To the British White Left: Your major anti racist focus on fascism and #Tories is great, but Black people are in a trench warfare with a racist @metpoliceuk and your predominant response is to send tweets and offer placards.
We see nothing but occasional articles professing your support, you may turn up for the odd tragic demo, but you have no substantive response neither is police racism a priority campaign for the left. Your campaigning preference is the cosmetic anti racism of left ‘anti fascism’.
We are all opposed to fascism, but the reality for the majority of black people is that, on the daily it’s a racist in a blue uniform, that represents our greatest threat. We are being criminalised on a industrial level, as Lammy Review report demonstrated.
Add to that the polices own figures, that show massive disproportionately that represents the wholesale on going criminalisation, of an entire community on an unprecedented scale, and one is left asking the question, why the left will invest huge resources in opposing Trump in the name of anti racism or oppose racist immigration legislation, or UKIP or the Football Lads Alliance on occasion. But they will not invest it's considerable resources in opposing the wholesale racism of an institutional racism of both the police and criminal justice systems? And when they do get involved in campaigns sucj as the Justice for Mark Duggan campaign they destroy for within with their toxic brand of left partenalism and Stalinst approach.
It’s seems to me that the Left preference is for a soft anti racism of the exotic kind, rather the real industrial racism of the domestic kind, executed every day by the police and courts. This also reflect the total silence of the London Labour Party on the issues of police institutional racism, in particular the London Mayor Sadiq Khan. They're not alone... whines the last time you saw Momentum or Jeremy Corbyn address the scandalous racism of the the Met? What about London MP's or the London Assembly? Barely a whisper from any of them.
The two Labour politicians who have raised these issues consistently are MP's Diane Abbot and David Lammy MP. That is to be welcomed but in the absence of a coherent policy response from the Labour Party, it appears as though this is not a priority of the part as a whole.
This is a consequence of your alliance with black leftists who are to either silenced and disempowered by the lefts internal racism, or its token representatives, that ensures a soft polictal focus on racism of the exotic kind, rather
the real industrial racism of the domestic kind,
executed every day by the police and courts.
And so they’re unable to establish Police racism as political priority, despite the fact that there is a return to the trench warfare of the 1980’s.
You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed the plethora of police brutality cases of late? All this comes of a consequence of the total domination by sections of the left of the UK anti racist struggle.
Black people are getting brutally oppressed by a police force that is deeply infected by a resurgent institutional racism and the left response is nothing more than a token acknowledgement.
And so the police rampage through our community continues apace, austerity has amplified racial inequalities on a massive scale, and the police are intent on criminalising as many black people as they can in response to deepening poverty and now we’re at boiling point.
In 2018 the challenge for UK left that wants to be ‘inclusive’ beyond the current tokenism is to facilitate organisational black leadership and reprioritise the UK anti racist agenda or see the launch of anew black led anti racist movement. We need to reflect the real reality of our racist oppression not a leftist interpretation that reflects ideological empire building.
They plunge us into poverty with their racism and mass unemployment and leave black youth rotting on estates to murder and kill each other, then they contract their friends to come and ‘save us’ and such is their racism they refuse all Black attempts to solve our problems. They then recruit their middle class friends to come into our communities to address problems, they have no clue about. preferring their own paternalistic solutions.
We end up with white middle classes organisations like Kids Company and the one involved here corrupting our kids further. This insidious racism sees these organisation poverty pimping our tragedies. Now lets be balanced about this, these organisations do cater for the reality that some parents are either incapable or unwilling to do what is necessary to look after their children. You know that, and I know it. Some parents circumstances are difficult and stressful, especially when Mom is the sole earner and as such such organisational support can be a life saver.
But there a minority of us whose attitudes, lack of emotional maturity or selfishness or reckless behaviour, means that we are the problem. So well run ethical organisations doing the work with these families is necessary and can be very effective when culturally sensitive to the community they work with.
Gang intervention work in London is a total mess. And on the ground black youth unemployment, and homelessness rises and we all know what happens when young people feel failed by society and their families
We need strong community support organisations what with the current levels of poverty, mental ill health and homelessness being so high. Question is, are these current organisations focused on 'gang interventions' the right organisations? Are they diverse and publicly accountable to the communities they work in? It seems to me over the last decade, local authorities have slashed black voluntary sector funding wiped out hundreds of community organisations, reintroduced a budget for this critical work, one tenth of its original size, called it progress and handed the larger contracts to anybody but black organisations and companies.
But lets take a reality check, some of the problem includes black organisations some of whom, are happy to pimp black pathology for profit rather challenge police and local authority institutional racism that creates the societal and economic context for increased poverty, dysfunctional families, predatory violence, drugs and crime. That's why we have to fund our own solutions and demand more ownership, accountability and creativity in the design and implementation of solutions.
And that would look like a comprehensive, public health, preventive strategy, where resources and power are devolved down to empower fractured communities. We need institutional assets under our control and I dont mean dependancy 'grants.' Here I'm talking about buildings we buy, or are given and refurbish and service ourselves. It's using our consumer power, to encourage private sector investment, and political political power to ensure fair access to statutory contracts that are aimed at our communities.
But before, we can do any of this, we need to own the problem we have right now and take control of the issue. Nothing can be effectively done, until we assume ultimate and collective community responsibility for our children.
This particular case shows an unethical and ineffective practice of piss poor youth intervention. This Mum is at her wits end and she tries to save her son from the ravages of this project. Black women are under attack by the white psych of black pathology. Some of these project have determined its 'our culture' that is at fault. Fact is the greater the poverty and the longer it continues to exist, the greater the incidence of violence. It's an universal truth.
We must do for self. We can't rely on the architects of our children misery to solve our problems. these kids need care and opportunity and its our duty to provide it.
And the challenge is to the men, all generations of men, fathers or not.
We need all hands on deck. Grandfathers, fathers and involved uncle, cousins, in laws, friends and neighbours. We need that size of paradigm shift. These are our kids. all of them and that makes this our problem, and any time a community loses control of its moral standing and respect of its own youth, you're in big problems. Respect comes from ethical intelligent, leadership that is emotionally mature and has a abiding passion for education.
I believe we should consider organising a public meeting with those organisations and local authorities who are making these interventions and hold them too account. We've seen this all before with Kids Company and countless 'Mayoral' projects of a similar nature. In truth it appears these projects are an unofficial social services, with all the power and non of the accountability.
They are contracted, voluntary sector organisations with no public facing complaints procedures and little if any real community accountability, and yet here they are, intruding massively into our communities, with huge powers conferred on them by the Mayor of London, the Metropolitan Police Service, local councils, all of whom demand 'intellegence', as a specific requirement of these statutory contracts.
We must hold them to keen account in the New Year and fully asses the extent of this type of unethical, aggravating invasions of family life . The issues raised here, cannot be ignored and with your support @Blaksox will raise them.
Or alternatively, we can all ignore this heart rending video, and the cries of our own children, for effective leadership and simply except that we have zero control and prepare for more tragic murders followed by brutal and cruel interventions from these unaccountable, agents of the state
Ghanaian President Nana Addo reframes French and European nations relations and leaves President Macron speechless. I watched this and got goose bumps. African ethical leadership and vision in action. #Ghana #France #BlackSalute #Do4Self
Its almost the end of 2017 and wanting continuous improvement for 2018 Im trying to improve my comms skills and on line presence and would ask for any feedback on my page, its content, that can help me rise my blog and twitter game and how my messaging could be improved.
Please fee free to post here or DM any feedback aimed at supporting my goal of improving my on line presence would be gratefully received.
Im also looking for volunteers to help deliver improved on line content on the issues that are important to our community.
I will be delivering a YT news/poliitica/cultural magazine Sunday show every Sunday starting in the New Year and again anybody wanting to support these efforts and get some satisfaction of seeing us advance our cause, contact me lee-jasper@live.com
Black youth in London are increasingly subject to disproportionate and violent arrests at the hands of the Metropolitan Police. Such was the case this weekend where a video of the violent arrest by Metropolitan Police officers, of a16-year-old black girl at Dalston Junction, went viral, attracting strong criticism of police force that appears out of control.
No doubt, many will sigh at this point, drop their heads and think, "Here we go again, another gross exaggeration, and yet another anti-police critic, inflating a legitimate arrests, into some overblown political bandwagon."
Of course if you're black and fully awoke, you will know, that history records, that all claims of serious racism, are always and routinely furiously denied in the first instance. So first of all let's deal with the objective and broader context of my statement.
The extent of the deterioration of relationships between the Metropolitan Police Force and London black communities has sunk to a new low, as increased levels of institutional racism in policing, continues to poison relations between black communities and an increasingly notorious Metropolitan Police Force.
Using this descriptor “force” will no doubt surprise some, but for many of London black communities, the Met is no longer perceived as a public service, and increasingly seen, by many communities as an, aggressive and hostile occupying force.
And today, relations are pretty bad indeed. Earlier this year as a result of a series of freedom of information requests, I discovered that, according to annual public confidence survey data supplied to me by the police themselves, in London’s black communities, trust and confidence in the Metropolitan Police Force, rarely rises above 50%, and disturbingly in some of the key areas – such as Lambeth, Newham, Haringey and Hackney – regularly drops to as low as 30%.
In terms of violent arrests, the overwhelming picture is that the Met is particularly violent when arresting black suspects, according to their own figures. These show that whilst the black community makes only 13% of London’s population, they represent a staggering 36 % of all police violent arrests in London in a three-month period.
This represents around 20,000 violent arrests of black people every single year, and that assumes all violence arrests are reported by police officers, something I personally doubt. There could be many more.
And where the police have to rely on supporting partner agencies, then we often see these agencies, themselves infected with racist practices, actively colluding with police violence and racism to mask their own failures. TfL is a case in point. Now lets consider the case of 16 year old, London black college student, and daughter of Mum Joy McIntosh, who on Friday 1st December was travelling on the bus 149 around 6pm heading toward Dalston Junction. Let's call her A.
While on the bus A was approached by a couple of TfL ticket inspectors, what then followed seemed to be a huge misunderstanding.
As a result TfL ticket inspectors then, followed her off the bus and began physically restraining her. A is just 4 ft.11 and weighs around seven stones.
By this time a crowd had gathered concerned at the apparent treatment of this tiny black schoolgirl being aggressively manhandled.
Increasingly intimidated by a gathering crowd who were appalled at the disproportionately violent treatment of A, the TfL inspectors called for police back up.
Meanwhile the growing crowds became increasing angry and hostile. The inspectors then bizarrely began shouting ‘stop resisting’ as they violently restrained A.
This is, of course, an age-old police tactic of attempting to create a public impression of a suspect resisting arrest or restraint, whilst violently attacking said suspect.
A, was then kneed in the stomach by one of the Inspectors and started to cry out for help. As the crowd started to react, one of the Inspectors then inexplicably escalated this situation and violently secured A in a head lock – all the time shouting ‘stop resisting’ A was frightened, terrified and distraught.
The police then arrived and placed her in handcuffs forcing her hands way up her back and placing her in a police van.
Throughout the time she was being assaulted, by the police officers and TfL inspector’s,the crowd were filming and becoming increasingly agitated.
A solitary white woman who witnessed the police violence (black people, particularly black men, please take note) tried to intervene. She was violently abused and pushed by a police officer, who then placed her in a headlock and repeatedly punched her. She was subsequently arrested and charged with police assault.
At this point a larger crowd had gathered and A was calling out for some one to call her mother. A bystander did so and told her mother “Hello, hello ?... I've been ask to ring you urgently, I'm here at Dalston Junction and the police are assaulting your daughter.”
When A’s mother, 36-year-old Joy McIntosh and her 18 yr old son arrived on the scene, she was confronted with utter chaos. Joy reports seeing massive angry crowds and tens of police officers, all shouting and milling around.
When Joy, a woman of strong faith, saw her distraught daughter in the back of a police van, she sought to approach and comfort her, but was immediately pushed back by police officers. Joy was then kettled by officers who refused her access to her daughter or her son
When her son protested at the treatment of his mum, the 18yr old was pinned to the ground by police and violently arrested, aggravating the crowd even more.
“The level of violence I saw from the police officers at the scene shocked me to the core. It was unbelievable. I was so frightened for his life that although surrounded by police I just kept shouting “keep calm son, stay alive” repeatedly.”
Both her children were taken to Stoke Newington Police Station, where A says she was denied her rights as a juvenile and subjected to bullying and intimidation by police officers.
She demanded her mother be present as an appropriate adult, whilst she was being interviewed, the police refused, and instead brought in a preferred social worker and a local stranger from the boroughs appropriate adult scheme, and this despite her mother being in attendance at Stoke Newington Police station at all times.
A was arrested on Friday evening around 6pm, interviewed around 11pm, kept in a cell overnight and finally released on bail on Saturday around 6pm. Her brother was released later that day and both were given bail conditions not to stay at their mother’s house and subjected to a nightly curfew from 3am to 7pm. They are both due to return in two weeks time. Again a massive, punitive over reaction.
The frequency of these types of incidents, where we see Met officers, engaged in the violent arrest of London black folks is increasing. Each month thousands of London's black communities find themselves experiencing disproportionate violence, whilst being arrested. It's just a fact of life, that the Met in particular, are arresting black youth's in such numbers that feelings on the streets today, are strongly reminiscent of London circa 1986.
Met officers, seem to have no regard for whether black suspects are children, young adults or elderly pensioners, the response of far too many officers is routinely violent. (remember Bristol, St Paul’s pensioner Ras Judah?) Institutional racism has resulted in the British Police more generally, and the Met in this particular instance, losing public legitimacy. The Met, whether tackling criminals or racially profiling back youth, are viewed with such deep suspicion as a direct consequence, of their worsening and unacknowledged institutionalised racism. Such public opposition to perceived racist policing is becoming increasingly common in London. The principle of policing by consent requires the Met and the Mayor to urgently address this crisis of confidence of London's black communities. The deep irony here, is that it's Tory Prime Minister Thersea May who has been much more vocal on this issue of police racism, and to be fair, she at least has a semblance of a coherent policy focus. Why not the Mayor of London? Surely we would expect a Muslim Mayor, elected in large part with support from London's black communities, to have a policy to tackle police racism that is in advance of a Tory Prime Minister?
He, the London Assembly and the Commissioner must explain why it was necessary for a 16-year-old child, to be subjected to the kind of arrest, usually reserved for the most serious and dangerous of criminals, for nothing more than failing to be in possession of an Oyster card that, in any event, entitles all London 16 yr olds in study to free travel anyway? She lives in London. Its an administrative technicality not a major crime.
The fact is that both TfL Inspectors and Met Police unnecessary use of violence unduly provoked and inflamed this situation. Given the public interest, and in the interests of good community relations, all charges against A, her brother and the brave woman who sought to intervene, should be dropped immediately.
Still questions remain for example why was A mother denied access to her 16-year-old daughter whilst at Stoke Newington police station?
Why, was it thought necessary, to hold a16-year-old child for 24 hours for such a minor offence? I have long raised the issue of the undue detention of black children by the Metropolitan Police Force.
Huge changes to London's bail system is resulting, in far too many young, vulnerable suspects, being unduly detained for long periods of time. As black public support for the Metropolitan Police Force wanes, so the potential increases for relatively minor incidents, to spark widespread civil uprisings.
Across London, there is emerging consistent anecdotal evidence, that black parents and adults are being denied the opportunity to act as an appropriate adults when in attendance at London’s police stations, and that black children are being held for excessively long periods of time,as a result. In the current context the violent arrest of children could be the spark that ignites wider opposition to perceived or actual police racism. There are serious questions to be asked of local appropriate adult schemes who seem happy to collude with this abuse presumably being paid per child. They must be held accountable and must now inquire whether or not a parent or significant other, is in attendance at police stations. I would welcome the publication of monitoring figures detailing the numbers and length of time young people are sending in custody, by ethnic group and gender.
In terms of a London political response to the culture of known racism within the Met, its simply not there in any substantive form. Its simply not an item for discussion. Don't believe me? Try doing a basic search for Mayoral policy or London Assembly debate on this issue. The challenge is simple and straight forward for the Mayor Sadiq Khan and that is to respond to the David Lammy MP Review challenge of “explain or change.” Rather than genuine dialogue and community engagement, we have endured increasingly desperate attempts, by the Met to justify, the unjustifiable, quoting knife and violent crime as their operational rationale for their obvious racism. Except it isn't any justification at all and as most informed observers know, there is no relationship between the incidence of violence and rates of stop and search.
Terrell Decosta Jones Burton a child form another family of faith.
Disproportionate stop and search; disproportionate violence; disproportionate arrests; disproportionate refusal of bail; disproportionate charging for like-for-like offences when compared with white suspects with worse or similar previous antecedents; disproportionate deaths in police custody; disproportionate number of Met black officers subject to disciplinary investigations by their fellow officers.
Nuno Cardoso 25 law student.
Since the trauma of this incident Joy has been inundated with support of the wider community.
And now we hear of the case of 25 year old law student, Nuno Cardoso who is the latest young black man, who died after being detained by police.
This is what his Mrs dos Santos, Nuno's grievingmother had to say,
Doroteia dos Santos
'The boys feel they are being attacked – and I feel the same. They stop and search all the boys. Not just because they have dreadlocks or long hair, but every black and mixed race boy in this country – they have the same problem. The police need to involve themselves more in communities. They need to give more space for the parents. They are not talking to us. They need to be holding meetings, public meetings, on the estates. From September until now there have been three deaths in custody. This shows something is wrong. Maybe they are not being trained.”
I could go on, but you get the picture. London is experiencing a resurgence of institutionalised racism within the Metropolitan Police force. This important, but as yet largely unrecognised fact, is clearly discernible from the discreditable and undisputed figures, detailing significant disproportionality and discrimination in all significant aspects of London policing.
This situation as it stands today, is that black Londoners are no longer prepared to give the Met police the benefit of doubt, when judging the appropriateness of police interventions involving black people. The reason a relatively minor incident such as occurred at Dalston, provoked such a strong reaction, is because very few black people, or indeed many ordinary Londoners, now trust the police to do the right thing where black people are concerned. In this context even a legitimate police intervention could lead to widespread disorder as a result.
The Mayor of London has to reign in the Met. He has to get a grip of the real reality he faces, namely a level of resurgent institutional racism that has become re-energised, as a direct result, of the abandonment of the recommendations outlined within the McPherson report on racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. Race is no longer a political priority in London.
From a Labour Mayor and former 'campaigning' solicitor, a man who represented Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, this is a scandal, and mistake for which the City, and the country at large will pay a heavy price.
Further it is equally bizarre that a Tory Prime Minster talks more about these issues than both Labours leading lights, the London Mayor and the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Is Labour ducking the issue of police racism? In the absence of any substantive evidence to the contrary, its a reasonable conclusion.
Only by tackling Met institutional racism head on, can we hope to avoid an almost inevitable backlash from a London Black community that feels itself under siege from a hostile, aggressive an all-powerful Metropolitan Police Force.
Britain is a nation built upon the backs of colonial empire, forced labour and the theft of land and resources throughout the former colonial empire. As we celebrate Black History Month 2017 it is a vicious anomaly and a calculated insult that no memorial exists, in recognition of the greatest crimes human history.
This most grievous omission from the heritage landscape of modern Britain, is simply a reflection of the historical amnesia we witness, whenever we attempt to reassert the prolonged and tragic history of transatlantic slavery, back into the formal historical and popular narrative of the making of modern Britain.
The Holocaust Memorial
The failure of Europe to learn the tragic lessons and failures of the concepts of white supremacy and racial superiority, led directly to the catastrophic rise of German fascism with all its attendant deadly consequences.
Against that backdrop it should be no surprise to learn the government has announced the establishment of a national monument to the Holocaust in sober remembrance of the Jewish genocide was attempted by the Third Reich.
Any effort to reinforce the popular understanding of the nature of racism is to be warmly welcomed.
However, we are now led to understand that this memorial will be built in Victoria Tower Gardens, Westminister, London, where the only existing monument to the abolition of slavery and radical feminist, Emily Pankhurst are both currently cited.
Sir Peter Bazalgette was the chairman of the jury who selected the location and its design, and its rather ironic that the author of the book "The Empathy Instinct" that explores the devastating
consequences of the absence of empathetic understanding for humanity. Interestingly, he also argues that racism and prejudice are uniquely human traits. Heal thyself physician.
There are plans to incorporate the suffragette Emily Pankhurst and the Slavery memorial into the Holocaust design, but the cold stone fact is, that both these exiting monuments are set to be overshadowed and marginalised by the planned Holocaust memorial. That is an inevitable consequence of the Governments current plans.
Sir David Adjaye.
And with a flourish, that will be familiar to black people,
and just let you know there's no insult intended, they have commissioned the celebrated black architect Sir David Adjaye to build the new memorial. From my own perspective I find this project deeply offensive. First let me stay for the record I welcome the Holocaust memorial whole heartedly and without reservation. But the reality is that for years black communities have been campaigning to have slavery formally acknowledged as a crime against humanity.
A fact recognised by the United Nations and to receive due reparations for the prolonged horror and generational devastation that came as a consequence of Britain's involvement in transatlantic slavery.
In addition we have campaigned for the establishment of a African Holocaust Museum/Memorial to help restore the National dementia that obliterates the African contribution to the development of modern Britain. That has been consistently denied and yet the Holocaust Memorial will be built with £50 million of government money. It's an outrage.
Even the great Emily Pankhurst would object, having seen British working class women play such an important role in demanding the ending of slavery during the abolition movement, and being so inspired she subsequently modelled her campaign for universal suffrage, on the abolition campaign strategy and tactics.
Its a real shame that such an important national monument should come at the cost of reinforcing the deep marginalisation of the African historical agency in building modern Britain and the struggle for universal sufferage.
African sweat equity financed the British industrial revolution, whilst the profits of colonialism cemented every aspect of progress and profit of industrial and urban Britain. And to rob salt into existing wounds, all this is announced during Britain's Black History Month, you really couldn't make it up.
Our only real option is to come together as a African community, supported by those who have a balanced view of Britain's historical development and seek to self fund, not just a memorial but in addition an African Holocaust Museum and as an added twist we should open it on St. George's Day or on the birthday of the one woman in Britain whose ammased financial prosperity can be traced, unbroken from the time of slavery, right up until this very day, the Queen.
Lambeth struggles with increasing rates of youth violence. Last summer a series of after school fights took place that were serious and could have resulted in serious injury or worse. Possession of a knives by school children is rising as young children try and protect themselves from attack.
In response local charity Code Seven, held three community consultation meetings and as a result of community demand, Lambeth School Patrols was born.
We believe in self help and and are now ready to recruit people to its school patrols. We will offer training and a support package to volunteers. Please help us help ourselves and lets show London that black people are capable of taking action against violence.
Please share and attend. Book now on https://Ispcode7.eventbrite.co.uk
British
Black History: We didn’t all arrive on the #Windrush My Kru (tribal
name) African grandfather from Sierra Leone/Liberia arrived in Liverpool in
1911.
The Kru nation was what both Sierra Leone and Liberia, were called before the UK in 1787 and the US in 1882 invaded. The Kru fought
against the invading armies of the US and the UK who were manned by freed
African slaves. The Kru fought both. Imagine Kru having to fight freed African
slaves, recruited into the imperial armies of the UK and the US and being sent to clear
the Kru of their land, so the west could create homelands settlements for freed Africans?
The Kru people were said to
be incapable of being made slaves. It’s said they’d either kill themselves or
kill the white slavers at any given opportunity. They were considered as being
impossible to break into slavery.So the
Kru fought against both the invading Imperial armies of the West and had to
kill freed Africans recruited into the UK and US armies to resettle on Kru homelands.
Tom Jasper
My
Granddad arrived in Liverpool as a stowaway away aged 15 and was sent back on
the next ship. He hid on another ship in Freetown and came right back. He was
the original deportee.
#Krupeople settled in Liverpool, Manchester and Cardiff, Britain’s oldest black communities established first African welfare Assoc. He became Chairman of the Kru Club in Manchester a association dedicated to welfare support of Kru. Also curiously Grandad had a blue spot tattooed on the middle of his forehead.
The name Jasper was the name given to him by the British merchant navy, we've never been able to trace his real name.
They
lived in the North Manchester area, of Cheetham Hill, Waterloo Road. It's an area where I
have most of my first childhood memories.
Grandad's British Merchant Seaman
travel logs are fascinating insight into the breadth and scale of British
imperial trade of the day.
What I’ve found fascinating
is Grandad role as chair of the Manchester #KruClub.
The minutes show they
tracked down errant husbands. White working class wives would complain of
husbands and fathers going missing or not paying for children. The Association
would find them, force them back to the family home and ensure they lived up to
their responsibilities. It was considered not the Kru way to abandon their
families. It was considered a disgrace on the whole community.
Abandoned or widowed wives
would be entitled to weekly payments from the #KruClub. The Club also arbitrated tribal and
legal disputes.They organised seaside
trips, christenings, weddings and funerals. They organised community self
defence, often in Manchester with poor Jewish communities, to protect
themselves from racist attacks and petitioned Government of the day for equal
rights and justice way before the 1950’s and the Windush arrived. Granddad died when I was five and I lived with him and my Grandmother.
These Africans are Britain’s oldest
black communities. The real pioneers of Black Britain.
Dorothy Jasper
Now my English Grandmother
was born in Manchester workhouse in 1901. She was from a reasonably well off
Victorian family who abandoned her. The
conditions in 1901 Manchester Workhouse were appalling. From workhouse to the
convent Grandmother had an extraordinary hard life.
We are told she married in
her early 20's to an Irish Republican.
I’m told that her first
husband died, after being battered by police and flung into the Manchester Ship
Canal. They had one child a son.
My Grandmother
then met my African grandfather and he married and adopted Grandmas only child
too. She worked at Manchester Co-Op HQ as a cleaner for many years.
They married in the 1920's
and I can only imagine the racism they faced at that time in Edwardian Britain.
It must have been horrendous.
She hated five things, the
royal family, Tories, Churchill, social injustice and Mick MacManus, a
wrestling star of the 1960's. She was a Northern matriarch of 4'6 with a fierce
determination to protect her children and confront any racism they faced head
on.
She was the radical Granddad
was much more laid back, while she would slay dragons for the family and that
is the history of the Jaspers.
So my roots are
solidly African and working class. Tracing these histories is a joy and
reflects the story of the British Empire.
Notice Granddads perfectly
‘concked’ hair all the rage in 1920s Britain. As for Grandma she was a beauty.
British #BlackHistorygoes way back and it’s time the African
pioneers were given as much attention as the Windrush generation. #BHM17
To the British White Left: Your major anti racist focus on fascism and #Tories is great, but Black people are in a trench warfare with a racist @metpoliceuk and your predominant response is to send tweets and offer placards.
Add to that the polices own figures, that show massive disproportionately that represents the wholesale on going criminalisation, of an entire community on an unprecedented scale, and one is left asking the question, why the left will invest huge resources in opposing Trump in the name of anti racism or oppose racist immigration legislation, or UKIP or the Football Lads Alliance on occasion.
In 2018 the challenge for UK left that wants to be ‘inclusive’ beyond the current tokenism is to facilitate organisational black leadership and reprioritise the UK anti racist agenda or see the launch of anew black led anti racist movement. We need to reflect the real reality of our racist oppression not a leftist interpretation that reflects ideological empire building.
In 2018 the challenge for UK left that wants to be ‘inclusive’ beyond the current tokenism is to facilitate organisational black leadership and reprioritise the UK anti racist agenda or see the launch of anew black led anti racist movement. We need to reflect the real reality of our racist oppression not a leftist interpretation that reflects ideological empire building.
