The Importance of Amplifying the Voices of the 'Everyday' Black Experience

It’s very seldom that I feel compelled to write anything at all. After battling through a 3 year part-time MSc and then a 6.5 year part time PhD which pushed me to my limits both academically and emotionally, I vowed never to write again…not even a birthday card! And then something unprecedented happened. A world made completely captive by the Coronavirus pandemic bore witness to the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minnesota policeman who kneeled on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The rest, as you know, is history. The footage went viral and caused outrage in communities of colour around the world leading to marches, protests and unified demands for equality from the black community globally. George Floyd’s case highlighted police brutality in a way that the world has never truly had to engage with before. The lack of humanity and disregard for human life that the police officers showed shocked the world into action. Unfortunately, many of us know that this was not an isolated incident rather one we were (un)fortunate to see with our own eyes. But this particular case alongside many other recent cases including those of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Elijah McClain has forced the world to really consider the systemic inequality and everyday injustices which have plagued black communities for hundreds of years. In considering how a seemingly equal world can still be so unequal for those with brown skin, these events have also kicked off a series of long overdue uncomfortable conversations on topics such as, wait for it, 'white privilege'. Awkward.

Amidst the backdrop of COVID-19 and global unrest the 1.8 million black people who call the UK home have had to reconcile their own personal experiences with what is happening globally. Racism in the UK and the US is different – in true British style, the racism that many of us experience here is often times subtle and nuanced. It’s not always being called the n-word in the street (although I have personal experience of that too) but it’s often less overt and very seldomly addressed publicly which, I would argue, has led (read: 'tricked') many people in the UK into believing that the problem is not the same for us here on this side of the pond. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The numbers in the UK, be they stop and search, wealth disparity or educational tell a similar story to those of the US and provide tangible evidence that inequalities that we seem horrified by in the US are not very different here in the UK.

I’m sure I’m not alone in describing my feelings through the recent events as ‘a lot’. I've had incredible highs and lows. The discussions have brought back dozens of stories of my own experience with racism that I had previously internalised and never dealt with. They’ve caused me reflect on instances where people have made inappropriate remarks and gone unchecked and the revisiting of those incidents has made me feel angry with myself for being complicit. My thoughts and feelings as I have reflected on my life as a black man trying to navigate a world not necessarily designed for me to succeed have ranged from; “I should have been more vocal” to thoughts as extreme as “maybe I should have punched him” (which I would never do!) and everything in between. For me this exercise of reflection and introspection has been exhausting but incredibly worthwhile. You may have heard black people saying that they’re tired or ‘drained’ and that’s because it can be a lot to process and many of us, particularly those of us who work in professional environments, may have never engaged in the exercise in the way that we are now. I learned early in my career that in order to get ahead you can’t rock the boat. It’s a game many of us learn to play; develop thick skin, get your head down, stay out of trouble, try not to be too vocal and you’ll be fine. Because of this, many white people are shocked to learn of the experiences of their black colleagues who have learned to simply deal with it without talking about it.

There is no right or wrong way to deal with the current events of today. You are entitled to feel how you feel and you shouldn’t have to justify those feelings to anyone. One could accuse me of over engaging with the topic but some of my friends sit at the complete other end of the spectrum and are not engaging with it at all and this, of course, is completely their prerogative. This to me highlights the importance of amplifying the 'everyday black voice'. We’ve heard from celebrities, we’ve heard from athletes and CEO’s about their perspectives on what’s going on at present but do their opinions count any more than yours or mine? Are they even representative of the thoughts and feelings that you and I may have if we’re being completely honest with ourselves and not trying to appease a social media following, pandering to corporate sponsors or trying stay on the right side of political correctness? To me, one of the most important things we can do right now is amplify the voice of the ‘normal’ black experience. The experience of you, your boss, or colleague, or friend that may have only ever been shared in 'safe spaces' amongst black friends and colleagues. Black people are not a monolith group and you will find a diversity of opinions depending on who you speak with; some may say we’re asking for too much, some may say we’re not asking for enough. Some may feel racism is a huge problem, others may feel differently – both of those opinions are valid but understanding and exploring the reasons that people feel like they feel is the only way we’ll really make progress.

One of the things anybody close to me will have heard me say on multiple occasions is that when we look back at the strength of the current movement, what will surprise us is that there wasn’t one big thing that happened that helped drive the change. Rather, there was one big catalyst (the death of George Floyd) followed by millions and millions of seemingly small actions. Millions of people who have until now kept their stories to themselves being brave enough to share and enlighten colleagues, friends and family about their experiences being black both personally and professionally. The power of change lies also in people stepping up and having those uncomfortable conversations with their circles of white friends who I (or we) may never have access to, speaking up against injustices and taking the initiative to educate themselves. It’s important that we all take accountability for doing our ‘little bit’ because that which may seem small or insignificant is neither. In fact it is very much an integral piece of a much bigger wheel that doesn’t turn without these things happening.

People are most effective when they get to operate in their lane and play to their own strengths. Whatever it is you're doing to raise the voice of the marginalised, to educate yourself and to have the uncomfortable discussions is perfect. Keep at it. Let's listen to each others experiences, challenge each other on our thinking and ensure that the conversation doesn't fade when the new 'trend' or cause to jump on presents. Let's amplify the voice of the everyday black experience so people know what is really happening outside of their purview and in that way we can truly begin to help one another and drive change.

I don't profess to have all the answers and I went back and forth on whether to post anything at all. My only goal in sharing my thoughts on the current state of events is to keep the conversation going because my biggest fear is that the world resuming it's regularly scheduled programming resigns these conversations to historic hashtags that existed without meaningful and sustained dialogue.

You can check out some of the thoughts of the ‘everyday black voice’ in the Black Room Series commissioned by Jan Genesis, TV Director and Founder of Genesis Media Productions.