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Earth Day 2023: 15 Books on Refugeeism and the Climate Crisis – Race Archive

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Taking Up (Green) Space: How people of colour are embracing Scotland’s outdoors – The Skinny

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The great outdoors is for everyone – not just white folks. We speak to people of colour-led organisations about connecting with and building community within nature.

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Information

For more information on the content of each event, please read the 'FULL EVENT DETAILS' next section further below.

Kids are welcome to participate during the day! However, please note that the venue bar will be open to the general public from 2pm onwards, and so there may be alcohol in the space.

Ethereal Bliss | thiaStudios Art Exhibition: (don't need to book)
View the exhibition anytime between 11am - 12pm (quiet hour), and 2pm - 5pm.

Art of Disruption zine launch | No Permission Needed issue 03 (please book)
12.30pm - 1.30pm

Drop in arts and crafts (don't need to book)
2pm - 5pm

Live music (please book)
7pm - 10.30pm

*

Want to get involved?
If you'd like to volunteer at the festival please fill in our form https://forms.gle/HcqSmj1jEhx7iWn38

Venue Accessibility
The venue is wheelchair accessible, with accessible toilets.

ETHEREAL BLISS | thiaStudios Art Exhibition:
View the exhibition anytime between 11am - 12pm (quiet hour), and 2pm - 5pm.

We have a quiet hour between 11am - 12pm. During this time there will be a reduced number of people in the space and no music playing. If you would benefit from a quieter, calmer experience, we suggest coming to view the exhibition then!

Drop in to see the exhibition between 2pm - 5pm. During this time there will also be arts and crafts, and other activities happening that you are welcome to join!

*
About thiaStudios and the Ethereal Bliss Exhibition:
Quinthia Nsema (the artist behind thiaStudios) is a Congolese artist born and raised in South Africa, now based in Glasgow, Scotland. She is studying Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. thiaStudios serves as a platform to showcase her artistic and architectural skills.

From a young age, art has been both a form of escape and therapy for Quinthia. Initially, during the early stage of her career, Quinthia focused on perfecting traditional techniques. Since then, Quinthia has shifted towards unlearning conventional methods to discover her personal art style - which can be experienced in her 'Ethereal Bliss' exhibition.

Art of Disruption zine launch | No Permission Needed issue 03 (please book)
12.30pm - 1.30pm

Join us for the launch of No Permission Needed Zine issue 03, The Art of Disruption, and be among the first to receive a copy!

Two of the No Permission Needed editors, Hazel and Pooja, will be discussing the newest zine. Together, they will dig into the theme of 'Art of Disruption', and reflect on the process of bringing the publication to life. There will also be time for questions from the audience!

DROP IN ARTS AND CRAFTS (don't need to book)
2pm - 5pm

Come get artsy with us! Drop in between 2pm - 5pm for free arts and crafts, or just come enjoy the space with us :)

There will be painting, collage making, clothes customising, and a clothes swap bucket.

*
To participate in the clothes customising and/or the clothes swap, please bring a garment you want to customise or swap. There is no sewing required for the clothes customising. We will have a variety of tools available for you to cut, customise, and adorn your garment(s).

Please note that the clothes swap bucket depends on what clothes your fellow festival attendees bring. We can't guarantee that you will be able to swap anything.

Kids are welcome to participate in the arts and crafts! However, please note that the venue bar will be open to the general public from 2pm onwards, and so there may be alcohol in the space.

We're closing off the festival with a night of live music in collaboration with Hiphop Scotland.
Our line-up includes:

Trisha: a singer-songwriter and producer exploring Neo-soul and alternative indie sounds and atmospheric vocals.

A.K.A. Prince: combines captivating lyricism with psychedelic production, creating an unforgettable experience. The 24 year old Glasgow rapper's high energy performances transport audiences to the vibrant and colourful dimensions of his creative mind.

Rose Chrissy: born and raised in Glasgow, Rosé Chrissy is a fierce new voice on the rap scene. Fuelled and inspired by female empowerment, her music is a means for her to not only entertain, but inspire women to be confident within themselves.

Kozyeli: An artist slowly making her debut in the Scottish music scene. Be ready to bop your head and stiff hip to some hip hop and jersey beats, accompanied with fun rhymes and melodies.

AiiTee: is a Nigerian-born singer songwriter based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Her style is a unique blend of Afrobeat, Soul, Gospel and R&B. She started releasing music at the start of 2020 and has seen her music grow from strength to strength.

Want to get involved?
If you'd like to volunteer at the festival please fill in our form https://forms.gle/HcqSmj1jEhx7iWn38

Venue Accessibility
The venue is wheelchair accessible, with accessible toilets.

About the organisers, No Permission Needed Zine:
No Permission Needed (NPN) is a collective dedicated to celebrating the cultures, creativity, and experiences of Black and People of Colour (BPoC) in Scotland.
Throughout the year, we host creative events with the aim to facilitate connections between BPoC in Scotland.
We also produce an annual print and online zine (magazine) that collects the work of BPoC from across Scotland. Our zine's are little bundles of beauty, filled with artwork, articles and essays, poetry and photography.

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Join us for a day of art, music, and fun! Full event details are listed further down this page. Everything is FREE / pay-what-you-can. If you are coming for the zine launch, and or the live music, please book a ticket below.

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Mixed Messages | Isabella Silvers | Substack

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A weekly newsletter all about the mixed-race experience, with interviews by Isabella Silvers (White British and Punjabi). Click to read Mixed Messages, by Isabella Silvers, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

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Who is this programme for?

The Building Racial Literacy programme is open to all educators in Scotland. The programme is for those interested in becoming anti-racist educators and leaders, those seeking to build their confidence in discussing and challenging racism and those who need help identifying and implementing anti-racist behaviours and processes in their everyday practice.

Due to the high volume of applications anticipated for this fourth cohort, applications from nationally-identified priority groups will be accepted first. However, all applications will be considered. The priority groups include:

We welcome educators at different stages of their anti-racist learning.

General expectations for participants

The Building Racial Literacy professional learning programme is delivered entirely online through the Education Scotland website, online events are hosted on Microsoft Teams and the collaborative platform Slack.

Participants on this national programme are expected to:

By completing this programme, you will:

build your racial literacy. In particular, start learning about the nuances of racism and anti-racism (with the language to name it) and build the skills to continue this learning long after the programme is over

begin developing the skills, confidence and resilience to engage in racial dialogue

develop a personalised action plan to lead anti-racist change

You will also receive a certificate of completion.

Applying for the programme

Applications for Cohort 4 have now closed. To sign up for updates and information about future cohorts or Building Racial Literacy linked events, please complete the Building Racial Literacy Future Sessions MS Form.

If you have any questions about this programme and the application process, please contact us.

How is the programme delivered?

Once you are registered on the Building Racial Literacy programme, you will be able to access the programme area by logging in. From there, you will be able to see and complete the programme tasks. The programme tasks require you to:

1. Read/listen/watch/reflect using the programme area and your reflective journal

2. Post your responses to tasks on Slack in your private channels

3. Collaborate on Slack by commenting on the task responses of the peers in your private channels.

The additional online learning will take place during programme events such as twilight webinars. You will be sent instructions to join these online events on Microsoft Teams.

Whilst learning online, we expect participants to:

work independently and in a self-directed manner

get in touch with the Programme Leads Facilitators and/or Anti-Racist Buddies if additional support is required

devote appropriate time to the programme (excluding programme events, spend at least six hours on self-directed learning)

read, listen to and watch relevant texts and find out more about anti-racism in education

develop or enhance the skills of critical thinking and reflection

post responses to programme tasks on Slack and comment on group members' responses

have a reliable computer and broadband internet access

work with computers, including using the internet to access Slack and Microsoft Teams for programme events.

What are the benefits?

The Building Racial Literacy programme creates safer, braver spaces for learning, not for blame, where honest and open discussions allow educators to collaborative, reflect, grow and experience truly transformative and life-changing professional learning. The support available on the programme is unique as the wellbeing of participants centred throughout the programme.

Past participants rated the networking opportunities and quality of learning on the programme as excellent.

Participants' feedback and evaluation of the programme to date has been overwhelmingly positive, with the majority feeling:

more confident to talk about and deal with racism,

eager to continue deepening their increased understanding of racism,

inspired and motivated to commit to anti-racist action in their different settings,

supported by the programme and its newly formed learning networks.

White majority ethnic educators and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic educators were challenged and supported throughout the programme. Several participants have shared their experiences of the programme:

1. My Experience of Building Racial Literacy blog by Rukhsana Ali : Rukhsana is a primary teacher who felt the programme helped build her confidence to apply for an Education Officer post.

2. Building Racial Literacy blog by Emma Walters: Emma is a secondary teacher who explains how the programme had a liberating impact on both herself and her learners.

3. Decolonising the Curriculum blog by Angel Hinkley : Angel discusses exploring positive narratives that challenge assumptions, empower learners and inspire unity.

The programme also has a poem titled Seeds of Antiracist Education composed by Tawona Sithole. The poem solidifies the importance of the programme and the benefits it brings. A spoken-word performance of the poem is available on YouTube.

The inspirational and transformative nature of the Building Racial Literacy programme was highlighted in Cohort 1 participants' evaluation of programme:

"Challenging, powerful, uncomfortable learning. It has been the most valuable experience of my career."

"I am more confident in leading others to become racially literate. More knowledgeable about where to get resources and information for myself and others to support anti-racist change. I feel more able to tackle courageous conversations with staff and parents."

"The BRL programme, has been by far, THE best CPD I have ever attended. Not just the content but the actual structure, support, ease of access, pace, rhythm, signposting, platforms used etc."

"Completely life changing. I feel that the blinkers have been taken off. I hope that I am more switched on to racial micro-aggressions, unconscious biases etc. I will also be an active bystander now that I am more aware of what to look and listen for. I hope to affect positive change in my school community and local authority. It will be a long process, but one that I am happy to be part of."

"The most valuable lesson that I have learned so far is that I am not alone. I may be the only person of colour in my school but I am part of this huge community of educators who want to make the right change for the young people in our care."

"The content has been expertly selected and has been incredibly powerful. The speakers have been truly inspirational and immensely credible. The tasks have helped me to formulate my own response to the materials provided, which have been extensive and intelligently curated. Caters well for white and Black participants."

More experiences of the programme can be found on social media under the hashtag #EdScotBRL

Duration and key dates

The programme runs for five months.

Cohort 4 dates

Welcome Webinar (Recommended): 30th October (4pm)

Induction Part 1: Monday 13th November (2pm to 5pm)

Induction Part 2: Thursday 23rd November (2pm to 5pm)

Webinar 1: Monday 4th December (4pm to 5:30pm)

Webinar 2: Monday 22nd January (4pm to 5:30pm)

Webinar 3: Tuesday 6th February (4pm to 5:30pm)

Sharing the Learning Summit: Friday 15th March (9am to 4pm)

An optional smaller, in-person induction for the nationally-identified priority group, headteachers may be offered.

Funding and costs

As the Professional Learning and Leadership Team is currently funded to develop a suite of programmes, and the Building Racial Literacy programme is also funded by the Scottish Government's Anti-Racism in Education Programme. Participation in the Building Racial Literacy programme is free of charge. There is no funding available to cover costs.

What is racial literacy

By racial literacy, the Building Racial Literacy programme refers primarily to France Winddance Twine's definition as 'a form of anti-racist training' with:

a recognition of racism as a contemporary, not just historical, problem

a consideration of intersectionality (the ways racism intersects with other factors such as class and gender)

the development of language to discuss race, racism and anti-racism

the ability to decode race and racial micro-aggressions.

How the programme has been developed

The programme development follows a process of collaborative programme design and ongoing review cycles with different types of engagement and partners.

Design partners

The programme prototype was designed in partnership with members of the Education Leadership and Professional workstream of the AREP, as well as anti-racist organisations and training providers including the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), the Scottish Association for Minority Ethnic Educators (SAMEE), Scotdec, the Third Generation Project, the University of West of Scotland and Education Scotland.

The design partners collaborate to design professional learning experiences for educators, planning for recruitment, evaluation, communication and sustainability of the Building Racial Literacy programme. Partners are encouraged to collaborate for several iterations of the programme, until there is more capacity in the system to deliver the programme more widely.

Content creation partners

Content creation partners are invited at different stages of the programme development to create content that is used in the Building Racial Literacy programme. Content includes learning activities during programme events as well as online learning and reflective activities using a variety of texts, such as short video and audio clips.

Content review partners

Content review partners quality assure the content created and improve the design of each learning experience in the Building Racial Literacy programme. Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament have been involved in creating and reviewing content. Content review partners could equally become Facilitators and Anti-Racist Buddies supporting programme participants. Content review partners can include:

Education Scotland have created an i nterim evaluation report of the Building Racial Literacy programme. External evaluation is being planned to capture the medium and longer-term impacts of the programme.

Delivery partners

During live programme events delivery partners are required to facilitate different learning activities. Due to the sensitive and emotive nature of racial dialogue, careful consideration needs to be given to facilitation. This will ensure that safer spaces are created for white people and for people of colour/ Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people with lived experiences of racism. Delivery partners can include:

Education Scotland Lead Specialists

interested design partners with experience of facilitating professional learning

external facilitators with experience of facilitating anti-racist professional learning

qualified counsellors to support any participants for whom the programme content may trigger racial trauma and emotional distress

BRL alumni who apply to support delivery and successfully complete relevant training.

Who is this programme for?

The Building Racial Literacy programme is open to all educators in Scotland. The programme is for those interested in becoming anti-racist educators and leaders, those seeking to build their confidence in discussing and challenging racism and those who need help identifying and implementing anti-racist behaviours and processes in their everyday practice.

Due to the high volume of applications anticipated for this fourth cohort, applications from nationally-identified priority groups will be accepted first. However, all applications will be considered. The priority groups include:

We welcome educators at different stages of their anti-racist learning.

General expectations for participants

The Building Racial Literacy professional learning programme is delivered entirely online through the Education Scotland website, online events are hosted on Microsoft Teams and the collaborative platform Slack.

Participants on this national programme are expected to:

By completing this programme, you will:

build your racial literacy. In particular, start learning about the nuances of racism and anti-racism (with the language to name it) and build the skills to continue this learning long after the programme is over

begin developing the skills, confidence and resilience to engage in racial dialogue

develop a personalised action plan to lead anti-racist change

You will also receive a certificate of completion.

Applying for the programme

Applications for Cohort 4 have now closed. To sign up for updates and information about future cohorts or Building Racial Literacy linked events, please complete the Building Racial Literacy Future Sessions MS Form.

If you have any questions about this programme and the application process, please contact us.

How is the programme delivered?

Once you are registered on the Building Racial Literacy programme, you will be able to access the programme area by logging in. From there, you will be able to see and complete the programme tasks. The programme tasks require you to:

1. Read/listen/watch/reflect using the programme area and your reflective journal

2. Post your responses to tasks on Slack in your private channels

3. Collaborate on Slack by commenting on the task responses of the peers in your private channels.

The additional online learning will take place during programme events such as twilight webinars. You will be sent instructions to join these online events on Microsoft Teams.

Whilst learning online, we expect participants to:

work independently and in a self-directed manner

get in touch with the Programme Leads Facilitators and/or Anti-Racist Buddies if additional support is required

devote appropriate time to the programme (excluding programme events, spend at least six hours on self-directed learning)

read, listen to and watch relevant texts and find out more about anti-racism in education

develop or enhance the skills of critical thinking and reflection

post responses to programme tasks on Slack and comment on group members' responses

have a reliable computer and broadband internet access

work with computers, including using the internet to access Slack and Microsoft Teams for programme events.

What are the benefits?

The Building Racial Literacy programme creates safer, braver spaces for learning, not for blame, where honest and open discussions allow educators to collaborative, reflect, grow and experience truly transformative and life-changing professional learning. The support available on the programme is unique as the wellbeing of participants centred throughout the programme.

Past participants rated the networking opportunities and quality of learning on the programme as excellent.

Participants' feedback and evaluation of the programme to date has been overwhelmingly positive, with the majority feeling:

more confident to talk about and deal with racism,

eager to continue deepening their increased understanding of racism,

inspired and motivated to commit to anti-racist action in their different settings,

supported by the programme and its newly formed learning networks.

White majority ethnic educators and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic educators were challenged and supported throughout the programme. Several participants have shared their experiences of the programme:

1. My Experience of Building Racial Literacy blog by Rukhsana Ali : Rukhsana is a primary teacher who felt the programme helped build her confidence to apply for an Education Officer post.

2. Building Racial Literacy blog by Emma Walters: Emma is a secondary teacher who explains how the programme had a liberating impact on both herself and her learners.

3. Decolonising the Curriculum blog by Angel Hinkley : Angel discusses exploring positive narratives that challenge assumptions, empower learners and inspire unity.

The programme also has a poem titled Seeds of Antiracist Education composed by Tawona Sithole. The poem solidifies the importance of the programme and the benefits it brings. A spoken-word performance of the poem is available on YouTube.

The inspirational and transformative nature of the Building Racial Literacy programme was highlighted in Cohort 1 participants' evaluation of programme:

"Challenging, powerful, uncomfortable learning. It has been the most valuable experience of my career."

"I am more confident in leading others to become racially literate. More knowledgeable about where to get resources and information for myself and others to support anti-racist change. I feel more able to tackle courageous conversations with staff and parents."

"The BRL programme, has been by far, THE best CPD I have ever attended. Not just the content but the actual structure, support, ease of access, pace, rhythm, signposting, platforms used etc."

"Completely life changing. I feel that the blinkers have been taken off. I hope that I am more switched on to racial micro-aggressions, unconscious biases etc. I will also be an active bystander now that I am more aware of what to look and listen for. I hope to affect positive change in my school community and local authority. It will be a long process, but one that I am happy to be part of."

"The most valuable lesson that I have learned so far is that I am not alone. I may be the only person of colour in my school but I am part of this huge community of educators who want to make the right change for the young people in our care."

"The content has been expertly selected and has been incredibly powerful. The speakers have been truly inspirational and immensely credible. The tasks have helped me to formulate my own response to the materials provided, which have been extensive and intelligently curated. Caters well for white and Black participants."

More experiences of the programme can be found on social media under the hashtag #EdScotBRL

Duration and key dates

The programme runs for five months.

Cohort 4 dates

Welcome Webinar (Recommended): 30th October (4pm)

Induction Part 1: Monday 13th November (2pm to 5pm)

Induction Part 2: Thursday 23rd November (2pm to 5pm)

Webinar 1: Monday 4th December (4pm to 5:30pm)

Webinar 2: Monday 22nd January (4pm to 5:30pm)

Webinar 3: Tuesday 6th February (4pm to 5:30pm)

Sharing the Learning Summit: Friday 15th March (9am to 4pm)

An optional smaller, in-person induction for the nationally-identified priority group, headteachers may be offered.

Funding and costs

As the Professional Learning and Leadership Team is currently funded to develop a suite of programmes, and the Building Racial Literacy programme is also funded by the Scottish Government's Anti-Racism in Education Programme. Participation in the Building Racial Literacy programme is free of charge. There is no funding available to cover costs.

What is racial literacy

By racial literacy, the Building Racial Literacy programme refers primarily to France Winddance Twine's definition as 'a form of anti-racist training' with:

a recognition of racism as a contemporary, not just historical, problem

a consideration of intersectionality (the ways racism intersects with other factors such as class and gender)

the development of language to discuss race, racism and anti-racism

the ability to decode race and racial micro-aggressions.

How the programme has been developed

The programme development follows a process of collaborative programme design and ongoing review cycles with different types of engagement and partners.

Design partners

The programme prototype was designed in partnership with members of the Education Leadership and Professional workstream of the AREP, as well as anti-racist organisations and training providers including the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), the Scottish Association for Minority Ethnic Educators (SAMEE), Scotdec, the Third Generation Project, the University of West of Scotland and Education Scotland.

The design partners collaborate to design professional learning experiences for educators, planning for recruitment, evaluation, communication and sustainability of the Building Racial Literacy programme. Partners are encouraged to collaborate for several iterations of the programme, until there is more capacity in the system to deliver the programme more widely.

Content creation partners

Content creation partners are invited at different stages of the programme development to create content that is used in the Building Racial Literacy programme. Content includes learning activities during programme events as well as online learning and reflective activities using a variety of texts, such as short video and audio clips.

Content review partners

Content review partners quality assure the content created and improve the design of each learning experience in the Building Racial Literacy programme. Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament have been involved in creating and reviewing content. Content review partners could equally become Facilitators and Anti-Racist Buddies supporting programme participants. Content review partners can include:

Education Scotland have created an i nterim evaluation report of the Building Racial Literacy programme. External evaluation is being planned to capture the medium and longer-term impacts of the programme.

Delivery partners

During live programme events delivery partners are required to facilitate different learning activities. Due to the sensitive and emotive nature of racial dialogue, careful consideration needs to be given to facilitation. This will ensure that safer spaces are created for white people and for people of colour/ Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people with lived experiences of racism. Delivery partners can include:

Education Scotland Lead Specialists

interested design partners with experience of facilitating professional learning

external facilitators with experience of facilitating anti-racist professional learning

qualified counsellors to support any participants for whom the programme content may trigger racial trauma and emotional distress

BRL alumni who apply to support delivery and successfully complete relevant training.

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Education Scotland is a Scottish Government executive agency responsible for supporting quality and improvement in Scottish education.

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Factsheets, Guides, Toolkits​ - Scottish Refugee Council

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Guides, Factsheets and Toolkits Find all our guides, factsheets and toolkits for practitioners Guides Factsheets...

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'Stories' is a newsletter for women of colour, allies, and DEI practitioners interested in creating more inclusive workplaces.

Thousand&One is dedicated to highlighting, advancing, and supporting women of colour in their careers. Our newsletter is delivered to your inbox on the first Tuesday of every month, and covers fresh content by our founders, updates & announcements, resources, and more!

Don't miss out. Sign up to stay in the loop!

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'Stories' is a newsletter for women of colour, allies, and DEI practitioners interested in creating more inclusive workplaces. Thousand&One is dedicated to highlighting, advancing, and supporting women of colour in their careers. Our newsletter is delivered to your inbox on the first Tuesday of every month, and covers fresh content by our founders, updates & announcements, resources, and more!

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Readers of Colour is a thriving community of Women* and Non-binary Readers of Colour who come together to read writing by Women and Non-binary Writers of Colour!

We share our laughter and ideas over discussions about things like that month's reading and community care.

We meet every other month in Edinburgh, Glasgow and online. Here are the all important dates and times:
Online
Last Thursday of the month, 6pm - 7.15pm

2023: 27th September, 30th November

2024: 25th January, 28th March, 30th May, 25th July, 26th September, 28th November
Glasgow
Last Saturday of the month, 2pm - 3.30pm at Glasgow Women's Library

2023: 30th September, 25th November

2024: 27th January, 30th March, 25th May, 27th July, 28th September, 30th November
Edinburgh
Last Wednesday of the month, 18:45 - 8pm at Lighthouse Books

2023: 29th November

2024: 31st January, 27th March, 29th May, 31st July, 25th September, 27th November

Rather than reading whole books together, to keep commitment and cost down, we tend to read/watch/listen to a small focused piece or selection of pieces each month.

While what we are reading might be at the heart of the conversation, often we use it as a jumping off point to discuss our wider thoughts and ideas about the theme. For example, for one session, our 'jumping off' point was folklore by Zora Neale Hurston, and where we jumped to was sharing our favourite fairy tales from our lives. Or, for another session, we read a chapter from Jasleen Kaur's Be Like Teflon about recipes and food, and our conversation shared our favourite food and recipes in our lives.

Recent reads have been:

September 2023 | Excerpt from 'Nevermind', a short story in The Memory Library and Other Stories of Dirty Computer and emotion picture Dirty Computer, both by Janelle Monáe

August 2023 | Memoir None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary by Travis Alabanza

July 2023 | Excerpts available on Granta Digital from People From My Neighbourhood by Hiromi Kawasama and Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

June 2023 | Novel Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden

May 2023 | Essay 'It's Like Candy: The bittersweet salve of social dancing' by Vanessa Kisuule from the anthology edited by Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff and Timi Sotire. Zine, Issue 02 - from No Permission Needed.

April 2023 | Excerpt from Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey. Poems from an/other pastoral by Tjawangwa Dema (who joined us for the online session). Interactive film Before We Disappear by Asmaa Jama.

If you're interested in joining the group but you're not sure what to expect - just come along to a session and listen in, there's no need to talk or take part in the discussion unless you'd like to!

Read more about what we are up to on our blog page here, including book recommendations by group members.

Want to Come Along?

Attendance is free, and the group is a warm space to share ideas, passion for literature, and laughter! To find out more or book, email Lil at lil.green@womenslibrary.org.uk.

*All women-only events are inclusive of Trans and Intersex women, as well as non-binary and gender fluid people who are comfortable in a space that centres the experience of women.

Upcoming events

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Readers of Colour | Glasgow Women's Library

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Readers of Colour is a thriving community of women and non-binary readers of colour who come together to read writing by women and non-binary writers of colour!

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We regularly share updates on our direct project delivery through Instagram: @artrefuge_

Visual artists and art therapists

Our team of artists and art therapists is equipped to deliver dynamic, culturally relevant and responsive programmes in a wide range of contexts across the UK and internationally, with a longstanding history in South Asia. We are currently growing our team of refugee artists in all our programmes. We are skilled at adapting our work to support safe and imaginative spaces for people who have been displaced, including refugees and asylum seekers, both while they are in transit and once they have reached a final destination.

Participatory and collaborative practice

Art Refuge's core ethos is based upon a participatory and collaborative practice informed by decades of individual and collective experience and skills in the visual arts, art therapy, trauma work and psychosocial approaches. Always working in close partnership with local and international government and non-governmental organisations, our work largely takes place within groups and we currently operate on either side of the English Channel in Calais and Folkestone, as well as Paris, London and Bristol.

Training

We provide tailor-made arts-based Psychosocial Training for organisations in the UK and internationally, helping to support other workers on the ground in different contexts. These trainings are offered face-to-face, online and can straddle the two.

Events & exhibitions

We engage in public discourse through our active use of social media as an advocacy platform as well as a place to celebrate people's creative agency; fundraising events; exhibitions; peer-reviewed and other academic writing, presentation of papers at conferences and delivery of arts-based psychosocial training programmes in the UK and internationally.

People

Our work is underpinned by a strong team of Trustees with expertise in art therapy, asylum law, social work with unaccompanied minors, fundraising and communications.

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Art Refuge is a UK based charity, supporting displaced people through art and art therapy since 2006, in the UK and internationally, and offering crisis support and consultation to frontline staff in relation to Covid 19.

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City of Sanctuary - City of Sanctuary UK

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The first minister has confirmed that free bus travel will be provided in Scotland to people seeking asylum.

Humza Yousaf said £2m had been set aside in next year's Budget to pay for the scheme.

The Scottish Greens, who pushed for the move as part of their power-sharing agreement with the SNP government, said it could be "life-saving".

The party said talks would be held with the Home Office as part of the scheme's development.

Campaigners have said free bus travel would help prevent isolation among people in the asylum system, allowing them to more easily attend GPs, solicitors, language lessons and volunteering projects.

People applying for asylum in the UK are unable to work under Westminster employment law.

The Home Office provides £47.39 per week, about £6.80 a day, for people in uncatered accommodation, while those in hotels get just £9.58 per week, about £1.40 a day.

Green MSP Mark Ruskell said during First Minister's Questions that the measure could be "life-saving" for people seeking asylum.

"When those people, having escaped from persecution, war and suffering, are now forced to live on just £6 a day, the very least that we can do is to extend a hand of help," he said.

'Fair to all'

Mr Yousaf supported those comments, telling MSPs the UK government's "inhumane" asylum processes leave people destitute.

He added: "This announcement is the next step in making sure that our transport system, our country is fair and accessible to all."

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie, who announced an agreement had been reached for the scheme at his party's conference last weekend, said it would "take time" to implement".

He said ministers at Holyrood would "need to step up the pressure on the current UK government, or the next one, to do the right thing".

The Maryhill Integration Network, which offers support to people seeking asylum in Glasgow, said it was "thrilled" about the funding announcement.

The group's human rights and advocacy co-ordinator, Pinar Aksu, told BBC Scotland News: "We know that currently the immigration system in its form is extremely difficult, however in Scotland we are creating pathways to show we can make positive changes.

"Having free bus travel will allow people to freely travel, meet friends, attend groups, appointments and more. It will create some form of freedom in a system where movement is restricted."

In a recent report, Holyrood's equalities, human rights and civil justice committee said extending free bus travel to people in the asylum system would be "transformative".

It called on Scottish ministers to develop a plan for a nationwide rollout - based on analysis from pilot, free-travel schemes that have operated in both Aberdeen and Glasgow - before the end of this parliamentary session.

The government will set out its budget later this year.

The Home Office has said it works "continually to ensure the needs and vulnerabilities of those residing in asylum accommodation are identified and considered, including those related to mental health and trauma".

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Free bus travel pledge for asylum seekers in Scotland

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Campaigners say it will help prevent isolation and health issues for people in the asylum system.

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Write to your elected representatives, members of the UK and Scottish Parliaments, to strongly urge them to make a public statement calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel's bombing and blockade of Gaza. There is suggested wording for you to...

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building effective solidarity with the palestinian people

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Write to your elected representatives, members of the UK and Scottish Parliaments, to strongly urge them to make a public statement calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel's bombing and blockade of Gaza. There is suggested wording for you to...

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What Is Antiracism (And Why It Means Anticapitalism)?

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The Havens Wright Center for Social Justice

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About Us

Established in the Sociology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984, the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice is dedicated to promoting critical intellectual reflection and exchange, both within the academy as well as between it and the broader society. The Center is named in honor of the late Professors of Rural Sociology and Sociology, A. Eugene Havens and Erik Olin Wright, whose lives and work embodied the combination of progressive social and political commitment and scholarly rigor that the Center encourages.

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The Havens Wright Center for Social Justice

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Established in the Sociology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984, the A. E. Havens Center for Social Justice is dedicated to promoting critical intellectual reflection and exchange, both within the academy as well as between it and the broader society.

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Stuart Hall Foundation

Inspired by the life and work of Professor Stuart Hall, the Stuart Hall Foundation is committed to public education, addressing urgent questions of race and inequality in culture and society through talks and events, and building a network of SHF scholars and artists in residence.

Stuart Hall Foundation's tracks

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Inspired by the life and work of Professor Stuart Hall, the Stuart Hall Foundation is committed to public education, addressing urgent questions of race and inequality in culture and society through talks and events, and building a network of SHF scholars and artists in residence.

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The Race Equality Framework for Scotland 2016-30 is the main national strategy on race equality. This was developed from the ground up. CRER supported 400 minority ethnic people to get involved through our Community Ambassadors Programme, as well as 300 workers in the public, voluntary, academic and trades union sectors.

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website home for Scotland's Black History Month Programme

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website home for Scotland's Black History Month Programme

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The Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) co-ordinated the first Black History Month programme in Scotland 19 years ago, and in recent years, Black History Month has gone from strength to strength, with partners across community, voluntary and public sectors contributing dozens of events every October. Last year's programme included over 60 events, spanning cinema, exhibitions, radio shows, art, poetry, walking tours, debate, theatre, science and dance.

This year has been a challenging one for all of the organisations who take part in Black History Month, including CRER. The impact of Covid-19 and changes to our funding mean that this year's programme is, by necessity, a pared-down version. However, in the spirit of quality, not quantity, we've assembled a fantastic range of events. Thanks to all of our creative and innovative contributors, we have talks, podcasts, storytelling, poetry, music, exhibitions and more. If you're running an event that's not currently featured, drop us a line at BHM@crer.org.uk.

As always, we recognise that one month a year is not enough. Black History is Scotland's History. We campaign throughout the year for authentic recognition of Black History in history and heritage spaces, and perhaps most crucially, in our education system. Our vision is that within the next decade, Scotland will have its own national museum of empire, colonialism, slavery and migration. Combining interactive exhibition spaces with an archive and learning centre, this can bring together the threads of the currently fractured narrative on Scotland's Black History.

In the meantime, we'll make the most of this year's amazing programme from the comfort of our armchairs, and look forward to celebrating the 20th anniversary of Scotland's Black History Month with you in 2021!
Parveen Khan, CRER Chair and Sandra-Deslandes-Clark, CRER Vice-Chair

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CRER has co-ordinated a uniquely Scottish Black History Month during October since 2001. This encompasses the history of African, Caribbean and Asian people in this country; people who often have a direct link with Scotland through slavery, colonialism and migration.

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Spotting the signs of radicalisation

Radicalisation can be really difficult to spot. Signs that may indicate a child is being radicalised include:

isolating themselves from family and friends

talking as if from a scripted speech

unwillingness or inability to discuss their views

a sudden disrespectful attitude towards others

increased levels of anger

increased secretiveness, especially around internet use.

Children who are at risk of radicalisation may have low self-esteem, or be victims of bullying or discrimination. Extremists might target them and tell them they can be part of something special, later brainwashing them into cutting themselves off from their friends and family.

However, these signs don't necessarily mean a child is being radicalised - it may be normal teenage behaviour or a sign that something else is wrong.

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Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content.

By subscribing, you understand and agree that we will store, process and manage your personal information according to our Privacy Policy

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Loretta J. Ross: Don't call people out -- call them in

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We live in a call-out culture, says activist and scholar Loretta J. Ross. You're probably familiar with it: the public shaming and blaming, on social media and in real life, of people who may have done wrong and are being held accountable.

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Jack Ky Tan - Welcome to my digital open studio where you can read about past and ongoing projects and ideas as they develop.

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THIS WORK ISN'T FOR US By Jemma Desai (2020)

'This work isn't for us'

'This work isn't for us'

Introduction:What this paper is (and what it is not)

A note on Structure

Methodology

A note on citation:

A note on Location

Prologue

Chapter 1 : From the Top

(De)politicised & (Dis)embodied

Dear White People

Lift

Compliance and containment

Naseem & Reena

Disembodied Futures

Chapter 2 - A (Host)ile Environment

The hopeful performative

(Host)ile Organisations

'Success' and 'Progression'

Assimilation and Fragmentation

The Line

Chapter 3 The Sunken Place

Critical Complicity

Crack

"This work isn't for us"

The Year of the Strong Woman

Snap

Eating the Other - Serving the creative case for Diversity

#BehindEveryGreatCity

Chapter 4 - Pushback

Silencing

Leaks

The Undercommons

Transforming Silence

Collective Critique

Telling the Truth

The moment

Conclusion The beginning of the End (originally written in February 2020 and updated June 2020)

STOP

Epilogue

Enough

Bibliography

"Because I experienced the end point of colonialism inside my own family, as a tragedy, I came not to be able to maintain the traditional distinction between what is subjective and what is objective. Once you open those gates, you speak - even if you're speaking about the political situation �� you're speaking as if it were allowing something from the psychic energy to flow into the world."

- Voice of Stuart Hall, in Stuart Hall Project Dir. John Akomfrah, (2013)

""I have a hard time accepting diversity as a synonym for justice. Diversity is a corporate strategy. It's a strategy designed to ensure that the institution functions in the same way that it functioned before, except now that you now have some black faces and brown faces. It's a difference that doesn't make a difference"

-Voice of Angela Davis at USC's Bovard Auditorium at 'Angela Davis: A Lifetime of Revolution', hosted by University of Southern California's Black Student Assembly and the University of Southern California Speakers Committee on 23 February 2015, the 43rd anniversary of her release from prison

'The Master's Tools will never dismantle the Master's House"

- Voice of Audre Lorde at "The Personal and Political Panel', Second Sex Conference, New York, 29 September 1979

Introduction:What this paper is (and what it is not)

Using the language of diversity can be a way of avoiding confrontation. But what else do we avoid if we avoid confrontation?

- Sara Ahmed Living a Feminist Life (2017)

This report is not a quantitative study full of easy to digest data. It is not written in the language of an institutional report. It is not a snapshot of a cultural moment with readily actionable recommendations. I have spent a long time thinking about how to best present the deep work I have undertaken during this period of study between September 2018 and March 2020. I have been asked (and asked myself) what I want the paper to do, and who I want to listen to the contents of it. I have struggled to answer those questions at some times and other times it has been painfully clear. This tension of method and divergence of desire is at the heart of paper.

Through sitting with this (im)possibility, I have come to understand the truth of American author, professor, feminist, and social activist bell hooks's maxim that "Language is also a place of struggle" (hooks 1989 :203) and grappled with the possibility of enacting what cultural theorist Stuart Hall described to her as a "politics of articulation." In the spirit of that questioning and search for a meaningful language, I have chosen a form that refuses the constraints and conventions of the professionalised arts sector, and takes to heart poet, feminist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde's words on language as a liberatory force: "I feel, therefore I am free ....For within living structures defined by profit, by linear power, by institutional dehumanisation, our feelings were not meant to survive....

For there are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt". (Audre Lorde, 1985)

My new ways of making your old ideas felt, punctuate this document.

This is a paper which advocates for change, but it does not centre the need to explain why that change is needed. I assume that as a given. I refer to reports generated by agencies who administer the arts sector and studies that confirm this 'objectively', and I have grappled with such papers in the writing of this report, but here I offer an alternative to the 'top down' narratives on inclusion, one generated from cultural workers, in the grounded reality of such narratives.

This paper is an embodied, self reflexive piece of writing which uses autoethnography as its primary research method. Autoethnography is an approach to research that puts the self at the center of cultural analysis. Chang (2008) describes how the method uses "narration of self to engage in cultural analysis and interpretation". In the analysis of diversity policy in the arts and culture that follows, I centre my 15 years of working in the cultural sector.

I write as a respondent but also as a recipient of, and an active participant in, the cultural sector's diversity policies over the past 15 years. I write as a Londoner who by participating in the cultural sector, has felt complicit in a kind of gentrification of myself and my city, complicit in what my friend and mentor Madani Younis describes as a "cultural appartheid", regularly delivering work in spaces where teams or audiences rarely reflect the populations they located in.

This paper is the result of a lifetime of living as a minority in predominantly white spaces, and of being subject to the 'imaginations of others.' In adrienne maree brown's Emergent Strategy:Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (2017), they describe how people of colour (and especially Black people) are in an "imagination battle" having to contend with building lives and futures whilst at the same time being bombarded with images of racist stereotyping, violence and deprivation through our culture. I argue in this paper that by flattening difference and tokenising the presence of those represented by the nomenclature such as BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic), marginalised workers in the cultural sector face a similar battle every day.

Part of such imagining starts to take shape in the language and implementation of policy about diversity. In this frame, an imagining of me by people writing such policy might be that I am a statistic of progress for the sector, and that my participation in these schemes and institutions is, in part, a symbol of change. My experience of the cultural sector and what comes out of it problematises those statistics. Whilst they may appear a helpful advocacy and accountability tool, the struggle I have experienced to be seen in the totality of my experience whilst working in the cultural sector is a negation of them. I believe the picture is much more troubling than those statistics can communicate. Disembodied as these statistics are from the true experiences of cultural workers and practitioners, I would argue that genuine solutions to the unjust position we find ourselves in require a fundamental disavowal of the logic of their language which is the language of establishment, business, political expediency and an embracing of a new more thoughtful and embodied one of humanity (and humility) and understanding. For this reason, the paper is punctuated with my embodied institutional memory, my dialogue with others and that of other cultural workers (from sectors including film, visual arts, theatre and music). By putting my voice in dialogue with others, I honour the stories and thoughts shared with me without repeating the harm of the cultural sector's diversity policy which as I will go on to show, so often unfeelingly makes individuals performatively hypervisible and invisible at will, and which so often renders us completely disembodied when discussing our lived realities. Sometimes, these voices might punctuate the argument in midflow, this attempts to articulate something I can't underline enough. While policy led initiatives continue to grapple with inequality with quantitative data and 'focus groups' and 'consultation', cultural workers and artists are speaking every single day. In a myriad of ways, in multiple contexts and to people at every level of the sector we are sharing our lived experiences of the realities of such policies. I make as much space for them here as it is possible to do so but all 'voices' are anonymised unless they come from public events or from platforms such as Twitter.

Diversity narratives in public documents often focus on the lacks, gaps and description of the marginalisation of the excluded rather than the behaviours and attitudes of those that are the beneficiaries of that exclusion - often those that do the excluding. Part of this research is to help workers (and myself) describe and articulate what they face, to confront a feeling we often share, of lack, or of failure within ourselves as we struggle to progress, or are marginalised and discriminated against. Through this process of description we ask ourselves where the perceived lack might actually be located.

They think they understand us so well, but they don't see us properly. Actually what I realised is that we need to remember that we understand them, how they work.

We've been looking at them our whole lives.

It is important to note that I do this with caution and care and with the knowledge that cultural institutions in their current form rarely centre (or even cite) the perspectives and solutions proffered by marginalised communities, preferring to co-opt them and translate them into institut

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This Work isn't For Us - by Jemma Desai - 🟧Heystack

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This Work isn't For Us is an ongoing study, initiated by Jemma Desai. Partly a critical appraisal of historic diversity initiatives, partly an alternative policy document, the study is also an embodied ethnography, assembling testimonies from arts workers navigating institutionally initiated gestures at inclusion. - 🟧Heystack

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Anita Rani delves into the archives telling the story of the British bhangra explosion of the 1980s and 90s, when Britain reinvented this traditional Punjabi folk music.

Anita Rani delves into the archives telling the story of the British Bhangra Explosion of the 80s and 90s when Britain reinvented this traditional Punjabi folk music with electric guitars and synthesizers - making Britain the epicentre of the music.

Anita charts the music's evolution from the early South Asian immigrants through the glory years to the bubble bursting and subsequent decline.

With contributions from British Bhangra bands and producers including Alaap, Heera, Sheila Chandra, Nazia Hassan, DCS, Apache Indian and Bally Sagoo alongside Bhangra experts DJ Ritu, Shazad Sheikh and Hardeep Singh Sahota.

We hear about the individuals who celebrated their cultural heritage through this music and made this scene explode in the UK.

A Demus production for BBC Radio 4

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BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, The British Bhangra Explosion

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Anita Rani delves into the archives telling the story of the British bhangra explosion of the 1980s and 90s, when Britain reinvented this traditional Punjabi folk music. Anita Rani delves into the archives telling the story of the British Bhangra Explosion of the 80s and 90s when Britain reinvented this traditional Punjabi folk music with electric guitars and synthesizers - making Britain the epicentre of the music.

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The Manchester Guardian: the limits of liberalism in the kingdom of cotton | Michael Taylor

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Manchester’s liberal establishment backed the abolition of British slavery – but their wealth depended on the labour of enslaved Africans in the United States

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The process of uncovering where exactly the founder of the Manchester Guardian, John Edward Taylor, and his associates were importing cotton from was a lengthy and difficult one.

At the start, in autumn 2020, I was given the names of the 11 original funders of the Manchester Guardian, and how much each of them had contributed. This was available in a large, yellow parchment, the "Manchester Guardian agreement", written in 1821 and housed at the Guardian archives in the John Rylands library in Manchester.

The first step I took was to trace Taylor's lineage back to the 1700s using Ancestry UK and antiquarian sources, to gain a clearer picture of his economic and social background. Unsurprisingly, there was little mention of Taylor's cotton business or his source of income prior to starting the newspaper. At this point I realised the enormousness of the task that lay ahead.

Alongside this genealogical search, I looked into the National Archives catalogue, historical newspaper archives and secondary resources and found Taylor's will, obituary, business transactions, partnerships, editorials, libel action lawsuit and reformist activities. Once the names of Taylor's business and his partners were obtained, I crosschecked them against online trade directories for the years 1821-1829. The London Gazette, one of the UK's most significant journals of record, also provided essential information on Taylor's partners, the nature of his business and the year of its dissolution.

Cotton Capital explores how transatlantic slavery shaped the Guardian, Manchester, Britain and the world. Stemming from an investigation into the Guardian founders' own links to slavery, this continuing series explores our history and its enduring legacies today.

The Guardian archive (1821-1970s) at the John Rylands library also proved useful in identifying Taylor's trade associates, cash transactions, ship names, banking information, family correspondence, business agreements, contracts, memoirs and biographical information. By now, I was starting to get a sense of Taylor's involvement in the cotton industry. There were two "smoking guns": one was a simple line in the 1821-2 Manchester and Salford trade directory, in brackets, next to the name of Taylor's firm Shuttleworth, Taylor& Co. It casually stated: "Agents for WG and J Strutt, Derby." This finding connected Taylor to the Strutts - stalwarts of the cotton industry in England and described in one study of the Industrial Revolution as "amongst England's largest cotton thread producers" - who sourced some of their raw cotton from the West Indies, Brazil and the southern United States. This showed me where Taylor's cotton was probably sourced and gave me his first clear link to transatlantic slavery.

Taylor's firm would sell cotton thread provided by the Strutts for a commission, but to find out the strength of this agent-commission relationship, I had to see the Strutts' financial ledgers and cash books, housed at the Derbyshire Record Office. Taylor's account suggested that in addition to being an agent selling goods on commission, his firm also received a raw cotton commission for buying cotton wool for the Strutts. This therefore indicates that the Shuttleworth firm was likely to have been a cotton broker for the Strutts and other spinners such as the Manchester cotton powerhouse McConnel & Kennedy. Even more striking was that Taylor's firm was likely to have been the sole agent for the Strutts in Manchester between 1817 and 1824, and it received substantial commercial as well as network benefits from this business relationship.

I then made one of the most impactful and sombre findings of the project: the Strutts' invoice book dated 1822 to 1825, the second "smoking gun". This small, unassuming book contained the names of Taylor's firm along with many others above numbers and initials. Initially, I thought perhaps these were the names of the ships which brought the raw cotton, which in itself would have been a valuable lead to help trace the source of the cotton supplies. However, a preliminary check of the name and initials soon revealed that these were the names of enslavers.

These exploiters of human misery were based in the Sea Islands - a narrow archipelago along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida - which at the time were home to the rarest and finest-quality cotton in the world. The enslaved people of the Sea Islands were forcibly brought from west and central Africa as well as the Caribbean, and they and their descendants, the Gullah Geechee people, have lived on the islands for longer than three centuries.

Sea Island cotton was an expensive, high-quality silky-fibred cotton that was much sought after by the British textile industry. It was in strong demand because of its quality, and the above-average length of its fibre made it easier to process. Plantation owners in the region would experiment with seeds, closely guarding their strains. Similar to a wine being known by its vineyard, the quality of Sea Island cotton was sometimes known by its planter, with initials and surnames being recorded in this case. This helped me find the Sea Island enslavers connected to Taylor's firm.

Often in this type of research, one can trace the region from where a firm was importing enslaved-produced commodities such as rum, sugar or cotton. However, it is not very common to pinpoint the exact enslaver and the possible plantations - and even less common to identify any of the people enslaved there. But from this invoice book, I was able to identify some of the enslavers from whom Taylor imported cotton and, most importantly, some of the enslaved people upon whose backs their profits were derived.

But the Manchester Guardian was not founded on Taylor's wealth alone. There was an "agreement between JE Taylor and a group of Manchester merchants and gentlemen for financing the launch of the newspaper in 1821". Taylor's 11 associates were: George William Wood, Edward Baxter, George Philips, TBW Sanderson, Robert Philips, Thomas Potter, William Duckworth, Thomas Wilkins, Richard Potter, Samuel Pullein and Thomas Johnson.

I looked into each of these 11 men. Two of them, Thomas Wilkins and Thomas Johnson, were Manchester merchants likely to have been connected to the cotton industry. However their common names meant that it was not possible to conduct in-depth research on them within the timeframe of the project.

What I did find was that nine of them had links with transatlantic slavery. These links were varied and covered connections with cotton, railway investments, intermarriage, warehouse business, property holdings and the textile industry.

But three of the funders stood out. Robert Philips and George William Wood were both partners in Taylor's firm, Shuttleworth, Taylor & Co, and in another firm, Philips, Wood & Co. Following the trail of the latter firm threw up a surprise finding. After scouring Liverpool shipping intelligence notes and Annals of Manchester for the 1800s, I discovered it had strong links with Brazil and cotton. Philips and Wood were importing cotton from places which relied on enslaved labour such as Bahia and Pernambuco. Such was the depth of their relationship with Brazil's cotton industry that their business had a branch in Rio de Janeiro.

The third funder, George Philips, was a partner in the West India merchant firm Boddington, Sharp and Philips. Through this firm, Philips was co-owner of an estate called Success in Hanover, Jamaica, whose primary crop was sugar. In 1821, the year Philips loaned £100 to Taylor to help found the Guardian, the estate was registered to Boddington, Sharp & Philips with a total of 122 enslaved people. Though Philips supported the abolition of slavery, as late as 1835 he claimed (unsuccessfully) for £1,904 in compensation (£189,000 at today's values) for 108 enslaved persons on the Success estate. Aside from this, Philips inherited wealth from his father that was derived from cotton and other enslaved-produced commodities.

It should be noted that most of the Guardian's 11 funders were elite members of Manchester society, active in key economic, social, cultural and political networks within the city.

Having garnered this information on the founder and the funders, I moved to, for me, the most important part of the research: to trace and identify the enslaved people, and to discover their stories. This was a difficult process. There was a lack of available information (both secondary and primary) and of access to international archives. However, online databases, ancestry records and local archives proved useful.

First, I looked into the Success estate co-owned by George Philips. Data obtained from the "Former British Colonial Dependencies, Slave Registers, 1813-1834" highlighted the names of the enslaved people who were forced to work on the estate. As is often the case, in many instances only the first names of the enslaved people could be identified. The Royal Gazette of Jamaica threw up adverts for "runaway slaves", highlighting the resistance of those held captive to their inhuman treatment. Yet I saw stories of tragedy too, in adverts for "apprehended deserters".

One particular story demonstrates the level of detail that can be extracted from this type of research. Granville, as he was called, was a freedom fighter who was persecuted for his involvement in Jamaica's "Baptist war" from 1831 to 1832 (also known as the Christmas rebellion). Led by Samuel Sharp, this uprising mobilised about 60,000 enslaved Jamaicans and was considered the largest uprising in the British West Indies. It was while reading accounts of charges against Baptist missionaries possibly involved in this uprising that I discovered Granville's connection to the Success estate.

Finds such as this offered a glimpse into a forgotten world. Newspaper adverts also provided further identifying details of ethnicity, height, age and African ancestry. Looking ahead, further research along these lines could also reveal family trees which might help trace descendants of the enslaved.

Next, I focused on the enslaved Africans who toiled in the cotton fields of the Sea Islands, in horrendous conditions, for the benefit of the plantation owners and the British textile industry. The names and details of the enslaved people and their descendants were logged in documents such as the "United States Census (Slave Schedule)" of 1850 and 1860, "Slave Registers", "Bill of sales of Negro slaves, 1799-1872, Charleston District, South Carolina" and "Contraband" lists.

Delving into the hidden stories of the enslaved people themselves proved extremely difficult. For example, although there are various genealogical databases, estate inventories, and military and pre-civil war church records which hold valuable information relating to the enslaved people of the Sea Islands, "only about 15% of formerly enslaved people took the slave owner's surname". As such, it is challenging to locate records relating to the descendants of enslaved people before the 1870 US Census - the first of its kind to list freed African Americans by their name.

The Spanish Wells plantation of Hilton Head Island in the Sea Islands had an enslaver who supplied cotton to Taylor. In 1862 the enslaved people recorded on the plantation included: Toby, Billy, January, Steven, Cuffy, Bob, Billy, Steven and Titus. Sixty were named in total.

While I am keenly aware that the names of enslaved people in both the Sea Islands and Jamaica were heavily anglicised - yet another means of control by the plantation owners - these names represent some of the only existing records of their humanity. Therefore presenting these names, identifying characteristics and, where possible, stories of resistance are crucial elements of this research.

Despite the obstacles, I am continuing my research to unearth more names and stories of the enslaved people of Success estate and the Sea Island plantations.

As someone who grew up within the education system of Trinidad and Tobago, this topic of research resonates with me on both a personal and professional level. It serves to highlight not only the atrocities suffered by enslaved people but also the empowering story of resistance. Importantly, it also acknowledges the contributions of enslaved people to Britain's development and to that of the United States.

This three-phase research project has led us down winding and unpredictable roads, to the Caribbean, US and Brazil. The reports ultimately conclude that John Edward Taylor was indelibly linked to the enslaved people of the Sea Islands and their descendants the Gullah Geechee people.

Nine of the Guardian's 11 funders were found to have various links with transatlantic slavery, through which they generated their wealth. This research adds to a growing body of work in this field. I hope it acts as a springboard for further studies, which place at their core the lives, and stories, of the enslaved people.

About the author

Dr Cassandra Gooptar is an interdisciplinary researcher from Trinidad and Tobago whose main focus of research involves themes of slavery, colonialism and reparative justice

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The cotton thread: how we uncovered the Guardian founders' links to slavery | Cassandra Gooptar

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The process of uncovering where exactly the founder of the Manchester Guardian, John Edward Taylor, and his associates were importing cotton from was a lengthy and difficult one. At the start, in autumn 2020, I was given the names of the 11 original funders of the Manchester Guardian, and how much each of them had contributed.

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STAND (2023) | Official Trailer | Streaming February 3rd on SHOWTIME

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In Scottish Gaelic, to ask where someone is from you ask Cò às a tha thu? - which roughly translates as who are your people?

Most of Scotland's Gaelic speaking population are based in the Highlands and Western Isles, a smattering of islands to the top left of the mainland. Gaelic is considered an endangered language, with a speaking population of around 60,000 according to the last census. Scotland's relationship with the Gaelic language is fraught and self-destructive, from the legacy of the ethnolinguistic genocide of the Highland Clearances, to the modern-day upward battle to restore the language in mainstream Scottish society. But like wider Scotland, the Gaelic world projects an image of post-racial homogeneity and fails to address the whiteness that stifles the community. This means that speakers of colour are pushed to the fringe and regarded not only as uncommon, but abnormal.

My dad is from Ethiopia, and my mum the Isle of Lewis, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides. Both of her parents spoke Gaelic as their first language, but it was during a time when the language was suffering from centuries of efforts to centralise Scotland. When we started at a Gaelic school, my grandmother was delighted. We could have conversations with her in her mother tongue, or sing traditional songs for her from her youth. Having a grasp of the language became crucial whilst she was in the throes of illness before she died, as she struggled to communicate in English. The moments I wish I never learned Gaelic are stopped in their tracks when I remember how vital it was to our relationship. In these moments, I'm grateful for knowing Gaelic, and proud that I could connect with her in this way. But this pride I feel for honouring my family often comes at odds with my experiences in the community.

"We could have conversations with her in her mother tongue, or sing traditional songs for her. Having a grasp of the language became crucial whilst she was in the throes of illness before she died"

When my grandparents were at school, the language was thought of as primitive and pupils were punished for speaking it, a lingering commandment of British imperialist rule. Most people with Gaelic-speaking relatives know the stories of being silenced and indoctrinated, beginning with the Highland Clearances in the 18th Century, and the legacy of this heritage influences the community today. I was able to speak Gaelic because of Gaelic Medium Education (GME) - a school system in Scotland which enables pupils to be taught mainly through Gaelic, with English taught as a secondary language. This system was designed to begin the process of reviving the Gaelic language in Scotland. GME simulates a monolingual environment for children to learn and speak the language, even if their families don't use it at home. As of 2018, there were just over 4,300 pupils in GME. As it stands, there is no real data about how many Gaelic speakers of colour there are in Scotland.

Looking back at my time in GME is strange and difficult. With just over 1% of Scotland's population speaking Gaelic, its cultural significance is not felt by the mainstream. Many people do not feel that the language belongs to them, or that they belong to it. In the close-knit hub of a Gaelic school, pupils were made to understand the cultural and historical implications of the language. The collective narrative was that the schools were doing vital restorative work to revive the Gaelic culture.

Photography courtesy of Naomi Gessesse

I attended GME for primary school and then took Gaelic as a language at secondary school. Excluding my own siblings, I think I have met around six or seven Gaelic speakers of colour, a figure that I hope is changing with the expansion of Gaelic schools in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Earlier this year, Rosemary Goring, co-editor at the Scottish Review of Books declined requests by the government to diversify their organisation, describing Scotland's BAME profile as one that is "at best patchy and in some cases negligible". This attitude rings to the core of Scotland's delusional sense of homogeneity, one that centres whiteness and erases everyone else. Scotland is a pressure cooker of white fragility, and the Gaelic community bends to its influence in order to preserve space for themselves.

This world was the first of many white spaces I would have to navigate as a black person, and like many young kids, I didn't understand it at all. For a long time, I couldn't quite articulate my discomfort in the classroom. I don't think many Gaelic teachers are prepared to have pupils of colour in their classroom, let alone understand what that means for the students themselves. I remember one art lesson we were trying to make clay portraits of ourselves and my teacher gave me a lump of greeny-orange clay, after several attempts to find supplies similar to my skin tone. My clay sculpture looked like a martian, which, looking back, is quite funny. But there is an insidious side to white ignorance; when your caregivers don't know what racism really looks like, how can they support you?

As an adult, I have tried to push myself out of my comfort zone and attend Gaelic functions, ceilidhs and socials. In these spaces, I am seldom approached, assumed to be a friend of a "real" Gaelic speaker and treated like an exotic plus one. I felt confused as to why I was expected to feel a kinship with these people who so often regard me at a distance or ignore me completely.

"I don't think many Gaelic teachers are prepared to have pupils of colour in their classroom, let alone understand what that means for the students themselves"

The GME curriculum also reflected a vacuum of whiteness during my time within it. When I was at school there was a limited repertoire of Gaelic books suitable for young people, and a famous one that did the rounds at my school was An Duine Dubh (literal translation: The Black Person) by Iain Crichton Smith. As a black person myself, I had little expectation of the story - at the very least, I thought it would be a story that in someway featured black people. This was the first, and perhaps one of the only Gaelic books I read where a character of colour features prominently. But it's actually about a travelling South Asian salesman who visits old biddies in their villages, selling nylons and tablecloths. He'd learned some Gaelic, which the characters find amusing. Overall the story is locked to a white gaze, observing the foreigner with spectacle and frankly degradation. That he is referred to as a black person shows how little visibility people of colour have in the Gaelic language, and by extension, the community.

There is not a colloquial term for "white people" in Gaelic - I had never heard any of my Gaelic teachers, or anyone else in the community describe themselves as white. Words like dubh are attributed to non-white ethnic groups, just as the salesman in the story was labelled. And perhaps dubh was the only word accessible to me or my family, attributed to non-white ethnic groups - just as it was attributed to the South Asian salesman in the story. This speaks to the way in which language can ignore the nuances of race and identity - and position white people as the default, and everyone else under a blanket of abnormality.

When I think of the Gaelic community now, I think back to my younger self, with few friends who understood me, and no language to articulate the isolation and racial hierarchy within the community. Gaelic history paints its speakers as an oppressed group struggling under the weight of British imperialism. I hope for a future where the Gaelic community reflects, learns and reaches upwards for more inclusive measures in its institutions. For Gaelic to flourish and integrate fully into mainstream Scottish society, the community needs to embrace its speakers of colour, and address the inherent white fragility that bubbles under the surface of its psyche.

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What it's like being black in the Scottish Gaelic community | gal-dem

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In Scottish Gaelic, to ask where someone is from you ask Cò às a tha thu? - which roughly translates as who are your people? Most of Scotland's Gaelic speaking population are based in the Highlands and Western Isles, a smattering of islands to the top left of the mainland.

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The outgoing chair of the Institute of Race Relations has decried the widespread use of "nonsense" unconscious bias training, claiming it is an obvious sidestepping of tackling racial injustice.

The civil rights stalwart Colin Prescod, who is stepping down after 43 years, likened the modish phrase to the 1970s term "racial awareness".

In a wide-ranging interview, the sociologist and cultural activist said he was proud of the role that his institute had played in putting institutional racism on the national agenda several decades ago, but was dismayed at the rise of terms such as unconscious bias.

"We made arguments to the state even when we're on platforms alongside them saying this was nonsense. It's racism we want to talk about, it's systemic behaviour we want to talk about, institutionalised racism we want to talk about, not unconscious bias or racial awareness," Prescod said. "It's the stuff that kills that we want to talk about, the stuff that stunts lives that we want to talk about, the stuff that deforms lives that we want to talk about."

The outgoing chair pointed to the increasing concern of a school-to-prison pipeline in the UK, where young minority ethnic children excluded from schools are forced into pupil referral units where they are groomed by criminal gangs - a clear example of systemic racism, he claims. "To talk about unconscious biases is an obvious sidestepping of the matter. And it's also wanting to let people off," Prescod said.

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) announced Prescod would be replaced by Dr John Narayan, a senior lecturer in European and international studies at King's College London. Prescod will remain part of the IRR's council, focusing on developing the IRR's Black History Collection archive.

Prescod joined the IRR's council in 1976 and became chair in 1980, during a volatile era. The institute responded to far-right attacks and marches, controversial policing operationsand the 1981 riots - which it defined as "uprisings" - led by black and Asian youth in 10 cities across England.

Prescod intervened in many institutions, including writing letters to the Guardian. In a letter to the editor published in 1981, just weeks after the Brixton riots, Prescod wrote: "We have again witnessed the spectacles of politicians and others posturing as to the 'causes' of the 'race problem' and black people's grievances. What is at immediate issue is not the question of general urban deprivation, let alone of immigrant numbers, or even a sudden breakdown in police-black relations, but the exceptional policing practices used against the black community in Brixton over the past two decades." He wrote many others.

The institute "insistently" talked about institutional racism then, but was in the minority and faced significant opposition, Prescod said. "In the end, it stuck because we then had the Macpherson report amongst others using a term which was not invented by them, but by communities of resistance."

He added: "Ambalavaner Sivanandan [former director of IRR] and we at the institute were taking our cue from what the communities of resistance were saying. Institutionalised racism was not invented in the academy. It's not invented by the politicians, it comes off the ground.

"It comes out of slow realisation where you start with one case that shows you injustice and after a while you pull that out and you realise that you're looking at a whole string of things that tell you there's something more than simply a wrongdoer in this situation."

Prescod was not surprised at the government's recent decision to drop crucial reform commitments made after the Windrush scandal. "This is not unlike what happened after the Macpherson report, which says very clearly institutionalised racism exists. And this is not just in the police. Any number of institutions have been looked at in this kind of way. And everybody says yes, but then you look at what happened thereafter, how much was done in terms of recommendations," he said.

When asked what he felt was the most significant change in Britain in terms of race, Prescod turned to a lyric from the British jazz band Sons of Kemet: "Don't wanna take my country back, mate. I wanna take my country forward." He said he finds it powerful black youth have claimed the country as their own.

"We now have populations here who are not thinking of themselves from some other place or going to some other place, but here, and are aware of their history of struggle. When Sons of Kemet says something like 'we want to take our country forward', notice all the words in the phrase." He believes it shows a significant cultural shift of "new generations [of black Britons] born here, belonging here, speaking with a different kind of authority".

Prescod said while there was no room for "triumphalism" when looking at racial progress, he was leaving his position with some hope. "There is always resistance. It's only too clear. If you look at any situation in which somebody starts to be down-pressed, you will realise that there is somebody who is saying: get off my back, get off my throat. We don't simply curl up."

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Unconscious bias training is 'nonsense', says outgoing race relations chair

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The outgoing chair of the Institute of Race Relations has decried the widespread use of "nonsense" unconscious bias training, claiming it is an obvious sidestepping of tackling racial injustice. The civil rights stalwart Colin Prescod, who is stepping down after 43 years, likened the modish phrase to the 1970s term "racial awareness".

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WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION Chosen as a Book of the Year by New Statesman, Financial Times, Guardian, Observer, Rough Trade and the BBC Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize
Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize ’Restlessly inventive, brutally graceful, startlingly beautif…

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https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-global-politics-of-black-lives-tickets-432816936107

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Thursday 24 November 2022 (5:30-9:00pm) & Friday 25 November 2022 (5:30-9:00pm)

Join us for The Global Politics of Black Lives International Film Festival at De Montfort University (DMU) featuring the work of Esther Figueroa (Jamaica), Chris Ivey (Pittsburgh), Alberta Whittle (Barbados/UK) and Jennifer Ere-Mendie (Nigeria/UK).

The Global Politics of Black Lives Film Festival aims to generate public conversations about the ways these films depict and respond differently to how Black lives continue to be shaped by the politics of global capitalism, labour, the degradation of the natural and social environments, the global politics of blackness, race and racism, representations of sexuality, and the cumulative effects of power, control and exploitation. Join us to see how these artists tell their stories with rage and humour, with acute attention to healing, love, care and social justice in a time of climate, economic and political catastrophe.

The film festival takes place over two days and will include student workshops and conclude with a panel discussion between the filmmakers.
Thursday 2﻿4 November: Esther Figueroa
FLY ME TO THE MOON (2019), is a feature documentary by Jamaican independent filmmaker Esther Figueroa, that takes us on a journey into the unexpected ways we are all connected on Planet Earth, by following aluminium - the metal of modernity - around the world and into space. We travel for over one hundred years, visiting places as far flung as the Moon, Jamaica, India, Suriname, Canada, Cuba, Japan, Hungary, Iceland, Australia, Vietnam, the United States of America, encountering along the way human triumphs, technological innovations, multiple wars, societal upheavals, environmental devastation. And in the urgent here and now of the climate crisis, the film challenges us to think about the consequences of our consumption, to reimagine the ways in which we live, and to change our material culture and political economy that is destroying the planet we all depend on. (115 mins).
Alberta Whittle & Grand Union
Congregation (Creating Dangerously 2022) A new film commission by Alberta Whittle presents conversations, performances and interviews with and by Black women, non-binary and trans folks whilst also responding to archival research. Community activist Eunice McGhie-Belgrave, the founder of the community group Shades of Black (started in 1989 to unite a fractured community in Birmingham in the wake of the 1980s race riots), will feature in the film and share her inspiring experiences and the effectiveness of grassroots community building, direct community action and positive healing gardening practices, which addresses the wider issues of poverty in the city.

With Birmingham being the second most culturally diverse city in the UK, we see a need, now more than ever, for art to anchor itself in sustenance, healing, witness, and critique. Alberta's film commission will exist as an inquiry into cultural amnesia as it relates to conditions of freedom under the hostile environment.

This film strives to re-member the identities erased and silenced through both deliberate and unconscious collective cultural amnesia, platforming the lives that were left to the ruins by acts of hostility, such as the infamous "Rivers of Blood" speech given by Enoch Powell at the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham. We recognise that approaches to defeating inequality cannot work if we refuse to trace the historical timeline of inequality that culminates in our present-day society (40 mins).
F﻿riday 25 November: Chris Ivey
Introducing Brian Broome (2021) is a documentary by filmmaker Chris Ivey featuring Brian Broome, winner of the 2021 Kirkus Prize for nonfiction for Punch Me Up to the Gods. The film records intimate and raw conversations with fellow Black Pittsburgh writers. At times heartfelt, haunting, and often hilarious, Introducing Brian Broome brings together artistic writing greats all living in the same town, mostly all friends. It examines what it means to be a Black writer living in the rust belt today. What it means to suddenly be on the literary map, a map for which you've drawn the boundaries. (100 mins).
Amapamoere Jennifer Ere-Mendie
A call for Data Protection Law in Nigeria: This documentary is an eleven-minute short film of my PhD research that depicts repression of Nigerian journalists and human rights activists from the state as a result of a lack of legal laws to protect freedom of speech in Nigeria. The film begins with the producer explaining the politics surrounding the injustice and went on to reveal examples of this repression and resistance from human rights activists and civil society. The film ends by calling for a need of clearly defined data protection laws in Nigeria to protect freedom of speech (11 mins).

The Global Politics of Black Lives International Film Festival is a collaboration between the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre and the Media Discourse Centre at DMU.

Please note this event is taking place over 24 and 25 November. Should you wish to see all the films in this festival please select the ticket type 'Both days' or amend your booking to reflect this.

This event is open to all. Bookings will close 1 hour prior to the start of the event, and registrants will receive a link to join the online event 24hrs before the event, via their provided email address.

Please contact the DMU Events Office on eventsoffice@dmu.ac.uk if you have any questions.

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the global politics of black lives tickets

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the global politics of black lives leicester

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Thursday 24 November 2022 (5:30-9:00pm) & Friday 25 November 2022 (5:30-9:00pm) Join us for The Global Politics of Black Lives International Film Festival at De Montfort University (DMU) featuring the work of Esther Figueroa (Jamaica), Chris Ivey (Pittsburgh), Alberta Whittle (Barbados/UK) and Jennifer Ere-Mendie (Nigeria/UK).

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-62940371

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The protest in central London was one of many taking place in the UK, including in Brighton, Oxford, Southampton, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Manchester, Taunton, Hassockfield, and Cardiff, as part of a National Day of Action organised by the Justice for Chris Kaba campaign.

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Chris Kaba: Rally for man shot by police held at Met headquarters

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The protest in central London was one of many taking place in the UK, including in Brighton, Oxford, Southampton, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Manchester, Taunton, Hassockfield, and Cardiff, as part of a National Day of Action organised by the Justice for Chris Kaba campaign.

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The police killing of Chris Kaba - podcast

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The killing of a 24-year-old black man by firearms officers in south London comes at a time of plummeting faith in the police and serious questions about accountability for the new Met chief

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Sky Arts Book Club Live overview

Sky Arts Book Club Live

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Sky Arts recreates all the joys of a book club as Andi Oliver and Elizabeth Day dive into the latest releases and favourite classics before interviewing the authors.

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WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION Chosen as a Book of the Year by New Statesman , Financial Times , Guardian , Observer , Rough Trade and the BBC Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize ’Restlessly inventive, bru…

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Open Water: Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2021 a book by Caleb Azumah Nelson.

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WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD ‘A tender and touching love story, beautifully told’ Observer 10 Best Debut Novelists of 2021 ‘Hands-down the best debut I’ve read in years’ The Times ’…

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A conversation hosted by We Are Here Scotland found Ica Headlam, asking why Black and people of colour don't talk about mental health?

About this event

In this conversation hosted by We Are Here Scotland founder Ica Headlam, a panel of Black and people of colour creatives will discuss why mental health isn’t talked about more within their communities and why creativity has helped them express their feelings more.

The panel will also be joined by a professional person of colour working in the mental health field who will also offer their insights on this subject.

This event is part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival's Mental Health Arts Network project, supported by the Baring Foundation.

About the Panellists

Gin Lally is a solution focused psychotherapist based in Edinburgh. Gin helps people to regain control of their lives by explaining the science behind how the brain functions and by employing the latest evidence-based techniques of positive psychology and neuroscience. Most importantly she is an advocate of solution focused work; a form of psychotherapy that does not require deep analysis of past problems and issues, but focuses on moving forward with mental fitness. Gin is host of the podcast Stress Bucket Solutions and author of the book How to Empty Your Stress Bucket.

Esraa Husain (they/she/he) is a PhD researcher, freelance writer, facilitator and community curator based in Scotland. They run U Belong Glasgow.

Jubemi Iyiku, also known as Bemz, is a Nigerian-born Ayrshire artist who has broken into the forefront of Scotland's rap scene over the last few years. He has played sold out shows, started a merchandise brand called M4 and most recently became the inaugural winner of the BBC Introducing’s Scottish Artist of the Year Award and also has been awarded a Power Up funding grant by the PRS Foundation based on his excelling career. Jubemi is Community Engagement Officer for We Are Here Scotland.

Ica Headlam has independently produced and hosted the Creative Me Podcast since 2017, a weekly show that explores creativity and arts in the North East of Scotland, with the aim of drawing a wider focus on Aberdeen’s creative community. To date, it has been commissioned for the Look Again Festival, Northlands Creative, and City Moves festival dance live. Ica is founder of We Are Here Scotland and also a qualified social worker who works with vulnerable young adults across Aberdeen.

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mental health arts network: what we don't talk about

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mental health arts network: what we don't talk about tickets

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Mental Health Arts Network: What We Don't Talk About

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Eventbrite - Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival presents Mental Health Arts Network: What We Don't Talk About - Thursday, 14 July 2022 - Find event and ticket information.

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Video devised and performed by members of Maryhill Integration Network's MIN Voices Group. 

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Video devised and performed by members of Maryhill Integration Network's MIN Voices Group. 

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An International Conversation on Mixedness and Its Intersections

About this event

Karis Campion, author of Making Mixed Race, invites an international conversation on the intersections of mixed-race identities.

Using themes from the book as a starting point relating to; colourism and colonial Caribbean histories; mixed-race desirability and gender; privilege, power, and sexuality, this online panel discussion will decode mixedness and its intersections by bringing their scholarship together in conversation.

The discussion will be loosely based around three talking points, followed by audience contributions and questions

1. Historicising mixedness and desirability.

2. Sex(uality), dating and mixed-race.

3. Mixed-race families and futures.

About The Speakers

Dr Karis Campion is a Legacy in Action Research Fellow at the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University. She is the author of Making Mixed Race: A Study of Time, Place and Identity (Routledge). The book centres around the life histories of 37 people of Mixed White and Black Caribbean heritage born between 1959 and 1994, in Britain’s second-largest city, Birmingham. The intimate life portraits of mixed identity reveal how colourism, family, school, gender, whiteness, racism, and resistance, have been experienced against the backdrop of post-war immigration, Thatcherism, the ascendency of Black diasporic youth cultures, and contemporary post-race discourses.

Professor Shirley Anne Tate is based at the University of Alberta. She has published extensively on racism, affect, hybridity, creolization, beauty and Black anti-racist aesthetics, 'race' performativity, Black/white mixed-race lives and the “race”d and gendered body in enslavement and freedom. Her most recent book, Decolonising Sambo: Transculturation, Fungibility and Black and People of Colour Futurity, decolonises ‘sambo’ as racialised knowledge, power, being and affect to unsettle its place in the history of ‘mixed race’.

Dr Shantel Buggs is Assistant Professor at Florida State University with a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and the Program for African American Studies. Her research interests centre on culture, race and racism, gender, intimacy, digital life, and work inequity in academia. Her most recent publications explore how race and ethnicity, gender, and sexuality shape the ways that people build and negotiate intimate relationships, with a particular focus on multiracial populations and interracial couplings.

Dr Alyssa Newman is a Hecht-Levi Fellow at John Hopkins University. Her research has explored the production of racial meaning with a focus on multiraciality. She has explored these topics through research projects relating to collective identity formation, biology and genetics, the intersection of mixedness and masculinity, as well as family relationships and reproduction.

In Fall 2022 she will begin a joint appointment at Georgetown University as Assistant Professor of Sociology and Senior Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.

Making Mixed Race: A Study of Time, Place and Identity (Routledge, 2021)

To preview this title for free visit https://www.routledge.com/Making-Mixed-Race-A-Study-of-Time-Place-and-Identity/Campion/p/book/9780367462918

You can also receive a 20% discount using the code FLR40

By examining Black mixed-race identities in the city through a series of historical vantage points, Making Mixed Race provides in-depth insights into the geographical and historical contexts that shape the possibilities and constraints for identifications.

Whilst popular representations of mixed-race often conceptualise it as a contemporary phenomenon and are couched in discourses of futurity, this book dislodges it from the current moment to explore its emergence as a racialised category, and personal identity, over time. In addition to tracing the temporality of mixed-race, the contributions show the utility of place as an analytical tool for mixed-race studies. The conceptual framework for the book – place, time, and personal identity – offers a timely intervention to the scholarship that encourages us to look outside of individual subjectivities and critically examine the structural contexts that shape Black mixed-race lives.

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decoding and decolonising mixed-race: an international conversation

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Decoding and Decolonising Mixed-Race: An International Conversation

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Eventbrite - Stephen Lawrence Research Centre presents Decoding and Decolonising Mixed-Race: An International Conversation - Thursday, 16 June 2022 - Find event and ticket information.

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https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/apply-to-join-freedom-from-tortures-campaign-leadership-programme

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Sign up for a fully-funded volunteer leadership training programme, you can be a part of the fight back against the government's hostile anti-refugee agenda in your own community.

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If you want to know how you can create a fairer, more welcoming community and country for torture survivors, this is for you.

It's totally free and flexible - you can do it around work or university, or any other commitments you might have.

You'll get the chance to have three training days across three months with some of the UK's leading campaigners, learn tactics and tools - then go and win!
Who are we looking for?
We're looking for people who have the passion and drive to begin a long fight back against this government's hostile, anti-refugee agenda - so we can begin creating a more compassionate system for torture survivors tomorrow.

Everybody's welcome to apply - whether you're 18 or 80, an experienced organiser or a campaigning newbie, in full-time work or about to start university. The most important thing is that you're dedicated to building a more welcoming UK.

We would enthusiastically encourage applications from people who identify as belonging to one or multiple groups below:

Black, Asian or minority ethnic

A migrant, torture survivor, refugee or asylum seeker

Working class or from a working class background

LGBTQI+

Disabled and/or neurodivergent

You'll need to be able to come to three training days - two in-person in our London office on July 16th and 17th, and one more online in August. We'll cover the travel costs.
Deadline: 5th June 23.59

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Apply to join Freedom from Torture's Campaign Leadership Programme

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If you want to know how you can create a fairer, more welcoming community and country for torture survivors, this is for you. It's totally free and flexible - you can do it around work or university, or any other commitments you might have.

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Country Calendar was one of Briar Pomana’s comfort television shows. She grapples with the realisation it romanticises colonial cottage-core lifestyle on what once was Indigenous land.

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Migration and Humanitarian

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SIYAKHULUMA We TALK Podcast

May 22

17 min 20 sec

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Talking to Sally Hayden freelance journalist focused on migration and Humanitarian issues she has reported from Europe Africa and Middle East published her work in numerous media and she is An Africa correspondent for The Irish Times just and I'm very

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Listen to this episode from SIYAKHULUMA We TALK Podcast on Spotify. Talking to Sally Hayden freelance journalist focused on migration and Humanitarian issues she has reported from Europe Africa and Middle East published her work in numerous media and she is An Africa correspondent for The Irish Times just and I'm very lucky to get an invite for her book launch in Glasgow Scotland where I live a friend of she runs a book shop she is one connected me with Sally Hayden amazing person.

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ONLINE RALLY: We Demand an End to the Hostile Environment! #10YearsTooLong

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Join us for an online rally: we demand an end to the Hostile Environment! #10YearsTooLong On this day 10 years ago, Theresa May announced that she wanted to "create a really hostile environment" for migrants in Britain. In this decade, doctors have been made to refuse life-saving treatment to patients and charge extortionate bills for healthcare on the basis of your immigration status.

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https://imix.org.uk/

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Follow our newsletter for monthly updates on high impact media outputs, campaigns, sector news, digital content, and information regarding media training. We will also be highlighting sector-related achievements, and news around immigration, refugees, and the rights of sanctuary seekers in the UK.

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the other side of hope | journeys in refugee and immigrant literature

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Our latest print issue was published in October 2023. If you can, please support the project by buying a copy. ​Any profit from sales goes towards our next volume, ​so we can keep the magazine running and paying our contributors. For more information, please visit our print editions.

We created this project because we wanted to make a home for the migrant writers and poets of the world. The reader who happens to pass by these parts is welcome to get some rest here; we offer poetry and prose.

the other side of hope: journeys in refugee and immigrant literature is a UK-based literary magazine edited by immigrants & refugees. We are proud to be the UK's first ever literary magazine of Sanctuary, accredited by City of Sanctuary UK. The project is made possible thanks to public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England. We were established in 2021.

To contact the editors, please email
editor.otherside @ gmail.com
​[remove spaces before and after @]

the other side of hope was created for those who play against all odds, those unsure of every word they write, the frowned upon ones and mostly unwelcomed, the beautiful strangers. It's a project of understanding, a tiny mirror that reflects those who keep on trying, those who write without hope in the badly lit corners of literature. It's a project of words that maybe someday will clean a little the great big mirror of life from the slime they throw at our reflections, so that the cruel may be less cruel and the kind kinder.

We publish unthemed poetry and fiction by refugees and immigrants only, and non-fiction, book reviews and author interviews by everyone on the theme of migration. We pay all our contributors and we collaborate with A.M. Heath Literary Agency who each year select six of our contributors to offer free one-to-one sessions. We hold two open reading periods. We nominate our contributors for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, PEN awards, and others. For more information you can visit our submissions page.

publications
​& where you can find the other side of hope

We publish biannually, one print issue and one online issue, which feature completely different content. From 2024 we aim to publish quarterly, two issues in English only, and two in other languages alongside English translations.

Our print issues are available to buy through our website, under the 'print editions' tab. A ny profit from sales of the magazine goes towards our next volume. Copies can be borrowed from Public Libraries throughout the UK and from some UK and USA academic libraries. Copies can also be purchased in some UK independent bookshops. S o far we have donated more than 1,500 copies to refugee centres, hotels with new arrivals and public libraries of sanctuary. You can find out more about our print issues and donations in the . print editions

​Our online editions are accessible for free. Visit online editions.

You can watch some of our previous contributors reading or talking about their work on our YouTube channel: @ OtherSideLitMag

​ The magazine takes its name from Aki Kaurismäki's film with the same title.

Patrons: A. M. Dassu & Lord Alf Dubs.
Ambassador: Sepideh Moafi

'Essential, illuminating and powerful... the other side of hope brings to light the lives that the world often prefers to ignore.'
-- Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize Winner for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

'I find this project deeply inspiring and so important to world literature. Immigrant stories are so often cast through the lens of the native born. Just as often they're marginalized or pigeonholed, with only a few voices taken seriously by Westerner gatekeepers on purely artistic grounds - often those breakthrough voices belong to those schooled in western storytelling. Here is a literary magazine that invites displaced people to tell their own stories in their own way, and to be a part of a larger literary and artistic conversation beyond migration politics. I'm so moved!'
-- Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee & Who Gets Believed?

' the other side of hope acts as a commentary on or mirror to our world now and gives the reader a sense of the huge range of experiences of those who move through it ... this literary magazine is a gift to us all.'
-- Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned

'Helmed by a team of refugees and immigrants, the other side of hope aims to challenge common perceptions of refugees in the UK, and to chronicle the immigrant experience.'
-- The Bookseller

'In the other side of hope, writers are released from the narrow parameters expected by much of the media.'
-- The Times Literary Supplement

'At long last a serious publication dedicated to the voices of people who have moved. the other side of hope reaches across divides, and platforms the voices that urgently need to be heard, bringing us together as neighbours - as humans.'
-- City of Sanctuary UK

'To refer to the other side of hope simply as "a literary magazine" feels like an injustice. It is a beautiful, complex and painful collection of short stories, non-fiction and poems written and edited by refugees and immigrants ... It constitutes a tool for building empathy, for generating understanding, and an avenue through which to become immersed in the lives of refugees and immigrants for a brief, yet emotive period of time ... You have no choice but to remove your blinkers and disassemble your barriers, blinking in the glaring light of inhumanity, yet reassured that there is enough humanity within us and between us to sustain each other, if we were willing to reach across arbitrary divides ... This literature invites us to deconstruct the categories of "alien", "immigrant", "refugee" and "other", in order to simply recognise the humanity, the beauty, and the struggle in all of us, regardless of country of origin or means of arrival.'
-- The Norwich Radical

'From the vital voices of migrants across the globe, the other side of hope is simply brilliant - a unique collection of fiction and poetry that is both heart and eye opening and reflects the deepest parts of the human condition that bind us all. A magazine we have always needed in a time when we need it most.'
-- Sepideh Moafi, multi-hyphenate artist & humanitarian

'This is a brilliant and vital magazine, that allows voices to speak which would otherwise remain unheard - a utopian Babel.'
-- Jonathan Taylor, author, editor, critic & Associate Professor of Creative Writing

'A brilliant and essential magazine that reminds us of our shared humanity: By reading the other side of hope we can demonstrate our solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers the world over.'
-- Lucy Popescu, Chair, The Authors' Club & Best First Novel Award (BFNA)

'Visceral and evocative ... everyone should read it.'
​-- The Lit Platform

A former refugee child, Lord Alf Dubs, patron of the other side of hope, interviewed by our editor, Rubina Bala.

Company Number 15128344 (not-for-profit), From The Other Side Ltd.
Address: From The Other Side, LCB Depot, 31 Rutland St, Leicester, LE1 1RE, UK

You can subscribe to our newsletter by filling in the form below.

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The other side of hope literary magazine

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'Essential, illuminating and powerful ... the other side of hope brings to light the lives that the world often prefers to ignore.'

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EVENT OVERVIEW

Cultivating allyship means that we open to the suffering we would not otherwise notice and be moved to lessen it, motivated by compassion for all and from a foundation of embodiment, self-care and steadiness. Allyship asks us to untangle conditioning, become aware of unconscious bias and become actively compassionate to heal the wounds and micro-aggressions which arise when we create 'other'.

This retreat will offer guided practices of mettā (friendliness) and self-compassion as foundations for the discernment, honesty and openness required to create collective change. We acknowledge that the term 'allyship' is imperfect, but it can offer a functional framework for learning.

As well as guided meditations, there will be reflections from the teachers and opportunities for discussion.

TEACHER SUPPORT AND EVENT PRICES

Events at London Insight are offered in a spirit of generosity. The price you pay goes towards the running of the event but does not include any payment to the teachers for their teaching. Instead, our teachers rely on the generosity of participants for their livelihood. Click here for more information on the system of Dana.

EVENT PRICES

Thanks to your continuing support for our events, we are continuing to offer a reduced price for our online events and we hope this will be of benefit particularly to people who have been adversely affected by the economic impact of the Covid pandemic.

Standard: £12 - This covers our costs.
Sponsor: £15 - A voluntary higher rate enabling us to offer supported rate places.
Supported: £5 - For those unable to afford the standard rate.

Please pay the sponsor rate if you can.

If you are unable to afford the supported rate, please let us know. We try to ensure that no one is turned away because of lack of funds, providing places are available.
Please note that the Zoom access details are sent the day before the event, or the morning of the event for late bookings.

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Online: Compassion and Allyship - London Insight

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EVENT OVERVIEW Cultivating allyship means that we open to the suffering we would not otherwise notice and be moved to lessen it, motivated by compassion for all and from a foundation of embodiment, self-care and steadiness. Allyship asks us to untangle conditioning, become aware of unconscious bias and become actively compassionate to heal the wounds [...]

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https://myamericanmeltingpot.com/2022/04/19/mamp-book-review-will-by-will-smith/

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It just so happened that when #TheSlap of 2022, aka, that time when Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars for disrespecting his wife, I was in the middle of reading his riveting, self-titled memoir, . (No subtitle, just Will.) While I was already enjoying the book, pre-Slap, I was more motivated to get all the way through it, post-slap, to see if his behavior on Oscar night would make more sense.

And dear reader, it really did.

Will By Will Smith is a Good Book

Before I get into how the backstory of Will Smith's trauma from childhood provides context for his Oscar-night attack, I want to say that I enjoyed this book very much. Will and his co-author, Mark Manson, did a masterful job telling the story of Will Smith's unbelievable rise to superstardom, while at the same time unraveling a parallel story of one man's self destruction. Without apology, in his memoir, Smith admits to relentlessly pursuing success at the expense of being a good father and husband for his family. He also recognizes by the end of the book, that a lifetime of acting allowed him to avoid ever really getting to know his own authentic self.

Unveiling the Secrets to His Success

One of the many things I enjoyed about this book was the behind the scenes trip down memory lane of some of the greatest moments in pop culture history. That is, the pop culture history of my youth. From the infectious, Parents Just Don't Understand, to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, to the incredible movie, Ali, so many of Will Smith's greatest achievements were touchstones of my own coming of age. And in the book, the reader gets to see how so many of these groundbreaking achievements - the first grammy for a rap song, the highest grossing film in the world - came to pass. And be clear, Smith's success was not a by-product of coincidence or circumstance, but rather, by his military-style work ethic, and his unwavering commitment to high achievement. In other words, Will Smith acted like the word no wasn't in his vocabulary when it came to achieving his goals.

But that wasn't always a good thing.

Even Will Smith Can't Have it All

Yes, "money can't buy happiness" and "success means nothing if you have nobody to share it with" are both tired cliches, but that doesn't mean they're not true. They are in fact, very true. But that doesn't mean that smart people like Will Smith know that. Or maybe he did know that at one point, but simply forgot. As the book builds, we see Smith becoming a successful rappper, and then a sitcom star, and then a movie star, and then a global superstar. And accordingly, his fortunes grow with his fame. He buys big houses, multiple cars, and takes lavish vacations. But somehow he's never satisfied - with either his fame or his fortune - and neither is his family. And that brings us back to that traumatic childhood.

Daddy Issues in the Smith Household

"I've always thought of myself as a coward," is how Smith begins his memoir. Not exactly what one would expect from one of the, "most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time." But Smith's cowardice comes from his feelings as a young child in the face of his father's violent, alcohol-fueled abuse. Too often, Smith was witness to his father beating his mother and he never forgave himself for not being able to protect her. He also never forgave himself for not being brave enough to stand up to his father and keep his nuclear family intact. Will really lays bare his childhood trauma and is able to point to those haunting feelings of cowardice and inadequacy as fueling his rise to stardom, as well as his poor choices as a family man. Interestingly, Smith never goes into specifics as to how he "forgave" his father, but we see that the two maintained a relationship until the elder Smith died.

The Slap Makes Sense

As I mentioned in my essay about TheSlap, I do not condone violence and I do not think Will Smith had any right to lay hands on Chris Rock, regardless of how wrong Rock's dig at Jada Pinkett Smith was. Still, after reading Smith's book, I understand a few things about the man that provide context for TheSlap. First, I understand that Will Smith had a violent past. I also understand that Will Smith carries with him both guilt and shame for not protecting his mother and that probably exacerbated his need to protect his wife.

And I understand that pretending to be perfect for 30 years in Hollywood, when in fact you're really just a flawed human being like the rest of us, can make a person snap - even in the middle of the Academy Awards.

The Search for Success

Throughout this 413-page book, Will Smith makes a really good case that what he is, is indeed just a regular, flawed, human being that money and fame couldn't fix. And at the end of the day, only through self-reflection and a whole lot of therapy, will he ever feel good about himself. Spoiler alert: By the end of the book, Smith does make that realization and reading about his confrontation with all of his demons is powerful. Whether you care about TheSlap or not. Whether you grew up Getting Jiggy with It or not, Will by Will Smith is still a really good memoir about one man's relationship with success. I highly recommend it.

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It just so happened that when #TheSlap of 2022, aka, that time when Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars for disrespecting his wife, I was in the middle of reading his riveting, self-titled memoir, . (No subtitle, just Will.)

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Hannah Lavery is no stranger to the subject of grief. The Edinburgh-born poet, performer and playwright has addressed the pain of loss, and the power of what it can conjure, in her work before. Her 2019 show The Drift focused on the loss of her father, a Scottish Black man who was largely absent during her childhood. Through the prism of that personal loss Lavery explored broader questions of legacy, identity and shame, bringing to light Scotland's history of colonialism and slavery, and the continuing racism inflicted on people of colour in the country today.

Now Lavery is revisiting Lament for Sheku Bayoh, a play that was first written and shown as a rehearsed reading at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2019. Like The Drift, Lament... is an expression of grief for the loss of a man's life, and a call for accountability from a society and a system that remains determined to look the other way. It tells the story of Sheku Bayoh, the gas engineer, husband and father of two young children who was killed by police on the streets of Kirkcaldy, Fife in 2015. He was 31 years old.

Lament... "came out of a conversation with David Greig about Sheku Bayoh," Lavery says of its conception. "I felt like I wanted people to say his name, to create a lament in which we remembered this deeply loved man." Not many people she spoke to had heard of the killing of Sheku Bayoh - "no-one seemed to know about it" - which only pushed Lavery to see the project through with more urgency. She began finding out what she could about him online.

"We were looking at the questions that have been unanswered for the family," she says. "[The play] is not an investigation - it's an exploration of what was out there in the media." The media's depictions of the circumstances of Bayoh's death led her no closer to discovering who he was - some included racial tropes and pre-existent racist narratives. "I was looking at what I could see, what I could read, what I could find and how that affected me. My response as a person of colour... was a desire to say his name, and to get other people to say his name with me."

One powerful aspect of the Black Lives Matter Movement is the 'SayTheirNames' ritual that takes place both online and in physical spaces of resistance - a demonstration of fury, a practice of respect, a cry for change and a lament in and of itself. With Lament...,Lavery draws on this process, saying Bayoh's name and creating an artistic space in which he can be mourned. The play is written in the style of a lament, one of the oldest forms of poetry in human history, and one that has been observed across many different cultures.

"I am writing in that tradition of the lament, in the tradition of keening [the action of wailing in grief for a person who has died]," says Lavery. "It's about grief. It's about loss and what that says to us - as citizens, as a country. Art creates a space for empathy. This work doesn't necessarily demand any action from you, except your empathy."

A lot has changed since Lavery first wrote the play - a public inquiry into Bayoh's death has been announced, and the murder of George Floyd in the US provoked global protests and a world-wide cultural reckoning with racial injustice. How did it feel returning to the piece in 2020? "In so many ways we're in a different place," she responds. "But also, we're not."

"There's been an addition to the play in terms of making it clear that the public inquiry has been announced, but the body of the play hasn't changed." She pauses. "I don't think the play's changed, but maybe the audience will have. People know who Sheku Bayoh is more since when I wrote it. I don't think there will be as many people saying 'who's that?'

"There will be points in the play that resonate more than they did last year because of what we've experienced this year. But the Black Lives Matter Movement existed when I wrote it. It's more [embedded in] the popular imagination now - society has changed a little and the public has changed a little. How much by still remains to be seen."

The world has, of course, changed in other ways too. Lament for Sheku Bayoh will be performed to an empty auditorium in the Lyceum in Edinburgh, and streamed online for viewers to watch at home. Lavery hopes that it will be shown to a live audience one day, though "streaming is more accessible in some ways, so that's a silver lining."

"It's certainly different!" she says, "but I'm just glad it's getting made." So are we.

Lament for Sheku Bayoh will be available to stream on a pay-what-you-can basis on 20-21 Nov
nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/lamentforshekubayoh
Sheku Bayoh photo courtesy of the family of Sheku Bayoh

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Hannah Lavery on Lament for Sheku Bayoh: The Skinny

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Hannah Lavery is no stranger to the subject of grief. The Edinburgh-born poet, performer and playwright has addressed the pain of loss, and the power of what it can conjure, in her work before. Her 2019 show The Drift focused on the loss of her father, a Scottish Black man who was largely absent during her childhood.

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As the MLB lockout began to threaten the early portion of the 2022 schedule, one of the biggest concerns was the celebration of Jackie Robinson Day, which takes place every April 15 to honor the legacy of the man who broke the league's color barrier.

Every year, players around MLB wear No. 42 in memory of Robinson, who played the first game of his Hall of Fame career April 15, 1947. This year's event carried extra meaning as the 75th anniversary of his groundbreaking achievement.

The league and the Players Association reached an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement after 99 days, which ensured Jackie Robinson Day would take center stage once again Friday.

Former President Barack Obama honored Robinson, who died in 1972:

Longtime MLB outfielder Doug Glanville, who now works as an ESPN analyst, discussed the importance of making sure Robinson's story continues to get passed down to future generations.

"It is one of the greatest American stories ever, but like any story, with time, it can fade," Granville wrote in an article published Friday. "A big step in sustaining it is sharing it with children young enough to be his great-great-grandchildren."

The league teamed with New York City, where Robinson played his entire MLB career as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, to kick off the celebration Friday morning by renaming 42nd Street as Jackie Robinson Way for the day:

The New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks, who played the day's first game, both highlighted their jerseys for the occasion:

All the uniforms Friday featured the No. 42 in Dodger Blue regardless of the team's color scheme as a special tribute on the 75th anniversary.

Here's a look at some other celebrations and memories of Robinson from around MLB, the sports world and the internet:

Robinson won the 1947 MLB Rookie of the Year and the 1949 National League MVP awards, and he earned six All-Star selections during a decorated career that also included capturing the 1955 World Series championship with the Dodgers.

The Georgia native, who served in the U.S. Army before his baseball career, continued to advocate for racial equality after his playing career ended in 1956.

He made a speech before throwing out the first pitch of Game 2 of the 1972 World Series, less than two weeks before his death from a heart attack at the age of 53.

"I am extremely proud and pleased to be here this afternoon, but must admit I'm going to be tremendously more pleased and more proud if I look at that third-base coaching line one day and see a Black face managing in baseball," Robinson said.

In 1975, Cleveland hired Frank Robinson as MLB's first Black manager. But nearly five decades later, the 2022 season opened with just two Black managers: the Houston Astros' Dusty Baker and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Dave Roberts.

It highlights the need for continued work to honor Jackie Robinson's legacy in the years ahead.

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Jackie Robinson Day 2022: How the Sports World Is Honoring MLB Icon

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As the MLB lockout began to threaten the early portion of the 2022 schedule, one of the biggest concerns was the celebration of Jackie Robinson Day, which takes place every April 15 to honor the legacy of the man who broke the league's color barrier. Every year, players around MLB wear No.

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Chasing Trane: The Story of John Coltrane

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Of John Coltrane. Biographical documentary examining the life and work of the global superstar John Coltrane - the man behind the revolutionary sounds of 20th century jazz.

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Priti Patel has been accused of taking part in an "immoral trade of human beings" after it emerged the UK will take in a number of refugees from Rwanda in return for deporting thousands of asylum seekers to the country.

Around 50 of the "most vulnerable refugees" in the African nation are to be resettled in Britain as part of a multimillion-pound deal agreed between the two countries last week, under which thousands of UK asylum seekers are set to be deported to Rwanda to have their claims considered there.

It has also emerged that modern slavery victims will be among those removed from Britain under the deal, despite the fact that the UK government condemned Rwanda for its failure to protect and support survivors of trafficking less than a year ago.

The document outlining the terms of the migration deal states that arrangements will be made for Britain to "resettle a portion of Rwanda's most vulnerable refugees, recognising both participants' commitment towards providing better international protection for refugees".

A Home Office source told The Independent this would amount to "around 50" refugees being brought to Britain from the country. Rwanda is already home to more than 127,000 refugees, mainly from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, most of whom are in refugee camps.

Louise Calvey, head of services and safeguarding at Refugee Action, said: "Every last detail of this sordid deal pushed through by the home secretary reveals it to be no more than a grubby and immoral trade in human beings.

"The plan to take 50 vulnerable refugees from Rwanda would suggest the government does not have full confidence in the system there to safeguard people fleeing war and persecution.

"Refugee resettlement must happen with the UNHCR and as part of a more ambitious and long-term programme to welcome and support 10,000 people every year to rebuild their lives in the UK."

The UNHCR, which facilitates resettlement globally, including from Rwanda, believes there are some 6,000 refugees in the east African country who require resettlement.

But a spokesperson for the organisation said it was not aware of the plans to resettle refugees from Rwanda to the UK as it was "not party" to the terms of the deal.

Announcing the deal last week, Boris Johnson said the approach would "provide safe and legal routes for asylum". However, other than plans to take in 50 refugees from Rwanda, there is as of yet no evidence that the government is going to increase its safe and legal routes to the UK.

The number of people brought to Britain under resettlement schemes - one of Britain's main safe and legal routes for refugees - plummeted by 79 per cent between 2019 and 2021, from 5,606 to 1,171.

The Nationality and Borders Bill, which is currently going through parliament, seeks to deny asylum seekers who arrive in the UK via unauthorised routes - such as on small boats in the Channel - the right to bring their family members to join them in Britain.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: "With so few safe and legal routes available, people who are fleeing war and persecution are left with no other option than to risk their lives in small boats at the hands of smugglers in desperation to find safety.

"Rather than expanding safe routes this government's borders bill all but destroys the main legal route open to refugees by severely restricting refugee family reunion, the means by which thousands of mainly women and children facing violence and persecution have been able to safely settle in Britain in recent years."

The memorandum of understanding for the migration deal also makes it clear that victims of modern slavery will be among those sent to Rwanda, stating that the country will be provided with information about relocated individuals "relating to any special needs that may arise as a result of their being a victim of modern slavery and human trafficking".

This is despite the fact that, only last July, the UK's international ambassador for human rights, Rita French, condemned Rwanda for failing to "screen, identify and provide support to trafficking victims" in the country.

Kolbassia Haoussou MBE, of the charity Freedom from Torture, said: "It is utterly unconscionable that survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery - the very people that this cruel policy is ostensibly designed to protect - will be deported to a country which less than a year ago this government condemned for failing to support.

"As the extraordinary compassion shown recently by people across this country to those fleeing conflict in Ukraine and Afghanistan shows, the government is dangerously out of step with public opinion on this issue."

The Home Office and the Rwandan government have been approached for comment.

UK slammed for deporting asylum seekers in return for Rwanda refugees

UK slammed for deporting asylum seekers in return for Rwanda refugees

Around 50 of the 127,000 refugees in Rwanda are to be resettled in Britain as part of a multi-million pound deal agreed between the two countries last week

REUTERS

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UK accused of 'trading human beings' by deporting asylum seekers for Rwanda refugees

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Priti Patel has been accused of taking part in an "immoral trade of human beings" after it emerged the UK will take in a number of refugees from Rwanda in return for deporting thousands of asylum seekers to the country.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61153677

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https://novaramedia.com/2022/04/19/the-response-to-the-trojan-horse-affair-tells-us-all-we-need-to-know-about-islamophobia-in-britain/

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What if a hoax caused a national scandal, dominating Britain's news for weeks? What if this hoax was used to whip up hate against a minority community, even being used to justify repressive new laws that disproportionately targeted that community? And what if journalists revealed that the politicians who stirred up this hate knew it was a hoax all along? That would be a big deal, right?

It's more than three months since The New York Times and Serial Productions released The Trojan Horse Affair podcast , a years-long investigation into the 'Trojan Horse' scandal that rocked British politics in 2014 and cast a shadow over the country's Muslim communities. But in spite of the podcast's explosive revelations, it's been met with near silence by the British media.

This has been painful to watch: I grew-up in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham - the city at the heart of the Trojan Horse scandal - and was a student in the city when it hit the front pages. I saw first hand the devastating effect the scandal had on my community, with politicians and the press using it to whip up hate against Muslims.

The podcast isn't just about something that did (or didn't) happen in Birmingham nearly a decade ago. It's about Islamophobia in Britain today: how it is stoked by the powerful and ignored by the press. Being the youngest Muslim to be elected to parliament, I feel a responsibility to speak out about this too; the podcast even uses a speech I gave in parliament about Islamophobia to explain what life is like for Muslims in Britain today.

So for me, this is personal.

At the heart of the Trojan Horse scandal was a letter purporting to detail a "Muslim plot" to take over schools in Birmingham, supposedly aiming to "Islamise" classrooms. But the podcast reveals that even before the letter was made public, Michael Gove, then education secretary, was repeatedly warned it was almost certainly a hoax. But Gove acted as if it were a legitimate document - and even now the truth has come to light, he still refuses to admit he used a hoax letter to trigger a national scandal.

Having been told the letter was a hoax, Gove repeatedly trumpeted it in parliament, prompting a deluge of bigoted hysteria from the rightwing press. The Daily Mail splashed the story with "Revealed: Islamist plot dubbed 'Trojan Horse' to replace teachers in Birmingham schools with radicals", while The Spectator's front page read "Taught to hate", with an image of a child holding the Quran one on hand and a sword in the other.

No evidence of a "plot" was ever found, but the narrative was set.

The scandal mainstreamed Islamophobic ideas about Muslims conspiring to undermine British society, depicting Muslims as an 'enemy within' - ideas that were already dominant on the far right. Indeed, Gove was himself ahead of the curve, having fed these tropes and demonised British Muslims in his 2006 book Celsius 7/7. In a case of curious prescience, the book even had a chapter titled "The Trojan Horse". No surprise, then, that Gove and the Tories seized the moment and immortalised the hoax letter in government policy.

The 2015 Counter Extremism Strategy repeatedly referenced the scandal (still covering up that the supposed plot was then widely known to be a hoax) and the Islamophobic Prevent duty was then put on a statutory footing in educational settings a year after the scandal hit the headlines.

This campaign encapsulated the way in which elites encourage and give licence to Islamophobia across society, with devastating consequences. Last year, for example, almost half of religious hate crimes were Islamophobic , while Tory politicians can describe Muslim women who wear the niqab as "bankrobbers" and "letterboxes" - triggering a 375% rise in Islamophobic incidents - and still go on to become prime minister.

In a healthy democratic society, we might expect the revelation that a national scandal which dramatically shaped government policy was based on a hoax to trigger outrage and contrition. Instead, we've seen a mixture of silence and doubling-down. This, really, is little surprise: Islamophobia shaped the media's response to the hoax letter in 2014 and Islamophobia explains the media's disregard for the podcast's revelations in 2022.

Despite the podcast's huge popularity (topping the downloads charts for consecutive weeks), it has been ignored or maligned by much of the British media. Journalists who splashed "Islamist plot" across Britain's newspapers have remained silent, even as their reporting has been debunked. A leading Observer columnist, meanwhile, reacted by underplaying the Islamophobia at the scandal's heart, ignoring the podcast's revelations, and turning her fire on the New York Times journalists who detailed the hoax. In one of the very few (perhaps only) times Gove has been confronted about it , he was able to effortlessly dismiss questions about his duplicitous role in the cover-up. It seems he's gotten away with it.

It hasn't been so easy for British Muslims to forget the scandal, however. It had a profound impact, leaving scars that have still not healed. It fed Islamophobic currents that exist in British society today and threaten the safety of our communities.

The Trojan Horse scandal is a case study in how power operates in Britain: a hoax promoted in the House of Commons, as government ministers worked hand-in-glove with a pliant media. Neither the politicians nor the journalists responsible even feel the need to acknowledge what really happened. It's a lesson in how punching down pays dividends.

But the podcast shows something else too. One of the journalists behind it, Hamza Syed, had never published anything before this; he had turned to journalism determined to probe the lies of the powerful and to stand up for a community he knew had been unjustly demonised by the establishment. Whilst still a journalism student, he approached Brian Reed, a veteran producer, explaining that he needed to investigate the scandal.

Hamza's determination has revealed to millions of people the lies and vindictiveness that sustain rotten establishment politics, leading to widespread disquiet among ordinary people at the events of 2014. As we organise to push back against servile journalists and political elites, the Trojan Horse Affair podcast is a powerful lesson.
Zarah Sultana is the Labour MP for Coventry South.

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The Response to the Trojan Horse Affair Tells Us All We Need to Know About Islamophobia in Britain | Novara Media

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Since its release, the Trojan Horse Affair podcast has been met with near silence by the British media. This isn't a surprise, writes Zarah Sultana: Islamophobia shaped the media's response to the hoax letter in 2014 and Islamophobia explains its disregard for the podcast's revelations in 2022.

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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/podcasts/trojan-horse-affair.html

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An unlikely duo chases down the origins of a mysterious letter that caused a national scandal.

Illustration by Lucy Jones

A strange letter appears on a city councillor's desk in Birmingham, England, laying out an elaborate plot by Islamic extremists to infiltrate the city's schools. The plot has a code name: Operation Trojan Horse. The story soon explodes in the news and kicks off a national panic. By the time it all dies down, the government has launched multiple investigations, beefed up the country's counterterrorism policy, revamped schools and banned people from education for the rest of their lives.

To Hamza Syed, who is watching the scandal unfold in his city, the whole thing seemed ... off. Because through all the official inquiries and heated speeches in Parliament, no one has ever bothered to answer a basic question: Who wrote the letter? And why? The night before Hamza is to start journalism school, he has a chance meeting in Birmingham with the reporter Brian Reed, the host of the hit podcast S-Town. Together they team up to investigate: Who wrote the Trojan Horse letter? They quickly discover that it's a question people in power do not want them asking.

From Serial Productions and The New York Times comes The Trojan Horse Affair: a mystery in eight parts.

Brian Reed is the host and co-creator of the podcast S-Town, a production of Serial and This American Life, which won a Peabody Award for being "a pioneering classic of the form."

Hamza Syed, a doctor turned reporter, joined Serial Productions in 2018 to report The Trojan Horse Affair.

Serial Productions are the makers of the hit podcasts Serial, S-Town, Nice White Parents and The Improvement Association. Serial Productions joined The Times in 2020 to make more groundbreaking longform podcasts.

Tune in, and tell us what you think at trojanhorse@nytimes.com.

Listen and follow The Trojan Horse Affair:

Part 5

A Study in Scarlett

Hamza and Brian learn that the Trojan Horse letter wasn't the only unsigned letter alleging an extremist operation was afoot in Birmingham. An interview with a couple who lodged complaints against their school starts out cordially, but six hours later, the atmosphere is so tense that not even an offer of tea can smooth things over. And Hamza stops pretending he's not angry about what he's hearing.

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An unlikely duo chases down the origins of a mysterious letter that caused a national scandal. A strange letter appears on a city councillor's desk in Birmingham, England, laying out an elaborate plot by Islamic extremists to infiltrate the city's schools. The plot has a code name: Operation Trojan Horse.

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/18/why-rwanda-asylum-seeker-plan-is-doomed-to-fail

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All UK taxpayers will from now on be complicit in legalised human trafficking, following the unveiling of the government plan to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda ( UK Rwanda plan for asylum seekers decried as inhumane, expensive and deadly, 14 April). Rwanda has a dubious human rights record. The UK is handing over the safety and human rights of possible refugees, allegedly persecuted in their own countries, to Rwanda, a country that in 2010 was among the 10 lowest-ranked countries in the world for press freedom.
Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay
Hounslow, London

History seems to be in danger of repeating itself. In the first half of the 19th century, the Royal Navy was dispatched to west Africa to intercept the shipment of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. Many of the naval initiatives were considered illegal at the time. Those "liberated" by naval action were then sent around the Atlantic world. They were given no choice as to where they would be "resettled". Under the policy, perhaps 100,000 Africans were "rescued" from transatlantic slavery, but a further 3.5 million were still shipped to the Americas between 1807 and 1867, a million of them illegally. One suspects that the UK government's politically motivated scheme will fare no better in inhibiting the activities of 21st-century people traffickers.
Prof David Richardson
Wilberforce Institute, University of Hull

As a historian, I was reminded of the suggestions by several 1930s British fascist organisations that Jews should be exiled to Madagascar. Tory leaders' contempt towards parliament also recalls the interwar fascist view of parliamentary democracy as an effete anachronism that could be undermined and superseded. While the Conservative party is not a fascist party, it is undoubtedly halfway down the road to fascism.
Dr Martin Pugh
Slaley, Northumberland

Having worked in Rwanda, I believe the Home Office plan will be ineffective and poor value for money. Many of the people crossing the Channel originate from Iran, Iraq and Syria. Culturally, they are unlikely to integrate into Rwandan society, which is of a predominantly Christian tradition and has different cultural values. In view of Israel's abortive attempt at a similar plan for the resettlement of its African migrants and the closure of the Australia's offshore processing in Papua New Guinea, it would be folly to proceed.
Dr Joseph Mullen
Former UN adviser to Rwanda

The minister for Brexit opportunities once again excels in ambiguity ( Rwanda asylum plan is 'almost Easter story of redemption', says Rees-Mogg, 17 April). Yes, the plan to send refugees to Rwanda is reminiscent of some aspects of the Easter story. Possibly the part where an innocent man is arrested, detained, tortured and killed, to satisfy an angry nationalist mob. And the part where due legal process is abandoned to help an incompetent, amoral administrator out of his personal political mire. Yes, so much like Easter.
Neil Ross
Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire

The government claims that sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is a challenge to the people traffickers' business model. What next? Take on the loan sharks by moving their victims into workhouses?
Margaret Fowler
Salford

Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.

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Why Rwanda asylum seeker plan is doomed to fail | Letters

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It makes little sense to send vulnerable people to a country with a questionable human rights record, writes Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay . Plus letters from Prof David Richardson , Dr Martin Pugh , Dr Joseph Mullen , Neil Ross and Margaret Fowler

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The UK Government's Nationality & Borders Bill seeks to overhaul the UK's asylum system. The government says the new Bill will "fix the broken asylum system" but in it's current form it will make the existing problems even worse.

The proposals have been widely condemned by charities, faith groups and community organisations across the UK.

Although 53 MPs from Scotland voted against the Bill, it was passed by the House of Commons in December 2021. On 22 February, MSPs from the Scottish Parliament joined their counterparts in Wales by voting to reject the Nationality and Borders Bill. Less than a week later, on 28 February, the House of Lords also voted to reject or amend the many of the most harmful parts of the Bill.

However, on Tuesday, 22 March, Conservative MPs, who hold a majority in the House of Commons, voted to reinstate all the worst bits of this evil Bill. This move comes despite the huge outpouring of support for refugees shown by the British public in response to the crises in Ukraine and Afghanistan.

What happens next?

The Bill, it will return to the House of Lords, where it will go through further readings before any amends are passed back to the Commons

Here are some of the reasons we're against the Bill and how we plan to oppose it...

We believe the Bill is dangerous and cruel. It will have a devastating impact on people fleeing war, persecution and human rights abuses.

The Nationality and Borders Bill:

Judges a person's right to refugee protection according to how they arrive in the UK, not on their need or the level of danger they face

Criminalises people who arrive in the UK by 'unofficial routes', which will apply to the majority of people seeking asylum, including many of those currently fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan

Plans to house people seeking refugee protection in 'off-shore' detention centres and out-of-town institutions, like Napier Barracks, rather than providing accommodation within local communities

Fails to set clear targets for resettling refugees in the UK, despite the government claiming to support so-called 'legal' routes

If the Bill becomes law:

Up to 21,600 people that the UK would accept as refugees today, could be turned away each year

Humanitarian organisations like the RNLI could be criminalised for "assisting unlawful immigration" by rescuing people from sinking boats

The UK Government could break international laws, set out in the UN Refugee Convention - this sets a worrying precedent for refugee rights

We're doing what we can to protect people seeking safety from the worst impacts of the Bill

We commissioned an expert legal opinion on the Bill to help us gain a better understanding of how it might affect and the impact it could have on Scottish policy and legislation

The opinion sets out ten recommendations for how Scotland can protect refugees, asylum seekers and migrants from the worst impact of the Bill

In the months to come, we'll be working closely with politicians, local authorities and civil organisations across Scotland to call for these recommendations to be considered

And with your help, we'll be campaigning to ensure that Scotland continues to be a place of welcome for people seeking safety

As part of the Together With Refugees coalition, we're calling for the UK Government to deliver an asylum system that is fair, effective and humane.

We're calling for a new and better approach that:

Stands up for people seeking safety in the UK, no matter how they came here

Ensures people can live with dignity while they wait to hear if they will be granted refugee protection

Empowers refugees to rebuild their lives and contribute to their communities

Sees the UK work alongside other countries and do our bit to help people who are forced to flee their homes

Ahead of the vote in the Scottish Parliament in which MSPS rejected the Bill, we prepared a briefing for MSPS, which you can read below:
Briefing for MSPs ahead of LCM
In the news Together With Refugees

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The Borders Bill: what you need to know - Scottish Refugee Council

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The UK Government's Nationality & Borders Bill seeks to overhaul the UK's asylum system. The government says the new Bill will "fix the broken asylum system" but in it's current form it will make the existing problems even worse. The proposals have been widely condemned by charities, faith groups and community organisations across the UK.

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Eventbrite booking for coach trip to Edinburgh to Stand in solidarity with Sheku Bayoh's family

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Eventbrite booking for coach trip to Edinburgh to Stand in solidarity with Sheku Bayoh's family

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https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/justice-for-sheku-glasgow-coach-to-the-public-inquiry-blacklivesmatter-tickets-318925493737

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Justice for Sheku - Glasgow coach to the public inquiry #BlackLivesMatter

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Stand in solidarity with Sheku Bayoh’s family and friends to demand justice #BlackLivesMatter

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https://www.shekubayohinquiry.scot/

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An independent public inquiry set up to examine the events surrounding the death of Sheku Bayoh, the subsequent investigation and whether race was a factor

Sheku Bayoh died on 3 May 2015 after an incident in the street in Kirkcaldy involving officers of Police Scotland.

Mr Bayoh, who was 31, left behind a partner, two young sons and a close family.

The purpose of the Inquiry is to examine:

the immediate circumstances leading to the death of Mr Bayoh

how the police dealt with the aftermath

the subsequent investigation into the death

whether race was a factor

The Inquiry can also make recommendations to prevent deaths in similar circumstances.

Read the full terms of reference here.

The Inquiry is chaired by Lord Bracadale.

Watch live

Hearings are due to resume at 10am on Wednesday 29 November.

Latest news

You'll find the latest updates from the Inquiry below.

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An independent public inquiry set up to examine the events surrounding the death of Sheku Bayoh, the subsequent investigation and whether race was a factor Sheku Bayoh died on 3 May 2015 after an incident in the street in Kirkcaldy involving officers of Police Scotland.

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BBC Sport’s Miriam Walker-Khan looks at the impact Bend It Like Beckham had on audiences.

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20 years on, BBC Sport's Miriam Walker-Khan looks at the impact Bend It Like Beckham had on audiences, its legacy in the world of sport and how its humour and characters still make it relatable today.

Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham is the highest-grossing sports film to focus on football, telling the story of a British-Indian teenager who falls in love with the game, while exploring themes of immigration, race, religion and sexuality. Twenty years on from its release, BBC Sport's Miriam Walker-Khan looks at the impact the film had on audiences, its legacy in the world of sport and how its humour and characters still make it relatable today.

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BBC News - Bend It Like Beckham: 20 Years On

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20 years on, BBC Sport's Miriam Walker-Khan looks at the impact Bend It Like Beckham had on audiences, its legacy in the world of sport and how its humour and characters still make it relatable today.

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Article on Forgotten Workers: Chinese Migrants and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad & Exhibit

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Article on Forgotten Workers: Chinese Migrants and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad & Exhibit

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The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad was an engineering feat of human endurance, with the western leg built largely by thousands of immigrant Chinese laborers.

The building of the Transcontinental Railroad relied on the labor of thousands of migrant workers, including Chinese, Irish, and Mormons workers. On the western portion, about 90% of the backbreaking work was done by Chinese migrants.

About 10,000 to 15,000 Chinese workers came to the United States to build the Central Pacific Railroad.

Chinese workers found some economic opportunity but also experienced hostility, racism, violence, and legal exclusion. Many came as single men; others left families behind. Despite laws restricting Chinese immigration, a few workers were able to send for wives and establish families and lasting communities in the United States.

The majority of Chinese railroad workers came from the province of Guangdong in southern China. They were recruited through a vast network of small firms and labor contractors that supplied workers to railroad companies. After arriving in America, many migrants relied on labor contractors and ethnic associations, like the Chinese Six Companies in San Francisco, to find employment and to broker labor contracts with prospective employers.

Railroad companies considered Chinese migrants a source of cheap, unskilled labor. In America in the 1800s, Chinese workers were seen as racially inferior to white workers. Employers used this prejudice to justify paying Chinese workers less than other workers and to relegate Chinese workers to the most undesirable jobs.

Chinese migrants confronted prejudice and racism immediately upon their arrival in America. Local governments passed discriminatory laws to restrict immigration and to exclude Chinese workers from employment in certain industries. As hostility grew, Chinese migrants encountered physical violence from vigilantes, mobs, and organized labor. The growing anti-Chinese movement at the local level culminated in the passage of the 1882 Exclusion Act, the first federal law to restrict the immigration of a group of workers by the criteria of race and class, and made Chinese migrants "illegal aliens."

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The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad was an engineering feat of human endurance, with the western leg built largely by thousands of immigrant Chinese laborers. The building of the Transcontinental Railroad relied on the labor of thousands of migrant workers, including Chinese, Irish, and Mormons workers.

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ABC Tried to Bury This James Baldwin Interview. Four Decades Later, It's Blisteringly Relevant.

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poetry / performance / food subscribe to my newsletter for updates on projects:

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First Full Length Collection - 'sikfan glaschu' - OUT NOW!!!

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Potluckzine Issue 1: Cooking During Covid - "conversations from the line outside the supermarket"

Marbles Mag Issue 4: Unfinished - "risk assessment for self-referral"

Placeholder Press Issue 1 - "JAM", "sometimes i wish i could fix things like you"

404 Ink Issue 5 - Space - "liminal being"

Blood Bath Issue 2: DEMONS - "666"

The Flexible Persona Vol 03 #2 the Passage Issue Fall 2018 - "outlet", "errored"

Monstrous Regiment #2 EMERALD Issue - "healing properties"

ZARF 11 - "allez cuisine"

SPAM ZINE #6 chips & cheese - "its working", "the chinese"

The Suburban Review Vol.7 - "immigration"
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The Edwin Morgan Centenary Collection - "eight slices". "munchy box"

Haunted Voices: An Anthology of Gothic Storytelling From Scotland - "the possession"

Spoken Word London - Anti-Hate Anthology - "jump cuts", "basic economics"

The Dizziness of Freedom - "are stars supposed to move like that", "i made it", "cbt"

In Which Dragons are Real But - "the new spring bamboo", "the new golden phoenix"

Why Poetry? The Lunar Poetry Podcasts Anthology - "content"

Heathrow Airport, Liminal Residency - "heathrow poem", "existing..."

UEA Creative Writing Anthology Poetry 2016 - "the sea is grey + even", "i am on the floor cutting roast duck into bits", "stealing table sauces from wetherspoons"

Screams and Silences - "we sometimes still hear them", "obscene art", "anywhere but here"

The Trouble with Parallel Universes - "in a different light"

Selcouth #2 - Food Edition - "chip butty", "in 1884 south kensington london", "the battle for glasgow scotland"

bathmagg Issue 4 - "where is the tree my 公公 drew"

SPOONFEED Issue 1 - "the godmother", "segmented"

GENERATORPROJECTS call + response 1. blooms - "hungerblossoms"

bitter melon Stay Home Diary - "3/31/20/20"

Pendemic.ie - "stay inside"

datableedzine issue 12 - "assorted histories of shaolin"

Visual Verse Vol.04 Chapter 10 - "a dramatization"

Glasgow Review of Books - "taijitu", "taijitu"

Blue of Noon (March 19th 2015) - "an honest review"

The Suburban Review 'True Equals False' (August 31st 2015) -"cleansing rituals"

Fake Poems (June 14th 2014) - "rush hour"

Many Voices Many Kitchens Editor for Bella Caledonia Scottish BAME Writers Network Audio Anthology

Guest Editor for SPOONFEED Issue 1.2

Poetry Editor at EX/POST Magazine

Guest Poetry Reader for Gutter Magazine Issue 21, 2020

Food Experiences Workshop for Scottish BAME Writers Network, April 2020

Psycho Gastro Studio Online Workshop Course at the Poetry School, September 2019

Eat Your Words Workshop at Tutor Academy, Poetry School, April 2019

National Library of Scotland 21st Century Reading Bursary Recipient

National Theatre of Scotland Starter Artist 2017

Rialto Open Pamphlet Competition 2016

Cafe Writers Open Poetry Competition 2015 - Funniest Poem Award

2013 Farrago Zoo Award for Best Debut Performance

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poetry / performance / food subscribe to my newsletter for updates on projects: glasgow https://tinyletter.com/seanwaikeung First Full Length Collection - 'sikfan glaschu' - OUT NOW!!!

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When the luxurious British passenger ship Titanic sank into the Atlantic Ocean in April 1912, thousands of people fell into the frigid waters.

Only one of the lifeboats that escaped the sinking ship turned back to search for potential survivors. In the darkness, the rescuers found a young Chinese man clinging to a wooden door, shivering but still alive.

That man was Fang Lang, one of six Chinese survivors of the Titanic, and his rescue would go on to inspire a famous scene in the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic.

But their miraculous survival was not the end of their ordeal.

Within 24 hours of their arrival at the immigrant inspection station in Ellis Island, New York, they were expelled from the country because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, a controversial law that barred the immigration of Chinese people into the US.

The six men disappeared from history - until now. A documentary film that has just premiered in China, The Six, shines a spotlight on their identities and lives, 109 years after the doomed voyage.

It uncovers a tale beyond the Titanic, a story shaped by racial discrimination and anti-immigration policy that has taken on particular resonance today following recent anti-Asian abuse in the US.

The men were identified as Lee Bing, Fang Lang, Chang Chip, Ah Lam, Chung Foo and Ling Hee. They were believed to be sailors heading to the Caribbean for work.

"As a group of people together, they are uniquely unknown," Arthur Jones, British filmmaker and the director of The Six, tells the BBC.

The Chinese survivors' names were on the ship's passenger list, and news articles covering the Titanic's sinking briefly mentioned them.

But unlike other Titanic survivors who received praise in the press, the Chinese men were vilified due to the anti-Chinese sentiment in the West in the early 20th Century, according to historians and researchers.

In a report filed days after the sinking, for instance, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle called the Chinese survivors "creatures" who had sprung into the lifeboats "at the first sign of danger" and concealed themselves beneath the seats.

But the documentary production team's research showed this claim was untrue.

They built a replica of the Titanic's lifeboat and found that it would have been impossible for the Chinese men to hide unseen. "I think we see the same thing today. We find immigrants [were] scapegoated by the press," Mr Jones says.

Other media coverage at the time accused the Chinese men of having dressed as women in order to get priority to board the lifeboats.

Titanic historian Tim Maltin says there is no proof the Chinese survivors were stowaways or disguised themselves as women.

"These were stories made up by the press and the public after the event," he tells the BBC.

The rumours may have stemmed from a stigma attached to many male survivors of the Titanic, as at the time the general public felt that women and children should have been prioritised in the rescue.

According to Mr Maltin, the Chinese men tried to help other survivors. Fang Lang, the man who lashed himself to a floating door, later rowed on the lifeboat that rescued him and helped to ferry everyone on board to safety.

Turned away from the US, the six men were sent to Cuba. They soon found their way to the UK, where there was a shortage of sailors as many British sailors were enlisted in the army during World War One.

Chang Chip became increasingly unwell after the ill-fated night, and eventually passed away from pneumonia in 1914. He was buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery in London.

The rest worked together in Britain until 1920, when the country suffered from a post-war recession and anti-immigrant feelings were running high.

A few of the Chinese men married British women in the UK and had children. But an anti-immigrant policy forced them to depart the country without notice, leaving their loved ones behind.

"And it wasn't their fault. All of these families were really driven [apart] by politics, something they didn't really have any control over," Jones says.

Ah Lam was deported to Hong Kong, while Ling Hee boarded a steamboat heading for Kolkata (Calcutta) in India.

Lee Bing immigrated to Canada, while Fang Lang, after sailing between Britain and Hong Kong for years, became a citizen of the country that once rejected him - the US.

Tom Fong, the son of Fang Lang, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin nearly half a century after the Titanic sinking. The family's last name has various spellings in English.

For decades, he knew nothing about his father's experience on the "unsinkable".

"He (Fang Lang) never spoke about it. Not to me, at least or to my mother," Mr Fong tells the BBC.

Mr Fang passed away in 1985 at the age of 90. It was not until 20 years after his death, did Mr Fong first learn from a family member that his father had survived the epic shipwreck.

Mr Fong thinks his father may have kept his Titanic survival as a secret from him because of a mix of trauma and stigma.

"There was a lot of information saying they were sneaking under the boat, and they dressed up like women..." he says. "Stories like that were circulating at the time."

When the research team of The Six tracked down descendants of the survivors, many of them were still reluctant to share their families' stories due to the stigma experienced by their family members a century ago.

Growing up in Wisconsin, Mr Fong witnessed many incidents where his father had to fight back against racism, including punching a man who called them derogatory names.

"He (Fang Lang) was a nice gentleman, until he felt that he was being discriminated against for his ethnicity," Mr Fong says.

More than a hundred years on, the hostility experienced by the six Chinese survivors uncannily echoes the pandemic-fuelled anti-Asian racism of today.

In the US alone, there have been thousands of reported abuse cases in recent months, from being spat on and verbally harassed to violent assault.

Mr Fong chose to share his family's story, hoping that the audience would learn about the true story of the Titanic's Chinese survivors and reflect on current events.

"Because if you don't know the history, it will repeat itself, " Mr Fong says.

You might be interested in:

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Titanic: Searching for the 'missing' Chinese survivors

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When the luxurious British passenger ship Titanic sank into the Atlantic Ocean in April 1912, thousands of people fell into the frigid waters. Only one of the lifeboats that escaped the sinking ship turned back to search for potential survivors. In the darkness, the rescuers found a young Chinese man clinging to a wooden door, shivering but still alive.

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/05/jay-z-beyonce-picket-line-party-celebrity-activism-oscars-chateau-marmont

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Jay-Z and Beyoncé crossing a picket line to party shows how shallow celebrity activism really is | Emma Dabiri

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The couple’s Oscars afterparty saw celebrities bypass Chateau Marmont workers who have complained of abhorrent conditions, says author Emma Dabiri

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Kavita Puri hears the stories of Asians who came to Britain from the 1950s onwards.

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Unity Arabic / English Language Exchange

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Unity Arabic / English Language Exchange. 534 likes · 3 talking about this. Unity's Arabic/English language exchange runs every Tuesday 6pm-8pm at Glasgow Autonomous Space...

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https://www.un.org/en/rememberslavery

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The Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery was established in 2007 with the adoption of General Assembly resolution 62/122. The Programme raises awareness of the history of the transatlantic slave trade, its impact on the modern world, and its legacies, including racism and prejudice. Over the years, the Programme has established a global network of partners, including from educational institutions and civil society, and developed resources and initiatives to educate the public about this dark chapter of history and promote action against racism.

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Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery | United Nations

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The Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery was established in 2007 with the adoption of General Assembly resolution 62/122. The Programme raises awareness of the history of the transatlantic slave trade, its impact on the modern world, and its legacies, including racism and prejudice.

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hen Jamaica's prime minister, Andrew Holness, announced to Prince William last week that Jamaica was "moving on", the irony of his statement was lost on most. Visiting the country in 2015, Britain's then PM, David Cameron, told Jamaican politicians making the case for reparations to "move on".

Republican ideology has been given renewed energy since 2021 when Barbados, led by Mia Mottley, became the latest Caribbean island to remove the Queen as head of state, replacing her with a female president.

Mottley had strongly opined that the Caribbean had won political independence but was denied any developmental compact. Outlining the strides the Caribbean had made in reversing legal inequalities, she made the case that only reparations could help tackle the psychological, sociological and economic inequalities that still exist within Caribbean countries and between them and their former colonisers.

Reparation seems a dirty word whenever Caribbean leaders utter it, and talks have taken on a farcical narrative. In 1834, reparations of over £20m were paid, not to the slaves but to the plantation owners, in compensation for their loss of free labour after emancipation.

Talks over the last 60 years or so, since independence began, have offered no cause for celebration. Britain has been remorseful in words but not emphatic in action. In August 2020, the UK government's response was: "The UK deplores the human suffering caused by slavery and the slave trade. They are among the most abhorrent chapters in the history of humanity."

Sound familiar? Prince William reiterated this in Jamaica. The statement went on: "While reparations are not part of the government's approach, we feel deep sorrow for the transatlantic slave trade, and fully recognise the strong sense of injustice and the legacy of slavery in the most affected parts of the world. We also believe that we have much to do today and in the future to address the reality of slavery in the UK and around the world."

But hey, let's move on! Reparations are not part of our approach and neither is a formal apology or, worse yet, making things economically right.

One has only to look at how the Windrush generation has been treated to understanding the Caribbean's plight, how much it has given and how little it has had in return

I wonder if William knew he was making his statement on the eve of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which passed almost unnoticed on 25 March.The day honours the more than 12 million men, women and children brutalised under a slavery system that endured for more than 400 years. The large population of people of African descent in the Caribbean remains the legacy of the inhuman enforced migration which broke the ladder of generational wealth of these displaced people.

In June 2020, the UK prime minister pledged to establish a new commission on ethnic disparities to "examine all aspects of continuing racial and ethnic inequalities in Britain". This will have no meaningful impact for the ordinary person on the streets of Kingston, Port of Spain or Bridgetown.

Voicing "sorrow and regret" is indeed a start but money talks far more than platitudes. One has only to look at how the Windrush generation has been treated to understanding the Caribbean's plight, how much it has given and how little it has had in return. Today, black and minority ethnic (BME) politics seems to be only about scholarships for black students to British universities and, in the workplace, painting the diversity picture and checking that box. Admittedly, this is important and a step in the right direction, but not enough.

Former British colonies should not be treated like the French have treated Haiti. In 1791, after the world's largest slave revolt, Haiti became the first nation to dismantle slavery. However, it was held to political ransom, forced to succumb to France's reparation demands in order to secure independence in 1804. The terms were cruel, as the infant nation entered into debt with exorbitant interest rates imposed by the French. Haiti paid French slaveholders and their descendants the equivalent today of $30bn, taking 122 years to pay it off, and severely damaging the newly independent country's ability to prosper.

Citizens of Belize and Jamaica protested during the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's visit. A petition proclaimed that there was absolutely nothing to rejoice over for the last 70 years of the Queen's role in Jamaica.

As part of the Queen's platinum jubilee, other tours are planned. In April, Edward and Sophie, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, will travel to Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Some of the last significant bastions of the British empire lie in Caribbean waters. These tiny island paradises, thousands of miles away yet still tied to the British empire, have been plagued by natural disasters which have impacted infrastructure and economies.

Two years of the pandemic have severed any hope of a quick recovery. In addition, there is political corruption by captured states, and the inertia of successive governments that seem hellbent on destroying their economies and enriching themselves, moving their ill-gotten gains through British tax-haven territories, with the final destination being London, to be hidden in real estate and other investments.

Caribbean politicians and officials continue to be naive towards what reparations would mean to Britain. They fool themselves that they possess leverage if they remain in the Commonwealth. Maybe a clue lies in recent articles and interviews on reparation issues between Namibia and its German ex-colonisers, which reveal exactly how the west views reparations.

Reparations become masked as 'developmental aid', suggesting a handout, and a means for the west to appear as saviours

Namibia was known as "German South West Africa" from 1884 to 1915. Between 1904 and 1908, German colonial forces brutally suppressed anti-colonial uprisings by the Herero and Nama people, forcing many into the desert to starve. They killed tens of thousands, confiscating land and livestock.

In 1988, the South African government finally agreed to give up control of Namibia and it was granted independence in 1990. The German government has acknowledged responsibility for genocide in Namibia but "reparation" is feared as a legal term by German negotiators concerned at setting any expensive precedent. Reparations therefore become masked as "developmental aid", suggesting a handout, and a means by which the west can appear as saviours. It is not restorative justice.

Reparations to bring real, impactful development initiatives in infrastructure, education, health and transportation could change the destiny of the descendants of slavery in the Caribbean. The fight for reparations must continue and must unite the ethnic majority of the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa.

In addition, the Caribbean countries, having taken their destiny into their own hands, must break the chains of political corruption and corporate capture which continue to smother and retard their economic and social development.

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Sorrow and regret are not enough. Britain must finally pay reparations for slavery

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hen Jamaica's prime minister, Andrew Holness, announced to Prince William last week that Jamaica was "moving on", the irony of his statement was lost on most. Visiting the country in 2015, Britain's then PM, David Cameron, told Jamaican politicians making the case for reparations to "move on".

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Donald Matheson is Scottish. But as a young man who's mixed race, do others view him as Scott(ish)? In this very personal journey, Donald explores the 'ish'. What does it mean to grow up both black and white in Scotland? And how hard is it to find a true sense of identity?

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Donald Matheson is Scottish. But as a young man who's mixed race, do others view him as Scott(ish)? In this very personal journey, Donald explores the 'ish'. What does it mean to grow up both black and white in Scotland? And how hard is it to find a true sense of identity?

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Scotland often prides itself on being a welcoming, open and tolerant country when it comes to racism. Jean Johansson meets the men, women and children telling a different story.

Scotland often prides itself on being a welcoming, open and tolerant country when it comes to racism. Jean Johansson meets the men, women and children telling a different story. She revisits her own experiences growing up in Scotland in the 1980s and looks at what has changed in 2022, hearing some uncomfortable truths and shocking realities.

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BBC One - Disclosure, The Truth About Scotland and Racism

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Jean Johansson investigates whether Scotland has a problem with racism in 2022.

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The Art School: GSA's Students' Association (GSASA) and GSA Exhibitions.

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Khichdi/Kedgeree, Kinning Park Complex, 2019. Images courtesy Caroline Grape.

Still from 'American Hunger', 2013, Ephraim Asili, part of The Diaspora Suite.

Afrofuturism & Spatial Practice, Performance Lecture, Natasha Ruwona

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Race, Rights and Sovereignty | Glasow, Scotland

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A series of lectures, workshops and events at The Glasgow School of Art, which seeks to celebrate, challenge, inform and inspire the next generation of artists, designers and architects about race and empower them to have a creative voice.

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The equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has strongly condemned the strip-searching of a 15-year-old black girl in a London school, but said the public backlash against the incident shows the UK is "a country that cares about ethnic minorities".

The experiences of Child Q were repeatedly raised with Badenoch by MPs, as she presented the government's strategy for tackling racial disparities in the UK.

She called it an "appalling incident", welcoming the fact the Met had apologised, and that the case was being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Badenoch added: "What we cannot do is stop any bad thing from happening to anyone in the country at any time. That is a threshold that is impossible to meet.

"But what we do know is that everybody is rightly appalled and outraged by what happened to Child Q. That is an example of a country that cares about ethnic minorities and about children in the system, and we will continue to do everything we can to support them."

The Labour MP Diane Abbott pressed Badenoch about the case in the House of Commons, giving some of its shocking details.

"Is the minister aware of how degrading this strip search was? It wasn't that she was just stripped naked; they made her part the cheeks of her bottom and cough. She was on her period," Abbott said. "I could give more detail but I don't want to distress people in this house." She added that the girl was "still traumatised", and no drugs were ever found.

"How can the minister sit there and tell this house that it had nothing to do with that young girl's race?" Abbott added.

She pointed out that it was "not an isolated incident", with the Met's own data showing that 25 children were strip-searched in 2020-21. Abbott said that almost all of those 25 were from ethnic minorities, with 60% of them black, and just two white.

Badenoch conceded those figures were "startling", adding, "no one has said that racism does not exist", and every incident should be investigated.

However, she said cases such as that of Child Q should not undermine the public's trust in the police more broadly.

"When these things happen, we mustn't forget that every day the police are saving the lives of young people all across this country. They save the lives of young black children, brown, Asian, of all communities," she said, adding that it was important not to see such incidents as "representative of every single thing the police do".

Badenoch was launching the government's Inclusive Britain report - a response to the Sewell review of racial disparities in the UK, published last year.

The government has promised to take a range of action, including developing a model history curriculum to teach children about the UK's "complex" past; improving grassroots oversight of police stop and search powers; and collecting more detailed data on the experiences of different ethnic communities.

Sewell's report was condemned by some activists for playing down the idea of widespread structural racism in the UK.

Badenoch said the report had not denied the existence of structural racism, but defended its approach, saying: "We see crime in our country every day, yet we do not say this is an institutionally criminal country. And that is the same way that we look at accusations of racism. It is important to distinguish the two."

She also condemned the treatment of Sewell, who had the offer of an honorary degree withdrawn by the University of Nottingham in the wake of the controversy.

"What is wrong is when people with different opinions are attacked and told that they're not allowed to think in a certain way because there are rules about what black people or Asian people are allowed to say," she said.

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Outrage over strip-search of girl shows UK cares about minorities, says minister

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The equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has strongly condemned the strip-searching of a 15-year-old black girl in a London school, but said the public backlash against the incident shows the UK is "a country that cares about ethnic minorities".

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Tish, a young pregnant woman, races against the clock to prove her lover’s innocence.

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The Black Cop: a police officer's story of racism, remorse and resistance - documentary

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This intimate portrait of Gamal 'G' Turawa, an ex-Metropolitan police officer, explores his memories of racially profiling and harassing black people and homophobia in his early career.

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Yemeni Scottish Foundation - Stories behind the Faces: Yemenis in Scotland

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The Stories behind the faces highlights the stories of Yemeni people in Scotland. This will be the first time such an opportunity arises for Yemenis, where they can share their stories and culture with a wide audience.

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10.03.22 Diversity in Film Event FLYER (Fran)-2[1][37]

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Degrowth in Scotland is an interview podcast series brought to you by Enough!'s Scottish Degrowth Network. Hosted by emerging podcaster Nico Ndlovu, the Degrowth in Scotland podcast series invites you to (un)learn more about degrowth and decolonisation, through discussions with people involved in this work across Scotland.

The Scottish Degrowth Network is part of Enough! Scotland, a collective committed to developing ideas in response to the frames of degrowth and decolonisation. Sign up to our Glasgow Gathering in March here: https://bit.ly/3JoMJLB

To keep uget involved with the network, sign up for our newsletter here:

Episode 2 - Abi Mordin and Col Gordon

In episode two of Degrowth in Scotland, Nico speaks with Abi Mordin of Propagate, a worker-led collective specialising in local, community and sustainable food projects across Scotland. Nico also speaks with Col Gordon, a farmer's son, who lives in the Scottish Highlands. Abi tells us about food sovereignty, community and how an inclusive and collaborative attitude encourages everyone to be involved in thinking about and co-creating regenerative and agro-ecological food systems. Col discusses Gaelic Scotland, ideas related to being both coloniser/colonised and the implications this has for trying to decolonise in this territory. How are Gaelic cultures that are living, breathing and are about new possibilities created, rather than becoming museum pieces?

Featured guests: This week's podcast featured Abi Mordin and Col Gordon. Abi is a founder member of Propagate and a seasoned food activist. Abi live in Dumfries and Galloway, has 2 grown up children and just about managed an MSc in Food Security (although she would rather be gardening). Find out more about the work Abi does with Propagate here: https://www.propagate.org.uk/

Col is a farmer's son and seed researcher who is based on his family's farm in the Scottish Highlands. He was the narrator and co-producer of Farmerama's podcast series "Landed," which investigated the past, present and future of the family farm model through the lens of colonialism. Listen to the series here: https://farmerama.co/episode/landed-part-1-the-family-farm/

Episode 1 - Bronagh Gallagher and layla-roxanne hill

In episode two of Degrowth in Scotland, Nico speaks with Abi Mordin of Propagate, a worker-led collective specialising in local, community and sustainable food projects across Scotland. Nico also speaks with Col Gordon, a farmer's son, who lives in the Scottish Highlands. Abi tells us about food sovereignty, community and how an inclusive and collaborative attitude encourages everyone to be involved in thinking about and co-creating regenerative and agro-ecological food systems. Col discusses Gaelic Scotland, ideas related to being both coloniser/colonised and the implications this has for trying to decolonise in this territory. How are Gaelic cultures that are living, breathing and are about new possibilities created, rather than becoming museum pieces?

Featured guests: This week's podcast featured Abi Mordin and Col Gordon. Abi is a founder member of Propagate and a seasoned food activist. Abi live in Dumfries and Galloway, has 2 grown up children and just about managed an MSc in Food Security (although she would rather be gardening). Find out more about the work Abi does with Propagate here: https://www.propagate.org.uk/

Col is a farmer's son and seed researcher who is based on his family's farm in the Scottish Highlands. He was the narrator and co-producer of Farmerama's podcast series "Landed," which investigated the past, present and future of the family farm model through the lens of colonialism. Listen to the series here: https://farmerama.co/episode/landed-part-1-the-family-farm/

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Degrowth in Scotland is an interview podcast series brought to you by Enough!'s Scottish Degrowth Network. Hosted by emerging podcaster Nico Ndlovu, the Degrowth in Scotland podcast series invites you to (un)learn more about degrowth and decolonisation, through discussions with people involved in this work across Scotland.

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The vinyl revival of the 2010's saw music bloggers and labels such as Awesome Tapes from Africa, Strut and Soundway digitising old recordings and bringing classic Highlife, Afrobeat, funk and soul back into heavy rotation. Artists such as Uwaifo and the Lijadu Sisters enjoyed fame with audiences in Europe and North America recently as a result of the seminal Strut compilation Nigeria 70 - The Sound of Funky Lagos. The Lijadu sisters took what Fela and Allen were laying down and ran with it. They made streamlined funky jams like'Danger' and 'Life's Gone Down Low'. I've seen these decidedly modern Afro-pop hits fill sweaty dance floors in Glasgow and London. As is sadly the case with many music histories, female voices and musicians are notably missing from the Highlife hall of fame. In interviews the sisters hold themselves with poise and grace, claiming their space as female artists in a tough industry.

Today, white Western musicians continue to emulate this ebullient music. Bands like Vampire Weekend have seen massive success with their polyrhythmic, trebly guitar lines that mimic a confabulation of African styles. Habitual borrower of musical sounds, Paul Simon took the melody his song 'Spirit Voices' from the Palm Wine tune 'Yaa Amponsah'. The legal debacle that followed saw Simon inadvertently sparking a debate over the state ownership of Ghanaian traditional art and song. Such arguments over cultural appropriation continue to rage.

Highlife still thrives amongst contemporary West Africans and musicians across the African diaspora. Exploring cultural heritage, many black musicians look to Highlife as a melting pot that inspires innovation and pride. Whether discovering this music for the first time or growing up in homes that have never stopped buzzing with horns and guitars, Highlife evokes nostalgia for a more hopeful time. Little Simz's song 'Point and Kill' features London-based Nigerian artist Obongjayar and is drenched in painfully cool 70s style. The song has a delicious trumpet hook that throws back to the days of E.T. Mensah's Nigerian tours. Skepta samples Prince Nico's 'Sweet Mother' on his crowd pleasing 2008 song of the same name. Contemporary Nigerian groups like The Cavemen also look to the past with nostalgic nod, warming the hearts of multiple generations of West African parents and children alike.

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The vinyl revival of the 2010's saw music bloggers and labels such as Awesome Tapes from Africa, Strut and Soundway digitising old recordings and bringing classic Highlife, Afrobeat, funk and soul back into heavy rotation.

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The Vanishing Half: Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize 2021 a book by Brit Bennett.

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THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP BESTSELLER #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE ‘An utterly mesmerising novel..I absolutely loved this book’ Bernardine Evaristo, winner of the Booker Prize 2019 ‘Epic’ Kiley Rei…

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Things Fell Apart - 8. A Mock Slave Auction - BBC Sounds

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Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

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A Storyville documentary. When America's last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, a community of thousands battles to save an underground subculture. When America's last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, a community of thousands battles in a racially charged environment to save an underground subculture - one that has remained undiscovered by the mainstream for generations, yet has given rise to some of the world's greatest musical talent.

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BBC Two - We Are Black and British, Series 1

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Six black Britons from different backgrounds come together to share personal stories.

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John Lewis: Good Trouble - Official Trailer

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MLK/FBI - Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films

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We are oppressed by the Home Office rules and regulations, they are designed to keep us in a state of fear and anxiety. I am a human being and I am fighting for my rights. [...] Tripod is showing me not just how to claim them, but that in claiming them with others in my community, I feel less afraid, less like a victim always on the receiving end of harsh treatment

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We are oppressed by the Home Office rules and regulations, they are designed to keep us in a state of fear and anxiety. I am a human being and I am fighting for my rights. [...]

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o4p: exploring collaborative processes in migrant and racial justice groups

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o4p: exploring collaborative processes in migrant and racial justice groups tickets

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O4P: Exploring Collaborative Processes in Migrant and Racial Justice Groups

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Eventbrite - Tripod presents O4P: Exploring Collaborative Processes in Migrant and Racial Justice Groups - Friday, 18 February 2022 - Find event and ticket information.

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Education or indoctrination: the fight over critical race theory in America's schools

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BBC Radio 4 - Britain's Black Past, "I Have a Dream"

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A collection of programmes and content marking Black History Month.

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Archive on 4 - The Black Panthers - BBC Sounds

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Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

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Woman's Hour - Mina Smallman - BBC Sounds

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Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.