JUNE 2021 • ISSUE NO. 1919
What is it really like to be Black and British? Add your voice to the Survey: www.bbvp.org £2.50
WWW.VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK
Celebrating Windrush Pages 19-30
EXCLUSIVE
WHEN MARCUS MET BARACK Sharing experiences, Marcus Rashford and Barack Obama delved candidly into being raised by single mothers, their drive to give something back to the communities they were raised in, and the moment they each discovered their love of reading.
MEN WHO INSPIRE Raphael Meade
English former footballer
See pages 8
Sir Hilary Beckles
ViceChancellor of the University of the West Indies See pages 10
Melvyn Downes
SAS: Who Dares Wins’
See pages 18
See page 4
RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP 2021
MAKE THE MOST OF RLWC2021 WITH TICKETS, ACCOMMODATION AND EXPERIENCES
RLWC2021
Inside
‘We can't put our trust in a system that does not see us or hear us’
THIS MONTH
The Voice launches first major study with Cambridge University to investigate what it really means to be black and British in 2021
The Queen's Speech: The Bills we need to look out for p6 Errol's mission to get black men tested for prostate cancer p13
There's a new generation of activists – and they're using TikTok p17 Celebrations across the UK this Windrush Day p19-30 Why we should strive to be the fathers we wanted as children p34 Afrobeats Live is back – and it's going to be better than ever before... p42
A NATIONAL survey is launching today as part of a wider research project investigating the “evolution of black British identities” – giving black people in the UK an opportunity to “define themselves in an autonomous way” for the very first time. The Black British Voices Project is a partnership between The Voice newspaper, the University of Cambridge’s Sociology Department and blackled consultancy I-Cubed. The research is being led by Cambridge sociologist Dr Kenny Monrose – who understands the complexities of identity as a black man. “For generations who lived through the Seventies and Eighties – a 'crucible' for UK race relations, many black people partly defined themselves by their heritage.” The survey will cover important issues that matter to the black community including education, business, health, media, youth, sport and policing. It builds on focus group sessions Dr Monrose and The Voice conducted at the end of last year. Participants in the Focus Groups were vocal about how they were identified, saying that “terms like BAME are too shorthand, too easy, and makes us even more invisible”. One participant described feeling defeated: “My voice isn’t heard… What we need is a commitment to grassroots politics which will suit our needs better.” Another said: “We can’t put our trust in a system that doesn’t see or hear us.” Other group members spoke of valuing Britain but not seeing themselves as part of it. One 24-year-old woman said she no longer sees a future in the UK: “When I was younger I believed I would have options. I don’t feel like that anymore because I don’t fit in anywhere.” Many participants also had unset-
Daren Sammy's new challenge as he joins Sky's The Hundred team p46 This issue is 48 pages
KEY ROLE: Dr Kenny Monrose, Principal Research Investigator in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge
tling stories to tell about encounters with the police. Alongside the national survey and focus groups, Dr Monrose is conducting dozens of in-depth interviews with black people across British society – from activists and politicians to LGBTQ+ Church of England members. He says the interviews can be emotional. “Some people ran away from their blackness and encountered a lot of self-loathing. But people are desperate to talk about this,” he says. "We want to hear from normal people on streets up and down the country to uncover the reality of being black in 21st Century Britain,” he added. Paulette Simpson CBE, director of The Voice, said: "Today, black Britons are still largely misunderstood and misrepresented in many facets of life. "We must manage and communicate our own narrative on how it feels to be black and British.” The project is also being supported by the M&C Saatchi and their CEO, Camilla Kemp said: “We are hugely proud to be involved in this important initiative, which seeks to create a comprehensive picture of the black British experience for the first time ever.
"We hope that the campaign we have developed in partnership with The Voice and the University of Cambridge will help to drive meaningful change for the UK’s black community.” Dr Monrose adds: “Young black people in particular get spoken about, but they don’t often get spoken to. “We aim to listen. We want to unpack deep-seated feelings and sentiments about the black British experience, and show that we are not a uniform or homogeneous group. "We can use this information to transform the perception of black people in this country, and help share an authentic and reliable version of black British life that is obtained by consulting with and gaining consent from black communities and their members.”
For more information about this project, and to take the survey, please visit www.bbvp.org or www.voice-online. co.uk
Got a story? email us at yourviews@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk
NEWSPAPER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Paulette Simpson E. paulette.simpson@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk CORPORATE AFFAIRS & COMMUNICATIONS Paula Dyke E. paula@thevoicemedia group.co.uk
NEWS DESK E. newsdesk@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Joel Campbell E. joel.campbell@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk
NEWS EDITOR Vic Motune E. vic.motune@thevoicemedia group.co.uk
SPORTS EDITOR Rodney Hinds E. rodney.hinds@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk
ADVERTISING AND SALES E. advertising@thevoicemedia group.co.uk CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS E. subscriptions@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk
The Voice Newspaper Unit 1, Bricklayers Arms, Mandela Way, London, SE1 5SR T: 020 7510 0340 Web: www.voice-online.co.uk GV MEDIA GROUP LTD
What is it really like to be Black and British?
Add your voice to the new Black British Voices Survey. It is time to change the narrative. www.bbvp.org
34 | THE VOICE
JUNE 2021
Faith
‘Be the father you wanted when you were a child’
LOOKING UP: Fathers’ relationships with their children may require work – but that doesn’t mean that they can be put aside (photos: Monstera/ Nappy)
The everyday stresses of modern life can make developing a special and lasting bond with your child difficult. However, says Rev John Root, by focusing on and embracing the love that the Lord gives us, it may be easier to do that than you think
R
OUGHLY THE first 40 weeks of life are spent in our mother’s womb. That is the beginning of a close mother-child relationship, which hopefully the mother is able to build on during the early days, and then the early years of her child’s life. Fathers do not have the advantage of that deeply physical, instinctive relationship with their children. It needs to be built from the ground up. That’s why it is good that enlightened companies increasingly give paternity leave as well as maternity leave. Many of us aren’t in the privileged position of enjoying that sort of benefit, but for all fathers it is essential that we make the very important choice to give time right from the beginning to be present with our children and develop strong, involved loving relationships with them. We need to bond with them. About 20 minutes after my son was born, the midwife sat me down and placed my baby son in my lap. Usually, I am a fairly unemotional person, but this was far and away the most powerful and emotional moment of my life. I had a deep sense of joy and delight in a baby who had achieved very little so far apart
None of us had a father as perfect as God. Maybe our fathers in turn knew only bad memories and ways of behaving from their fathers from making my wife feel sick for the past nine months. I shall always be grateful to the midwife who sat me down to hold my child so that I had that experience of bonding. (If there is a Yoruba midwife from Cameroon who was working in Hammersmith in the summer of 1989, do get in touch; I’d love to say thank you). Many voices in the Bible speak recognise that our God also has that powerful sense of bonding with his creatures. The prophet Hosea captures the loving, caring experience of a father: “When Israel was a child, I loved him ... It was I who taught Ephraim to walk.” Similar feeling is expressed in
Psalm 103, verse 13, which we use at the graveside to comfort grieving families: “As a father is tender towards his children, so is the Lord tender towards those that fear Him.” ‘Fear’ here is a form of trust; knowing that our lives are at their most secure when we put ourselves under the authority of a loving faithful God. ‘Tender’ may be a word we usually associate with mothers. I wonder if we realise that God is a tender father, and he calls all fathers to be like that as well. But none of us had a father as perfect as God, our heavenly Father. Maybe our fathers in turn knew only bad memories and ways of behaving from their fathers.
PRESSURE
The exhaustion of work, the hurt of racism, the pressure to provide can make fathers bitter and unreasonable. Ian Wright has described the vicious, destructive cruelty of his father who forced him to face the wall so that he couldn’t watch his beloved Match of the Day. Some people have seen the Bible as justifying that sort of punitive, even violent treatment of children: ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’. Certainly, an important and demanding part of fathering is to help our children appreciate the importance of self-control and observing boundaries, but that comes best from fathers who have discovered for themselves that God is a loving father. In his letters Paul teaches about how we are to relate to each other in families. What he says about fathers is curious, for whilst he speaks to both husbands and wives, he simply says that children be obedient, and says nothing to mothers,
@thevoicenewspaper
only that fathers shouldn’t exasperate. It suggests both that he assumed mothers’ care for their children is so spontaneous and natural that it requires no teaching, whereas he knew that fathers could be exasperating! Perhaps by being too ready to criticise, not ready enough to encourage. So it is important that the New Testament writers retain the original word that Jesus used when talking to God: ‘Abba’, which is like our word ‘Daddy’. It is a trusting, intimate word. One of his most famous stories was of a father patiently longing and waiting for the return of his son who had squandered all his inheritance on prostitutes and gambling. He saw that being a father can
@thevoicenews
be an emotional roller-coaster ride. Fathers’ Day falls on Sunday, June 20. Even though shops are increasingly using it as an opportunity to find a few more occasions in the year to market cards and gifts, it is unlikely that it will ever match the sentimental bonanza of Mothering Sunday.
OPPORTUNITY
But it is important to celebrate it. That will probably mean celebrating fathers in your own family. It may be an opportunity to help and encourage fathers who you know are under pressure. It could be a time to work and pray for reconciliation between fathers and mothers, or
voicenews
between fathers and their children. The growing number of children, especially boys, who are growing up without a father in the home to cherish them, encourage them, and give them the discipline of following rules and obeying boundaries, is a growing crisis in our society. For good or evil, a boy’s first role model is always his father. Can I suggest that every father who reads this determines to be a better father than his own father had been. That way our society is sure to grow healthier. There is no greater help towards achieving that than to discover the caring, forgiving, restoring love that God our Father, ‘Abba’, has for each one of us.
www.voice-online.co.uk
Lifestyle Breakin’ Convention in July? p36
B.O.S.S. up for Turner Prize p40
BOOKS AND BOOTS Marcus Rashford
Jeffrey Boakye: Music and British history p44
48 | THE VOICE FEBRUARY 2021