The Voice Newspaper May 2025

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MAY 2025 • ISSUE NO. 1966

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Who really rules?

It’s Africa vs the Caribbean in the Unity Cup, football’s hottest diaspora derby! ›› p40

WHY ARE WE BEING

POISONED? MP Dawn Butler calls for ban on toxic chemicals in some hair products that have been linked to cancer

MP DAWN BUTLER is demanding a ban on toxic chemicals in Black hair products after studies show relaxers with hidden lye increase cancer risk by 30%.

“Why sell products that harm us?” she tells The Voice.

“Hair companies must stop poisoning our community.” ›› p8

Relaxers give straight hair but often contain lye linked to 30% higher cancer risk (Pic: Getty)

‘My mum’s shooting helped change policing. But the fight continues’ 40 years after police shot Cherry Groce, her son Lee says the Met are still failing the Black community

SEE FULL STORY INSIDE ››

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

6

‘Not worth the paper it was written on’: anger over BBC’s Tim Westwood apology

10

If I were White, I’d be heard’: Black and Asian kinship carers expose systemic neglect

12 The Met’s 40-year failure 1 to face its racism

Netflix’s Adolescence exposed the crisis - but who’s really listening to Black boys asks Davis J Williams?

20

How racist schooling stole three generations of my family’s future

30

Beyond Beethoven: celebrating the unsung heroes of classical music

39

Butcher urges West Indies fans to get behind ODI team

It’s official! Africa meets the Caribbean for Unity Cup

F

ORTY YEARS ago, an 11-yearold boy watched police shoot his mother in her own home.

The bullet that paralyzed Cherry Groce didn’t just shatter one family – it ignited the Brixton Uprising and exposed the rot of discriminatory policing.

Today, her son Lee Lawrence (pictured above engaging with young people) still fights for justice, but his question hangs heavy: Why must Black Britain keep fighting the same battles?

The Met’s failure is not one of time, but of will. As Lawrence notes, trust cannot be rebuilt until harm is acknowledged – truly acknowledged.

“You can’t build trust until you understand why it was broken,” he says. Yet four decades later, the Met remains more concerned with reputation than repair.

When Lawrence pushed for change, former Commissioner Hogan-Howe deferred to “the powers that be.” But what power outweighs justice? What precedent matters more than a child’s trauma?

Or our community’s experience of discriminatory policing?

Here lies the crux: policing in Britain still operates on a calculus of risk, not righteousness. “They don’t ask, ‘Is this right or wrong?’”

This issue is 40 pages EDITOR Vic Motune E. vic.motune@thevoicemedia group.co.uk

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

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

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Joel Campbell E. joel.campbell@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk

Lawrence explains. “They ask, ‘How will this look?’”

This is the insult layered atop injury. After Stephen Lawrence, after Cherry Groce, after Mark Duggan, after Chris Kaba – how many more tragedies must precede transformation?

The Met’s reluctance is not passive; it is a choice. When leadership prioritizes damage control over accountability, it tells Black communities their pain is negotiable.

But Lawrence’s work proves another path exists. Restorative justice – rooted in listening, repair, and shared humanity – offers a blueprint.

“If they’d leaned in sooner,” he says, “they’d have seen the power in someone like me – a victim working with them.”

To The Voice’s readers, this is not abstract. It is the stop-and-search that humiliates your son. It is the disproportionate sentencing of your cousin. It is the grief of knowing that, had Cherry Groce been White, her shooting would have been unthinkable.

The 40th anniversary of her wrongful shooting is not just a memorial. It is a mirror. The question is not whether the Met can change.

It’s whether those in power will finally choose to.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Find Tony: Campaign launched to find missing Hackney Hero and activist who was last seen March 10 Appeal for information: Missing 98-year-old woman Mary from North London

Apprentice star Chisola Chitambala (above): “I stayed true to myself – and the world got to see it” Windrush scandal victims to be given £1.5m in support

Caribbean creatives pen open letter to Jafaican director saying film is “tone-deaf” Jafaican starring Peter Andre criticised for harmful Jamaican stereotypes

Update: girl missing in River Thames named Film festival defends Jafaican, slammed as ‘modern day blackface’, because it has ‘strong reggae influences’

10

“More love”: first Benjamin Zephaniah Day celebrated the much-loved poet with music and tributes

Got a story? email us at yourviews@thevoicemediagroup.co.uk SPORTS EDITOR Rodney Hinds E. rodney.hinds@thevoice mediagroup.co.uk ADVERTISING AND SALES E. advertising@thevoicemedia group.co.uk

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MAY 2025 THE VOICE | 3

News

SKY’S THE LIMIT FOR ELVIRE

‘A BEAUTIFUL SURPRISE’: Elvire was stunned to receive the Game Changer Award, made even more special by being presented to her by her dad

Elvire Mavusi Matu’s incredible journey to support youngsters is just getting started. By Vic Motune

W

HEN Elvire Mavusi Matu stepped on to the stage at the National Lottery’s New Year’s Eve Big Bash, she thought it was simply to watch her young dancers perform. The show, hosted by Vernon Kay and Fleur East, was a celebration of 30 good causes backed by National Lottery funding ­ – and Konverse Dance Crews, the grassroots group she started as a teenager, was one of them.

But then came the moment that changed everything.

“I honestly thought they just wanted our young people to perform,” Elvire recalled. “So when I found out I was receiving a Game Changer Award, I was shocked and overwhelmed. To be recognised on such a big platform meant so much– it was a beautiful surprise.”

Then came another twist: the award was handed to her by her father, Carlos.

“Having my dad present me with the award was such a beautiful and emotional surprise,” she said.

“He’s supported me from the very beginning – coming to shows, cheering me on, and believing in what we do.

“That moment showed just how proud my family is of me.”

The moment marked a high point in Elvire’s incredible journey – one that began in 2012, when she was just 14 years old, living on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking. With youth clubs shutting down and community spaces vanishing, she saw the need for something more.

“Some of my friends had sadly lost their lives,” she said. “There weren’t enough safe spaces for young people, so my sister and I decided to create one. I wanted to

“There’s so much talent in Barking and Dagenham.

Putting young people on a platform to showcase that creativity is so important”

(photo: KDC)

offer something fun and positive to get people off the streets – something that would support their physical and mental health.”

With the backing of the Salvation Army and their church leader Nigel, Elvire launched Konverse Dance Crews – known today as KDC– from the ground up.

PURPOSE “It wasn’t just about dancing,” she explained. “It was about empowering people, helping them find purpose, build confidence, and learn skills like teamwork and leadership. I wanted to create a space where young people felt safe and seen, especially when it felt like society had given up on us.”

They started small, with just one group of teens. But word spread.

“At that age –13, 14, 15 – you have more independence, and it’s easy to fall into the wrong crowd.

So we expanded, and eventually, we went from one group to five.”

Thanks to the commitment of volunteers, support from the local community, and a vision rooted in faith and purpose, KDC has

gone on to become a cornerstone of Barking and Dagenham’s youth scene.

“I’ve been able to run Konverse because of the amazing support from people who believe in the vision,” said Elvire.

“It became like a family – we all wanted the same thing. Support from parents and the community really made it all possible – I couldn’t have done it alone.”

Over the past 13 years, Elvire has watched hundreds of young people blossom through KDC’s programmes. Some have gone on to study dance at university, become teachers, or launch careers in the creative industries. “We’ve had

kids as young as seven perform up access to new funding streams. on national TV, meeting idols like Its impact also extends beyond KSI. Others have won trophies in dance. Through partnerships competitions. One of our leaders, with organisations like Box Up Covid, now runs his own dance Crime, Barking and Dagenham club and appeared on Britain’s Got College, Creative Barking and DaTalent. genham, and Studio 3 Arts, the group has contributed to a wider cultural shift– one that gives FUTURES It’s more than just dance—it’s young people voice, visibility, and building futures, confidence, and validation.

Following the National Lotcareers.”

Alongside youth empowerment, tery Gamechanger award, KDC Elvire has made sure KDC sup- has seen a surge in interest and ports adults, too – through paid engagement. Elvire now wants to employment, training, and funding take things further.

“We’ve seen more people visit for qualifications.

She later registered KDC as a our website and want to join,” not-for-profit organisation to open she says. “Being featured on ITV

helped show the good we’re doing.

It feels like we’re finally part of bigger conversations.”

She continues: “I’m definitely looking to expand our work to other areas and welcome more people through our doors.

"There’s so much talent in Barking and Dagenham, and people just don’t know about it. Putting young people on a platform to showcase that creativity is so important.”

And while the spotlight is now on Elvire, she insists the award belongs to everyone who’s been part of the journey.

“It’s not just about me – it’s about all of us,” she said.

Brunel honours Zephaniah with special celebration

GONE TOO SOON: The late, great, Benjamin Zephaniah

BRUNEL University of London held the inaugural Benjamin Zephaniah Day over the weekend to honour the legacy of the renowned poet, activist and former Professor of Creative Writing, who died in 2023 aged 65.

The celebration, called A Festival of Rhythm, Unity and Revolution, coincided with what would have been Zephaniah’s 67th birthday. It was co-hosted by his wife, Qian Zephaniah, and held in a newly dedicated campus

space named in his honour.

“When Benjamin was asked what he wanted his legacy to be, he simply said ‘more love’,” Qian told The Voice. “We’ve come together like one big global family – let’s call it the ‘Zephaniah family’ – to celebrate his life, his rhythms, his work.”

She added: “Love loudly.

Fight gently. And whatever you do – don’t let the fire go out.”

Poets Michael Rosen and

Linton Kwesi Johnson delivered readings. Rosen said: “He could not stand hierarchy, oppression or exploitation. He could say that to children, adults, on television, radio. That is what was so special about him.”

Brunel Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Jones thanked Qian and praised Zephaniah’s impact: “He empowered students and championed them. His legacy continues to inspire and ignite.”

FROM THE STREETS TO THE STUDIO: Elvire Mavusi Matu uses dance to empower the next generation and provide a safe, creative space for young people (photo: KDC)

4 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

A SON’S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE 40 YEARS AFTER TRAGEDY

Following the wrongful shooting of his mother and the 1985 Brixton Uprisings that followed, Lee Lawrence embarked on a journey for justice — and rebuilding trust that demands police accountability. By Vic Motune

L

EE LAWRENCE was just 11 years old when he watched a police officer shoot his mother.

It was a quiet Saturday morning in September 1985.

Cherry Groce, a beloved mother of six, was at home in Brixton, babysitting her grandchildren.

The house was filled with the sounds of children playing. Then came the noise – a violent bang at the door.

“I jumped up and saw her on the floor,” Lawrence recalls. “She said she couldn’t breathe. That she couldn’t feel her legs. That she thought she was going to die. I screamed.”

The officer turned his gun on the terrified boy.

“He shouted ‘Someone better shut this f***ing kid up’,” he recalls.

In that moment, Lawrence’s childhood ended. His mother, paralysed from the waist down, would never walk again. And Brixton, already simmering with tension after years of strained police relations, erupted into two days of fiery anger in what are known as the Brixton Uprisings.

A community’s fury: The 1985 Brixton Uprising The shooting of Cherry Groce was not an isolated incident. It was the spark that lit a tinderbox of racial injustice, economic neglect, and deep-seated mistrust between the Metrop o lit an Police and B r i x t o n’s B l a c k community.

Just four

years earlier, in 1981, Brixton had seen another explosive uprising, triggered by aggressive policing tactics under the controversial ‘sus laws’, which disproportionately targeted Black youth. By 1985, tensions had not eased – they had festered.

When news spread that an innocent Black mother had been shot in her own home, the streets filled with rage.

What began as a small group of neighbours marching to Brixton police station swelled into a fullscale rebellion. Bricks flew, fires burned, and for 48 hours, the police lost control.

“People talk about riots,” Lawrence says. “But I want to reframe that word. The 1985 Brixton Uprisings weren’t mindless. They were people demanding justice.”

A long road to justice — and an unfinished Fight For years, the Groce family battled for police accountability. The officer who shot Cherry, Detective Inspector Douglas Lovelock, was charged but acquitted of malicious wounding.

The Met paid £500,000 in compensation — but without

admitting liability.

Cherry lived the rest of her life in a wheelchair, passing away in 2011 from complications linked to her injuries. It was only after her death that the family secured a landmark inquest, which ruled that eight police failures had contributed to her death.

“The jury found those failings contributed to her death,” Lawrence says. “That triggered an apology from the Met. But when I asked them to acknowledge what my siblings and I went through, they refused. They said officers had no duty of care to us. That cut deep.”

The family took the fight to the High Court – and won. The Met finally accepted accountability, leading to a restorative justice process that Lawrence continues to champion today.

“Encounter, Repair, Transform”: Lawrence’s blueprint for Change This year marks 40 years since that tragic shooting – an event that not only destroyed a family but ignited

TINGED WITH SADNESS: Three generations of the Groce family. Lee, his son and mum Cherry at his 2006 wedding one of London’s most defining civil uprisings. Four decades on, Lawrence is still fighting—for justice, for healing, and for a future where no Black child has to endure what he did.

The work that he does with the Met Police through the Cherry Groce Foundation that he founded is rooted in restorative justice – a philosophy he applies as much to policing as to the young people he mentors.

“At the core of both is trying to get people to understand – to really connect to the principles of empathy, accountability, and transformation,” he explains.

“With the Met, we delivered training called Encounter, Repair, Transform. That’s the model I believe in.”

The process, he says, starts with acknowledging harm.

“You can’t build trust until you understand why it was broken.

MAY 2025 THE VOICE | 5

News Feature ENGAGING: Lee Lawrence with young people through the Cherry Groce Foundation’s The Louder I Will Sing education programme (photo: Prophet Kwaku)

ACHIEVEMENT: Pupils from Lillian Baylis Technology School, the first to complete The Louder I Will Sing education programme, pictured with Lee Lawrence and their certificates at the Cherry Groce Memorial in Windrush Square, Brixton; below, how The Voice covered the shooting and the aftermath in 1985 (main photo: Prophet Kwaku) better dialogue between the police and the Black community, HoganHowe told him he had to “speak to ‘the powers that be.’

“But he was the commissioner.

He had the authority. When higherups refused accountability, he toed the line. That stayed with me.”

His question for current leadership is blunt.

“When you’re told to do something you know is wrong, what will you do? Stand up, or make excuses? Commissioners answer to the Mayor’s Office, not just the public. I need to know: who are you when it matters?”

consequences, they push limits.

That’s the Met – it enables bad behaviour because it doesn’t hold people accountable.”

Yet he distinguishes between the institution and the individuals within it.

“Just like siblings raised in the same home can turn out completely different, there are officers who genuinely want to do good. When you meet them, it’s surprising – in a good way.

“We should support those officers, not demonise them. Even Black officers face scepticism from our own community. If we call them ‘sell-outs,’ how can we expect them to change a system stacked against them?”

He points to a disconnect between the Black Police The Met’s culture: Association and the community.

“A household with no “If there’s no relationship, boundaries” Lawrence draws a stark analogy for how can collaboration be meaningful?” he says. “We need the Met’s institutional failings.

“It’s like a household with no real to bridge that gap – to challenge the system with empathy, not just boundaries” he says.

“When kids know there are no rage.”

The Met has to listen to people’s experiences, understand the damage caused, and create space for healing. Only then can you repair relationships and work towards real change.”

He likens it to childhood conflicts.

“When we’re kids and someone hurts us, we want three things: an apology, for them to understand how we feel, and a promise it won’t happen again,” he says.

“As adults, pride and ego get in the way – but the need is the same. The Met must be willing to go there: to listen, admit the past, and commit to doing better. Not with lip service, but with human connection.”

40 years,” he explains. “I want people to connect with that moment in history. To feel the fear, outrage, and unity.”

Funds raised will support The Louder I Will Sing, an education programme teaching young people about restorative justice, trauma, and Black British history. Already in 10 schools, the initiative helps children process their own struggles – something Lawrence never had.

A glimmer of hope: “In one assembly, a “Seeds of change” boy started crying,” he Amid the frustration, Lawrence recalls. “It turned out finds moments of progress. his mother had been taken by At Hendon College, after immigration control. No one knew speaking to 300 recruits, one officer he was turning up every day with surprised him. this trauma.”

“He said I’d visited his brother’s school, given his brother a book, The work ahead: “No more and that had inspired the officer damage limitation” who was speaking to me to join Lawrence also reserves sharp the police force. That’s the power of criticism for the Met’s culture of storytelling – it plants seeds.” risk aversion. When faced with Another breakthrough came pressing issues such as improving during mediation with Neil Basu, the relationship between the Black the former Assistant Commissioner community and the police, he of the Met. says “they don’t ask, ‘Is this right “I showed photos of my mum, or wrong?’ They ask, ‘How will our life before the raid,” Lawrence this look? Will it open floodgates?’ recalls.

When we first demanded “Neil got up, tears in his eyes, and said, ‘I’d hate for my mum to go through what yours did.’ That was the first time I saw a Met leader connect human to human. That’s where healing begins.”

A personal reckoning: “My son was stopped just like I was” Despite his advocacy, Lawrence’s experience with discriminatory policing hits close to home.

“Not long ago, my son had eye surgery. Police did a hard stop on him – said his car might have been linked to a suspect,” he recalls. “The way they handled, it wasn’t right.

Here I am, working to build trust, and still facing the same issues.”

He uses such moments to push for accountability.

“I bring it back to them. This is why trust isn’t there. You need people at the table who live these Walking for Justice: The 4K experiences – not just faith leaders Commemoration disconnected from the streets.”

Last month, Lawrence led a 4km walk through Brixton, retracing the “Will you stand up or toe path protesters took in 1985 – from the line?” his childhood home on Normandy Lawrence’s scepticism of Met Road to Windrush Square. leadership runs deep.

He The event, organised by the recalls a meeting with former Cherry Groce Foundation, was Commissioner Bernard Hogan- both a memorial and a call to Howe. When he proposed some action. ideas he felt could help create “We chose 4K, not 5K, to mark

“As adults, pride

and ego get in the way – but the need is the same.

The Met must be willing to listen and commit to doing better”

- Lee Lawrence

accountability, they refused – not because it wasn’t justified, but because they feared precedent.”

Yet he challenges them to see the bigger picture.

“I was a thorn in their side. But if they’d leaned into restorative justice sooner, they’d have seen the power in someone like me – a victim of their worst failings – working with them. That’s growth. That’s transformation.”

A legacy of love, not just pain Forty years on, Lawrence’s fight is not just about the past—it’s about shaping a future where justice is not a battle but a given.

“I campaign for my mum. For my community. For every Black child carrying invisible pain,” he says. “Let’s make sure the past isn’t forgotten – and the future is different.”

As Brixton remembers Cherry Groce, her son’s journey stands as a testament to resilience, reminding us that even the deepest wounds can fuel the fiercest hope. l The Cherry Groce Foundation continues its work in education and restorative justice. To support or learn more, please visit https:// www.cherrygroce.org/

6 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

News

BBC’S DJ APOLOGY SHOWS ‘BLACK WOMEN DISREGARDED’

UNIMPRESSED: Ngozi Fulani, founder of Sistah Space, says the BBC failed to address the racial dynamics at the heart of the Tim Westwood abuse allegations

BBC blasted for response over sexual abuse allegations against Tim Westwood. By Sinai Fleary

A

LEADING BLACK domestic violence charity boss has criticised the BBC’s apology following the publication of a review into what the corporation knew about alleged sexual abuse by former Radio One DJ Tim Westwood.

Westwood, 67, pictured inset below, has been accused of serious sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour by multiple Black women, many of whom say they were in their late teens or early 20s at the time, in a joint investigation by The Guardian and the BBC. One woman alleges she was just 14 when she first had sex with Westwood.

Westwood has strenuously denied the allegations and any wrongdoing.

An independent inquiry led by Gemma White KC concluded there was “no widespread or significant BBC knowledge” of concerns about Westwood’s behaviour.

However, it did find evidence of “bullying and misogynistic behaviour,” prompting the BBC board to admit it “fell short and failed people.”

Ngozi Fulani, founder of Sistah Space, an award-winning domestic abuse charity that supports African and Caribbean women, said the apology fell woefully short.

Speaking to The Voice, she said: “The apology is not worth the paper it wasn’t written on.

“I looked at the BBC apology and saw what was there, but also what was missing — there’s no mention of the demographics, which is

key. Race is absolutely a key factor.”

She continued: “I didn’t see an apology. I saw excuses. A poor excuse for an apology.”

The BBC says that “assessing any alleged criminality” is a matter for the police, who are still investigating the claims.

In its statement, the BBC board said: “The Board also wants to take this opportunity to apologise on behalf of the entire BBC to anyone impacted by what the review found. Your voice has been heard.”

Fulani remains unconvinced. She believes the apology lacks sincerity and that it “should not be accepted by the Black British community.”

The board admitted that allegations had been “treated in isolation” and that the BBC had “missed opportunities that might have led to action.”

Fulani also questioned the board’s cultural competence.

“Trauma is a legacy we’ve had for over 500 years,” she said.

“If you don’t understand that, you’re not qualified to respond to this.”

Many Black women working in the UK music industry say they face sexual harassment, abuse, and a lack of institutional support.

Charisse Beaumont, CEO of Black Lives in Music (BLiM), highlighted the issue while giving evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee earlier this year.

She shared disturbing examples from BLiM’s research, including harassment by male artists and promoters, women pressured into

they are often overlooked or failed by the system. In 2021, a National World investigation revealed that Black victims of rape and sexual assault were 1.5 times less likely than White victims to see police press charges against their alleged abuser.

Fulani said the disparity sends a bleak message. “Even if they report abuse, Black victims may not see their abuser charged.”

And the obstacles to reporting are many. “To report abuse is difficult on many levels,” Fulani explained. “High on the scale is ‘people won’t believe me.’”

She also condemned the culture of victim-blaming, particularly online. “Blaming the victim is another form of victimisation.”

drugs and alcohol before being assaulted, and young female vocalists groomed by male producers.

According to BLiM’s report, 71 per cent of respondents believe bullying and harassment are widely accepted in the music industry.

Non-disclosure agreements are commonly used to silence victims, with many saying that harassment

— particularly of Black women — is from women of being harassed, including sexually assaulted by male normalised.

These harmful norms go unchal- artists as well as promoters, people lenged, reinforcing dangerous stere- assaulting women in music educaotypes. Black women are frequently tion, participating in almost naportrayed as hypersexual or as ked casting videos, young women “strong” figures, which contributes pressured to drink and take drugs, to the damaging myth that they who are then assaulted, and male producers grooming young female cannot be victims.

“We have hundreds of stories vocalists,” Beaumont said. In reality,

MESSAGE Fulani criticised some media outlets for omitting the racial aspect of the story, saying it sends a message that “Black women are not viewed as victims.”

“We need to look at the disregard shown towards Black women when they are affected by abuse,” she said.

“It’s holistic — from the police, the courts, organisations, even within our own communities.”

“I’m tired of the marginalisation of Black women and girls.”

Despite the seriousness of the allegations, Westwood has continued to secure international bookings, including DJing at parties and clubs in Nigeria.

The BBC commissioned the inquiry in 2022, at a cost of £3.3 million. Over 120 individuals contributed, and thousands of internal documents were reviewed.

Last year, a file of evidence was passed to prosecutors.

The Crown Prosecution Service will now decide whether Westwood will face charges.

WINDRUSH TEA PARTY IN JEOPARDY ONE OF Leicester’s cherished community events, the Windrush Tea Party, is at risk of being cancelled this year due to a shortfall in funding.

Organisers at Opal22 are urgently appealing to the public, local businesses, and community groups for donations to help keep the celebration alive.

Held annually, the event brings together Caribbean elders for a vibrant Caribbean-style high tea, complete with live music, performances and con-

versation. It celebrates the Windrush generation’s legacy, while also engaging younger generations with their history and culture.

“This event has become a real point of connection for the community,” said Tara Munroe, Creative Director at Opal22 who organise it.

“We didn’t get the funding we were counting on this year, but we’re determined not to let that be the end of it. We just need some help.”

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to cover essential costs, including catering, entertainment, transport and accessibility provisions.

“It’s one of those events where people leave feeling uplifted and connected,” she said. “We just need a bit of help getting over the line.”

To learn more about Opal22 or make a donation please visit www.opal22.co.uk

LEGACY: Elders of the Windrush generation share memories at a previous Windrush Tea Party in Leicester

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8 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

News

NO MORE LYES, PLEASE

MP Dawn Butler urges beauty firms to pull ‘toxic’ hair products aimed at Black women. By Sinai Fleary

A

TOP Labour MP is calling for dangerous chemicals that are included in some Black hair products to be removed.

Brent Central MP Dawn Butler believes Black hair products should be safe and free-from toxic ingredients.

However, growing research in the UK and United States is linking some hair products – traditionally used by Black women – to increased risk of cancers, fibroids and reproductive issues.

Hair relaxers contain lye, also known as sodium hydroxide, which is a heavy-duty chemical used to unblock drains.

Speaking to The Voice, the MP for Brent East says she believes there might scope for legal action against companies who list products as not containing lye but still include the chemical in their goods.

“We need to educate people, the fact that even products that say, ‘no lye’ still contains lye, I feel that there is a legal case, and I would welcome a class action case. For too long products made for African Caribbean people seem to have less protection and cause more harm,” Ms Butler said.

She added: “As more women speak out about their fibroids journey there seems to be causal links. In order to get to the truth, it seems like the only route is through class action.”

In 2021, Oxford University published research in the Carcinogensis Journal which found that Black women who used lye-based relaxers at least seven times a year for over 15 years or more had around a 30 per cent increased risk of developing breast cancer.

In 2023, Ms Butler signed an open letter from Level Up, a Black-run feminist group, to the French beauty giant L’Oréal.

The letter was urging the world’s largest cosmetics company to be transparent about the harmful ingredients in their products despite labelling claiming there is no lye in them and to invest in research about the health risks.

The MP believes more education is needed about the links between some hair products and the serious health risks of using them over a prolonged period of time.

She said: “Some people may

have suspected that relaxers were not good for you, because it can burn your scalp and that’s never a good sign for any product.

“Education and information is key, knowing that lye means that you are 30 per cent more likely to get cancer means that the end user can make an informed choice.

“This scandal affects a particular group of women and worryingly there is a growing children range. This should worry us all.”

She asked: “If the manufacturers know better then why are they not doing better? So, if they know a product is 30 per cent more likely to cause cancer is it ethical or right to still sell that product? At the very least, like smoking there should be a warning on the box.

The respected and longrunning MP told The Voice she decided to go natural after watching the powerful biopic Malcolm X film, starring Oscarwinning actor Denzel Washington, in the early 1990s.

She said: “I remember watching Malcolm X and there was a scene in the film where he was putting stuff on his hair, and it started to burn, so he frantically went to the toilet and started splashing water on his head.

Reflecting on the film’s compelling scene, she said: “It was a funny scene that lived with me forever, the mockery of it and the fact we would punish ourselves that way. Why would we do something that is harming us so bad?

So that was it for me.”

UNDER SCRUTINY: Many products used to straighten Afro hair have been linked to serious health risks (photo: Getty Images) From then on, Ms Butler, who now has beautiful long locks, decided she was not going to relax her hair anymore and went natural.

“I was natural probably for about twenty years before I loced up,” she revealed.

She continued: “My mum wouldn’t allow me to loc my hair, but she allowed me to relax it. That,

‘SCANDAL’: Brent Central MP Dawn Butler is leading calls to remove harmful chemicals from Black hair products to protect women’s health

to me, shows how conditioned we are. I must have been maybe 19 when I first relaxed my hair, and I stopped relaxing my hair by the time I was 23 years old.”

Better labelling Popular hair products such as chemical relaxers – which straighten Afro-textured hair – are known to also contain endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs have been linked to an increased risk of uterine cancers, fibroids, reproductive health issues and early menstruation in research in both the US and the UK. Ms Butler is a firm believer that hair products should not cause health problems and if items do contain dangerous ingredients, then buyers and consumers must be made aware of the risk.

She said: “I think hair products should not be deliberately harmful. If there is harm, then people should be properly informed.”

Ms Butler says she is keen to look more into the legislation surrounding the labelling and warnings placed on hair products. In March 2022, the MP

“This scandal affects a particular group of women and worryingly there is a growing children range.

This should worry us all revealed on Twitter she had been diagnosed with breast cancer after going for a routine check-up.

The Brent MP said doctors discovered cancerous cells during a mammogram in November 2021.

She took time off to recover after having an operation, which she said was “a success.”

When asked by The Voice if she ever thought hair relaxers could be linked to her cancer diagnosis, Ms Butler replied: “No – that wasn’t my first thought. I only had my hair relaxed for a very short period of time, just a few

years before I went natural and I didn’t think there was a link to cancer, but I suppose nobody really knows.”

Moving forward, she is committed to raising awareness about the risks in certain hair products, urging Black women to protect their health. She added: “Knowledge is power, so it’s important to be informed.

“It’s amazing to see a growing natural hair movement and awareness of discrimination in hair styles, there are protective styles. However, we must also be mindful that everyone is entitled to wear their hair however they want.

“But I say again knowledge is power and if you are at risk, then you should minimise that risk because one in two people now get cancer. It’s a club no one wants to join. If fighting for safe hair products can help to mitigate the risk of cancer and fibroids, then let’s fight.” l This story is part of an ongoing awareness campaign about the dangers of certain hair products.

See www.voice-online.co.uk and future editions of The Voice for more

MAY 2025

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10 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

News Feature

‘WE JUST DISAPPEAR FROM A SYSTEM THAT IS FAILING US’

New report exposes the struggles of thousands of Black and Asian kinship carers who are made to feel ‘invisible’. By Vic Motune

I

“

F I WAS White, I feel I would be listened to more.

When I ask for the same support that White kinship carers receive, I don’t get it. It happens regularly – and it’s our children who suffer without the right support.”

These are the searing words of Orphelia, a 58-year-old grandmother from London who has spent years navigating a system she says was never designed with her in mind.

She is one of thousands of Black and Asian kinship carers across the country – relatives or close family friends who step in to raise children when their parents are no longer able to do so.

Her words echo the experiences of other carers who say they feel judged, overlooked, and unsupported by a system that often fails to understand their needs. Many describe their experience as one of cultural erasure – where their sacrifices are invisible and their struggles ignored.

Despite the crucial role they play, many are battling alone. They face a complex tangle of systemic neglect, racial bias, and cultural misunderstandings.

Now, a new report by the national charity Kinship, published in partnership with the University of Oxford’s Rees Centre, is finally exposing their struggles.

The report, Raised by Relatives: The experiences of Black and Asian kinship carers, lays bare how ethnicity significantly shapes access to support for kinship families.

CHALLENGES: A new report has found that Black and Asian kinship families face added challenges in getting the support they need

The report reveals the additional, often hidden barriers faced by carers from minority ethnic backgrounds when they step in to raise a child who can no longer live with their parents.

The research, which involved 37 participants from Black, Asian, and mixed heritage backgrounds, reveals that while all kinship carers face hurdles – such as a lack of financial support – those from minority ethnic communities deal with an additional layer of challenges.

Systemic racism, cultural stigma, and professional ignorance about diverse family dynamics are just some of the issues laid out in the study. Many carers said when they asked for help, none was offered. They were left feeling invisible in a system that relies heavily on stereotypes and outdated assumptions.

COMMUNITY “There is a deep-rooted assumption that Africans, Caribbeans and Asians take care of each other.

That works back home – but not in England where we work 9 to 5,” said one Black African grandmother interviewed anonymously, “It’s assumed that because you’re from a particular community, you have family support. That’s not always the case.”

The numbers are striking.

Around one in five of the 120,000 children currently in kinship care in England are raised by carers from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Yet research into their specific experiences has been sorely lacking.

STRUGGLE: Kinship care is the invisible backbone of children’s social care — but many carers face a lack of help (photos: Getty Images) “Kinship care is prevalent in Black and Asian communities, but this is the first time many of these carers have had the chance to speak directly to their experiences,” said Dr Beverley Barnett-Jones MBE, a trustee of Kinship and Associate Director at the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.

For Orphelia, the emotional cost of this lack of support is high.

It took years before her teenage grandson was assigned an African Caribbean social worker – someone who finally understood his cultural background and could connect with him. Until then, every professional involved in his care had been White, and her grandson simply wouldn’t engage.

Another carer, Clive, 39, from Derbyshire, took in his White niece when she was just six weeks old.

Being of mixed race, Clive hadn’t anticipated the identity struggles his niece would face as she got older.

“She’s beginning to ask questions – why is her skin white and mine brown? I wasn’t prepared for that” he reveals. “Nobody told me we’d face these issues around belonging and identity.”

These examples are not isolated.

Across the board, the report paints a picture of carers stretched to the brink – emotionally, financially, and psychologically.

Many feel judged, overlooked,

or outright ignored by children’s services. One Black Caribbean aunt explained that she refused to move into a council estate or tower block because she feared her kinship child would become “just another statistic.”

Another carer expressed frustration at never having encountered a Black social worker. “They’re always White and female. They come, tell us we have a nice house, and leave after nine months.”

Among the key challenges outlined in the report were: n Cultural stigma and the expectation that extended families would automatically step in, often leading to a lack of professional support. n Systemic racism that left carers feeling unfairly scrutinised or deprioritised. n Limited access to tailored a public awareness campaign services, including peer support aimed specifically at Black and groups that reflect the realities of Asian kinship carers, better fiBlack and Asian carers. n Housing concerns that added nancial, practical, and emotional support, and an urgent need to to emotional stress, especially when raising vulnerable children in improve cultural competence and professional curiosity among unsafe areas. n Cultural expectations around frontline staff.

Dr Priya Tah and Professor Julie respect, family hierarchy, and privacy, which complicated conversa- Selwyn, who led the research at Oxford, said the study was a longtions with professionals. overdue attempt to “shed light on In response to these findings, these added complexities” and Kinship and the Rees Centre are offer recommendations to ensure calling for systemic changes.

Their recommendations include that kinship families – especially

“There is a deep-rooted assumption that Africans, Caribbeans and Asians take care of each other.

That works back home — but not in England where we work 9 to 5”

those from minority communities – can raise children who are “safe, loved, and thriving.”

Lucy Peake, Chief Executive of Kinship, said the findings showed the sector had “major gaps in knowledge and practice” and that professionals too often failed to understand the lived realities of the carers they were meant to support.

“It’s vital that we listen to and learn from Black and Asian kinship carers,” Peake said. “They are being let down by systems that weren’t built with them in mind.”

ACTION The charity is planning a series of events aimed at bringing together carers and professionals to develop a practical action plan based on the report’s findings. It will also outline Kinship’s commitments to improve outcomes for these families.

For now, carers like Orphelia and Clive continue to do their best – often in silence – to provide the love and stability their children need. But they shouldn’t have to do it alone.

“This work must be the beginning of systemic change,” says Dr Barnett-Jones. “These families have stepped up when no one else could. Now it’s time for the system to step up for them.”

MAY 2025

THE VOICE | 11 Alliance f

care of 2nd Floor, 200a Pen

PUBLIC NOTICE Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) care of Action for Race Equality (ARE) 2nd Floor, 200a Pentonville Road, London N1 9JP

We call on:

Alliance1. for Police Accountability (APA) The Home Office and the Mayor of London too public care of Action forhas Race Equality (ARE) or delivered. year review not been commissioned 2. The appointment an independent, 2nd Floor, 200a Pentonville Road,ofLondon N1 9JPcredible figure to

review with full powers and transparency.

3. A clear, time-bound roadmap to deliver the outstanding recommended by Baroness Casey.

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Wednesday, 23rd of April, 2025)

We make this call during a national conference commemoratin Stephen Lawrence—a young man whose racist murder and that followed changed the country forever.

Stephen Lawrence Day Conference: National Black Organisations Condemn Government’s Failure to Deliver on Casey Review

Thirty-one years on, the promises made to Stephen’s generati

As we gather for the annual National Black Police Association Stephen Lawrence Day Conference on 24 April 2025 under the banner “From Division to Unity: Overcoming the Impact of Far Right Violence and Hate”, we the undersigned Blackled and allied organisations issue this joint statement in defence of justice, accountability, and meaningful reform.

We will not allow history to repeat itself through political inactio

London not to reappoint Baroness Louise Casey to complete her crucial two-year review of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). Her original 2023 report— commissioned in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard—rightly concluded that the Met is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

Action for Race Equality

PRESS RELEASE

Signed,

rd of April, Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Wednesday, 23 2025) We are deeply dismayed by the decision of the Home Office and the Mayor of

Stephen Lawrence Day Conference: National Black Black Organisations Condemn Equity Organisation (BEO) Government’s Failure to Deliver on Casey Review Operation Black Vote (OBV)

That review commanded broad trust across London’s Black, LGBTQ+ and women’s communities, and its unfinished work remains a vital tool for public accountability.

National Black Police Association (NBPA)

As we gather for the annual National Black Police Association Stephen Lawrence Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC UK) Two yearsConference on, there has been on no update, transparency, or clarity on progress.

Day 24 April 2025 under the bannerBlack “From Division to Unity: Londoners have been kept in the dark. Neither the Home Secretary, the Mayor of Blaksox Overcoming the Impact of Far Police Right London, nor the Commissioner of the Metropolitan hasViolence spoken to the and public Hate”, we the undersigned BlackBlack Men 4 Change about what has—or has not—been done to address the deep-rooted systemic failures led and allied organisations issue this joint statement in defence of justice, identified by Casey.

Voyage Youth accountability, and meaningful reform.

This silence speaks volumes.

Merseyside Alliance for Racial Equality

We are deeply dismayed by the decision of the Home Black Office the Cuts Mayor Activistsand Rising Against (BARAC of UK) care of Actio 2nd Floor, 200a Pentonv London not to reappoint Baroness Louise Casey to complete herQPM crucial two-year Charles Crichlow (Senior Lecturer, UEL) Baroness Casey’s so strongly because it was fearless, independent, review of work theresonated Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). Her original 2023 report— and uncompromising. To abandon that work now, without public explanation, is to commissioned theinterested wakein of the signal that the government in is more optics thanmurder outcomes. of Sarah Everard—rightly concluded that the Met is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.Dr. Nadia Habashi (Senior Lecturer, UEL) It reflects a worrying political reluctance to confront institutional racism within British Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) policing. It betrays the trust of London’s communities. And it Action risks for compounding an care of Race Equality (ARE) already critical lack of public trust between the Met and 200a the people it serves.

2nd Floor, Pentonville Road, London N1 9JP

We call on:

Alliance for Po

Nusrit Nehtab (Senior Lecturer, UEL)

1. The Home Office and the Mayor of broad London too publicly explain why the twoThat review commanded trust across London’s Black, LGBTQ+ and women’s year review has not been commissioned or delivered.

For further information, please contact: 2. The appointment ofand an independent, credible figure to lead the follow-upa vital tool for public accountability. communities, its unfinished work remains review with full powers and transparency.

3. A clear, time-bound roadmap to deliver the outstanding reform work recommended by Baroness Casey.

Lee Jasper Chair, Alliance for Police Accountability (APA) lee-jasper@live.com 07984 181797

Two years on, there has been no update, transparency, or clarity on progress.

Londoners have been kept commemorating in the dark.

Neither the Home Secretary, the Mayor of We make this call during a national conference the life and legacy of Stephen Lawrence—a young man whose racist murder and the institutional failings London, nor the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has spoken to the public that followed changed the country forever. about what has—or has not—been done to address the deep-rooted systemic failures Thirty-one years on, the promises made to Stephen’s generation remain unfulfilled. identified by Casey.

We will not allow history to repeat itself through political inaction.

This silence speaks volumes.

Signed,

12 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

News Feature

‘ADOLESCENCE WAS ABOUT THE EMPATHY I’LL NEVER GET’ I

Netflix drama hit hard at Manhood Academy Global, writes Davis J Williams

WATCHED Adolescence the other day. It’s beautifully made. Intimate. Brave.

I watched all four episodes back to back. It cracked open the interior lives of young boys – pulling back the curtain on how they think, how they feel, and how the online world is shaping their understanding of manhood in real time.

It wasn’t just a film, it was a warning, a cry for help.

While many have praised Adolescence for its honesty and emotional depth, at Manhood Academy Global (MAG), the conversations it sparked revealed something deeper. Something not easy to tweet or package into a workshop.

Across both my personal and professional circles, this film hit hard. There were tears. Silence.

People felt exposed. Some were triggered. The sadness was heavy, and after watching it, I understood why.

But here’s the thing...we can’t just cry and move on. We can’t feel something and return to business as usual because Adolescence doesn’t just highlight pain, it demands accountability.

In one of our MAG sessions, I asked the young boys (Year 9 students): “So, who watched Adolescence, that Netflix film everyone’s talking about. Do you know what it is about?”

One of them, just 14, looked up and said something I’ll never forget: “It was about the empathy I’ll never get.”

His peers all agreed, some White as well. He wasn’t joking.

He wasn’t looking for pity. He was speaking a truth too many of our boys know.

He explained that while the White boy in the film was met with compassion and concern, his own reality as a young Black boy is different. Even the White Year 9 student felt it was odd!

“When a Black boy gets stabbed and the footage goes viral, my school didn’t hold an assembly,” he said. “No one checked in. There was no empathy. Just silence.”

This is the grief that doesn’t get documentaries.

Their pain doesn’t trend. Their trauma doesn’t get debriefed.

But their violence? That goes viral.

BLAME The boys all agreed: if the main character had been Black, the reaction would’ve been different. No love. No empathy. Just blame.

The film also touched on something we’ve seen for years: boys being groomed online into incel culture, red pill ideology and misogynistic spaces.

It starts with a void, a lack of conversation at home, no community connection. Then comes a video, an emoji, a message.

Red Pill – “Wake up” to the ‘truth’ about women.

Kidney Bean – Mocking girls.

100 – The false 80/20 rule used to shame girls.

The symbols are plenty, and will evolve over time, but the problem remains: If boys don’t find manhood and identity and care in their community, they will find a distorted version of it online.

VISIT:The former Guyana High Commissioner to the UK Hamley Case (centre) during a 2019 visit to Manhood Academy Global

PAIN: The Netflix drama Adolescence explores how boys are groomed online into incel culture and red pill ideology. But, says Davis J Williams, if boys don’t find manhood and identity and care in their community, they will find a distorted version of it online village, they’ll be recruited by the be initiated by the algorithm.

Suicide is now the leading cause of algorithm.

That boy who said “the empathy death among boys aged 15–19 in the UK, according to a 2023 Office I’ll never get” had nowhere to go for National Statistics report. with his emotions.

The silence is killing them. The No trusted adult, no consistent statistics confirm it. safe space, no place to say, “I’m Rites of passage offer strucscared.” No language to say, “I feel ture, accountability, belonging, alone.” And no sense that it was community. They answer a quiet even safe to disclose.

So the pressure builds. The pain but constant question – who am piles up. And then boom. The inci- I becoming? And who’s walking dent, the breakdown, the samurai with me? sword, the meltdown.

PRESENCE And suddenly everyone pays At MAG, we’ve held that space attention… but it’s too late.

At MAG, we’ve seen this pattern for hundreds of boys across Lonfar too often. This is why emotional don – some travelling hours just to safety isn’t a luxury – it’s a lifeline. sit in a circle at our North London This is why belonging isn’t optional base. Sometimes we sit for hours.

And the internet is ready, – it’s foundational. And this is why No pressure, no judgement. Just presence and their truth. offering validation, rage, and rites of passage are essential, not Recently, I read that schools rejection disguised as belonging. as a throwback, but as a real-time are planning a mass rollout of The internet is recruiting! Because intervention because if we don’t Adolescence. But how do you if boys aren’t nurtured by the initiate our boys with care, they’ll show a film about emotional honesty in spaces where boys have never been allowed to be honest?

You can’t talk about healing without doing the work of trust.

You can’t build emotional literacy in systems built on silence and punishment.

So before any HOPE: Some boys travel hours across London to school rolls out attend Manhood Academy Global events Adolescence, ask:

“You can’t talk about healing without doing the work of trust. You can’t build emotional literacy in systems built on silence and punishment”

1. Have we earned their trust?

2. Have we built emotional safety?

3. Have we made room for truth, not just behaviour management?

If not, the film becomes another moment that could have been more.

This moment calls for more than reaction – it calls for recommitment.

• Slow down the rollout.

• Call in trusted space-holders.

• Support rites of passage.

• Strengthen the village.

• The school, the home, the youth space, the streets, this can’t be left to chance.

Adolescence is a masterpiece.

But it’s not the answer. We are.

That boy’s words still echo: “It was about the empathy I’ll never get.”

Let’s prove him wrong. Let’s stop reacting to explosions and start preventing them. Let’s stop letting algorithms raise our sons.

Let’s bring them home to a village that sees them, hears them, and holds them because yes, it does take a village to raise a child, But if we don’t include the child in the village, If we don’t welcome him in with care, consistency, and love, he will burn it down just to feel the warmth.

MAG has been holding that flame for years.

Now the question is – will you? l Davis J Williams is the Founder of Manhood Academy Global

MAY 2025 THE VOICE | 13

YOUTH PAYING THE PRICE IN CULTURE WAR

UK youth futures at risk as US-led DEI rollback spreads, warns Urban Synergy charity. By Vic Motune

A

LEADING UK social mobility charity has warned that the growing backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the United States is now quietly undermining the futures of young people in Britain – particularly those from disadvantaged and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Leila Thomas (inset below), CEO and founder of Urban Synergy, says a “dangerous unravelling” of DEI progress is underway in the UK, influenced by anti-DEI rhetoric and policies that gained momentum in the US under Donald Trump.

“The anti-DEI movement may have started in the US, but the damage is now being felt in UK schools, universities, and w o r k p l a c e s ,” Thomas said.

“We cannot allow the futures of thousands of talented young people to be collateral damage in a political culture war.”

The rollback of DEI policies in the US has intensified since Trump’s return to the political spotlight and the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to strike down affirmative action in university admissions.

Corporations and institutions across several US states have since scaled back or cancelled DEI initiatives under pressure from right-wing lawmakers and media.

Now, Thomas and other campaigners say UK-based companies – particularly those with American headquarters – are quietly doing the same.

“Abstract US presidential policies, detached from realworld problems, are harming futures in the UK and far beyond,” said Thomas.

Urban Synergy, which has supported over 35,000 young people since its founding in 2007, works primarily with

students from schools with high rates of free school meals and exclusions.

The charity says DEI initiatives have played a vital role in giving young people from underrepresented backgrounds access to mentoring, career insight events and real-world work experiences.

But with the UK often mirroring American corporate and cultural trends, Thomas fears the rollback of DEI across the Atlantic is triggering a slow, quiet abandonment of diversity goals here too. “This is not just about corporate box-ticking or so-called ‘woke’ culture,” she said. “This is about real lives and real futures.”

Experts warn the consequences are already being felt across three critical areas: shrinking opportunities and representation , a deteriorating sense of belonging in schools and workplaces, and a workforce less prepared for the demands of a global economy. “Companies quietly reducing, pausing or cancelling DEI policies impacts more than boardroom statistics – it reduces internship schemes, mentoring programmes, and fair access to recruitment pipelines,” Thomas added. “The opportunity gap for underrepresented students is widening, with fewer pathways into professional careers.”

Thomas also warned that backpedalling on DEI commitments could derail the goals of initiatives like the EY Parker Review, which aims to improve ethnic minority representation in British boardrooms. “When corporates quietly shelve DEI initiatives, it signals that diversity is optional and that inclusion is no longer a priority,” she said. “This not only harms today’s workplace culture – it sends a message to the next generation that they don’t belong.”

News KEY ROLE: Campaigners say diversity initiatives are vital to help young people from all backgrounds thrive (photo: Getty Images)

14 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Special Feature

ADVERTORIAL

‘Follow your dreams’: meet the West End actresses raising awareness for World IBD day By : Nina Devries of Crohn’s & Colitis UK

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t’s the dream of many performers to work in London’s West End. And achieving that goal can be very challenging and competitive.

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Photo credit: Nina Devries

Photo credit: Nina Devries

(left pic) Sarah and Morgan outside Aldwych theatre (below pic) Getting ready for a performance

MAY 2025

Special Feature

ADVERTORIAL surgery. The symptoms, including diarrhoea, blood in your poo, weight loss and fatigue, are painful and debilitating.

Sarah has lived with Colitis for seven years. She says when she started having symptoms she thought it was just an upset stomach and would resolve itself.

But she ended up losing about 15 kilos and was going to the toilet sometimes up to 20 times a day. At the time, she was trying to go to auditions and working night shifts at Sainsbury’s to make ends meet.

THE VOICE | 15

“She’s the best mum there is. She never thought my dreams were too much, she’s always known I was going to get there”

It was only after she caught a virus that she ended up being checked out . And doctors then discovered she also had Colitis.

She started treatment and continued her career as a performer taking a gig in Cyprus and other jobs after that. But she often worried about how Colitis would affect her work as a performer. Her medication helps and she has to manage her social life carefully, sometimes opting to stay home if she is too tired.

But she hasn’t let Colitis stop her from reaching her dream of performing in the West End. And she says her mother has always been there for her.

“She’s the best mum there is.

She never thought my dreams were too much, she’s always known I was going to get there.

She’s my biggest supporter and, considering the background I grew up in, it’s not easy to sup-

port a career in musical theatre.

She never once doubted me,” says Sarah, who grew up in Hertfordshire.

Her co-star Morgan has faced similar challenges living with Crohn’s and says work can be difficult sometimes as the condition can make her very tired. She admits she often pushes herself to keep going as long as she can.

“I remember doing a show and I was in so much pain. I was taking so many painkillers to try and get through it. Looking back, I should’ve just stopped. I don’t know what I was trying to prove.

And the resident choreographer was watching and told me I should go home and rest. So I did.”

Before Morgan was diagnosed with Crohn’s, she was also losing weight and going to the toilet 15-20 times a day.

“At one point, every time I

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

MEDICATION

Morgan and Sarah performing in the show. Sarah is on the far right and Morgan is second from the left

would use the toilet, it would leave me in so much pain I would no longer be able to move,” explains Morgan.

When she was diagnosed, doctors also found fissures (small tears) in her anal canal.

They had to be surgically removed twice and she needed to take time off work to recover.

“There were times when I thought I would never get better. I didn’t think it would end, especially when I had to have a second surgery, I got very negative and thought I wouldn’t be able to have a normal job,” she continues.

Sarah in hospital

Morgan in hospital

HELPED She says her family helped her get through it, especially her brother who has additional needs.

“I’ve watched him going through so much and he just bounces back and gets on with it. And I think if he can do it, I will be fine. He was a big inspiration,” she says.

And inspiration is something Sarah and Morgan both take from performing in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical night after night. They have huge admiration for the legendary singer and

“I felt lonely and felt like no one was experiencing what I was.

And I just didn’t think it would get better, but it will get better” each other.

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical is the longest-running show to play at the Aldwych Theatre.

And Morgan started out working in one of the theatre’s bars before getting her big break.

She says it took a few tries before she was accepted, but she is now in the ensemble, playing an Ikette as well as the understudy for the role of Zelma Bullock,

Tina’s mother.

“I’ve always loved Tina Turner.

I feel she’s like a grandma to me, I feel like I know her personally. When she died, I felt like my friend had died, she’s a big inspiration and an incredible woman,” she says.

Sarah recalls watching the musical in 2022 and thinking she just had to be in it too. She is also in the ensemble and plays the role of Lorraine.

“It’s not just a musical on resilience and talent, it’s the fact that I really resonated with it because it’s about a poor Black woman, who had such a hard life and who came out in the end the strongest, most talented most powerful woman who never took no for an answer. So seeing that as a young, recently diagnosed with IBD, Black woman in British theatre, seeing that on the West End stage, I just thought ‘wow’.”

All told, it takes courage to live with Crohn’s or Colitis, and because they are invisible conditions, they are often misunderstood. One thing that is very clear is that Sarah and Morgan certainly have courage.

They were not afraid to face their challenges to achieve what they wanted.

How fitting then that May 19th is World IBD Day, and the

charity Crohn’s & Colitis UK has chosen “Courage” as the theme for 2025. It’s a chance to raise awareness of Crohn’s and Colitis and the impact the conditions have on people’s lives.

Both Morgan and Sarah encourage others living with IBD to follow their dreams, whatever they are. And they want people to know they’re not alone.

“I felt lonely and felt like no one is experiencing what I was.

And I just didn’t think it would get better, but it will get better.

It will be hard, but this disease won’t stop you from doing what you want,” Morgan insists.

“It is possible and to think there’s anyone out there that has Crohn’s or Colitis or any other invisible illness or chronic condition, your dream is not a wasted dream, keep at it because you never know how close you are,” says Sarah.

You can use this QR code to learn more about Crohn’s and Colitis

16 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Dr Julie Hammond Health Matters

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

BREAKING THE SILENCE... BABY LOSS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY AWARENESS: In our community, baby loss is taboo.

Without space to grieve, pain lingers silently, affecting our health, emotions, and relationships in unseen, lasting ways, says Dr Julie Hammond; inset left, Alicia Burnett, founder of Black Baby Loss Awareness Week (BBLAW)

You don’t have to be alone when it comes to dealing with your grief – there is the help and support out there

I

N 2021, I gave birth to my son Aiden.

He was born sleeping. As a GP, I thought I understood grief. I have comforted patients after receiving devastating news, held their hands, and offered leaflets, referrals, and kind words.

However, nothing could have prepared me for the silence and loneliness that followed Aiden’s passing.

In our communities, conversations about baby loss remain a taboo subject, not because we do not feel such loss deeply, but because culturally, the language and space to grieve openly are hard to come by.

There is an unspoken expectation to carry on, to sweep the pain aside, and not dwell on the past. But unacknowledged grief does not quietly disappear. It lingers, affecting our body, mind and even our relationships in ways we may not even realise.

What struck me most in the weeks, months, and even years after Aiden’s passing, was how many people privately began to share their own stories of loss, sometimes for the first time.

Often, it is only when you go through something like this that others feel they have permission to speak. But it should not be this way. Our stories should not be hidden, and we should not be ashamed to speak our truth.

HONOUR Recently, I had the honour of speaking with Alicia Burnett, a midwife, mother, and founder of Black Baby Loss Awareness Week (BBLAW).

Burnett’s son, Micaiah-Jelani, passed away at six months old in neonatal intensive care. Her heartbreak and the lack of culturally relevant support as her family grieved inspired her to take action.

When speaking on the support available for Black mothers following pregnancy or baby loss, Burnett shared: “We’re more likely to experience baby loss, but we’re not accessing the charities and support services that exist because

we don’t know about them, or they’re not made for us. That’s why I have made it my mission to make them accessible and visible for our community.”

She is right. There are national initiatives around baby loss, but how many in our community even know about them?

As a GP, I was not aware of Baby Loss Awareness Week until my loss. Burnett, despite being a trained midwife, only discovered the increased risk of baby loss for Black women after she began working with Tommy’s — five years after Micaiah-Jelani’s passing.

BBLAW is not just about awareness. It is about equity. Black women in the UK are more likely to experience miscarriage and stillbirth.

According to Tommy’s, we are at higher risk of baby loss for multiple complex reasons, including institutional bias, systemic inequality, and a lack of culturally competent care.

The Sands and Tommy’s Joint Policy Unit Saving Babies’ Lives report shows

that progress in reducing stillbirth and neonatal death rates is stagnating.

Extreme prematurity, another key factor in baby loss, also disproportionately affects Black families.

Yet the question still comes: why do we need a space like BBLAW? Burnett hears this often: “We already have Baby Loss Awareness Week, why do we need one just for Black people?”

POWERFUL Her answer is simple and powerful: “Because we need to be heard and seen. And we’re not being heard or seen elsewhere.”

Black Baby Loss Awareness Week exists to fill that gap. It is a space that honours our grief, amplifies our stories, and builds a future where the loss of a baby is not pushed to the margins but held with care.

Burnett’s vision deeply resonates with me. Black Baby Loss Awareness Week, held from May 12 to 18, offers a dedicated space for community, connection, and healing for Black families. This year includes Instagram Lives, a webinar on May 13, and

culminates with the inaugural Black Baby Loss Awareness Conference on November 19, bringing together bereaved Black parents, neonatologists, bereavement midwives, and changemakers.

“It’s not just about the professionals doing the work,” Burnett explained.

“It’s about bringing people with lived experience into the room and onto panels so we can shape the conversations about existing and future bereavement care together.”

Everyone has a role to play in changing how we support Black families grieving the loss of a baby, both within the healthcare system and in our communities.

To healthcare professionals: listen, learn, and reflect. Check your biases.

Offer more than a checklist six-week postnatal check to mothers who have experienced the loss of a baby.

Acknowledge the grief, cultural context, and silence our communities have lived with for too long.

To our communities: Compassion must lead the way. A simple check-in can make all the difference. Asking how a

bereaved parent is really doing, not out of obligation but with genuine care, can open the door to healing. Thoughtful messages on days like Mother’s Day or our baby’s heavenly birthday can also remind us our loss has not been forgotten. These small, intentional acts create room for stories and feelings to be shared. The silence around baby loss will only begin to lift when we speak our truths without shame and make space for others to do the same.

You can connect with Burnett on Instagram at @midwife_alicia and @ blackbabylossawareness. Please join the BBLAW webinar on May 13, attend the Instagram Lives, and if you can, come to the BBLAW Conference on November 19. Whether you are grieving, supporting, or simply wanting to understand, you are welcome to join. l Dr Julie Hammond is a multi award-winning GP, health advocate and innovator. She is the founder of the mamAR app: www.mamarhealth. com and is also writing a book on The Fourth Trimester due to be released in 2026

MARCH 2025

THE VOICE |31

18 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Dotun Adebayo

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

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

There are plenty of Black people who could replace Pope Francis — but let’s be real... it won’t happen

I

s God still racist? Because try as hard as I could this Passover I just couldn’t see God as a Black man. Can you?

Maybe it’s the way we were brought up. Particularly those of us who were raised in the church.

Perhaps that’s why I can’t see him as a woman let alone a hunchback.

And I get it, in these enlightened times, I should be able to see God as gay/trans/Chinese or otherwise. But I’m not. I’m not feeling it. And I think I know why.

Is God Still An Englishman? asked my mate Cole Moreton in his book with that title. Good question.

Because if he still is we are still stuffed. If God is still an Englishman we who have tried, really tried, to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery are still in chains.

We are Africans. Through and through. No doubt about it. No matter where we come from. No matter how much or how little ‘Black’ we are we just can’t scrape it off. None of it. And yet we can’t see past that old white guy passing out Bibles in Jesus’s name.

Even when Morgan Freeman is God in Bruce Almighty we don’t believe it. That’s why it’s a comedy.

To Hollywood, the idea of a Black God is a joke. So they play it for laughs. Look at Jamie Foxx in Not Another Church Movie. I mean, it’s a Godxploitation movie. Foxx as God is a cross between Superfly, Shaft and Foxy Brown. I mean, I’m still laughing.

The funniest G.O.D. of all, though, has to be Richard Pryor from the movie In God We Trust.

It’s more a case of G.O.D. as Richard Pryor. You can’t unsee it.

Once you see it, the idea of God as a Black man will always seem absurd and ridiculous. It’s like Hollywood planned it that way.

And that’s the way it’s been for a hundred years, since the first portrayal of God as a Black man in a movie.

The Green Pastures from 1936 starring Rex Ingram, one of the greatest Black actors ever, as “de lawd God” could have been an uplifting and emancipating movie. It could have been the movie that made ‘Black’ righteous. But when I tell you that the movie begins with this disclaimer...

TIME FOR NEW BLOOD: The death of Pope Francis could open the door for a Black man at the Vatican (photos:Getty)

LOOK INTO THE LIGHT AND YOU WILL FIND THE BLACK

God appears in many forms to those who believe in him. Thousands of Negroes in the Deep South visualise God and Heaven in terms of people and things they know in their everyday life.

The Green Pastures is an attempt to portray that humble, reverent conception. ...you realise that God is still (and will forever be) an Englishman and that we are still (and will always be) bound in the chains of mental enslavement and that we will just have to accept and live with the belief that we are the cursed and wretched of the earth.

That is simply (and will always

be) our lot in the great narrative of existence.

Unless... Unless the pope is Black.

Unless God himself/herself/ theyself were to say to himself/ herself/themselves, “I’m not having this no more. I can’t be having people asking ‘Is God still racist?’ Nobody ever asks ‘Is Bond still racist?’

Who cares if the next 007 is Black or not. But I bet they care if the next pope is Black.

So it’s time to start thinking about a Black incumbent following recent news of the passing of Pope Francis.

One thing is for sure, the college of cardinals which decides who God wants to be his main man on earth are already busy plan-

Once you see Richard Pryor as G.O.D., the idea of God as a Black man will always seem absurd and ridiculous.

It’s like Hollywood planned it that way ning and plotting behind the scenes – believe me, if you believe the depiction of the conclave in the movie The Conclave.

If the Almighty were to (with that amazing grace of God) appoint a Black cardinal as his sales rep on earth, even I would have to stop asking that question.

But then the next question is, which

of the contenders is the right choice. After all, God can’t make mistakes.

If God were to ask, Donald Trump: “Well, God, if you’re asking me (and by the way thank you for sparing my life when that wouldbe assassin burnt my ear off with that bullet), it has to be Wilton Gregory, the Archbishop of Washington DC. “The first African-American cardinal and, in my humble opinion, the greatest catholic thingy since sliced bread.”

But he’s only been a cardinal for five years. Besides, think of all the catholics in Africa. Cardinal Robert Sarah from Guinea, inset top left, and Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana are in there with a shout.

Other Black potential candidates for the papacy include Jean-Pierre Kutwa, left, the former Archbishop (now Archbishop Emeritus) of the church in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.

He retired in May of last year, he’s going on 80 years old, but could be tempted back into service, especially on the recommendation of G.O.D. Then there’s, whatshisname, Berhaneyesus Souraphiel, the Archbishop of Addis Ababa. That would be like sending out an

S.O.S. To the East African congregation. Controversial, perhaps, but it might just work.

Talking about controversy, how about conservative Cardinal Wilfred Napier of Durban in South Africa, or Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, Archbishop of Kigali in Rwanda?

Then there’s Philippe Ouédraogo, cardinal from Ougadougou in Burkina Faso. Dieudonné Nzapalainga, the Archbishop of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. And Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the Congolese prelate who has served as Archbishop of Kinshasa since 2018.

Any one of them could answer the question ‘Is God still a racist?’

DONALD TRUMP’S REPLY: “I thought you were asking me, God.” l 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 X: @radiodotun

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News Feature

STERILISED POTENTIAL: ESN, RACISM, AND A FAMILY SHATTERED

MOTHERHOOD AGAINST THE ODDS : Maisie holds her two young children, determined to give them a better future despite the scars left by her time in an ESN school

In last month’s edition, we featured the heartbreaking story of author and campaigner Maisie Barrett, who was wrongly placed in an ESN school – a racist system that stole her potential and left deep scars across three generations of her family. The trauma she endured as a child shaped her parenting, isolated her children, and ultimately influenced the fate of her grandchild. Here, in this article, Maisie reflects on the far-reaching impact of that injustice – and why the fight for educational equity must continue

THIS STORY must persist until justice is achieved, and every child in England receives an education that enables them to fulfil their highest potential.

During the 1960s and 70s, Black children were disproportionately placed in ESN (Educationally Sub-Normal) schools, often without regard for their true intellectual capabilities.

From the 1940s, White and later Black children were placed in schools for those deemed intellectually disabled. After the Second World War, Black children were disproportionately affected, regardless of ability.

These schools, steeped in racism, prepared students only for survival at the lowest rungs of the social hierarchy.

This systemic marginalisation extended beyond the classroom, encouraging the segregation of Black children not only within society but even within their own families. For those of us placed in ESN schools, earning the respect of relatives who attended

TOUGH: Maisie with her son during his early school years

mainstream schools was an uphill battle – in my case, an impossible one.

My aunt often dismissed me as “backward,” a view that my cousins readily adopted. We were branded “educationally subnormal,” a stigma that not only distorted how others perceived us but also eroded our self-worth. Although I never fully understood why, I always felt inferior to those around me.

LIFELESS Reflecting on the lifelong impact of my ESN schooling, I now bitterly believe that the system effectively made me dull and lifeless because they, metaphorically speaking, sterilised my creativity.

Sending me to an ESN school robbed me of the opportunity to flourish as a child, an adult, and, most damaging and heartbreaking, a young mother who ended up being single due to being dull, uneducated, and useless. In a cruel twist of irony, I sometimes wish they had completely sterilised me – thus sparing the next generation the burden of my childhood traumas.

As an only child, I lacked the familial support – siblings, aunts, uncle, and cousins – who might have provided the warmth needed to nurture my

children’s social development.

The only uncle I knew sexually abused me, and my aunt often called me backward, as I said before.

Being placed in an ESN (Educationally Sub-Normal) school meant I struggled to fit in with my own family, as well as society at large. Caught between two worlds, I was unable to belong to either the ESN environment or mainstream society, making it nearly impossible to develop the lasting friendships and social skills crucial for growth.

This isolation affected not only my life but also that of my children. Because of my own difficulties fitting in, I brought up my children in isolation, which inevitably impacted their social skills – skills I did not possess myself.

The world I created for my children mirrored the one I had endured: an environment devoid of connections that would have otherwise fostered their confidence and social growth.

The absence of a rigorous academic foundation in my early years as an ESN survivor stunted my ability to support my children through their unique learning and behavioural challenges.

And yet, I did all I could. I recognised my daughter’s deep love for animals when she was nearly 13 and arranged for her to gain work experience on a farm; however, her dreams were tragically derailed when she was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and sent to a hospital. However, she was autistic. The symptoms of schizophrenia are very similar

RESILIENT: Maisie today to those of autism. I struggled with my daughter because she reminded me of the children at my ESN school.

I enrolled my son in performing arts courses – including parttime sound engineering and a full-time music programme – to cultivate his talent. Yet, my academic commitments often left him without the guidance he needed, as a SEND student with behavioural problems who struggled to fit in.

For my youngest, whose passion for sports was evident, I enrolled him in a specialised sports school.

However, the constant demands of my studies meant I simply did not have the time he required. Although he did not display any obvious learning difficulties, I believe that the ongoing family struggles contributed to his eventual turn to drug abuse, which left him unable to care for his child – whose mother also could not take care of the child’s needs.

Attending an ESN (Educationally Sub-Normal) school deeply affected my social and parental skills, creating a chain reaction of

challenges that have shaped not only my life but also those of my children and grandchild.

The ESN system, rooted in racism and prejudice, left me ill-equipped to navigate the challenges of parenting, particularly as a single mother with limited support in the 80s and 90s. These shortcomings were not just personal – they became institutionalised, used against me in court to deny me Special Guardianship of my grandchild, perpetuating a cycle of trauma and disadvantage, which was the agenda of the British Education System.

TRAUMAS In the social worker’s assessment, it is explicitly acknowledged that, as a grandmother, I have shown remarkable resilience in overcoming childhood traumas.

However, these very traumas were used to justify the decision not to grant me a Special Guardianship Order for my grandson.

The social worker stated: “I do not recommend that a Special Guardianship Order is made for the following reasons…” and proceeded to elaborate further.

She began by recognising the perseverance I have demonstrated despite a childhood marked by instability, abuse, vulnerabilities stemming from learning difficulties, and the emotional scars left by my time in the ESN system. These compounded challenges have undeniably shaped the struggles I have faced throughout my life, and yet they were ultimately

presented as barriers to my suitability as a guardian.

The judge’s remarks reopened old wounds from my ESN experience. Though he praised my intelligence, he questioned my insight over a concern about my grandchild’s safety – one not directed at the co-applicant, whom he trusted despite their past failure to protect the child.

Despite acknowledging my perseverance, the decision returned my grandchild to an abusive home. He was told to forget the incident, yet he couldn’t.

This outcome underscores the profound injustice of a system that perpetuates cycles of harm, failing to prioritise the wellbeing of the most vulnerable.

My family’s fractured journey encapsulates the systemic failures that continue to ripple through generations, stifling creativity, eroding self-worth, and depriving us of the opportunities to thrive.

Yet, I hold on to hope – a quiet but resilient belief that my children and grandchild will achieve great things. They will continue my tradition of sharing this story to help make a significant difference in the British education system, which still segregates children in SEND schools – both Black and White, but disproportionately Black and Black mixed-race. l Maisie Barrett is the author of Subnormal: How I was Failed by The British Education System and a Colonial Family: The Windrush Generation

43 | THE VOICE APRIL 2024

22 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Lyndon Mukasa Eye on the Diaspora

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

ECONOMIC WAR: TRUMP’S TARIFFS AND FEARS FOR THE CARIBBEAN

Could a united regional front hold the key to making sure the US doesn’t cause more damage?

T

HE ECONOMIC turmoil of US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy has wreaked havoc in countries across the world.

“Liberation Day”, as the president called it, sought to untether the United States from what the President sees as unfair and unequal trade agreements and force countries to renegotiate trade deals on terms that are even more favourable to US interests.

The Caribbean faces harsh US tariffs amid economic turmoil, exposing its vulnerability. Guyana’s 38 per cent rate raises questions about the true motives TROUBLED TIMES: Donald Trump’s tariff policy caused global economic disruption. CARICOM Chair Mia Mottley behind these measures. urges a united Caribbean response, warning against individual deals that could weaken regional interest The Caribbean response The response from Caribbean governments and policymakers to the tariffs has been unified but has shown signs of wavering as differential tariff rates on Trinidad and Tobago (12 per cent) and Guyana (38 per cent) has put pressure on those governments to seek independent negotiations with the Trump administration.

CARICOM Chair and Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has called for a singular collective response from

CARICOM member states and has warned that “if the US picks off one or two territories and seeks specific arrangements... I don’t think that’s going to be in the best interest of the region.”

She has already warned Guyana and Trinidad against negotiating alone with the Trump administration, saying it risks dividing the region and exploiting Caribbean resources for US benefit.

However, the Guyanese Finance Minister Dr Ashni insisted that “the government of Guyana has taken note of

the reciprocal tariffs announced by the US government… our government is closely engaged with our US partners to better understand the issue and have it addressed as appropriate.”

For Guyana, the United States is their largest trading partner, which has placed the country in a particularly vulnerable position and, as such, is going ahead with independent negotiations.

Since the 2015 discovery of oil, Guyana is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the United States has been

investing heavily in the country. However, when looking at the tariff rates around the world, a potentially more sinister picture seems to be developing.

Trump’s strategy in the Caribbean Many of the highest US tariffs target resource-rich nations — not just adversaries. Countries like Lesotho, Madagascar, Vietnam, and Laos face steep rates despite no hostile ties.’

When Trump declared that he wanted

to “level the playing field” in global trade, what he meant was a complete reconfiguration of US economic imperialism in which certain countries will become completely subservient to US economic interests as vassal states.

While this is speculation, this is not entirely impossible nor is it without precedence. The US has reduced countries to a state of vassalage like Cuba before the 1959 revolution and in terms of squeezing a vulnerable country economically, the Ukraine minerals deal is a shocking example of predatory capitalism and imperialism at play.

If the US can do this to a European country and ally like Ukraine, then what are the chances for a majority Black/ Indian poor country like Guyana?

The path forward Even though there has been a 90-day freeze for the majority of counties affected

by American tariffs, it is vitally important that governments in the region reflect and seek out new trade partners to reduce dependency on US trade. Barbadian MP Ryan Straughn supports this, saying that “the options are available now, and I suggest to persons that we have to utilise the full global supply chain to respond to issues like this, but equally, we must ensure that we look at other markets.”

This is something that is essential for Caribbean leaders and policymakers to explore as an increasingly aggressive and unpredictable United States poses a threat to the economic sovereignty of Caribbean countries and the long-term development of the region as a whole.

IS THE WEST UNDERMINING THE NIGER, MALI AND BURKINA FASO REVOLUTIONS? SINCE THE establishment of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in 2023 between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the alliance has faced significant opposition from inside and outside the region.

In the December edition of the Voice, I looked at the challenges and potential of the AES. In the fog of war and revolution, it needs to be said that an information war is waging that often clouds the reality on the ground.

It is important to bear in mind that while the revolutions across the AES represents significant opposition to Western neocolonialism, false news stories often serve to obscure the ways in which the West is working to undermine the AES and the responses by the leaders.

Information war Both the West and the AES are

Libya in 2011, which fuelled regional instability. The AES, though still consolidating power, is navigating a complex transition amid deliberate attempts to discredit its leadership and limit its influence.

SUPPORT: A man holds up a painting of the Alliance of Sahel States (photo: Getty Images) battling to shape the narrative in West Africa. Western media often criticises the AES for instability and security failings, portraying the recent coups as undemocratic.

However, critics argue this ignores the broader historical context, including the legacy of colonialism, neocolonialism, and Western military interventions, like

Support for ECOWAS Following the establishment of the AES, France in particular has reiterated its support for the West African economic alliance ECOWAS that the AES broke away from.

France has provided financial support to ECOWAS member states such as Nigeria as well as providing intelligence and military support for a potential regional conflict.

It is not lost on the leaders of the AES that the leaders in ECOWAS countries like Nigeria are concerned about the revolutions spreading across West Africa. At the same time, they know that far too many

leaders and elites have a vested interest in maintaining a neocolonial relationship with Western powers for their own benefit.

On France’s part, a divided West Africa presents an opportunity when the political conditions in the region have shifted to re-enter and re-insert itself back into the heart of West African politics.

Funding instability?

Among some people in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, there is a belief that the West has been financing terrorist groups like Boko Haram, ISIS and Al-Shabab in order to justify their presence in the region.

They often cite the fact Western troops are in the region to protect strategic assets like natural resources and have failed to protect local populations. While there is no direct evidence to support these

claims, there have been instances, particularly during the Cold War, where the West has financed insurgent groups in countries like Angola and the DRC for their own agenda. There is some evidence that in the past, Western military aid has fallen into the hands of terrorists.

Within the context of the AES, there is significant distrust against the West, and the failure to solve the security situation has fuelled anti-Western sentiment. Whether this is deliberate or not, it is evident that the West has done far more harm than good to West Africa, and the region will only know peace and stability once the region is in the control of Africans. l Lyndon Mukasa is a writer

and researcher. He studied International Development at the London School of Economics

JUNE 2024 THE VOICE | 29 MAY 2025 THE VOICE | 23

News

WINDRUSH SCANDAL VICTIMS TO BE GIVEN £1.5M IN SUPPORT

Government fund will help victims through compensation claims. By Sinai Fleary

V

VICTIMS OF the Home Office Windrush scandal will receive crucial support to access the compensation they deserve under a £1.5 million fund launched by the government.

The Windrush Compensation Advocacy Support Fund (WCASF) will provide claimants with dedicated advocates from community organisations to work alongside them throughout the compensation application process.

Many victims have reported that while this process is not legally complex, the emotional toll of revisiting traumatic experiences can make it difficult to navigate alone.

Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra MP, said: “The Home Office Windrush scandal was an appalling injustice that should never have happened. People who had built their lives here and contributed so much to our country were wrongly treated as illegal immigrants in the place they called home.

“This £1.5 million fund is a decisive step in our mission to right these wrongs. By providing dedicated advocacy support, we’re breaking down barriers and ensuring victims have a voice through every step of the compensation process.

“We are determined that Windrush communities will finally receive the recognition and justice they deserve.”

Additional support Advocates will help applicants gather supporting evidence, provide signposting to additional services, and create a trusted environment so no victim has to face the system by themselves.

The additional support will be of immense importance to victims. For many, the scandal resulted in loss of employment, denial of healthcare, threats of deportation, and in some cases, actual deportation from a country they had every right to call home. During the

Windrush scandal,,, many victim’s experiences led to severe financial hardship, deteriorating mental health, broken families, and shattered trust in government institutions.

Delivered over the next three years and offered alongside existing support for Windrush Compensation Scheme applicants, the WCASF will break down barriers to justice by ensuring victims’ voices are heard and their experiences fully documented. The fund has been shaped by extensive consultation with more than 20 organisations, all serving different segments of the Windrush community.

Cultural connection Advocates funded through this initiative will understand applicants’ cultural background and support them to articulate their stories in a safe environment. It aims to ensure applications fully capture the impact of the scandal on individuals’ lives, livelihoods, and wellbeing.

Since coming into office, the Labour ggggggovernment has re-established the Windrush Unit to oversee the department’s response to the scandal and embed permanent cultural change across the Home Office – keeping the voices of victims at the heart of all work undertaken to address the scandal.

Additionally, recruitment is underway for the vital role of Windrush Commissioner, who will represent victims’ views at the highest levels of government.

The appointment is expected by summer 2025.

Part of the government’s manifesto commitment was to provide additional support and work more closely with affected communities. The new support for victims part of the wider Plan for Change to deliver justice for Windrush victims, according to the government. l For more information, visit: https://www.find-governmentgrants.service.gov.uk/grants/ windrush-compensationadvocacy-support-fund2025-26-1#summary

ANGER: The Windrush scandal prompted protests all over the country (photo: Getty Images)

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24 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Darell J. Philip

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

WE MUST KEEP DIGGING

LINK TO OUR PAST: Désirée Reynolds founded Dig Where You Stand to uncover hidden local histories, using archives and art to reconnect diasporic communities with their past and present

Writer and curator Désirée Reynolds’ Dig Where You Stand project uncovers ordinary stories of historical Black lives

A

T EIGHT YEARS OLD, Désirée Reynolds told her mother that one day she was going to write a book and true to her word, she has been doing that ever since.

Born in Clapham, south London, to Jamaican parents and now living in Sheffield, Reynolds is a writer and curator.

She started her writing career as a freelance journalist for the Jamaica Gleaner and the Village Voice before fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a published author.

Her fascination with history dates back to her childhood as she told The Voice: “My Dad used to tell me about John Archer, the first Black mayor of Battersea in 1913. I used to go to the reference library off Lavender Hill and I’d sit there for hours (it was my safe space) and I actually found some information on John Archer, I got the bug.

APPRECIATION “My dad was a history nerd and I guess so am I. But I marvelled at the idea. This Black man was here, walking these streets and I wanted to know more. And my mum, on our walks from shopping or school, would sometimes walk me through the graveyard on Bolingbroke Grove and use the births and deaths to try and teach me about maths.”

It was this foundation in appreciation for history at an early age which would later go on to propel Reynolds in founding and curating the Dig Where You Stand Project which highlights

INSPIRING FUTURE HISTORIANS: Attendees at a recent Dig Where You Stand exhibition

Hidden and obscured history has the effect of dislocating us from the present. We, as a diaspora, have to reimagine what Black life was like the importance of uncovering hidden histories in local communities.

“In any diaspora we have to historicise ourselves,” says Reynolds.

She continued: “Dig Where You Stand is an archival justice movement, using archive and art to place our narratives in our environments. Hidden and obscured history has the effect of dislocating us from the present. We, as a diaspora, have to reimagine what Black life was like and also what Black working class life was. The way history is taught and distributed, it’s always about Black exceptionalism. I get it. If you’ve been told you’re nothing, exceptionalism feels like a counter weight. But I don’t care about Kings or Queens; give me the ordinary, the everyday, because that’s my story and it’s more likely yours. Who

gets to tell our own stories?”

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Dig Where You Stand held its first exhibition in 2021 funded by Sheffield City Archives and Sheffield University.

To visit the archive is to reckon with the violence of erasure. It is to encounter gaps, made deliberately or on purpose. What do we do with these gaps?

Reynolds answers: “To me those gaps can only be addressed by art. In Saidiya Hartman’s work and her theory of ‘critical fabulation’ is a method of understanding and processing the archive.

“Sven Lindqvist, the Swedish writer and

historian, coined the term Dig Where You Stand which spurned workers’ rights movements across Europe back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. What we did was put these two fundamental takes on history and justice together.”

STORIES Since the first exhibition in 2021, Reynolds secured further funding – including £112,000 from the Heritage Lottery in 2023 – leading to the commissioning of 14 artists of colour to explore the archive and share resonant stories in a city-wide summer exhibition.

The project, which has worked with schools, colleges, universities and women of colour, has uncovered a number of interesting hidden histories which have generated interest

within local communities, with over 1,000 visitors to one of the exhibitions alone.

“We have the record of Thomas Pompey who was baptised in Rotherham in 1725,” says Reynolds, continuing: “The record states he was a ‘youth about 14 from Guinea’. This is at the height when boys in particular were trafficked as a demonstration of wealth. Was he 14? We know adultification usually means that Black children are considered and treated older than they are.

“We only know of him because his godparents were aristocracy.

But what of him? In my curation, I set out the story and then the recovery and that is to unpack what is not being said. One of our contributors delivered a workshop about Thomas to

some young people from migrant families. They knew they weren’t the first here that may feel isolated and confused. They took comfort that 300 years ago, some young person who looked like some of them was feeling the same. That’s the value.”

She added: “If you have a look at our website you will see a short film done by Sheffield film makers, White Teeth, about an unambiguous Black girl at a factory gate in Sheffield in 1901.

Take a look at her face. You can’t help but be moved.”

Reynolds also discovered a story about Malcolm X visiting the Sheffield Islamic Society students at Sheffield University in December 1964. While the papers reported violence before he got l Continued on page 26

APRIL 2025

THE VOICE |11

Get your copy!

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26 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Darell J. Philip

Join the debate online voice-online.co.uk/opinion A NEW NARRATIVE: Reynolds uncovered the truth about Malcolm X’s 1964 Sheffield visit, revealing students welcomed him and challenged false media reports through a signed petition

l Continued from page 24

there followed by a poor reception with students “hissing” at him upon his arrival, Reynolds dug deeper and found such records to be untrue.

“Going through the archives, I found a petition signed by the students to demand the paper retract its misinformation,” Reynolds says.

HISTORIES “As well as the pack being used for history, the English Language teacher asked her class to think about source material, checking sources and not getting information from one place. This story continues to be relevant in so many ways.”

On the importance of uncovering forgotten histories, Reynolds, who will be a guest speaker at Cambridge University, Fitzwilliam Museum, on May 22, says: “When we are living in a time, now more than ever, when Black histories are being removed from archives and curriculums, and hidden stories and gate kept knowledge leaves us all poorer, we must keep digging. This is memory justice work.” l For more information on Dig Where You Stand visit dwys.co.uk/ l Darell J. Philip is a teaching assistant, academic mentor and award-winning journalist

Equal Justice Initiative

LifeLines is a UK registered charity (1168273) providing friendship and support to people on death row in the United States through letter writing and email. Albert (pictured right) and LifeLines member Ingrid have been writing to each other for 18 years.

Penfriends are an essential source of comfort to people on death row and just a small amount of your time can have a huge impact. We provide members with a supportive community and a chance to learn from inspiring people working for change.

Like past conference speakers Anthony Ray Hinton (pictured far right), who spent nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row before being exonerated, and Equal Justice Initiative director Bryan Stevenson (left of picture), who fought for Anthony’s freedom.

“

Thank you for your support to everyone who has been given a special friend.

Ingrid is one of them people that has helped me keep my sanity.

- Albert

Join us and offer a lifeline If you want to make a difference through developing powerful connections with others, then LifeLines is for you. Become a member and bring light to someone in the darkest of places.

“I am so glad I joined, because it was through LifeLines that I met Albert and so began a long, two-way friendship that has changed both our lives.

I am his window on the world and I try to be a giver of hope, while he gives me his understanding and empathy, whatever I tell him.”

Ingrid, member since 2006.

Visit our website or drop us an email: E. secretary@lifelines-uk.org.uk W. https://lifelines-uk.org.uk/ Patron: Clive Stafford-Smith Established 1988

34 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

28 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Asari St Hill

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

Business and Wealth

SPRING IS A GREAT TIME FOR FIRMS TO BLOSSOM The coming months should be a boom time for Black businesses.

Don’t waste this valuable period – be ready for great opportunities

AS THE weather gets warmer and the evenings are longer, it makes most people happier and more positive, leading to more spending.

Most consumers and business owners feel much more optimistic in the spring and summer.

Consumers spend more money in the spring and summer on health and fitness, holidays, gardens, moving home, household goods, home improvements, clothes, hospitality, food and drink and TIME FOR GROWTH: Warmer much more. It should be a boom time weather and longer days boost positivity, spending, and for Black business owners.

Even if your marketplace is business to business investment — creating key opportunities for Black business, there are great opportunities.

Many business owners are more entrepreneurs (photo: Getty Images) likely to invest in their marketing, new staff, sales strategies, training, new technology or software in the spring and summer months. This is a great time to purchase or to sign-up for more approach other businesses, particularly information. This is particularly good if you can show them how it will solve a for lower cost items or bookings – e.g. problem or increase their sales. events, food and drink, household goods, personal services, clothes and shoes.

FOCUS There are so many more events and Are you making the most of the spring festivals in the warmer months, so and ready for the summer?

In my experience, Black business identify those that may attract your owners are as well positioned as any target market, make a list and decide other business owners to grow, it just which to attend, book a stall or just network. takes focus and good execution.

There are loads of Black-led events Here are some tips you can use that work well across the spring and summer but don’t neglect the other 85 per cent of events outside the Black community economy.

Consumers are more open to new where your products and services could opportunities and outdoor experiences be in great demand.

Also, please do not rely on potential in particular the warmer months.

New services and compelling offers customers to contact you. Many should catch the eyes of your target will not. Offer a prize draw or permission to share further information or offers market.

Whether you update your website, and ask them to leave their details so use social media, launch a new landing you can build your database and page, change your shop front display or follow-up.

Bigger ticket items, like holidays, use a pop-up store, it is crucial to keep the attention of your potential customer, furniture or home improvements are long enough for them to see your call to in high demand in the spring and summer but you may have a little more action.

This could be a limited promotion, competition. But again, great seasonal a seasonal offer or something that offers work well, particularly with encourages urgency to drive an impulsive alternative methods to pay over time,

which can secure their interest or a deposit. Because higher ticket items often lead to consumers shopping around, it is best to seek high numbers of enquiries as conversion rates are usually lower than smaller cost items. Remember, all you need is that opportunity to engage, to collect details or to quote.

Contacting previous customers with these offers is essential, since they have bought from you before, so trust levels are high.

PROMOTION Many people may not buy from you again just because they have forgotten about you. For example, how many restaurants have you visited and enjoyed with your friends or family but not returned? If they reached out to you with a new offer or seasonal promotion, I bet you would be more likely to return.

This is even more likely, when consumers feel they have more time and want to enjoy longer evenings.

Don’t forget to reach out to business owners.

Business owners may have not engaged with or even rejected your offers

Consumers are more open to new opportunities and outdoor experiences in particular the warmer months.

New services and compelling offers should catch the eyes of your target market

New and previous connections are worth contacting to explore their interest. Business owners often feel they have more time in the spring and summer, with the perception of longer days and this is a great time to secure a call or an appointment.

Business owners can use any excuse to attract a new or previous client, but the spring and summer brings additional opportunities.

Consumers who feel better and have more time are more willing to spend.

Your job is to get them to raise their hands or get their payment cards out to purchase your offers. Please, don’t waste the rest of the spring and summer, go and get those sales or build a great funnel for the months ahead.

Identify your target market and go for it, with a seasonal offer and clear call to action.

I would love to hear from your experiences or welcome enquiries how best to implement your marketing strategies.

in the winter but could be more open to the same offer or a seasonal offer when you reach out again. Business owners go to more evening networking in the spring and summer, so it is a great time to meet l Asari St.Hill is an ActionCOACH Business new leads or people who may be able and Founder of the Black Business Club. You to introduce you to the right business Coach can contact him at https://blackbusinessclub.org/ owners. or via email at: Founder@BlackBusinessClub.org

Lifestyle

30

BLiM presents Classically Black: An Exploration of the Cutting Edge of Classical

31

32 PARIS NOIR: BEYOND BORDERS The diaspora speaks

How this author’s gran inspired ‘My Rice is Best’

37

Over 30 years later and still very much Eternal

30 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Music

Lifestyle

CLASSICALLY BLACK IS BACK

B

LACK LIVES in Music (BLiM), the organisation set up to address racial inequality in the music industry and create opportunities for Black, Asian and ethnically diverse musicians and professionals, has announced the second edition of Classically Black: An Exploration of the Cutting Edge of Classical at London’s Kings Place on October 18.

A one-day symposium event featuring performances, workshops, panel discussions and showcases, Classically Black aims to redefine what classical music looks and sounds like today.

Rooted in Black and global majority experiences, the programme features powerful performances and new works that blend tradition with transformation — led by worldclass musicians whose identities are often erased in classical spaces.

Produced by BLiM — now in its fifth year of championing equity and representation in the industry — and sponsored by ABRSM (Associated Board of the

Black Lives in Music is preparing for a star-studded second edition of its popular event. By Joel Campbell Royal Schools of Music), the event marks not only a platform for new talent and underrepresented voices, but also a celebration of five years of powerful advocacy, creativity and change.

Roger Wilson, right, co-founder and Director of Operations at BLiM, said: “Black Lives in Music is immensely proud to be bringing back Classically Black for another fantastic event at Kings Place.

“We thoroughly enjoyed producing the inaugural event last year and were humbled by the overwhelming public demand to bring it back in 2025.

“The event promises to commemorate, celebrate, and elevate Black and global majority

classical music talent, past, present, and, of course, nodding to the future through our young people’s workshop and talent showcase.

“Classically Black has shown it has a firm place in the industry calendar.

“We’re looking forward to another sold-out event and the further consolidation of the important, but sadly still hidden, story of the contribution to classical music by Black and global majority musicians.”

New Works: From Historical to Hip-Hop will explore the shifting boundaries of classical music and invites audiences to experience new voices and fresh narratives, opening with a keynote speech from author, speaker and music education

advocate Dr Kadiatu KannehMason.

The Sabi Ensemble will perform works by Louise Farrenc and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, before versatile violinist Simmy Singh brings her innovative fusion of classical, jazz, folk and experimental sound worlds.

The session closes with The Jollof House Party Opera, blending opera and hip-hop in a high energy performance — co-produced by Music Theatre Wales and FIO. The piece was created to shake up and reshape conceptions of opera and live artistic performance as well as address inequities in access to art and culture.

A powerful panel discussion — entitled Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves — will explore the lived experiences of Black and global majority women within the classical music industry today.

Moderated by Paulette Bayley, the conversation brings together a compelling panel of performers and creatives including Amina Hussain, Amanda Baldwin and ON THE BILL: Rianna Henriques is among the panel performers confirmed for the October event Rianna Henriques.

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Inspiring Future Careers

MAY 2025 THE VOICE | 31

Lifestyle

Books

Selina’s picture book is serving up a real treat Who would have thought a tale about rice wars could be so uplifting? By Joel Campbell

M

Y RICE is Best is a joyful, funny and accomplished picture book by Selina Brown, founder of the internationally renowned Black British Book Festival.

Illustrated by Maxwell A. Oginni, the book celebrates cultural heritage and love of food.

Shane is convinced that nothing beats a big, delicious bowl of rice and peas – it’s the best rice in the world.

But when he brings his favourite meal to school, he discovers that his friend Yinka is just as passionate about her jollof rice.

What follows is a hilarious and heartfelt showdown to settle the age-old question: which rice reigns supreme?

Speaking to Lifestyle, Brown, whose love for words gained her two degrees and a masters at the age of 21, said the inspiration for writing the book came from watching her gran make rice and peas when she was younger, a memory that has stayed with her.

The thyme, the coconut water,

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Selina Brown’s My Rice is Best has some very important messages attached to it

the hours of patience, slow cooking, she can remember ‘the taste to this day’.

She also just loves to eat.

“The story came about because I love food. I was eating rice one day and it just literally came to me, the idea was floating about in the universe.

“I was like, what about a story with a little boy and rice, then the story of Yinka came about, and then I just developed the story from there.

“It was a very joyful experience and a very playful experience.

I knew I wanted to empower young Black children in particular. It was a passion project and it just flowed so easily. Then I got the deal with Penguin. It’s been an absolute blessing in my life and I can’t wait for the whole world to read this book and to feel the love that I put into it.”

A heartwarming picture book that brings the joy of food, friendship, and cultural pride to life, My Rice is Best explores the playful rivalry between two friends who both believe their rice dish is the

ultimate favourite. Through humour and a universal love of eating, the book offers an entertaining way-in to help children embrace new cuisines and celebrate cultural identity.

With the rising demand for inclusive stories that celebrate different cultures, My Rice is Best is a timely addition to bookshelves and marks the arrival of an exciting new voice in picture books.

Brown’s brilliantly observed child characters and their distinctive and exuberant depiction in Oginni’s illustrations, as well as the familiar but fun school and domestic setting, results in a read that will be enjoyed by families and children alike.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to bring My Rice Is Best into the world,” Brown says. “It’s been a long journey.

The book deal came in 2021, so it’s taken a number of years to bring it to life, but now it’s here and the planet, the world, children everywhere are going to see it.

“The messages in the book are important. To have Black children on the cover is important, to have a Black author is important, to have a Black illustrator is important.

“We’re really working hard on the marketing and the messaging so that more authors can come after us because we need a very diverse publishing industry, and I hope this inspires others to buy more Black books because that’s very important as well.

“There is a mission behind the book and we’re very glad that Penguin is supporting us on that mission as well.” l My Rice is Best will be published in paperback by Puffin on May 8

BENSON GIVES ALL THAT SHE’S GOT WITH HER LATEST OFFERING

ALL THAT WE’VE GOT Jendella Benson

‘WE NEED to actively protect, nurture and be present for those around us,’ Jendella Benson tells Lifestyle when asked what she wants readers to take from her latest book, All That We’ve Got. The Midlands-born writer, who is also the author of Hope and Glory, admits that she’s had the idea for a while but wasn’t ready emotionally or skill-wise to execute the narrative in a way that does it justice.

All That We’ve Got takes place over one relentlessly hot summer, with two women’s lives about to collide in the most unexpected

ways. Mimi is a single mum in her twenties, looking to break free from her family’s judgements and her church’s oppressive, hypocritical gossip to establish who she is on her own.

But a dangerous new romance could lead her into trouble.

Meanwhile, 15-yearold Abi dreams of emulating the life she sees through social media and helping her mother with the bills.

When she’s offered the chance

to make money fast by helping a group of local boys, she and her friends jump at it.

But soon they’re crossing county lines, and Abi finds she’s in over her head.

Could Mimi and Abi forge a bond that could free them both, at the heart of a community they’ve taken for granted?

“The story in All That We’ve Got is one that had been germinating for years, even before Hope and Glory,” Benson enthused.

“It came from conversations I had with a friend of mine who was

doing academic research on girls and gangs in the UK and around the world.

“We would discuss her research and then our own experiences as young girls in Birmingham (where I grew up) and south London (where she grew up).

“At the time, I told her that I wanted to write about it and she encouraged me to, but I wasn’t ready both emotionally and skill-wise to tackle the subject in the way it needed to be done, but now I am.”

She added: “I think ultimately what I want people to take away from the book is how we need to fight for our communities.

“We need to actively protect, nurture and be present for those around us. It’s hard when the financial climate makes you fearful and consumed with your bills and the day-to-day, and it’s hard when wider culture pushes an ideology of individuality and self-seeking, but we need each other.

“Every day the political class prove how they do not have our best interests at heart, so what else can we do but look at how those who came before us survived hostilities and realise that we are really all that we’ve got.” l The paperback version of All That We’ve Got is out in June

32 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Lifestyle

RETRACING THE HISTORY OF BLACK ARTISTS IN FRANCE

IMPACTFUL: Joel Campbell admires one of the many impressive exhibits at Paris Noir in The Centre Pompidou

For someone who’s culturally curious, Joel Campbell found the Paris Noir exhibition ‘epic’ – and he’s sure you would, too

I

F YOU’VE never been to The Centre Pompidou, you have six weeks to visit before the wonderful exhibition, Paris Noir, ends, and four months before the historic venue closes its doors to the public to undergo a five-year renovation, commencing in September 2025.

Visiting Paris is always a worthwhile endeavour, but adding the two aforementioned reasons for any upcoming jaunt won’t steer you in the wrong direction, especially if experiencing a different aspect of diaspora history connected to Europe is your thing.

Delving into France’s colonial past is a messy business. It’s hard to quantify the effects the ills of yesteryear are still having on the diaspora that reside there now, as discussing race or ethnicity isn’t supported. In fact it’s despised, sneered at and dismissed in most influential quarters.

The preference, or way things are done in France, revolves around the thesis that everyone is French, forget about the individual’s ethnicity. Hmmm.

Whatever your thoughts on that (and during my time in the country, there were many), Paris Noir retraces the presence and influence of Black artists in France from the 1940s to 2000.

The exhibition celebrates 150 artists of African descent, whose works have often

never been displayed in France before. It’s a vibrant immersion in a cosmopolitan Paris, a place of resistance and creation that gave rise to a wide variety of practices, from a new awareness of identity to the search for transcultural artistic languages. From international to ‘Afro-Atlantic’ abstractions via surrealism and free figuration, this historical voyage reveals the importance of artists of African descent in the redefinition of Modernisms and Post-modernisms.

To cut to the chase, it offers an insight into the contributions of Black people to the rich tapestry of French and Parisian life.

UNHERALDED It took the team behind it ten years to pull together.

It features big names such as Josephine Baker, James Baldwin and Beauford Delaney, but for this journalist, it’s the focus of highlighting works from the little people, the previously unknown, unheralded artists, that speaks the loudest.

As I walk into the venue, I’m blown away by the scale of it. You won’t do this in one day. You have been warned.

It is structured around four installations produced especially for the exhibition by Valérie John, Nathalie Leroy Fiévee, Jay Ramier and Shuck One. Their works punctuate the visit and provide contemporary insights.

While this exhibition retraces

half a century of struggles for emancipation, from African independence to the fall of apartheid and the fight against racism in France, the most informing elements, for me, centred on the tribute to artists of African descent in Paris.

After the Second World War, Paris became an intellectual centre where figures such as Baldwin, Suzanne and Aimé Césaire, and Léopold Sédar Senghor converged to lay down the foundations of a post- and de-colonial future.

The exhibition captures the political and cultural effervescence of the period, in the midst of struggles for independence and the fight for civil rights in the US, by offering a unique immersion in the artistic expressions of Négritude, Pan-Africanism and the transatlantic movements.

It’s truly fascinating.

Equally captivating is the highlighting of the aesthetic power and political strength of those artists who, through their creations, challenged the prevailing narratives and reinvented a universalism ‘of differences’ in a post-colonial world.

This political background provided the context, and sometimes direct frame of reference, for certain artistic practices. In parallel or in contrast, the exhibition also includes plastic experimentations that are often solitary but find aesthetic ties within the display.

Speaking to Lifestyle, Head

There are so many connections and friendships that are hidden in the exhibitions, I hope everyone gets to see the show curator for the Contemporary Creation and Prospective Department at Centre Pompidou, Alicia Knock, said: “I hope everyone comes and sees this Paris Noir exhibition as it brings together 150 artists across the Caribbean, Africa and the US and really shows Black solidarity not only in Paris but also it shows how many artists redefined abstractions through realism.”

Hailing from parents who come from French and English-speaking islands in the Caribbean, I’m perhaps slightly more au fait with the histories of both European nations than your average person.

Walking around The Centre Pompidou, however, I was exposed to how different my life could have been had I been brought up across the other side of the English Channel.

Whether, as a Black person you

are in Paris or London, the minds of the masses and how they are shaped, dictates a lot.

Years after William Wilberforce was credited with leading the parliamentary campaign to end the slave trade in the British Empire, abolishing slavery, we have statistics in the UK to support efforts to bring about a more egalitarian society.

We rely on the numbers to stave off any regressive behaviour that would see the nation revert from its learned, more considered and tolerant position.

DISMISSED Not so in France. The stats, data mean nothing. They are not acknowledged.

They will salute to being a haven, a more accepting place of residence for the likes of Baldwin et al in the 1940s and 1950s, but speak about an ethnic wealth gap in 2025 and the very notion of its existence would be dismissed.

To this day, the French government officially does not collect or publish ethnicity data.

Seeing the works of Henri Guédon from Martinique, Gérald Bloncourt from Haiti, Younousse Seye from Sénégal, Vicente Pimentel from Dominican Republic, Christian Lattier from Ivory Coast, Sarah Maldoror from Guadeloupe and Agustín Cárdenas from Cuba, (I could go on), told its own story.

It spoke about human resistance, creativity and a fervent will that

can fill anyone’s cup, no matter where you come from. Stats or no stats, these artists impacted French life as we know it today.

During the tour, Knock, who has written that her aim in her current role is for history to reflect the geographical spaces traversed by the artists, as well as the traversals themselves, taking Paris as a recurring point of anchorage and transit, enthused: “I think it’s good to dig into these local histories, local-global histories, I think it’s a great asset that we have because as we know this is how international France can be.

“There are so many connections and friendships hidden in the exhibitions, I really hope everyone gets to see the show. There are so many trajectories to unpack, there are so many stories to tell and so many archives and works to save. I really hope everybody gets inspired with this exhibition.”

Recognised as a key space of classical artistic training and, at the same time, a centre of experimentation, Paris held exceptional appeal for creators, whether visitors or residents.

The city was a nexus of encounters and point of transit – particularly towards Africa – that lent itself to the affirmation of transnational trajectories.

Knock summed the exhibition up best when she said: “There is no better way to be global than to unpack such history, it’s epic’.”

For the culturally curious, it’s epic indeed.

MAY 2025 THE VOICE | 33

Arts

BRINGING IMAGES TO LIFE: Top left, photographer Amadou Gaye captures France’s first anti-racism march that began in Marseille and ended in Paris in 1983; above, José Castillo, Los Cimarrones (Les Marrons), 1994; below, American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin with modernist painter Beauford Delaney in Paris, 1960; below centre, Diagne Chanel, Le Garçon de Venise, 1976; below far left, Almen Gibirila, Shooting avec deux mannequins de Black Experience, 1986; far left, Ed Clark, Untitled (Vétheuil) 1967; left, Beauford Delaney, James Baldwin, 1945-1950

JANUARY 2025

THE VOICE | 19

MAY 2025 THE VOICE | 35

Travel

Lifestyle

I’M LOVING THIS PLACE - 25/7!

You cannot miss it. Another appealing element of the hotel is their level of attention to detail to incorporate Black France, Black Paris, in a way that draws from the diaspora and recognises Black contribution.

My room was fabulous, wall to wall, there’s attention to detail – the artwork, the old school phone (rang loud too), the upcycling of furniture that may otherwise have been thrown on the scrapheap.

It wasn’t your usual drab, neutrally designed experience, it was funky, uplifting. Engaging.

Breakfast was the only thing that didn’t deliver everything I like. That said, staff went above and beyond to make any specific order I requested.

Food is important, right, so while breakfast was just okay, the rest of the options on their menu, be it lunch or dinner, are more than decent.

Should you find yourselves in their Sape Bar, be sure to take advantage of the cocktails, but also the snacks and nibbles. The plantain and falafel went down a treat. The cuisine, art and general feel of the hotel is a reflection of

For a true taste of Black Paris, then the Hotel Terminus Nord will be right up your street. Put simply, I found it magnifique! By Joel Campbell

S

O, YOU’VE been inspired by what you’ve just read is happening at the Paris Noir exhibition taking place at the Centre Pompidou and you want to book a trip before it ends in June. Or, you just want a change of scenery, either way, where should you stay?

If you are anything like me then cost, convenience and comfort is the name of the game and if that’s

the case then there is no better location than, 25hours Hotel Terminus Nord.

I can’t stress how much I loved the hotel.

My last trip to Paris had a nightmare beginning. I stepped off the Eurostar and got lost in the Metro system due to the station nearest to my hotel being closed.

I was fobbed by all and sundry in my attempt to speak French and ask for directions and this was close to midnight during the week in a pre-smartphone era, so please, save your digitally underpinned condemnation.

Had I been staying at the 25hours Hotel Terminus Nord, it would never have happened. It’s BANG, SMACK, opposite the Paris Gare du Nord.

PERFECT LOCATION: 25hours Hotel Terminus Nord is opposite Paris Gard du Nord; left, the Sape Bar serves great cocktails

the hotel’s efforts to represent the confluence of its locality.

Inspired by the Parisian atmosphere of the 10th arrondissement, the lifestyle in this exuberant district with its inhabitants from all corners of the world was a leitmotif for the design of the 25hours Hotel Terminus Nord.

For a long time, this burgeoning district was simply a multicultural workers’ quarter right in the centre of the city.

The area belonged to the “petits gens”, the little people.

Immigrants from north Africa, India or China characterise the urban landscape even today with their restaurants and shops.

The Sape Bar takes its name and inspiration from the just-asstriking and elegantly-clothed Africans of the time, whose outfits were in sharp contrast to their actual living conditions.

It’s a nice touch and overall a great place to stay with friends or the family. l See more info on our website

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36 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Arts

Lifestyle

DISCOVERING PARIS NOIR The French capital is home to a rich African and Caribbean cultural scene.

By Joel Campbell

I

WOULDN’T want to spoil the experience for you, so do me a favour. If you want a more indepth understanding about the contribution the different African and Caribbean communities have made to France’s capital city, book a tour with Le Paris Noir, created by Kévi Donat, a Parisian guide since 2011.

Following Donat’s extensive and highly informative session, which saw us traverse between the Pigalle district and the Goutte d’Or neighbourhood, my group ended up at Little Africa Village, where we met founder and CEO Jacqueline Ngo Mpii.

The venue is a multidisciplinary space that brings together the world’s African diasporas from Paris.

I was fortunate enough to see the last day of an exhibition called Birthmark, curated by Popout Together and featuring works from artists Ketsia, Akil Carter, and Véronique Gonçalves.

United by a shared exploration of pigment, colour and identity, Birthmark embodied the core of Popout Together, a community that empowers artists to stamp their unique imprint on the world.

It was a welcome experience. It’s what the venue is for.

Listening to Mpii speak on why she created the wonderfully diverse space at Little Africa Village was inspiring.

A video of Mpii detailing her journey can be found on our website.

Born in Cameroon and raised in

IDENTITY: Jacqueline Ngo Mpii, founder of Little Africa Village; above, Kévi Donat created Le Paris Noir; left, the Birthmark exhibition curated by Popout Together France, Mpii is widely recognised as a cultural ambassador, curator, publisher and philanthropist.

She’s also the author of Afrique À Paris, a cultural and practical guide that takes you on a journey through neighbourhoods, restaurants, public transportation, boutiques, and unique stories. These are the places and spaces owned and run by Black people that aren’t always promoted or showcased front and centre in mainstream publications.

Having run Little Africa Village for 10 years, Mpii shared her early intentions.

“The vision for the company was always to connect the diaspora and also to educate the world as to what the

diaspora is. It came out of two big trips I took, one was in America – I worked in Disney World, Orlando – and I also went to Mexico.

“The goal was to create a platform where I could share what helps me build my identity as a Black woman in a European country who was not born here. I was born in Cameroon and then I came here so I had the experience of having that immigration title.

“When I came here I was very little, but my sisters were born here, most of my friends are born here who are Afro descendents too, and I wanted to see what it means for them to build their identity and be somehow questioned about their Frenchness but also questioned about

their Africaness.

“So that was the context in which I actually built my concept.

“When I was in Mexico I felt connected when I met Afro Latina descendants there, I felt connected with Black Americans when I was talking to them in America. I also found that a lot of people didn’t know of our presence here in France and Europe, they don’t know about our stories.

So for me, when we talk about Africa it’s important to include the diaspora in the conversation.

“Today, it might seem very obvious

SUPER FOOD FOR THOUGHT TABLE PENJA

FROM THE moment you step into Table Penja, there’s something a little special about the place.

Chef Pierre Siewe opened up the location in October last year. Utilising his near two decades of culinary experience which has seen him work in the Kitchen at the Savoy in London and alongside the chef of ‘bistronomy’, Yves Camdeborde, visitors to his establishment are welcomed by a fusion of African, French and quintessential Parisian cuisine.

An expert in gastronomy, Siewe’s cuisine focuses mostly on the quality of rare ingredients from Africa, unknown even to the greatest French chefs. Those among us with active taste buds will detect his signature use of djansang, pebe, turmeric and the famous Penja pepper, as well as ingredients hibiscus, yam and cocoa.

My experience there saw me navigate a few courses which were kicked-off with a voandzou hummus, guava and tamarind compote, followed by pureed yams, topped with black olives, then there was some stuffed cabbage with pumpkin seeds, cashew cream and vegetable pickles, which for the record, was mighty tasty.

For the main, the group chose between poached and seared octopus tentacle, spiced hollandaise sauce with bongo, vegetable chili, and sweet potato purée, and stuffed saddle of lamb with djansan paste and sorrel, fonio risotto style, veal jus.

Dessert came in the form of a light Ducey cream, bitter kola jelly, exotic fruits, and green peppercorn ice cream.

The food was very different to what I am used to and the À la carte fine dining experience left me yearning for more. But all in all, a great way to spend some quality time appreciating what Black Paris has to offer.

KUTI

FOR A more rustic eating experience, devoid of anything close to À la carte fine dining, you can’t go wrong with a meal at Kuti’s.

I went into this establishment very hungry.

I came out very full.

The Lobaye (peanut sauce, yellow rice, fresh spinach, fried plantain, Penja pepper) which I dived into was just what the doctor ordered following a couple of hours of walking through the Pigalle area.

Run by Antoine, his restaurant is inspired by the legacy of Fela Kuti, the legendary pioneer of Afrobeat, whose music and activism celebrated Black identity, freedom, and cultural pride.

It’s also brought together by the proprietor’s own journey which has seen him travel across Africa sampling foods he felt would compliment each other.

because the diaspora is everywhere, it’s kind of trendy, but 10 or 15 years ago it wasn’t the case. When we talked about Africa, it was just a continent, the diaspora was something else. It was Black Americans or Caribbeans, or AfroLatina, that was another thing.

“Today, I feel like there is a global identification around the word diaspora or Afro descendent.

“That is the context from which I created the platform. The platform literally helped me to highlight everything that could help me connect with my culture.”

Joel Campbell takes us on a culinary journey It’s a cute spot. I don’t drink gin but was drawn to the Penja Wanda (Pendja pepper infused gin, lemon and basil), which I have to say was delicious. Highly recommended.

Meat eaters are catered for and, while it would have been nice to see a fish dish offered on the menu, the vegetarian options were excellent.

It’s good wholesome food cooked with care. The place was full when we got there and I am told the lunch time period makes for a roaring trade.

The group I was with spoke glowingly of the Masa dishes (homemade Nigerian rice pancakes), a house speciality and variations of which I saw repeatedly ordered by other tables while I was there.

There really wasn’t room for any more but we all managed to share a few banana and chocolate Beignets, In a word, divine.

Definitely a spot for your consideration.

MAY 2025 THE VOICE | 37

Lifestyle

Music

ETERNALLY GRATEFUL!

R&B supergroup Eternal are back after a lengthy hiatus. But there’s no disputing it is well worth the wait. By Joel Campbell

O

RIGINALLY FORMED in 1992, Eternal rose to fame throughout the ‘90s with hits including Stay and Just A Step From Heaven.

Their 1997 gospel-inspired song I Wanna Be the Only One topped the UK singles chart, as well as winning them the 1997 Mobo Award and Capital FM Award for Best Single.

The R&B group dominated UK pop culture throughout the decade and achieved international success, selling around 10 million records worldwide, as well as garnering critical acclaim, receiving seven BRIT Award nominations.

They’re back! Well, sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett are back, accompanied by ‘new girl’ Christel Lakhdar.

Stalwart fans will remember the original group also included Kéllé Bryan and Louise Redknapp.

Things have changed, however, and, following a lengthy hiatus where the Bennett duo simply enjoyed being mothers and life in general away from the spotlight, they are eager to provide their fervent fans with yet more lasting musical memories.

While some groups experience success, fade away and never get to have another moment in the sun, Easther says she was in no doubt, even after time away, they could return to the fore one day.

“I don’t see why not. Do you know what, there’s an era, and there’s a time for everything.

“With transitions as young women at the time, it was a career-based road for us.

“Then some settled down, some got married, some of us had kids and you’re moving into another transition. So naturally, when the kids come along, your focus is on your kids.

“Once you’ve nurtured them and got them in the right direction and they’re now in college or sixth form, or uni, you think? Oh, I can breathe.

“Let’s see what’s out there. Let’s see what’s next for me as a woman who has ambition and who has so much more to give.”

H a v i n g appeared at a number of UK

festivals, Eternal’s first official UK headline show in over a decade took place at Scala in London last month.

Backed by a full live band, it was the first opportunity for many UK fans to see Lakhdar perform alongside Easther and Vernie.

Ahead of the gig, Lakhdar told Lifestyle what it meant to her to be performing as part of the group.

“I want to thank firstly Easther and Vernie, because they opened their arms to me.

“I’m the new girl. It could have not been easy, but it is, they’re making space for me. They’re very loving, very helpful.”

She added: “So I want to thank them both, the whole team and the fans, because they’ve been very kind, they are lovely fans, and I’m very happy to be part of the team and the family now.”

Lakhdar says she knew about Eternal but didn’t know the band’s music resonated so far and wide.

“I used to listen to Eternal a lot here in Paris. So when I heard that it was back I was very happy, and when I entered the group I was double happy.”

She added: “It’s really nice to see the crowd still enjoy it, even in France. I was actually surprised to see how much people loved Eternal here in France, because I didn’t know.

“All around me people were like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s amazing! It’s crazy! I love this song’ and blah blah. So it was really nice to see.”

Speaking directly to their fanbase, Easther heaped praise on the way Lakhdar has been embraced since she began performing with the group.

Sharing her joy on working with the artist, she enthused: “Thank you for welcoming Chris, just with open arms.

“It’s refreshing to see how they’ve supported her as a person and as a new member, and even with

AS GOOD AS EVER: Christel Lakhdar, Easther Bennett and Vernie Bennett are wowing the fans on Eternal’s return the things that she does behind the scenes. She has her own projects which she’s thriving in, and they are supporting.

“So, thank you for supporting Chris, because you know Eternal, yes, Easther and Vernie, but you know we’ve brought this new person in, and she is always there.

She is ready. She is willing.

“She just turns up and turns out.

We’re pleased to have her, and we’re pleased that everyone has shown us their love for her as well.”

Eternal boast a number of incredible accolades including producing 15 top 20 UK hits between 1993 and 1999 and their debut album Always & Forever reaching four times platinum.

Their success even saw them travel to the Vatican in 1995 to perform their song I Am Blessed for Pope John Paul II. It was a busy period in their lives, a time which could see them promoting music in three or four countries in one day.

They are thankful for the advancements in technology which allow them to work a little smarter without the taxing physical demands, but also they appreciate that things were very different during their pomp.

Watch the full interview online to see whether or not they feel they have received their due flowers. This journalist doesn’t feel they have, but maybe this leg of the journey is where they pick them up?

38 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

TOP SPORTS COVERAGE 24/7 VOICE-ONLINE.CO.UK/SPORT

OF SPORT NEWSPAPER

MAY 2025 | THE VOICE

IT’S A GOAL FOR GIRLS!

Charity aiming to put young women from undeserved backgrounds in a winning position.

By Rodney Hinds

G

OALS 4 Girls, a pioneering charity committed to empowering young women from underserved backgrounds, launched an ambitious new strategy at a landmark event held at Adidas HQ, Herbal House, London, on April 3.

Hosted by Sarah Hannah, Chair of the Board, and Francesca Brown, CEO of Goals 4 Girls, the event showcased the charity’s renewed dedication to bridging the widening gap between the rapid commercial growth of women’s football and insufficient strategic investment at grassroots level.

Hannah emphasised the urgency of action: “At a time when women’s football is experiencing exponential growth, we have a responsibility to ensure that no girl is left behind. Our renewed strategy is all about creating equal opportunities, nurturing talent, and empowering the next generation of girls through football, mentorship and education.”

The updated strategy explicitly targets girls and young women from underserved communities, using football as a tool to foster personal growth, educational

WINNING STRATEGY: Goals 4 Girls Development Centre participants; inset right, CEO Francesca Brown

advancement and emotional resilience.

By addressing persistent inequalities and rising mental health challenges facing young women today, the charity aims to create lasting positive change.

Highlighting the stark realities faced by charities like Goals 4 Girls, CEO Francesca Brown commented: “In the UK, just two per cent of charities dedicated to women and girls receive funding, and even fewer of those are female-led sports charities. Goals 4 Girls

is uniquely positioned to change this narrative. As the only charity blending sport, mental wellbeing, and personal development holistically for girls and young women, our new strategy raises ambition, removes barriers and ensures every girl, irrespective of her background, has the opportunity to thrive — not just in sport, but in life.”

With an ambitious vision for longterm impact, Goals 4 Girls will expand the reach and depth of their programmes across the UK, strengthen their financial

sustainability and build an expert-led organisation equipped to scale effectively.

Goals 4 Girls is actively seeking visionary sponsors and committed donors to join their mission.

Together with current partners like Adidas, sponsors, and a vibrant community of changemakers, the charity is poised to drive transformative change and create pathways of opportunity and hope for girls nationwide. l To donate: Join Goals 4 Girls in Raising £100k Challenge – JustGiving

LIONESSES TO FACE REGGAE GIRLZ FOR EUROS SEND-OFF

By Rodney Hinds

ENGLAND will play Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz in Leicester for their final fixture before heading to UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 in Switzerland.

The first-ever meeting between the Lionesses and the Reggae Girlz will take place at the home of Leicester City at 5pm on June 29.

Jamaica, led by Manchester City striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, made headlines after their impressive performance at the 2023 FIFA World Cup after progressing to the knockout stage for the first time in their history, having eliminated Brazil in the group stage. They have among

their number the experienced Spurs player Drew Spence.

The fixture will form part of the Lionesses’ pre-tournament preparation, falling a week before the 2022 EURO champions’ opening game of the finals in Switzerland. It will be the second time the team have played at the East Midlands venue, after a soldout fixture against Belgium during the 2023 UEFA Nations League campaign ended in a 1-0 victory to the home side.

England manager Sarina Wiegman said: “I am really pleased to be able to play a good game to finalise our EUROs preparations on English soil.

“Jamaica will be a difficult test,

EXPERIENCE: Drew Spence they’re a nation we haven’t faced before and a real opportunity for us to keep learning and growing as a team.

“They are building as a team themselves and have been doing

really well, especially at the last World Cup. It will be a special occasion and atmosphere in a great stadium which we have performed well at in the past.

“We will do our best to put on a good performance and make it a memorable send-off moment for both the team and the fans.

There will only be one week until our opening match against France in Zurich so this is an important milestone in our preparation.

“We have faced some really tough opposition recently and have learnt so much as a team.

“We still need to focus on the remaining fixtures in the Nations League with our final game against Portugal at Wembley followed by

a trip to Barcelona to face Spain.

These will be challenging fixtures and we’ll continue the hard work right through until the competition starts.”

England were drawn in Group D for EURO 2025, with their opening match in Zurich against France on July 5, followed by a clash against the Netherlands on July 9 in the same venue and finishing the group stage with a meeting against Wales on July 13 in St Gallen.

The Lionesses will next be in action against Portugal at Wembley Stadium connected by EE on May 30. The conclusion of the competition takes place away to Spain in Barcelona on June 3.

MAY 2025 THE VOICE | 39

Sport

ROLAND’S RALLYING CALL

England’s first Black Test player urging West Indies fans to get behind their team. By Rodney Hinds

R

OLAND Butcher, the first Black player to play Test cricket for England, has called for West Indies fans to get behind the Caribbean outfit when they play at Edgbaston next month.

They play each other in a oneday international (ODI) series which gets underway at Edgbaston in Birmingham, the spiritual Midlands home for the Windies.

Butcher has fond memories of the ground and implored fans to witness the action live. Butcher, told Voice Online: “I’d hope they come out and support the game because it’s probably the only time we’ll get to see West Indies in this part of the world this year.

“It’s a one-off, they should take the opportunity to come out and support the team and support the game.

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Butcher continued: “Experiences for me at Edgbaston have been very good. Edgbaston is where I played my first game

for England, which was an ODI against Australia. It was a fantastic atmosphere, the ground was absolutely packed to the rafters, and the fact I actually did pretty well was memorable.

“I got 52 which became a world record because it became the fastest 50 ODI in cricket by a debutant. That was in 1980, and that record was not broken until 2021, so that’s 41 years that record was held. So, yes, Edgbaston has some great memories for me. I also remember some great contests with South Africa’s Alan McDonald at Edgbaston.

“It’s a great place to play cricket, I really hope the West Indian community come out and fill the ground and have a great day.”

Butcher, who is on the brink of launching his new book, Breaking Barriers; From Barbados to England…And Back, will have mixed emotions during the ODI series. Just where does his allegiance lie?

“That is a very good question! Obviously, I look forward to the clash, because they’re two great cricketing nations playing against each other.

“From the old colonial days, England were the masters.

The West Indies have obviously changed that narrative over the years, certainly on the cricket field. It is a rivalry that’s been going on for a very long time.

“When they play, it is a difficult time for me, as much as I love the game of cricket. A lot of the time when they have played I have been part of the commentary team, which is probably the easiest part, because when I’m a commentator, I have to remain neutral, I’m neither English nor West Indian.

“That’s the easy part, and when they play, that’s perhaps the best place for me to be, in the commentary box.

“As a spectator, it really is difficult, because on the one hand, you’ve got the West Indies, my ICONIC: Kia Oval in London

RIVALS: England will face the West Indies in a one-day international series

ODI FIXTURES May 29: England v West Indies Edgbaston, Birmingham June 1: England v West Indies Sophia Gardens, Cardiff June 3: England v West Indies Kia Oval, London

home, that’s where we originated from for centuries. That is something that is embedded and cannot be taken out.

“I’m not longing for England to win, or longing for West Indies to win, because of my connection, I just try to enjoy the game, hope it’s good cricket, and the best team comes out on top.”

Butcher’s new book launch will be something of a roadshow. “I’m in Leicester, Trent Bridge, Chesterfield, we’re talking to Yorkshire right now, Headingley. There will be lots going on in the Midlands, it’s going to be a very hectic second half of the year, I can tell you.

“I’ve got launches in Bristol, The Oval, and Lord’s, I’m all over the place, so it’s all good.”

England will face West Indies for the 2025 One Day International. Keith Prowse are the official provider of hospitality to Edgbaston Stadium.

With Edgbaston Stadium having an atmosphere unlike anywhere else in the world, this headto-head could be another one for the record books.

This is a day-night fixture, so get ready for a jam-packed day at the cricket! l www.keithprowse.co.uk

40 | THE VOICE MAY 2025

Sport

THE UNITY CUP 2025: A VERY SPECIAL VIBE

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HEN the Unity Cup kicks off next month it will be about much more than football as Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago will face each other in a unique competition.

The quartet of nations will compete for silverware and most importantly pride as they go head-to-head at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium on May 27, 28 and 31.

Afrosport will stage the matches and executive director, Andy Howes, told the Voice of Sport that the upcoming matches will provide a very special vibe.

He said: This tournament is definitely beyond sport. The event lends itself to something different than what you might get at a top Premier League game.

“There’s a cultural aspect to this, an entertainment aspect, a different demographic that doesn’t normally go to Premier League games.

“There will be a passion, fun and vibrancy that makes this a real standout cultural moment that draws in, not just fans from the competing nations, but fans across all sectors of the community; they see that this is an occasion that they want to experience and partake in.”

The Unity Cup has been

Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago will face each other in a unique face-off.

By Rodney Hinds missing from the sports calendar for two decades but that hiatus has not dimmed interest.

Howes adds: “The vibe is that this is something that, although it hasn’t been played for 21 years, has resonated with the community and across the world. There are many fond memories of the past Unity Cups. The interest we’ve been getting from Ghana, Nigeria, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, has

“There will be a passion, fun and vibrancy that makes this a real standout cultural moment that draws in fans across all sectors of the community”

been beyond our expectations. I also think there is a serious appeal to a new, younger demographic who maybe have heard about this or just are attracted by the mix of teams, the cultural mix, the players that will be taking part, the Premier League stars, some of whom are household names.

There is just a huge amount of appeal in the community, and a lot of excitement.

“A lot of the marketing and discussion around this has been organic, people just engaging with the event and a lot of podcasts, discussion, independent of anything that we’ve generated. It has been very well embraced and received by the community.

“We wanted to relaunch this prior to Covid, but obviously that was not possible, but we were very keen to do it this year, given that 2026 is a World Cup year, and we wanted just to be ready for that.” l Visit: www.unitycup2025.com -

Box Office: 0333 005 8521 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm)

HISTORIC VICTORY: Nigeria were the winners of the inaugural Unity Cup in 2002 – captain Jay-Jay Okocha receives the trophy from Rotimi Pedro, Director of AfroSport; left, Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium will host the tournament