Divide & Rule
A Happy New Year to all those who have taken the time to reflect on what I have had to say over the last year in previous Blogs.
2024 was cursed with wars all over the planet as the world lurched too comfortably to the political right. The fruits of historical western interventions all over the world has come back to haunt the West and the fruits of those interventions have yielded shifting populations that contribute to the asylum seeker & refugee crisis.
As we slithered into 2025, I had this uneasy feeling that I had entered the Twilight Zone or another version of H G Wells’ Time Machine. As far as the UK was concerned, this was further stimulated by my revisiting the 1981 Menelik Shabazz film “Burning an Illusion” which looked at the condition of Black people in London in the early 1980s. Yes, this was a time in which young Black people had a greater sense of political awareness which seems to have disappeared in the spirit of young people today. I guess we failed to realise, at the time, how special that time was or perhaps our hunger to fight Racism was stronger than and our satisfaction with matters that were more material, that has made us blind to our condition, as we delude ourselves with back slapping, award giving activities that are less threatening to the status quo.
I have been dismayed that many young people today know very little about UK Black History and the struggles that have contributed to what, very often, has been taken for granted. There are many who have never heard of Stephen Lawrence and the New Cross Fire, let alone people like Olive Morris, Darcus Howe, Paul Stephenson and Jocelyn Barrow….and if we as Black people do not take responsibility for protecting that history no one else will. Many argue that inevitable integration is a good thing, and I would not argue with that but it is sometimes at the expense of many of us surrendering our own root culture….and the 4th and 5th generation of our Black communities have either forgotten or choose to forget where they came from.
In more recent times I have made some efforts to encourage our Black Brothers and Sisters to believe that we are stronger together than apart. I have made efforts to organise Black artists to collectively respond to the Arts lobby who are essentially White with a sprinkling of individuals so that we can determine what our agenda is but there has been some resistance on both sides. The same applies to Sports and other sectors and despite our alleged prowess in some of those areas we have failed to come together to make any impression regarding what we see as important and those in the system are perhaps too comfortable to want to change anything. In the words of Malcolm X “Sitting at the table doesn't make you a diner, unless you eat some of what's on that plate”.
Some may argue that White people don’t all come together to determine a position….but I have to tell you that you are wrong. In almost every major institution in the city and region White people do come together and make decisions about most matters that concern us as Black people, and we are not even involved in determining the agenda; even if there are one or two Black people involved in those institutions offering that delusion of Diversity. In those circumstances they are either hitting their head against a brick wall or they have been brainwashed into thinking that they are making a difference. It is only when we as “Black” people across the wide spectrum of Blackness, come together and decide together the issues we want on the agenda that anything will change, and as in the colonies we are divided. Sadly, we have been so divided by African v Caribbean, Christian v Muslim, lighter skinned v darker skinned and so many other tools of divide and rule that we are left dazed and confused about our own identity and as I have suggested before some of us have even denied our own Blackness as if it was a matter of complexion! One of the problems that we have is that some of us are too comfortable not to be controversial and in the desire to please the institutions that we have found a place in we have stopped asking the questions that define our condition…..and one of those questions should be about Racism!
We have known for a long time that we occupy an unwarranted special place in the criminal justice system in the UK where we are disproportionally represented and Hampshire Constabulary have stopped providing figures on Stop & Search in Southampton as the latest figures, over 5 years ago, reveal that approximately 20% of those stopped in the city are either Black or Asian and mostly Black. However, what is more shameful is that we as Black people have stopped asking the police for these figures and thus the authorities believe that we are comfortable with that disproportion.
We also know that Racism in our schools are still an issue and I have personally interceded in a number of cases more recently. Unfortunately, racism in the education sector has been relegated to that new definition “micro aggression”…..a kinder interpretation of Racism. Sadly, our determination of what constitutes Racism and the failure of school authorities to manage a system that those subjected to Racism is so weak that many pupils and parents see little value in taking any action and as a Black community we choose not to raise the issue and our children suffer in silence carrying that psychological trauma into adulthood. There are, of course issues around foster care and special educational needs that have a Race dimension that deserve far greater examination by people in the Black communities and we allow others to determine how these issues should be addressed and we have little to say on these issues that have a significant impact on our young Black people. This is because as Black people we are not organised collectively!
We know that in the fields of the Arts and the field of Sports very few Black people are featured in senior positions, and Black people are not interested in articulating proper representation thus allowing those sectors to recruit token representation that very often fail to demand Black people access to the decision-making elements of those sectors. Essentially, we are not organised as a Black community to pressure those sectors to influence what is on the agenda and they end up telling us what they think we want…..and despite the stereotype we are not aggressive enough to demand what we want…..and we must ask the question why we have become so passive!
The trouble is that Racism has become a dirty word. There are a plethora of issues and circumstances that we should be speaking up about and sadly we are universally silent. The newer Black communities are much like the early first generation Windrush migrants and very often are more hesitant about shouting Racism as the political environment in the UK has created an environment of fear regarding the presence of those who are labelled as “foreigners”. The second generation of Black people are less committed to the notion of Black civil rights and perhaps feel that they have already done their bit having experienced the worst of Racism in the 80s, 90s, and noughties. Many of those of third generation are sometimes not too sure whether they are or want to be part of the so-called Black communities and perhaps are only invested when it comes to the sexiest part of Blackness such as fashion, music and being cool!....and the fourth generation is a story still to be told!
Black History should be about who we are and where we come from geographically, sociologically, and politically and the thing is that the media and many institutions Black and White are too invested in our ignorance, particularly the ignorance of our condition. That ignorance is all about not owning up to the truths of our powerlessness which is significantly greater than the small achievements we make a song and dance about. Yes…I have no problem with feelgood and positive stories but not at the expense of the reality of our condition!....and when you think about it when is the last time any Black or Brown community organisation in the city/region ever declared and protested against Racism???....we are too busy organising festivals and celebrating our singing and dancing credentials!
We have reached 2025 and we do not even have a system for acknowledging, challenging and responding to Racism and those who have been selected to represent our interests, by their very presence, in the variety of institutions across the city and region have no interest in challenging a system that has allowed them entry and therefore the ever present systemic Racism continues to infect further and we become more comfortable with its presence.
As we approach Martin Luther King Day, I will leave you with one of his quotes that encapsulates much of what has been said:
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Don John