair textures.

The Voice found that black Lego mini-figures are not sold individually and have to be purchased as a set.

The world’s oldest toy retailer, Hamleys, was founded

THE VOICE | 21

@thevoicenews

duced the Barbie Fashionistas dolls in 2016, and the range comes in seven different skin tones, 22 eye colours, 24 hairstyles and four body types, and the Barbie Extra doll is curvier than the original body.

Both of these versions were spotted at the stores The Voice visited in London.

In the past, singers Janet Jackson, Diana Ross, Brandy and Destiny’s Child have had a doll created in their likeness.

Earlier this month, it was announced that make-up artist and mogul Dame Pat McGrath will have a doll created to commemorate her in the Barbie Role Model collection.

During our visit to Westfield Stratford City, one black parent said she was “delighted” to see more black toys.

Singer and TV presenter Jamelia highlighted the issue of a lack of black dolls in UK stores on This Morning in 2017.

The mother-of-three spoke to two mothers at the Edgbaston nursery in Birmingham, who were frustrated at the lack of diverse dolls available.

The TV segment sparked a heated debate online and with some misguided viewers accusing the singer of being racist, when she was simply highlighting the lack of choice available for black children.

After the clip aired,

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many black parents took to social media to share their own difficulties finding black toys in UK stores, with many stating products were only available online and not in-store.

For black British toy manufacturers, selling directly to consumers has been a lifeline because of the various barriers to get their products in store.

Desiree Asomuyide, 28, from Romford, east London, previously worked as a fashion designer and used her expertise to develop inclusive children’s products for her brand Little Omo, which currently sells directly to customers on-line.

EXPLAIN

Speaking to The Voice, Ms Asomuyide said: “It has been very hard to actually explain to a lot of UK toy buyers why this product is needed. Around 90 per cent of toy buyers are white and don’t always understand why this is a needed product — not just for black and brown children but for all children.”

The Lego spokesperson in the White City store said: “Lego has a range of mini-figures with different and diverse skin tones but they are not sold individually. They are sold in special sets and are often made with different skin tones to reflect the real-life actors of the characters in famous films.”

www.voice-online.co.uk

22 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

News feature

‘I couldn’t be anything else’ Rasta women talk to Leah Mahon about their beliefs and what the movement means to them

F

OR MANY Rastafarians, the journey to embracing the faith as a way of life began in Britain, far away from its roots in the Caribbean.

It was as Jamaica remained under colonial rule that Marcus Garvey — a black nationalist and leader of the Pan-African movement — began the teachings of early Rasta ideology. He wanted people of African descent to unify and connect to their blackness after the horrors of the transAtlantic slave trade. Through denouncing the rhetoric of black inferiority, Garvey preached about the crowning of a king in Africa during the 1920s.

By the next decade, Ethiopian emperor His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I was crowned in 1930 and is believed by Rastafarians today to be the Second Coming of Christ, who returned to redeem all black people.

Sheeba Levi Stewart, a member of Rastafari Movement UK, told The Voice that the music of a newly independent Jamaica and the moment she first saw His Majesty began her journey as a Rasta. “One of my cousins happened to be the amplifier and builder in Jamaica at the time.

So I was living with music,” she said. “And then in 1966, when His Majesty came to Jamaica, he [my cousin] took me and my sister to see His Majesty.”

Sheeba recalls the colours red, gold and green and being surrounded by proud Rastasfarians. “I remember looking at His Majesty and just feeling this like an electric charge,” she says.

“The atmosphere that day was just really dynamic. And so my

I remember looking at His Majesty and feeling this electric charge journey started there without me even realising.”

Despite becoming prominent in its birthplace of Jamaica, to truly have lived as a Rasta on the island was still shrouded in shame and secrecy. The working class and those in the ghetto who chose its way of life were shunned even more from society.

UNDERCOVER

Sister Benji Uwimana, a member of the Church of Haile Selassie, says her journey to practising the Rastafarian religion started on the island as she grew up with her aunt and uncle. She admits that in post-colonial Jamaica, “society wasn’t for it” still.

“You couldn’t just be straight or brazen with it. You had to sort of hide it, it was an undercover thing,” she says. “My family, they believed in Christianity. It’s one of the main reasons why my mother cut me off, because my grandmother told her this ‘Rasta business’ was getting too much.”

Jamaica, much like the rest of the Caribbean, still harboured the legacy of the slave trade where many black people still worked on sugar plantations as a form of employment even after its abolition in 1834. In a part of the world shaped by white colonial

UNITED: Rasta women march against police persecution in 1978. Inset below, Sheeba Levi Stewart. Below left, Sister Benji Uwimana rule, for many Caribbean people the “motherland” they grew up learning about was England and not Africa.

Society still positioned black people at the bottom, says Sister Benji, where the lighter you were you were more likely to get a job or work in the banks.

Many Rastas were also subject to persecution for their beliefs.

For Sister Benji, it was inevitable that she would find solace in a way of life that uplifted what it meant to be black.

“There were girls and boys who were from the deep, separated areas who were talking about Rasta,” she recalls. “Everybody listened and shared ideas. I thought just wow, this thing was promoting blackness — a black king, Africa, how to be black. So as a young child growing up, you would be drawn to something that was like promoting positiveness about your whole being.”

Sheeba also relates how her Christian family similarly resisted her love in becoming a Rasta.

It wasn’t until the end of the 1960s, as hundreds of Caribbean people made the voyage to Britain after the Second World War, that the two women say that is where their belief in living the Rastafarian way of life began to flourish. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the Rasta community bloomed throughout Brixton and Notting Hill, and eventually started to make its way through

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some of the UK’s other big cities like Liverpool and Manchester.

Sheeba later settled in Birmingham with her mum and sister, before starting again aged 17 in the capital. Post-war London was already emerging as a cultural hub of merging ethnicities and cultures, and the reggae sounds of Bob Marley, Burning Spear and Israel Vibrations became a part of Sheeba’s life.

ROOTS

She began reading more and while living away from the small island of Jamaica, she found that her roots lay in the “motherland”, in Africa.

“My research took me away from that and made me realise that there was more to us than Jamaica,” she says. “Reading the philosophy and opinions of Marcus Garvey opened my whole consciousness of us as a people and our beginnings. Once I realised the spirituality of His Majesty and the dynasty back to Soloman and Sheeba, and the Bible and Ethiopia as the world history that just gave me that confidence and that push where I couldn’t be anything else but a Rasta.”

Sheeba went from perming her hair every two weeks to growing out her hair in dreadlocks or locs for the first time — a sign of strength in the Rastafarian religion. She adorned her new found locs with a headscarf to protect her modesty and its sacredness.

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Sister Benji arrived in Britain two days before her 16th birthday in the ’70s, and also began reading about what it meant to be a Rasta while on British shores.

She found a community that she didn’t find in Jamaica, and got together with boys and girls she met and shared ideas. She used to meet girls’ Rasta boyfriends outside the school gates when the day was over.

“I got in a lot of trouble with my mom. Her friends, who had children in the school, would come and tell her, ‘Oh, your daughter is turning everyone into a Rasta at school,’ she recalls. “I started wearing a headscarf and then everyone in the school came in wearing a headscarf.

I got in trouble with the headmistress.

“At home, my mom would say ‘You’re such a lovely and obedient child except for this Rasta thing’. I used to try and show her in the Bible that these people were black.”

She describes the emerging Rasta community as something that was new in Britain, but says they had to “cling together” in a different part of the world that still spewed anti-black rhetoric.

In the years that saw mass mi-

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gration to Britain, Enoch Powell had made his infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech, the Brixton Uprisings of ‘81 saw tensions between the police and the black community implode; the Thatcherite years left millions of communities in austerity.

Living as proud Rastafarian women in Britain was a “struggle” for Sheeba and Sister Benji. Recalling a time when she wanted to open a business, Sheeba went to the bank for a loan when black people still kept padners close by. “On the phone, everything was fine,” she says. “They said ‘Come in’. I walked into the office and I saw the man’s face and I knew I wasn’t going to get a loan.”

“We [Rastafarian women] always had a headscarf in that way,” says Sister Benji, “but just going for interviews — I mean just being black is an issue in itself — they tell you to come along and the moment you turn up they find excuses.”

As working women — Sheeba was a business owner while Sister Benji was a teacher in black supplementary schools — they dealt with frequent quips around Bob Marley, ganja smoking and the assumption that everyone black Continued on page 31

www.voice-online.co.uk

APRIL 2022

THE VOICE | 23

News

A WATERSHED MOMENT Will Smith’s slap has changed the conversation about how comedians treat black women, says Joel Campbell

TAKE THAT: Will Smith slaps Chris Rock during the show at the 94th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles (photo: Getty Images)

F REPRESENTATION matters then how Will Smith conducted himself at the Academy Awards needs to be admonished, it’s not the way forward.

The slap wasn’t it, can’t rate that. It was a moment as lacking in emotional intelligence as you’re likely to ever see.

OK, so a comedian dissed, but that’s what they do. You can’t just walk on stage and slap them as Will did to host Chris Rock when he didn’t like the jokes he was running about wife Jada.

Ok, it’s not the first time Chris has targeted Will and Jada, but that’s how it goes, right?

If the diss warranted a slap, do it backstage, you know, off camera, you’re Will Smith, you can go and look for him. Will

they are choosing to operate and that can’t be easy living in a time where everyone on social media has an opinion on you.

But it does allow you to say to hell with the rules and whoever wants to disrespect me can get dealt with. We saw a bit of that yesterday. It was an act of love unrestricted by conditions, any conditions.

One thing is for sure, we didn’t get up saying #OscarsSoWhite, we’re not talking about Kim and Kanye or the Russia war in the Ukraine and the world is still spinning.

We still don’t have enough black winners of the Academy Awards though and I feel like, had this not had happened, that’s what would have been the main talking point. Again.

I

wouldn’t have been the first big star to slap a man over disrespect towards his partner. I say that to say this, most of us tuned in to see Will get his first Academy Award, we wanted that to be the story. We wanted it to be about his performance in King Richard because it was inspirational.

STANDARDS

Seeing one black man slap another on a stage where many a black person wants to be recognised for their endeavour, their fervour for their craft, their ability to execute above and beyond standards expected or experienced, just didn’t sit well for me, that was as far away from inspiring as it gets.

It might be though, (all likelihood will be) a watershed moment for the way black comedians treat black women.

It might be a moment when we all garner greater understanding of alopecia and the way that can impact people, mentally, whether you’re a star or not. Put simply, it’s not funny.

We’ve got over 850 nationwide Your local Specsavers is part-owned by the expert opticians, audiologists and retailers who run it.

So your care is their business. should know Thought you

It might be that people begin to think about the actors as actual people, humans with feelings.

No one knows what it’s like to walk in another person’s shoes, can you imagine Will’s walk?

The slap was a moment when it dawned on me that Will really might not be playing about anymore, he’s really living on

his terms, like, free … Fans of Will and Jada who have been following the couple closely over the last few years would have seen a few issues surface from their relationship that others may have kept very private.

Without going into those details, it’s obvious there is a different level of truth on which

24 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Midlands News

by Veron Graham

WALSALL SISTERS GOING STRONG Stars and supporters come out to celebrate group’s delayed 35th anniversary

W

ALSALL BLACK Sisters Collective’s (WBSC) delayed 35th anniversary ball turned out to be well worth the extra wait for the hundreds of well-wishers, supporters, and current and former colleagues who attended its lavish black-tie event in Wednesbury recently.

The night, expertly compered by radio presenter Nikki Tapper, also featured an inspirational keynote address by her BBC colleague Nicola Beckford, who paid homage to the sacrifices of her forebears in paving the way for her professional success.

Further contributors included local MP Valerie Vaz, vocalists Aston Arts Performing Academy and saxophonist Millicent Stephenson — which preceded stand-up comedy from the multi-talented Angie Le Mar which touched every area of black life in Britain with reflection and hilarity in equal measure.

The excellent entertainment

however was framed expertly around the real business of the night: WBSC’s storied history, which emerged from a meeting of a group of black women in 1985 to discuss their concerns about the impact of life in the Black Country town of Walsall, which like many in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, was reeling from a cocktail of high unemployment, disaffection and poor police-community relations.

By July 1986, WBSC was established as a registered charity and has since gone on to meet a wide range of health, social and educative needs.

OUTREACH

WBSC’s current offerings include an after-school club, a mental health support outreach floating housing support, women’s empowerment workshop and elderly day care centre.

Its impact has been such that last year, its long-serving chief executive Maureen Lewis received a lifetime achievement prize at the Multi-Cul-

SHINING LIGHTS: BBC’s Nicola Beckford (third right) with WBSC’s Tracey Lecointe, Wendy Angus-Bovell, Maureen Scott Douglas, Maureen Lewis and Gene Johnson. Inset left, Maureen Lewis with her MBCC Lifetime Achievement Award. Below left to right, keynote speaker Nicola Beckford, hostess Nikki Tapper and comedienne Angie Le Mar, saxophonist Millicent Stephenson tural Business and Community Champions Awards in Birmingham.

Speaking after WBSC’s anniversary ball, which took place at the WS10 venue in nearby Wednesbury, Maureen told The Voice: “It was a brilliant event. For me, just seeing so many people who came out to support Black Sisters was moving; also listening to the speakers share their journey was inspirational, especially from well-known people like Nikki, Nicola and Angie was extra special.

“Also, on the night speaking to people who told us that the work we did had such an impact on their lives, was also

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very special. People who work in this sector often don’t stop to think about the work we do, we do it and carry on, so to hear about what we have done in such glowing terms was also lovely.”

As befitting one who com-

tary sector funding and most recently, the pandemic, Maureen answered: “If I was to be truthful, all I can say is God! “We’ve had specific occasions, at the end of financial years when we’ve had literally no money in the bank. I re-

For me, just seeing so many people who came out to support Black Sisters was moving monly shuns the limelight and attention, when asked how WBSC has survived 35 years through several economic recessions, the rigours of volun-

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member us preparing to wind down in 2015, when we received word we’d be receiving five years’ more funding.

“The same happened again

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in 2020, when we had to furlough some staff but kept supporting our most vulnerable clients, money came through.

I could have started winding down WBSC again but kept on in faith.

“I reminded God of what He did for us in 2015 and that He could do it again. Soon, charities were throwing money at us, at levels we’ve never had before.”

Now with its 40th anniversary in sight, Maureen and WBSC committee are focused on identifying new income generation streams, mentoring potential new CEOs and opening a purpose-built centre to widen its service range.

www.voice-online.co.uk

APRIL 2022 THE VOICE | 25

Midlands News

LIFELINE FOR YOUNG MUMS

Community group to give practical and emotional advice and support debuts in Birmingham

A

LONDON-BASED COMMUNITY interest company which for 11 years has provided a lifeline for embattled young mothers, has had a successful debut in Birmingham recently.

The Young Mums Support Network (YMSN) was founded in 2011 by Fiona Small to provide young mums with the kind of practical and emotional advice that she missed out on when she was a first-time mother bringing up her daughter single-handedly.

ACTIVITIES

The YMSN held court at Nechells’ POD Community Centre for the first in its pilot of Weekly Mums’ Meet Ups — enabling mothers to gather in a safe space, offer and receive support and join activities with their children.

Fiona told The Voice: “It went really well, we had a steady flow of mothers come in, as we expected from a new project starting in a new area.

“We were received well and look forward to receiving more visitors in the coming weeks.”

YMSN offers a range of services, from counselling and financial advice to employment and business skills training, as well as cookery and wellbeing sessions.

a social enterprise which helps people maximise their household income, offering free, friendly independent financial advice on matters from reducing utility bills to ensuring they are receiving the benefits they are entitled to.

MAKING CONNECTIONS: Fiona Small with some young families at the Mums’ Meet Up in Birmingham

It feels like the right time to spread our wings and offer in-person IMPACT Fiona added: “With rising prices, budgets are stretched, and many support mums are making a choice beHaving established services in several locations across London, YMSN continued to function during the COVID-19 lockdowns: moving its services nationwide via online, and providing items through partnerships such as children’s mattresses and internet-enabled devices for children to use during school closures.

Birmingham was among the areas that made many requests for support, which led Fiona to decide to launch events in the city.

“Young mums have been one of the hardest hit groups during the pandemic and are really struggling so it feels like the right time to spread our wings and offer in-person support in Birmingham,” she said.

Last year, YMSN launched its Mums & Money initiative in association with IncomeMax,

tween food or fuel. With energy price increases in April this is only going to get worse. The welfare and financial support systems are incredibly complex, and it can be hard to know what help is available, so we have created Mums & Money so mums can access information that could alleviate some financial burdens.

“Reducing financial stress can make a huge difference to mums’ lives and has a positive impact on physical and mental health and wellbeing. It not only helps mums, but children, schools and the wider community.”

The Mums’ Meet Ups will run until April 7, from 1.15pm-2.45pm, Nechells POD, 28 Oliver Street, B7 4NX. Visit ymsn.co.uk or call 07874 861 923. For Income Max inquiries, call 0300 777 7772 or email info@incomemax.org. uk and quote ‘Mums & Money’.

Creative contests go public

THE PIONEERING efforts of creative entrepreneur Natalie Edwards-Yesufu are making waves in the entertainment industry from her hometown of Birmingham.

Having returned to the Second City, frustrated by the lack of opportunities for creators of colour, Natalie, pictured below and, left, on set, established the Transition Stage Company, comprising scriptwriting initiatives for communities who often found themselves excluded from the stage and screen, including a course for the hearing-impaired.

With her works drawing attention from the likes of Channel 4, UKTV, the Birmingham Hippodrome and Sky TV, the winning script from her Enter.

Stage.Write competition (by Jonathan Skinner) has completed preproduction and is due

to be shot in Birmingham this spring.

Now the Head of Careers at Screen and Film School Birmingham, Natalie is opening her competitions — Enter.

Stage.Write and Amplified — to the public vote. The winners are set to be announced on April 30.

Athletics stars hail stadium upgrade FORMER, CURRENT and hopeful future stars of athletics came together at Birmingham’s refurbished Alexander Stadium to join the annual Commonwealth Day celebrations recently.

Joined by 72 local schoolchildren, to represent the number of nations and territories taking part, this is the latest event to underscore the organisers’ theme of all-inclusiveness. The fabled stadium, home to the Birchfield Harriers athletics club, will house an increased capacity of up to 30,000 spectators at each Commonwealth Games session and is in the final stages of construction.

Birchfield Harrier and Commonwealth Games 1500m finalist Sarah McDonald told the media: “It was amazing to visit the new Alexander Stadium on Commonwealth Day. “The transformation of this facility is incredible, and it is going to be a really special venue for athletics at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and for athletics events for years to come.”

EXCITED: Sarah McDonald, Rhiana Burrell and Ashia Hansen McDonald’s clubmate, high jumper Rhiana Burrell, added: “I’m really excited that the Commonwealth Games is going to be held in Birmingham, it’s inspiring to have such a major event happening in my home town. I also can’t wait to be back training here at the Alexander Stadium. Having a world-class facility like this will benefit Birming-

ham athletes for years to come.”

Tickets sales have reportedly been very strong, with an estimated one million plus already sold.

The Commonwealth Games will

centre on Birmingham, with events

also taking place in several regional

venues, between July 28 and August 8. Visit birmingham2022.com.

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

26 | THE VOICE

APRIL 2022

Finance

THREE CONVERSATIONS ON MONEY I WISH I’D HAD

Despite the financial pressures of the pandemic, it’s an unspoken rule that talking about money is embarrassing. Chimaechi Allan shares the times she wishes she’d had the courage to break that rule

T

ALKING ABOUT money may be frowned upon by some, but being open about financial facts can make a real difference to your future.

Here are the occasions I wished I’d been able to have that conversation...

1. With my first employer I often remind myself: “You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time.”

Generally, this is a good philosophy, but with pensions, it isn’t strictly true.

In my 20s, I had a vague notion of what a pension was.

Whenever I heard about them, my eyes glazed over, and I’d file it under ‘things to do when I’m older’, along with paying off my student loan.

However, what you save earlier on — even if it’s only a little — multiplies over a longer time.

So, in this case, time literally is money.

Top tip: Compound interest makes a massive difference to your money over time — for better or worse. Debts can spiral because of it, but pensions

What you save earlier on multiplies over a longer time, so in this case, time literally is money can, too. It’s never too late to take action.

Who I talk to now: There are now easy-to-use investment apps which make it simple to check in on my pension alongside the rest of my budget each month.

As a content-creator starting out in a recession economy, many of my jobs haven’t been permanent.

When I was working contracts or starting a business, no-one told me how I could manage my money.

Top tip: If a workplace pension isn’t an option, then think about a private pension for low-tax, low-cost saving.

If you haven’t had the pension talk yet, you may have pensions you don’t know about.

Top tip: Since 2012, through auto-enrolment, if you are over 22 and earn over £10,000 per year, you’re likely already paying into a workplace pension.

You can use the pen-

TIME TO TALK: Opening up with loved ones is key to good financial health, says Chimaechi Allan, inset (photo: Getty Images) sion tracing service to find your money.

that those close to me won’t have to worry about them.

2. With my parents I come from quite a practical family, but when my mum died suddenly, I realised how little I knew about this side of money.

Financially, what happens when someone dies? What about their bills, debts, savings, insurance and pensions?

And how much is a funeral?

When you’re grieving and adjusting to a life without someone, managing money is the last thing on your mind. In situations such as a pandemic, this conversation is more important than ever.

Who I talk to now: This experience has definitely made me approach money differently. Now, I read job contracts with an eye to things such as life assurance and death-inservice benefits.

I’ve set up a beneficiary for my pension, and I’ve cleared down debts so

3. With mental health professionals Increasingly, we’re learning how to process our everyday experiences of mental health.

I didn’t realise how mental health can impact our ability to manage money until some-

@thevoicenewspaper

bills. I had no idea that there was someone I could call to help with this.

Who I talk to now: It’s great to see the strands of money and mental health becoming more entwined. The NHS even offers services to help with the root problems that impact your health.

Top tip: If your health is af-

When you’re grieving, managing money will be the last thing on your mind one close to me suffered from depression and I stumbled on their black bag of unopened envelopes.

This included unpaid parking tickets, overdue bills and debt collection notices.

I remember spending hours opening and organising letters, making calls and trying to get a handle on the mounting

@thevoicenews

fected by money worries, your GP might suggest free money guidance.

Top tip: If you have issues such as a gambling addiction, or a condition with highs and lows that can affect your spending, some banks will put checks and balances in place to support you.

There are also dedicated debt

voicenews

advisers ready to help you get on top of debt — for free!

Honourable mention: with partners Opposites attract, and spenders and savers are no different. My husband and I had an open and clear conversation and figured out a money system early that has saved us much stress since.

Top tip: Consider couples therapy or use MoneyHelper’s guide on opening up with your partner to make the most of your financial strengths.

Having these conversations would probably have made me feel a bit naive and awkward at the time, but I’d definitely be richer for them now.

Ask the stupid question. Have a talk. Reach out for help if you need it. (And above all, listen when people explain compound interest!) Picture your future self and do it for them.

For free money and pensions guidance, visit moneyhelper.org.uk

www.voice-online.co.uk

FEBRUARY 2022

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28 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Muyiwa Olarewaju

Nothing But Truth and Light

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

Anti-blackness is exposed in attitudes to Ukraine war Discrepancies in reporting of conflict and refugee crisis reveal underlying racial prejudices in the media and general public

M

OST OF us have been glued to our television, radio or social media to find out what the latest was in Ukraine since our last update, which may have just been an hour before.

We’ve learnt that 60 minutes is a long time in this latest chapter of the Russian Ukrainian story that began almost two decades ago.

If this was a different time in history, you may have switched off by now, asking what this has got to do with you, however, thanks to social media ,you and I know how much this affects us.

Bringing the message closer to home than social media is the letters of increase in our energy bills and the record breaking price of fuel for our cars.

Our pockets are feeling the strain and our eyes cry tears of sadness as we watch lives and families ripped apart on our devices daily.

The last two years of dialogue, and some might say improvements, seemingly evaporated as you look at Twitter feeds and see images of black and brown people trying to escape the bombing and killing, treated as less than as authorities prioritise getting people out of the dangerous zone.

It’s one thing to be aware or have a feeling about a matter, it’s another thing when you’re faced with evidence to confirm your worst fears.

Many have longed to believe that the notion of a global anti-blackness was

the construct of a few woke leftists who unfortunately now had the power of social media to amplify their lies.

Unfortunately for all of us, what psychologists refer to as leakage seems to pull back the veil on the worst of our fears.

Comments from journalists on news networks that we’ve come to love and trust made us double-take in disbelief.

“This isn’t Iraq or Afghanistan… This is a relatively civilised, relatively European city,” CBS foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata said of Kyiv.

VALUED

If that wasn’t enough, Ukraine’s deputy chief prosecutor David Sakvarelidze said on the BBC: “It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed.”

This begs the question, what about the folks with brown eyes, brown skin, and brown hair? Is their pain less worthy of sympathy?

This question led us on Premier Gospel Radio to host a discussion on Twitter Spaces: “Are some lives valued above oth-

SEEKING REFUGE: All people fleeing war and persecution deserve shelter, not just European people with white skin. Inset below left, Fred Hammond’s song No Weapon was a comfort to Rachel Diyaolu, who was studying medicine in Ukraine ers in this crisis?” The answer for some may seem obvious, but a particular vista espoused by some people in our community on that discussion is my main concern.

I was surprised to hear views in the discussion that made clear that it was wrong for us to call out people in Ukraine or Poland who were not receptive of or kind or helpful to black and brown people who were trying to escape danger, saying that this only perpetuated hate against them. In a conversation with me for Premier Gospel Radio, 19-yearo l d Rachel

Diyaolu, an Irish medical student of African heritage who is studying at Sumy State University in Ukraine, spoke of the ordeal of hiding in bunkers from the bombing and shooting for days and the

their governments, and not that of the Ukrainians or Polish authorities.

Some of her comments were: “A lot of people fleeing to borders was out of sheer fear… when you’ve heard the things

You can’t blame the victims for the discrimination they have experienced three-day attempt to escape that was thwarted by armed Russian soldiers.

I asked Rachel what her response was to those who suggested, as some did in our Twitter discussions, that how people trying to escape were treated is the fault of the people and

we’ve heard bombs going off you are petrified… if you had the opportunity to get a border, a lot of people will go... you can’t blame the victims for the discrimination they have experienced…”

Our hearts break for Ukraine and for our black and brown

brothers and sisters in Ukraine attempting to survive bombs and bombast while also struggling with racism that treats them so very differently from other human beings.

Maybe they might find some solace in the Fred Hammond song, popularised by Jamie Fox during his NAACP award speech, No Weapon.

This was the song that Rachel Diyaolu said kept her sane, that plus the comforting words of Psalm 91: “… His faithfulness will form a shield around you, a rock-solid wall to protect you…”

I implore you that when you read this, share the humanitarian stories you come across, knowing that your voice counts, knowing their lives count.

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

APRIL 2022

ESCAPE FROM UKRAINE Continued from p3

motherhood which pushed her to pursue her ambition of becoming a doctor, so she could help others.

“I had to have an emergency C-section. Throughout my whole maternal journey I had so many instances where I felt that people weren’t listening to me. At the start I couldn’t even get a referral for a midwife. Things improved after I opted for homebirth but that was shattered when I became overdue.”

Like many black women, Korrine’s experience during labour and birth was not what it would have been had she been a white woman, and she knows it. “I didn’t want to be on oxytocin but there were moments where I felt like I was being coerced into doing things I didn’t want to do. I didn’t know that I had rights.

“After I’d had the C-section, I was physically weak. I couldn’t move to get to my daughter. I’d be ringing the buzzer for help and no one would come or they would take hours. When my mum came to visit me the next day she was distraught. I hadn’t been changed since the operating room. The sheets were bloodstained; nobody had assisted me to the toilet.”

Sadly, Korrine’s ordeal is not the exception - it’s a well-known fact that across the medical world the false racist myth persists that black women can endure more pain, one of the many examples of structural racism and bias that black women suffer when accessing health care.

“One person came and asked me if I’d like painkillers. I didn’t INSPIRATION: Korrine with her one-year-old daughter

get them. I was explaining to them that I was in pain. They wouldn’t listen to me. A Nigerian doctor eventually came to see me. He understood me and I was able to get discharged. Even then I had to wait five hours before they let me go.”

“Once I shared my experience with black mums, I realised they had very similar experiences. I learned that black women are more likely to die during childbirth, and about the health disparities between black women and white women.

“I realised then, if I was a doctor I’d be able to implement change from the inside. Since then I’ve been working as a birth educator trying to educate black women about birth”.

IMPROVE

Korrine also believes a lack of black doctors is part of the problem and argues that better representation would improve healthcare services for black people.

For Korrine, this is the beginning of her journey, not the end. She’s now back home safe with her daughter and husband and, like so many students who had their education interrupted, she hopes to resume hers.

She makes the point that thousands of potential black and brown doctors not being able to qualify because of war, will ultimately add to the existing lack of representation in the medical world.

Korrine has already been through so much, making her all the more determined to reach her new destination. Something tells me that she will.

THE VOICE | 29

Big interview

TOUGH TIMES: Korrine Sky during her attempt to flee the fighting in Ukraine

30 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2022

APRIL 2022 THE VOICE |

News feature

‘We’re proud Rasta women’ Continued from page 22

was from Jamaica. The racism and stereotypes of what it meant to be a Rasta reverberated not just among society at large, but also among the black community they worked alongside.

“They [black people] were just thinking ‘we’re struggling to keep up with these people [white people] and we Rasta people came to bring everyone down’,” says Sister Benji.

With only Rasta men like Bob Marley and poet Benjamin Zephaniah becoming the face of the movement in Britain and around the world, the two women dealt with misconceptions about their “oppression” in a religion that preaches pride in who you are.

“It is a misconception, because His Majesty ensured that Queen Empress Menen was crowned the same time as him, there is a balance that we are going to seek between a man and a woman,” explains Sheeba. “I’ve always been independent and I’ve always felt it’s important to be independent.

“My husband and I got married in ’81… within a couple years of being together we started to grow our locs together.

“We were together for nine years and had two

children, and he cut his locs — he insisted I cut mine, too. So I did, but I made a deal with him that if I cut mine off, he couldn’t touch the children’s.

“By the next year, I left him and started to grow my locs out again for the second time. When we split, I was freer.”

FOLLOWERS

The 2011 census found Judaism and Islam were among the top six faiths in England and Wales. Rastafari was one of the smallest with under 8,000 people recorded as following the movement despite its impact on popular culture.

Sister Benji believes that to deal with stigma, Rasta people need to lead in places where there still aren’t many of them.

“When I’m at the airport they say to take off your headscarf and I have to say this is a

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31

COMMUNITY: Rasta men gathering on All Saints Road, west London.

Inset below left, Sheeba aged 25

part of my culture, my religion.

Nowadays everything is wide open, some people wear their locs out, so it’s hard to come and say this is how it is for some of us. We’re still going to be fighting because even as black people today, we’re still fighting.

“Things have gotten a little better, because we have equality laws, but when you look around, who are these laws for?”

The Rasta movement continues to influence culture around the world from reggae music, its Pan-African symbolism to the trend of veganism, as even

white Rastafarians join the livity after all these years.

For Sheeba, living in accordance with Jah on new shores has given her fulfilment. “Living as a Rastafari woman in London with all its challenges gives me a great sense of achievement in terms of turning the circle back to where it was, being who I am in a real sense, rather than what the world dictates that I ought to look like or I ought to be.

“Living as a Rasta woman gives me that charge of self-confidence... living like this means my ancestors are pleased. They see

that I didn’t weaken and become the thing that they were beaten and punished to be.”

Sister Benji’s friends still remind her of the time when she “turned everyone Rasta” at the school gates and she now sits with her mom and talks fondly about the way of life that captured her heart back in Jamaica.

“I really enjoyed that experience,” says Sister Benji. “These days, we can sit together and read about all of that and she says, ‘You know, there was so much that was true in that time.’

So for me, that’s a bonus.”

32 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Lyndon Mukasa

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

Eye on the Diaspora

THE BLACK ANTI-WAR MOVEMENTS SHAPING HISTORY IN THE WEST

A

FTER THE Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been discussion about the risks of what an escalation of conflict could bring between the West and Russia.

There is a recognition among many black activists around the Western world that war is mostly started, led and escalated by elites for the purpose of elite interests.

Victims of the war are civilians and soldiers that have no power in the decision-making to go to war, but suffer much of the consequences of it.

Black communities around the world have a complicated relationship with war in the West. In the United States, black soldiers have fought in every war since the civil war to the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Britain, France and Germany, black people from Africa and the Caribbean were sourced as soldiers from colonial territories during the first and second world wars.

The Second World War was framed as a fight against Nazi and Japanese imperialism. For Britain and France, it was important to convince black people in Africa and the Caribbean that Nazism was a threat, and worse than any imperialism they had imposed on their own

There is recognition that war is mostly started, led and escalated by elites

colonies. However, in the postwar era and period of decolonisation in the 1960s, there was a re-examination of the role of black people in Western wars, particularly as support and participation in such wars failed to end racism and discrimination.

COERCE

Additionally, it became apparent that as decolonisation was happening, the Western war machine was being intensified at non-white people, showing that Cold War intervention wasn’t different from the “civilising” missions of the colonial era.

The post war Black Freedom Struggle in the United States saw the nuclear bomb as a means by which Western countries could threaten and coerce decolonising countries to fit within the global order that was being established by the

TAKING A STAND: Black people in the United States stage a protest against involvement in the war in Vietnam US. Nuclear weapons were and still largely are seen as a means by which white supremacy can be maintained.

Anti-war activists in the 1950s, such as Trinidad-born Claudia Jones, were a product of the post-Second World War black anti-war movements of the 1940s and 1950s that opposed the proliferation and development of nuclear weapons.

She was highly critical of the intervention of the United States in the Korean War, as well as the treatment of black soldiers who were drafted to this conflict. Jones recognised growing militarism in the United States as an excuse to divert funds away from social programs such as housing, education and health care.

In Britain, the most promi-

nent anti-war organisations to emerge from the black community was the British Black Panther Party.

The Black Panthers were a huge part of the anti-war movement, seeing Western war and intervention as a continuation of colonialism. While the British Black Panthers would dissolve in the 1970s, they left an indelible mark on anti-war and anti-

imperialist movements today.

The black experience of war has been shaped by colonialism and the need to prioritise social welfare over imperial competition.

As we march forward in the 21st century, black anti-war movements will be more important than ever to fighting for a world that is safe from the horror of war.

Racist media narratives surrounding war in the Global South

COVERAGE of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has produced a wide range of responses to the conflict.

One response of particular interest has been various media accounts that inadvertently used the plight of Ukrainians to put forward an idea of European exceptionalism from conflict zones particularly across the Global South. Here are some revealing examples: “This is a relatively civilised, relatively European — I have to choose those words carefully, too — city where you wouldn’t expect that or hope it is going to happen” — Charlie

D’Agata, CBS News.

“They look like us, which makes this shocking. Ukraine is a European country. Its people watch Netflix and have Instagram accounts and vote in free elections, and have uncensored press.

War is no longer happening in poor and remote countries. War could happen to anyone” — Daniel Hannan, Daily Telegraph, pictured left.

Despite the racist sentiments

and bias behind them, such coverage extends back much further than the Ukrainian crisis. Conflict in Africa, for example, is often stripped of its political complexity and reduced to “tribal issues”, while other developing countries are positioned in relation to their importance to the West leading to a vastly dehumanising discourse on the lives of the global majority.

White supremacy is part of the Western engagement with the Global South because racism helped to build the West’s power and influence.

This discussion on war in the Global South is largely historically inaccurate, revealing a Eurocentric view of history and the world.

Despite having two of the most destructive and costly wars in human history, Europe is traditionally viewed as the home of civilisation, peace and stability. But this stability has been the norm for only 70 years.

For much of its history, various European states were in a constant state of war based around the acquisition of territory and limited resources.

While war was present in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Pacific, we cannot with certainty draw conclusions about the frequency or level of devastation. What is known for sure is that the industrial scale of war was pioneered by Europe and exported to the rest of the world over

the past 200 years through colonialism. Imperialism helped to take war out of Europe and into and amongst its colonies.

What makes these statements in Western media more insulting is that many current conflicts in the Global South have been caused or influenced by Western involvement.

The invasion of Iraq led to two civil wars and the creation of ISIS. The West’s support of dictators such as Mobutu Sese Seko of the DRC, Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua or François Duvalier of Haiti and many more has fuelled conflict and stifled progressive indigenous development across the developing world.

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 2022

THE VOICE| 33

Supermarkets Battle It Out for African and Caribbean Customers Over the past decade, the UK’s major supermarkets have been paying greater attention to the wants and needs of their African and Caribbean customers, stocking more popular brands such as HoneyBun, Tropical Sun and Carib.

Whilst many African and Caribbean customers do a lot of their food shopping in local, independent community stores, many also shop in supermarkets, and the big chains are trying to capitalise on this by growing their African and Caribbean ranges to offer their customers more beloved brands such as Africa’s Finest, Ghana Best and Tropical Vibes.

Only a few weeks ago, Sainsburys added African favourites such as fufu, shito and chin chin to their World Foods offering. Whilst we encourage our readers to continue shopping with local independents, it’s great that supermarkets are finally offering the African and Caribbean communities a wide range of the foods we grew up with!

The perfect match for a

Happy Easter

52 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2022

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der, as a remin er is created anoth globalised and perhaps changing ng point” d diss’ everunderstan timely starti e and title communitie world, to gthenThe them British Black t in, influwhilst stren lookosium, ‘BeCulture – l parities able to inves CL the symp onalities part- are and shape as equa a) of ging’, is the ing comm has and Belon wards (Afric with ence holders.” d which bean ing ing back nered stake the ays (Carib nue golden threa her sidew Britand toget conti the Black ry and to weaves Be& USA), wned plena and beain and ces, forward world-reno of the osium moving performan al’ symp l organisers Culspeakers, ging’ The yond ‘virtu rated pane yond. are UCL and Belon and the mode ring inter- symposium ssor Keith on ‘Being featu d on 24 Octo Revd Profe sessions leading fellow in to be hoste The symposi- ture’s a senior rational s e, gene ipant 2020. a globMage de ber and Partic is to provi & justice experts. opporscholar, and culture um’s ethos have the l justice rstanding will socia rate unde and ing al celeb wider intellectual to the mean tunity to being relevance ness”, to take public professor of soness and black g now British as“Black Britain vements visitin e at Newc l Black in its achie these cial justic stock of Ms Shery beyond s. The symrsity; h. and enge - tle Unive speakand chall Lonnie Bunc a identify and inspire partic s times, to d Secretary u, a public at posium will ke thought, Nwos their share osium make r barrister articulate “This symp ibution by illuipants, provo progress, er, senio g defence rate chalyse leadin nding and dispa determine major contr and catal Bedford to how expa this that ini- a ters 25 a forum lenges, and strategies in minating about con- barris creating advocate g knowledge all facilitates and an the future-facin will help ned to ul- our tiates and across Black Row, race at desig unity of g s ies and Black comm a settin versations s locally, re- on issue Mr Andy Mundythe histor strengthen timately ssional see that s of black Britand Bar; and mentary communitie a docu nal and profe nationally experience the story of a and Castle, l perso gionally, producer ser Shery ally. ons are botha nation.” networks. filmmaker, DirecCo-organi internation Managing .

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36 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Lifestyle

Finance

Makala can teach us the Midas touch

Green’s new book reveals the secrets to help us reach our full financial potential

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

F

OCUSED ON helping break down the barriers people face to financial freedom and demystify the world of finance, Makala Green’s mission is an unrelenting one.

However, Britain’s first black female chartered financial planner now has a new book out to help us all handle our pennies that little bit better.

With April signifying the start of a new financial year, there is no time like the present where getting your financial affairs in order are concerned.

Green’s new book, The Money Edit, features jargonfree, digestible information to help give clarity to money and enable people to make informed, smart financial choices whatever their age.

Covering everything from budgeting to buying property and preparing for the future, Green helps readers develop a ‘money mindset’ that empow-

F

ers them to understand, own and improve their economic position.

Green enthused: “The financial industry does not appear easy to love from the outside.

“But for me, learning how clients from all backgrounds have similar apprehensions about financial planning inspired a career and fascination with money.

“Money is something we all have in common, yet so many do not understand it.

PASSION

“Alongside wanting to break down barriers to financial freedom for people everywhere, I want to shine my knowledge and passion through the grey of the industry.

“By doing this, I can help diversify opportunities and develop new ground.”

Born in east London, at 16 Green, who was listed as a Voice ‘One To Watch in 2022’ at the start of the year, worked as a cashier at Nationwide Building Society.

In 2006, she undertook Level one and two Bookkeeping

and Accounts at City & Guilds School and progressed through various roles, from personal banker to mortgage adviser.

At 21, she reached the position of financial adviser – her dream role. After 12 years of success in the banking sector, Green persisted to become an expert in financial services to further her mission – helping others reach their financial potential.

Seven years ago her journey saw a collaboration with St James’ Place Wealth Management, a leading UK wealth management organisation and FTSE 100 Company, to established Green Wealth Planning Ltd (GWP).

As the first black woman to set up a partner practice in St James’ Place, she is a pioneer in many ways.

GWP is known to deliver quality face-to-face wealth management advice and solutions to individuals and businesses for building and preserving capital, financial protection against risk and managing cash and borrowings.

In addition, Makala has de-

PIONEER: Makala Green has broken down many financial barriers for black women

“Money is something we all have in common, yet many do not understand it” veloped The Wealth Check platform to open up the world of finance to everyone.

Through this platform, she has spoken at over 100 events, launched her podcast Your Financial Journey and developed

Mona’s Windrush tale sung across the seas BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH’S latest children’s book, We Sang Across the Sea, hits the shelves this month, a tale about the Windrush Empire with a difference.

A powerfully moving and beautiful picture book, illustrated by Onyinye Iwu, Zephaniah told Lifestyle that he wanted to focus on a character and narrative of one of the passengers on the transatlantic journey whose reasons for boarding the ship are often overlooked.

The hopes, dreams and bravery of the Windrush Generation are expressed in this

vivid story through the real-life experiences of Trinidadian musician Mona Baptiste.

“It’s a very unusual story,” Zephaniah, explained.

“The stories we tend to know about from people on the Windrush tend to come from the men, and tend to come from the kind of men and sometimes women that came to work on the buses or in the NHS. “But Mona Baptiste was different. She was middle class.

She travelled first class on the Empire Windrush and she came from a very educated and learned background.

“And her desire was to be a singer. We know there were singers on the Empire Windrush but singing was almost secondary to them.

“So, I thought it was an unu-

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sual story to tell because it was so different to the other stories.”

Baptiste was already a celebrated musician in her homeland before making the journey to the UK. She went on to perform across Europe and, though her career kick-started in Britain, her contribution as an artist is barely acknowledged in British history.

The book is for children 5+ and features a new poem by Zephaniah .

Full interview with Benjamin Zephaniah on: www.voiceonline.co.uk

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a package of resources that are free to access by anyone.

Having partnered with household names such as John Lewis, Waitrose, French Connection, Marks & Spencer and MetroBank, Green’s life work so far has not only made a difference to her clients but the entire financial services industry.

Alongside her passion to financially transform people’s lives, she is dedicated to mentoring young females to embark on careers in financial services and bridge the diversity gap.

As a trailblazer in this industry,

she’s a figurehead and example to women from all backgrounds that a successful career in finance is within grasp.

Away from her own book, Green said she recently recommended another title that would be of interest to anyone who wants to get a grip on their finances.

“Unshakeable by Anthony Robbins is a book which has practical information on how to invest your money and reach financial freedom. It’s a great read for anyone wondering what the best thing is to do with their savings.”

Five-year wait is over – and it’s worth it!

LIZZIE DAMILOLA Blackburn, right, is a British-Nigerian writer who was born in Peckham and wants to tell the stories that she and her friends have longed for but never seen — romcoms ‘where Cinderella is black and no-one bats an eyelid’.

In 2019, she won the Literary Consultancy Pen Factor Writing Competition with the early draft of Yinka, Where is your Huzband? which she had been writing alongside juggling her job at Carers UK.

voicenews

After five years of working on it, last month her debut book hit the shelves.

Check out the Lifestyle interview with Blackburn here: www.voice-online.co.uk

www.voice-online.co.uk

APRIL 2022

THE VOICE | 37

Lifestyle

Television

An emotional roller coaster

Hollywood superstar Samuel L. Jackson discusses his latest role about a man with dementia who confronts his past

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

S

AMUEL L. JACKSON instinctively knew that he had to play Ptolemy Grey and was determined to do it, however long it took. “It’s a family story,” he says of one of the many reasons he wanted to bring this project to the screen.

“It’s a story about people who come into your life that become more your family than the people who are your blood relatives because they don’t just care for you but they care about you.”

“Sam brings everything,” says executive producer Diane Houslin. “He has been completely committed to this for the last decade, and that has never wavered. It’s been fascinating to see him embody this character that I know he’s lived with for so long and to actually watch Sam become Ptolemy has been pretty miraculous.”

Jackson’s character, Ptolemy Grey, has been all but forgotten by his family, his friends, and even by himself.

Suddenly left without his grand-nephew and trusted caretaker Reggie (Omar Benson Miller), he is on the brink of sinking even deeper into a lonely dementia, too suspicious of anyone else to allow them into his life.

“When I can’t remember where something is, I get a little panicked” Based on the novel by Walter Mosley, It’s a touching story and Jackson’s first foray into the world of TV. Mosley’s own father had passed away from a cancer that causes dementia in 1993, and the genesis for The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey came a little over a decade later as he was coming to terms with the death of his mother, who suffered from a different form of the disease.

LANGUAGE

“One of the things that I learned in both cases is that you had to learn the language that they were speaking and then relearn it every day because it kept changing,” says Mosley of the experience.

“And so, I wrote a book about that but also with some wish fulfilment mixed in.”

Rolled out last month exclusively on Apple TV+, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey features stellar acting talent such as Damon Gupton, Dominique Fishback, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams and Marsha Stephanie Blake.

Six one-hour episodes ex-

TOUCHING STORY: The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey is Samuel L. Jackson’s first foray into the world of TV (photo: Getty Images) plore a narrative and depict a contemporary familial set-up few TV shows have dared to tackle. It’s an emotional roller coaster.

Jackson, who admitted to reading the book multiple times, said it was a story which touched him deeply: “My mom had dementia,” shares Jack-

son. “My grandfather had it, her sister had it, brother had it and my father’s sister has it. I’m surrounded by it.

“When I can’t remember where something is or the name of a person I’m always thinking, ‘It’s coming, oh my God!’ I get a little panicked sometimes.”

Without giving away too

much of the show, Jackson said that while we may not have a miracle drug like the one Ptolemy takes in the series, his hope is for people to be able to look at this story and know that there is a way to care for people and a way to be gentle with them in their time of need.

“This is as important as people wearing pink ribbons for cancer,” he adds. “When you have a loved one who doesn’t know who you are anymore, it’s the most heart-breaking thing in the world.”

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey on Apple TV+

Textile artist who brought colour into British homes

AT WORK: Althea McNish in the 1970s (photo: Bill Patterson, courtesy N15 Archive); inset right, Golden Harvest, designed in 1957

AN AMAZING opportunity to see the first major retrospective of Althea McNish, first hand, kicked off this month at The William Morris Gallery.

Althea McNish: Colour is Mine explores McNish’s extraordinary career and her transformative impact on mid-century design, along with her enduring influence today.

Highlights include items from McNish’s recently uncovered personal archive – much of which has never been seen before.

Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, McNish moved to the UK with her family in 1950. Initially intending to study architecture, she decided instead to enrol in a graphics course at London School of Printing and Graphic Arts (now the London College of Communication).

She later went on to gain a scholarship for a postgraduate degree in textiles at the Royal College of Art. On display will be personal photographs from her student days in London, her scrapbooks and her RCA dissertation, on loan from N15 ARCHIVE: The Althea McNish Collection.

McNish’s story is one of perseverance.

She described herself as an artist, ignoring the perceived boundaries between fine art and manufactured textiles.

McNish’s painterly textile designs took natural botanical forms to the edge of abstraction,

with a riotous colour palette that overturned the staid rules of British post-war design.

Her technical mastery of the production process and direct involvement gave her the freedom to create ever more technically complex prints, further setting her apart from her contemporaries.

“Whenever printers told me it couldn’t be done, I would show them how to do it’ she said. “Before long, the impossible became possible.”

On display will be examples of McNish’s screen-print designs including those created in the 1960s for Lightbown Aspinall’s Palladio range, a series of lavish artist-designed wallpapers aimed at architects working on largescale interiors.

McNish, who died in April 2020, was one of the UK’s most influential and innovative textile designers and the first designer of Caribbean descent to achieve international recognition.

Althea McNish: Colour is Mine, William Morris Gallery, Saturday 2 April – Sunday 11 September 2022, Admission Free

38 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Lifestyle

Art

Bringing The Procession to life Hew Locke’s new installation at Tate Britain shows 150 full-sized figures on a journey through history

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

T

ATE BRITAIN unveiled The Procession last month, a major new installation by GuyaneseBritish artist Hew Locke, the latest in the gallery’s ongoing series of annual commissions.

Locke has taken over Tate Britain’s monumental Duveen Galleries with almost 150 lifesized figures — staging a powerful, unsettling and fantastical procession.

Intricately hand-made and bold in its use of colour, this extraordinary installation assembles a myriad of images and materials. It is Locke’s most ambitious project to date, bringing together themes he has explored throughout his career.

The process hasn’t been an easy one, however. “I think what’s been intense is operating during COVID, trying to pull off a major work of art during COVID. This is my most ambitious piece of work quite simply because the space is colossal,” Locke explained.

Delving deeper into what he was aiming to create, he added: “What I’m producing is a piece called The Procession and it’s a group of figures moving down the space. These are life-size figures, all in costumes and of various different sorts, all wearing masks, usually.

“Some of them are not wearing masks and it’s to a large extent a collection of black people taking over the centre of the place, basically.”

People of all ages travel from one end of the galleries to the other, through geography, time and culture. It evokes many kinds of procession: from cel-

TIME TRAVELLERS: The installation at Tate Britain by Hew Locke, inset below left, features vibrant life-sized figures in the gallery space

“I don’t beat people over the head to get the message across. The thing’s got to be interesting, beautiful — with an edge to it” ebratory to sorrowful, practical and ceremonial, to forced and voluntary.

The Procession aims to spark ideas of pilgrimage, migration, trade, carnival, protest, social celebrations or our own individual journey through life. Visitors to Tate Britain walk alongside Locke‘s travellers, exploring the many layers of meaning, culture and history in his work.

Locke’s installation highlights historical connections across time, and takes as its starting point the architecture and history of the gallery itself, and its founding benefactor, sugar-refining magnate Henry Tate.

BAGGAGE

The Procession also moves through the centuries to address urgent contemporary concerns, including the climate emergency, Black Lives Matter and the invasion of Ukraine.

The figures carry historical and cultural baggage with them on their journey.

Costumes and flags bear images of decaying Guyanese architecture, evidence of rising sea levels, cargo and sail boats, tropical prints, slave ships as well as Caribbean cliches. Whatever the past, Locke’s people, whether on foot, horseback or carried, are assuredly moving forward into the future.

He enthused: “It is taking on the history of the building. It’s about history, but it’s about sugar, you’re dealing with Tate, you have to deal with that.

“Tate was not built on sugar slave trade money. They weren’t involved in that at all.

They came in much

later, but still, I mean, even as a kid, I remember people working on sugar plantations was not easy. And I’m talking about the Seventies, the Sixties, let alone late 19th Century when I found some images of people working in the sugar plantation. I’ve used that. Not talking slaves, I’m talking about after slavery. The way they’re being posed, eating a piece of sugar cane and obviously it’s an old fashioned photographer, he wants these guys to look happy, but they aren’t happy. And there’s something about that, which, I had never seen these images before.”

Many of the participants in The Procession are an assemblage or collage of symbolic objects and imagery, such as militaria, Caribbean carnival characters, momento mori, floods, or obsolete share certificates. It is unclear whether some are wearing masks, or if these are their true faces.

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As the artist describes: “What I try to do in my work is mix ideas of attraction and ideas of discomfort — colourful and attractive, but strangely, scarily surreal at the same time.

“What I’m trying to do is create something for people to come along and go, ‘that’s intriguing, what’s going on here?’. Visually, things have to draw people in.

I’m not somebody who beats people over the head to get the message across, nothing like that. This thing’s got to look interesting, attractive, beautiful, if I’m lucky — but at the same time, it’s got an edge to it, if you see what I mean, so there’s a lot of things going on there.”

Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain, said: “We are delighted to be unveiling Hew Locke’s most ambitious commission to-date. The Procession is a powerful body of work that reflects on globalisation, colonialism, conflict, ecology

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and cultural identity. Alongside our Life Between Islands exhibition, this has been an exciting year of celebrating Caribbean British artists at Tate Britain, underscoring our commitment to showcase art that is reflective of the cross-cultural society we serve.”

Locke comfortably describes himself as “a sculptor” who has dabbled in a bit of photography and does “paintings”.

He’s being modest, of course, but it’s a wonder he has managed to pursue his obvious life-talent at all considering his mother and father didn’t proactively pass on their inherent Godly gift of expression.

He explains: “My mother and my father were both artists, both art teachers, none of them taught me. Of all the people they taught, I’m the only person who became an artist.”

Describing how his love affair with art started, he added:

voicenews

“The beginning is Georgetown, Guyana. I’m at Queens College art school.

“I would’ve been about 15, 16, the art teacher set an exam, a still life thing. So, we are all painting flowers and I’m painting this Hibiscus flower, and all of a sudden, somewhere, after about half an hour on this one particular day, it went from copying it, to creating it, somehow this thing was different.

“I still have that painting from back in the Seventies, and that was the hook, it was like, ‘oh, so that’s what this thing is about’.”

You could say that moment was actually when Hew Locke: The Procession actually started.

Where it ends, no one knows but for now all roads lead to the Tate Britain.

Tate Britain Commission 2022 Hew Locke: The Procession March 22, 2022 – January 22, 2023

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THE VOICE| 39

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White Card centre stage Natalie Ibu’s team can’t wait to host Claudia Rankine’s play

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

N

ATALIE IBU, artistic director and joint chief executive of the Newcastle-based Northern Stage, told Lifestyle she is ‘immensely excited’ to announce the venue’s hosting of the European premiere of Claudia Rankine’s first published play, The White Card.

The production, directed by Ibu, will feature cast members Nick Blakeley, CJ Coleman, Kate Copeland, Estelle Daniels and Matthew Pidgeon.

Critically acclaimed on its debut in Boston in 2018, The White Card poses the question: can

society progress when whiteness remains invisible?

Written during an increasingly racially divided America and before the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests rippled across the globe, a wealthy, privileged white couple invite a talented black artist to dinner. Tensions run high and a heated debate uncovers some uncomfortable truths about white privilege, cultural appropriation, and representation.

Rankine is the author of six collections of poetry, including Just Us: An American Conversation, Citizen: An American Lyric and Don’t Let Me Be Lonely; three plays, including HELP, which premiered in March of 2020 at The Shed, New York, The White Card, which premiered in February 2018 and was published by Graywolf

EXCITING TIMES: Natalie Ibu is proud to be introducing the play to the UK; inset, Claudia Rankine (photo: MacArthur Foundation)

Press in 2019, and Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue; as well as numerous video collaborations.

She is also the co-editor of several anthologies including The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind.

In 2016, she co-founded

The Racial Imaginary Institute (TRII). Among her numerous awards and honours, Rankine is the recipient of the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, the Poets & Writers’ Jackson Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the MacAr-

thur Foundation, United States Artists, and the National Endowment of the Arts.

Ibu, previously artistic director of tiata fahodzi, the only blackled theatre company in the UK with a sole focus on new work, has director credits which include I Know all the Secrets in

my World, which played 12 venues in spring 2016, and Arinzé Kene’s Good Dog, which toured in spring 2017 and again in 2019.

Previously, she was the creative producer for In Good Company, launching the regional artist development programme in the East Midlands for Derby Theatre, Embrace Arts Leicester, and Create Mansfield.

Looking ahead to the opening, she said: “I’m immensely excited to be introducing this important play by a writer as inspirational as Claudia Rankine to the UK. We want people to be an ally, be in the room, be in the conversation, and The White Card invites us all to take part in the debate.”

Following performances at Northern Stage, The White Card tours to Manchester: 18 May - 21 May Leeds Playhouse: 24 May 4 June Birmingham Rep: 8 June 18 June Soho Theatre, London: 21 June - 16 July

A delicious mix of work by UK-based and international Black artists.

See website for the full schedule.

sadlerswells.com/well-seasoned January – June 2022

APRIL 2022 THE VOICE | 41

This is Brukout!

by Seani B

Simply phenomenal

TALENT:

Jamaican artist Koffee was always going to be major, and her debut album Gifted could land her more awards

T

HERE IS still nothing like being part of a journey and watching it fully blossom the way you envisioned it at the start.

At the end of last year, I got the call to host a special private listening session for Grammywinning Jamaican artist Koffee.

I remember introducing many of the readers to Koffee in 2019 after meeting her for the first time in the Big Yard studios in Kingston, Jamaica.

I knew from our initial meeting that I had just met a future star.

She was quiet and humble, yet animated and excited when talking about the music. There was a glare in her eyes that became more potent when she spoke about performing.

I came back to the UK raving about her and the skills she possessed and her effortless approach of spitting complex rhyming patterns over double time beats combined with the ability of crafting melodies that are guaranteed to stick in your memory.

BOMB

The Spanish Town native then dropped the ultimate bomb, Toast. Koffee had just turned 18 was able to capture two worlds with one song.

It’s not the easiest thing for a Caribbean artist to get the mainstream and core at the same time. With Toast this was achieved easily, which led on to her being the first female reggae act to win the Grammy in 2020 for her EP Rapture.

It’s been non-stop for Koffee to this point. Features, festivals, endorsements and rumours of who she has been working with for her debut album Gifted.

If you haven’t taken the time out to stream this phenomenal body of work, then let me tell you from now. No features, No guests, NOBODY! Just 10 tracks of Koffee and what she wants to say, is what she told me at the listening session.

The album opens up with what I think is very purposely done, but also very brave. As you press play, you are met

Koffee won a Grammy for her EP Rapture, and has been working non-stop since then

“She talks of the self-belief her mother instilled in her” with a sample of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. I remember looking across at her with the facial expression of “really?”.

She gave me the smile that said “yep!”

The production is sparse, with just an acoustic guitar leading the way, but giving so much room for Koffee’s slick double time delivery which talks about giving thanks for life and the blessings. The first thing that came to mind was Buju Banton Til Shiloh 2022.

Defend seems to be a interlude begging to be a full song which reminds me musically of Simply Red’s Keep Holding On. In 57 seconds, she gets straight to point of issues that are affecting all of us worldwide! Police brutality, inflation, crime and more. I just need another two minutes please.

My disappointment at the shortness of track two lasted probably the length of the track, as Shine is a pleasant pop reggae vibe that you could easily hear Justin Bieber dropping a song on. But Koffee uses the sunshine background to tell the youths to shine and keep their heads, which is pretty much the theme that runs through the album The folky guitars are back for the title track. I remember during the album listening and speaking to her about this song and the relationship she shares with her mother. In the chorus, she talks of the self-belief that her mother instilled in her and you can hear this in her delivery and how grateful she is for that support.

Preserving the authentic sound of Reggae is a sound important to me, so upon hearing Lonely, it brought me so much joy. I expressed this to Koffee, but didn’t expect to hear what I heard next. She gave props to UK Lovers Rock star John McLean for inspiration for this track. “I had come across some of his music,” Koffee told me.

It’s so nice to see a British music artist getting their props at this level as I always make mention to the like of Sevana and Lila that their music is flavoured with a lot of UK seasoning.

The album picks up pace nearing the end with Run

Away, and probably one of my favourite tracks, Where I’m From. This has to be the hardest sounding record, but it does talk about her hometown which is no playground, Spanish Town.

of Spain Town, as it’s known, is definitely felt through the rawness of this track. Even though Koffee is petite in size, you can feel in every bar and line that she reps here

“I said to Koffee, ‘I think you just made another Grammy project, lil sis’” Spanish Town, which is roughly 12 miles from the capital Kingston, is home to the likes of Chronixx, Govana, Stylo G and many other legends from the past. The edginess

community as a proud Spanish Town resident. When I first heard the album, I had the opportunity to see and hear the next track together. Produced

by UK producer Jae 5, this was

the single to launch that the album was forthcoming. I think they chose the right song as all heads were nodding in the room. If I remember right, it got a video pull-up.

I had to give her props for the Lada cars making an appearance in the video, but I think I was the only one in the room that understood the significance of that. Real Culture for those that know.

I’ll say what I said to Koffee in a room full of people, “I think you just made another Grammy project, little sis”.

I could have just written “phenomenal” 800 times to write this review, to be fair.

42 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Lifestyle

Tribute

Skibadee was a Jungle legend Semper Azeez-Harris sits down with MC Det to talk about the life and times of one of the finest Emcees to ever perform

I

N MY bed waking up for the day, I put in an obligatory scan of social media on my mobile, to be met with ‘Skibadee has died’.

My immediate reaction was, ‘what the f***! Damn! He was only 47’. I’m sure it was a sentiment echoed throughout the jungle/drum ‘n’ bass community, young and old ravers alike.

Social media was ablaze. Celebrities, contemporaries and fans punctuated our feeds with tearful emojis, anecdotes, and genuine sadness for the Waterloo-born icon of emceeing.

In a cruel irony (a week before), Skibadee had given condolences in a post on social media to the phenomenal Jamal Edwards, who had passed away.

Unsurprisingly, the news hit those who knew Skibadee at close quarters the hardest and, even as I write this, many still can’t believe he’s gone.

One of those people is legendary jungle/drum ‘n’ bass emcee MC Det. “The first call I got, they said ‘I think Skibs has gone, think he died’,” MC Det states, shifting quietly in his chair.

“I was thinking people just get caught up on this hype thing.

Like, he fell off the stage a few times over the last six months, but what. To be honest, at the time I was angry for someone saying that.

“So, I thought let me talk to Brockie because I knew

he was working the night before. He was like ‘think it’s true you know’. My heart just sunk.

I was speechless. I couldn’t believe it.

“Then I got a call from his younger brother, he was just crying. I phoned Shabba, and he was so upset.”

Crossing his hands and in a truly candid moment, Det quietly reflected: “I sat there, I was quite tearful. Still thinking it can’t be true. I had seen him only a little while ago. I just needed to see someone to know what was going on”.

HYPNOTISED

I remember listening to the mighty Kool FM 94.5 FM and being hypnotised by jungle/drum n bass Saturdays. Skibadee was able to transport you straight into Astoria with catchphrases that have stood the test of time: “the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!”

He was the emcees’ emcee.

Charisma for years, an ability to hype a crowd like few emcees could and blessed by a thunderous, spell-binding lyrical flow, Impeccable and ingenious. He could bark like a dog and make it a catchphrase, “woof, woof I’m the Rottweiler”.

“He made emceeing feel fun,” MC Det recalls in his distinctive baritone voice.

“When Stevie Hyper D passed away it was a massive thing for us in the community,” states Det. “But the scene was

NEVER FORGOTTEN: Skibadee’s influence will live on, believes MC Det, pictured inset left still very young. We kept Stevie’s name alive and made the scene grow.

“This time, however, the scene has been going for so long and Skibs was such a massive name with his click SASASAS. They have been around the world, done TV and national radio, so his death reverberated around the world.

“I am getting people hitting me up from Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan sending their condolences. Lots of celebrities sending their condolences. Some of them I do not even know. Skib’s death is different.”

Indeed (perhaps naively) I was surprised that mainstream newspapers highlighted his death, acknowledging the massive loss to music generally.

Thirty years back jungle/drum ‘n’ bass was vilified.

Mass media only mentioned the scene in negativity. A drugpeddling scene for disenfranchised criminals with a tendency for violence.

In 2022, the climate is different. Jungle/drum ‘n’ bass remains as aggy as ever, but it is accepted within the mainstream.

Suitable for kids from Eton to Forest Gate. Skibadee’s death is

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the glaring proof. “He looked at himself as an artist, and indeed considered us all artists,” Det enthused.

“He was always trying to tell us that we are artists not just emcees. He had this glow of an artist. He dressed differently.

“I remember one time he turned up to a rave wearing loafers, no socks, thick jeans, smart shirt, hat and nice glasses.”

Det adds with a palpable force: “He made you have be-

he definitely brought something different – a fresh air.”

Det sits up and chuckles: ”In fact, I remember back in the day emcees would sometimes be on the mic for two and three hours straight.

“When Skibs came in he was like, ‘What, that’s way too long.

I ain’t doing that’. He was like ‘one hour and I want the same money’.”

Det drops a deep laugh and adds: “So, he kept on drilling that idea. Promoters started

“In his passing we now see what he achieved. It’s such a shame he is not here to see his impact” lief that this is an amazing skill – you are an artist. He always said, we need to start making tunes and showing them that we are more than just emcees filling a space.

“I for one know that before Skibs came on the scene it was different; when he came it changed. It did not happen bang overnight. He was emceeing for a while, and he had to become popular. He became popular very quickly in comparison to other emcees, but

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booking emcees for an hour just like the DJs.” He changed the fabric of emceeing in the UK music industry today, able to flex his vocals in garage, hip-hop and more.

From Grime artists like Wiley (who started off as a jungle emcee), to Dizzie Rascal, Skepta and beyond, they all grew up listening to jungle/drum ‘n’ bass in one shape or another. He helped set the stage for these newer emcees.

Wistfully, Det sees his reach

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elevated from a jungle/drum ‘n’ bass emcee: “He brought that star element to emceeing.

“I think that influenced a lot of the new emcees coming up and they wanted to do it that way.

It also influenced people who have been in the game a long time as well. Emcees can feel his presence. His energy was (and is) reverberating amongst everyone whether you’re a DJ or emcee.”

Skibadee’s star quality was the effervescent lighting up of stations and raves with names like the amazing Harry Shotta, bars for days — Shabba, onpoint-Eskman, ‘at night-time they screech and bruk in na ya car’ Navigator and the icon, “move ya body, body’ – Det and more.

It’s a telling truth that Skibadee has left a huge and lasting legacy. It will pulse with all the energy of his bars – it’s an uncomfortable happiness.

Pausing, Det gathers his words. “He was a family man.

Loved his children. He was always up for a bit of fun. He was such a bubbly guy with his heart in the right place. In his passing we now see what he achieved.

It’s such a shame he is not here to see his impact.”

www.voice-online.co.uk

FEBRUARY 2022

THE VOICE| 43

Available at independent stores & online on: TropicalSunFoods.com

44 | THE VOICE APRIL 2022

Lifestyle

Art

Keisha first poet to take the helm at Contact Artist is youngest person to run Mancunian venue

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

W

RITER, PERFORMANCE artist and producer, Keisha Thompson, was named as the UK’s first poet to run a multi-arts venue last month.

Thompson was announced as artistic director and CEO of Contact in Manchester, a vibrant multidisciplinary arts venue recognised nationally and internationally as a gamechanger in the field of youth leadership and creativity.

She will be the first woman, first Mancunian and, at 32, is the youngest to run Contact, an organisation she has worked with as an artist and leader since she was 15.

Starting her new role in June 2022 as Contact celebrates its 50th year, Thompson is charged with creating a ‘castle of curiosity’ and ‘place of opportunity’ for young Mancunians in their visionary and sustainable new building.

Former young participants at Contact often go on to establish or lead other organisations.

However, now Contact boasts two of them in senior leadership positions — Thompson as artistic director and CEO, and chair of the board Junior Akinola.

LONG-TERM DEDICATION: Keisha Thompson has worked with Contact since she was 15 and will now be the venue’s artistic director and CEO (photos: Audrey Albert)

Thompson enthused: “I met so many different people at Contact and had my perspective changed, and just really got that sense of what youth leadership can be.”

She added: “I want to make sure that this ethos, culture and environment is protected because it was so beneficial for me and so many people that I know. It is how I became such a natural advocate for what Contact is about.”

Thompson will continue to support the next generation of artists and creatives so they can go into the world at an international standard.

BRILLIANT

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham welcomed the news and said: “This is a brilliant appointment.

“Contact is one of the most exciting theatres in the country, and we are proud to support them through the Greater Manchester culture fund in recognition of the opportunities they provide for young people from across our city-region.

“Keisha is a great example of the impact of this support, having developed her career with Contact over the past decade to get to a point where she is ready to lead the organisation.

“Keisha is a valued member of the Greater Manchester Culture and Heritage Steering Group and brings passion and insight to all our discussions, especially around how we can support our young people to fulfil their potential.

“I know she will do the same for Contact and can’t wait to see what she achieves.”

Thompson studied philosophy and politics at the University of Manchester, and later trained as a mathematics teacher while touring her first show for Contact, I Wish I Had a Moustache.

Her favourite place to be in Manchester was in Contact’s lounge, where she was often found ‘bashing out essays’.

She enthused: “I cannot wait to invite everyone into the castle.

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“I like using the word ‘curiosity’ because it is agile.

It can mean you want to be playful. It can mean you want to be academic and interrogate something. It can mean you want to explore your identity. Or it can mean that

brate, then elevate. Bring on the trumpets.”

Thompson plans to develop ways for Contact to be more commercially viable through new partnerships outside the arts sector.

She will develop her role to be

“I like using the word ‘curiosity’ because it is agile. It can mean you want to be playful, or you want to explore your identity” you want to walk in an odd-shaped building and experience something new and experimental.

“So that’s why I like Castle of Curiosity. It’s the 50-year anniversary. It’s time to cele-

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accessible to support new artists, encouraging more young people to be future cultural leaders through creative risk-taking.

Akinola, chair of the board for Contact, said: “We’re so excited to welcome Keisha Thompson

voicenews

as our new artistic director and chief exec.

“Keisha has shown her dedication and commitment to Contact through her years of experience working with and being an artist here.

“Keisha’s extensive CV and artistic profile speak for themselves — she is a trailblazer and an individual who consistently over the years has not only pushed the envelope with her creative ideas, but also in the way and manner that she’s executed them.

“We support Keisha’s vision and look forward to welcoming her into the post in June.

“To have an individual of Keisha’s stature join us is truly priceless and we all can’t wait to see her flourish in the role. Exciting times ahead, for sure.”

www.voice-online.co.uk

APRIL 2022

THE VOICE | 45

Lifestyle

Film

From the darkness comes the light Lifestyle editor Joel Campbell catches up with Jeffrey Wright aka Lt James Gordon from The Batman

BY JOEL CAMPBELL

STARRING ROLES: Jeffrey Wright couldn’t speak more highly of the team that made the movie happen; inset below, central figures Zoë Kravitz and Robert Pattinson have earned a great deal of praise for their performances

W

HEN IT comes to DC classics, there’s a reasonable expectation that the good guy or girl wins at the end, so when it was announced The Batman was earmarked for release in early 2022, my mind focused on how this would be shot.

The character and his natural environment is, for the most part, quite literally shrouded in darkness.

Would Matt Reeves take the chance to deliver a genuine contemporary film noir?

Reeves directed from a screenplay by Reeves and Peter Craig, based on characters from DC. The Batman was created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.

Sure, I wanted to see how Zoë Kravitz, who plays cat burglar Selina Kyle, got on, and I did wonder how the synergy between Jeffrey Wright and Robert Pattinson would play out, but I was more intrigued with the visuals that would accompany the telling of the story.

AMBITION

Reeves didn’t disappoint. For the look of the film, Reeves and his team, including director of photography Greig Fraser and production designer James Chinlund, had a specific ambition: to design a Batworld that hasn’t been seen before.

“We have seen theatrical fantasy versions of Gotham, amazing versions in the Burton movies and the very practical versions that are almost James Bond-like in the Nolan films,” said Reeves.

“Our crime story tells a story of a place, and that place is Gotham, and I wanted that hanging over everything.”

Fraser added: “The one thing Matt and I spoke about early on was that we wanted to make a film that was dark, but not so dark that it was unwatchable.

“It needed to appeal to a large group of people, but the tone needed to go back to how Batman started in the comic books, with Bruce Wayne’s broken character and how Batman is a result of that brokenness.”

Wright, who plays Lt James Gordon, told me he was amazed with the final product delivered.

“It was really interesting from a film-making standpoint to watch Greig Fraser, our DP, who was just nominated for an Academy Award for Dune, he is an absolute artist, he just paints with light and paints with shadow.

“We’d be filming a scene and

to do is stand right there and the lighting around the city and around us is saying so much’.

“He does things with streaks of colour here and there that just highlight the beauty and decay of Gotham in such a wonderful way, I can’t overstate it.”

Wright was also impressed

“He does things with streaks of

colour that just highlight the beauty and decay of Gotham” I’d be looking around asking if they were going to light it?

“It was so specific and so subtle and it really helped to shape the internal attitude, it was wonderful. I found myself everyday watching Greig work.

Just looking into the monitor and realising he was doing so much of our work for us.

“I remember looking at one shot and saying, ‘Man, all I need

with Kravitz’s performance as ‘a mysterious figure who is quietly infiltrating Gotham’s seedy underbelly to further her own agenda.”

The actor had herself said she didn’t want the character to ‘come off as a victim because of her troubled past’ as it could ‘often be a trap with female characters like her’.

“There is so much complexity

and so many layers to these characters, by Matt’s script and also by the performances,” said Wright.

“So, you see these characters we know so well, these iconic archetypal characters, but I think we really get an opportunity to get underneath all of that, all of the veneer, and get at what drives them in a way that serves the interest of the franchise and of the film, and Zoë captures that so well.

“We understand the kind of duality that exists within Cat Woman. She’s got real, valid reasons for how she’s going about surviving in Gotham, and Zoë explores that beautifully.

And she’s got that feline thing about her that is undeniable.”

Reflecting on how he worked with Pattinson, who plays the titular role, Wright said: “It was my first time working with Rob, and I don’t know how these things happen.

“We met once or twice

before (filming) and then we got together (on set), started to work and talk and rehearse a bit, and then the camera roles on the first day.

“The first scene we shot was the one we see in the trailer of us walking and the cops looking at us and, I don’t know, we just got after it and did it. It either works or it doesn’t. I vibed off him and I think him off me, and I think Matt had a very clear vision and we just played within that and ran with it.”

For the most part, The Batman does what it says on the tin. Those focused on the narrative will no doubt have lots to discuss on the way in which it ‘starts not with an origin story, but with a young Batman – to see the arc of him pushing to

become better’, Reeves said.

He added: “So, we’ve taken that Batman and are having him solve a mystery in such a way that is not an origin tale, but refers to his origins, shaking him to his core.”

Something tells me, though, this movie will land awards for the extensive visual detail which has gone into bringing this version of Gotham to life.

It’s shot that well. And UK viewers may well be surprised at how much of this was done on their very doorstep. A long way from the real Gotham Batman is protecting.

Watch the full interview with Jeffrey Wright on: www.voice-online.co.uk

46 | THE VOICE

APRIL 2022

TOP SPORTS COVERAGE 24/7 VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK/SPORT

OF SPORT NEWSPAPER

Motor racing’s newest names?

History-making teenagers Ruben and Lewis are setting their sights on Praga series

By Rodney Hinds

T

AKE A note of the names of Ruben Stanislaus and Lewis Appiagyei. The dynamic duo have every chance of being the next big things in the world of motor racing.

Formula 1 fans will be more than familiar with stellar names such as Rubens Barrichello and Lewis Hamilton, two of the greatest names in the motor racing hall of fame.

So, if you were told that Brit-

“We are looking for individuals or businesses who can support us, however big or small”

and a Guinness World Record to boot over their 10-year racing campaign.

The two boyhood friends recently tested the Praga R1 race car at Silverstone and were immediately impressed by the performance and handling of one of the best kept secrets in British motor racing.

ish motor racing has produced another pair of gifted racing drivers with similar names, you’d be forgiven for not knowing who Ruben Stanislaus and Lewis Appiagyei are in a pub quiz.

Well, you are about to be introduced to British motor racing’s newest star racing proteges.

Teenagers Ruben and Lewis cut their teeth at Buckmore Park kart circuit in Kent from junior karting to the seniors where they broke track records, and won championships alike with ease and represented their country in world championship finals with honours.

The prodigious teenagers have amassed well over 400 trophies between them

EVOLVED

The two have now made a pact to team up and join forces to embark on their first full season in the inaugural Praga series this year.

The Praga R1 is one of the most stunning racing cars out there and, with the speed to match its fighter aircraft looks, there is no other racing car out there like it.

The R1 blends together a unique carbon fibre chassis coupled with a highly evolved aerodynamic package. Its bespoke engineered safety cell makes its consideration as part of a young driver’s career development a no-brainer.

Lewis and Ruben will be making British motor racing history

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS: Ruben Stanislaus, left, and Lewis Appiagyei are teaming up for the inaugural Praga series.

Inset left, Ruben

when they formally join the Praga grid this year, as the pair will be the first of their generation to do so.

A documentary is now being filmed by the award winning film producer Stephen Mizelas

about the boys’ journey into motor racing and all the complex issues they have to navigate.

A spokesperson for the talented duo told The Voice: “We are also still looking for individuals and businesses who can sup-

port us financially, however big or small. They can advertise on our clothing, suits etc. The more businesses, the better. They can reach out to Ruben Stanislaus and Lewis Appiagyei via LinkedIn.”

Arum honoured for work to increase diversity in tennis

By Rodney Hinds

A UNIVERSITY of East London (UEL) tennis scholar has been recognised for his work to promote diversity within the sport through working with disadvantaged children.

Arum Akom, who is studying a Masters in Sports Management, features in Causing A Racket — Exploring Britain’s Black Tennis Scene, a new video by youth platform Guap.

Arum, who is head coach at the Butterfly Tennis Club, Camberwell Grove, is passionate about increasing the numbers of young black players and making positive changes in the community.

Arum explains why he is motivated to increase diversity within the sport.

He said: “I am from a disadvantaged background myself, and my parents

didn’t have the finances themselves to pay for tennis lessons.

“However, I was lucky enough to get free lessons in Camberwell through the club’s project, and I progressed up the ranks to become a county player.

“Now, I want to give back to as many children as possible. To get to the top of the game, it all comes down to finance. That is the barrier even when the talent and drive is there.

“Since the pandemic, there has been an increased interest in tennis, and I am passionate about helping young black players get involved in the game, particularly where they feel it is not the sport for them.”

Arum’s tennis club uses club funds to offer bursaries to disadvantaged young players, and there is now more of a balance at the club, he says.

in Roehampton for their university team.

Arum’s ultimate goal is to become a high performance coach at the highest levels of professional tennis.

He is currently being coached and mentored by self-taught high performance coach Barry Bartley, who is teaching Arum the fundamentals of the game using the Simple Science method.

LIFE CHANCES: Arum wants more disadvantaged children to play tennis As well as playing for UEL’s competitive tennis team, Arum uses his UEL Masters experience in his work as a high performance coach, including at the Bank of England Sports Centre

@thevoicenewspaper

OPPORTUNITY

“It is so nice to see the bond between a parent and child as they develop on court. I want to give parents and children that opportunity while recognising diversity in tennis,” Arum adds.

“During the national lockdown in February 2021, I managed to go to Kampala and work with the children from a charity called Tennis For All

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voicenews

Uganda. TFUA seek to change lives, one game at a time, through structured tennis programmes.

“They empower, mobilise, and educate children from the slums of Kampala by offering tennis, health education and social support. This was a wonderful experience as the children really appreciated the coaching, something which they don’t get often.

“This also allowed me to get a better understanding of the current situation of tennis in Uganda.

“Following this, I visited the Lugogo Tennis Complex which is also situated in Kampala which is the main tennis centre in Kampala.

“I met with a few of the coaches at the club, and explained my plans to develop tennis in Uganda, which they loved and want to be a part of,” Arum adds.

www.voice-online.co.uk

APRIL 2022 THE VOICE | 47

Sport

Celia’s a local legend

FITTING TRIBUTE: Arsenal’s ‘Local Legend’ Celia Facey receives her special Panini card

C

ELIA FACEY is making a huge difference to young people’s lives in north London — and has been duly recognised.

The Premier League is celebrating 15 years of its flagship community programme. Premier League Kicks has supported hundreds of thousands of young people to achieve their potential and improve their wellbeing through free weekly football sessions and educational workshops.

One person who has benefited from their involvement is Celia, who has been named as a Premier League Kicks ‘Local Legend’ by Arsenal in the Community as part of the programme’s 15-year anniversary.

Premier League Kicks began in the 2006/07 season in partnership with the Metropolitan Police, with the aim of involving and supporting young people in regular, positive, and fun activity, whilst helping to create stronger, safer, more inclusive communities.

INSPIRED

As part of the 15-year celebrations, clubs have nominated a ‘Local Legend’ — somebody who has taken part in, volunteered, or worked on the programme and has inspired others through their dedication, work ethic and own personal development. Each nominee will receive a bespoke ‘Local Legend’ football card, which has been created with

support from Premier League partner Panini.

Celia was chosen as Arsenal in the Community’s ‘Local Legend’ because she has dedicated 15 years’ worth of evenings to support local young people in her community — demonstrating outstanding commitment to the project throughout the period as well as being an integral member of the programme’s success. An ever-present in the local community, Celia also volunteered at the local food banks during the lockdowns of 2020.

Celia, who has been involved with Arsenal’s Premier League Kicks activity for 15 years said: “I’m very passionate about the kids I work with. A lot of the young people grow up on the estate and I know

their parents as well, so it’s like a little family.

“A lot of them become coaches after being involved [as participants] so I just love being here!

It’s a real honour to have this award and I’d like to thank all the people who put me forward for it. It makes a big difference in my life as well.”

Arsenal in the Community began its Premier League Kicks delivery in 2006/07 as a pilot club and since then has hosted 10,854 Kicks sessions, totalling 23,910 hours and engaged a total of 11,115 distinct participants.

As well as providing young people with access to free football and sports activities, Premier League Kicks offers mentoring, life skills advice and access to op-

portunities such as volunteering to help aid their development Clubs also run workshops on a variety of social issues, enabling young people to openly discuss topics that affect them, like equality, diversity and inclusion and combating youth violence and knife crime.

The programme also sees clubs work with 36 territorial police forces throughout the country — with regular sessions taking place in disadvantaged areas.

Kaya Comer-Schwartz, leader of Islington Council, added: “Celia is an absolute legend — she’s here in all weathers, all year round! She’s really one of these quiet heroes that doesn’t ask anyone for anything but is there for our community throughout everything.”

Football star Alex goes from strength to strength with new book

By Rodney Hinds

ARSENAL LEGEND turned TV pundit Alex Scott is to give an insight into her life and career in a new book.

Century will publish an incisive and candid book, How (Not) To Be Strong, from broadcaster and former footballing star Alex in September 2022.

Alex, pictured right, is the host of BBC’s Football Focus, the first permanent female host in its 47-year history.

From the football cages of east London to broadcasting to millions, the engine powering Alex’s remarkable journey has

always been her resilience. But thanks to a ‘push through mentality’, the world has only ever seen Alex’s ‘strong’ side.

The former Arsenal captain and England centurion helped Arsenal achieve a domestic double of the FA Wo-

men’s Cup and the FA Women’s Premier League. She retired from international football in 2017, though not before representing Great Britain in the Olympics.

She retired as the

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second most capped England player across the men’s and women’s game with 140 appearances.

TRUTH

Now she’s ready to lower the shield. In How (Not) To Be Strong, Alex shares the lessons that have shaped her, from confronting the legacy of a tumultuous childhood to the tarnished truth behind the gleaming football trophies.

In her debut book, Alex outlines the inspirational pillars of strength which have helped her to thrive: finding your voice, knowing when to ask

@thevoicenews

for help, letting guilt go, embracing uncertainty and celebrating your wins. She explores the reality of growing up on a council estate in the 1990s, digging into her family heritage, the highs and lows of being a professional athlete, dealing with trolling, her Strictly Come Dancing experience and taking the leap into presenting.

With raw honesty, Alex shows how she’s tackled life’s challenges. Here, she proves that sometimes the strongest thing you can do is show your most vulnerable side to the world.

Alex said of the upcoming book: “It is definitely another

voicenews

‘pinch me’ moment, and I am honoured Penguin are sharing this journey with me. I grew up believing strength is not showing vulnerability. However, life has taught me the opposite and actually showing vulnerability and exposing flaws can be the bravest thing you can do.

“I speak my truth in How (Not) To Be Strong, which is both exciting and scary. I know now is the right time to share my story and I have genuinely given all of me, on every page. This is a passion project and I hope readers enjoy it, but importantly can take their own strength from it.” (photo: Joseph Sinclair)

www.voice-online.co.uk

TOP SPORTS COVERAGE 24/7 VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK/SPORT

OF SPORT

APRIL 2022 | THE VOICE

MYLES AHEAD OF HIS RIVALS SKY’S THE LIMIT: Myles Harrison, inset, is aiming to join a racing team so that he can compete on a higher level

Ten-year-old racing sensation is aiming to follow in the footsteps of Formula One stars

By Maxine Harrison

M

YLES HARRISON, aged just ten, has serious aspirations to become a racing driver.

Based in London, Myles has been racing since 2018 and regularly races at different circuits to develop his driving skills.

Myles told the Voice of Sport: “I’ve always loved cars from when I was a little kid.”

The youngster keeps a keen eye on the world of Formula 1 and like many of us, has his favourite drivers.

“Lando Norris is my favourite because he is still young, like me. He’s funny and he’s a very good driver. I can see him being a world champion. I think Lewis Hamilton is a great driver too. He’s also one of my fa-

vourite drivers and is inspiring. I kind of like Max Verstappen, so I’m cool with him winning the championship.”

In terms of his own fledgling career, father Andrew takes up the story: “Myles has raced at several key racing circuits, including Buckmore Park and Rye House. Rye House is where Lewis Hamilton started and several others.

ACCOLADES

“Myles has done very well and has been able to win multiple trophies and receive accolades, even on his first visit to some of these circuits.”

To listen to the protégé is to know that he is already tuned into his sport: “I love the feel of the mini-max kart because of the speeds. You can carry through a fast bend. But I also

like electric karts used by TKZ because with their amount of torque, it allows me to have great starts to my race.”

Myles is so good that even at his tender age he is racing against much older competitors. Andrew adds: “There are times when Myles races against his age group, but to be perfectly frank, these were not challenging enough for him.

“So, I try to put Myles in races against those who are older than him, say ages 15-16, to challenge him more. He’s always been able to prove himself and has even gone on to beat drivers at this age too.

He’s also built up a reputation where many of his peers are well aware of him.”

Rivals are certainly aware of him and he has the silverware to prove it.

A confident Myles says: “To be honest I don’t know how many trophies I’ve won. I stopped counting long ago! My trophies are spread out between my parents and my nanny’s house.”

NATURAL

“Myles has always been fascinated with cars,” says Andrew. “As his father, I was thinking of what hobby he could get into and so took him karting. I was surprised to learn that he had such a natural talent for driving. It was self-evident. So, he’s continued to develop that skill ever since.

“Myles doesn’t have his own kart yet. It would be ideal for him to join a racing team on a higher level so he can compete all around the UK.

“Up until now, most of his racing has been at corporate level competitions. Racing is an expensive sport and sadly talent isn’t always enough to get far. It would be great if he could get onto an owner driver team competition so he can race at the level we know he can achieve.

It’s evident that Myles is far too good at racing for it to just be a hobby.”

Myles concludes: “I want to be in motor sport competing at a high level, ideally in the world of Formula 1.”