In life’s passage, there are individuals, places, events, that remain stubborn in departing from memory. Refusing to be eclipsed. With time, some of the contours of the remnants of such memories may become blurred but the impact of those individuals, places and events on our lives still reverberate within us.
In my blog of January 16th 2017, I stated that I would give some examples in future blogs of Black men whose actual presence or stories about their lived lives, profoundly affected my life and why. Since then I have been deeply engaged in meeting with many other individuals of all hues, from diverse ethnicities, emerging from a mosaic of cultures, visited diverse other places of significance at home and abroad, and lived through life changing events, and never made time to follow through on my commitment. I now will.
I have been fortunate to have met, come across in film or television or through social media, or have read about them, a host of exceptional Black men who have touched my life through their positive contribution to society. Regrettably many were not recognised as having so contributed during their life- time. Some still alive, are awaiting their due. Others will never receive the acknowledgement deserved. Perhaps it may be one of your family members?
I was reminded of one such Black man whilst browsing through the latest films and documentaries on Netflix over the recent holiday period, when I came across, ‘Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story’, a Fulwell 73 Production in association with Darke Films and Black Sun Media, 2017. I first heard of Justin in the late 1970’s when in my late teens. Justin was some 7 years younger than myself. He was beginning to be recognised as an exceptional football talent in the UK and was attracting the attention of the media. He came from the same part of London where I then lived and worked, as a social worker and shared a similar history of having been given up by his mother and absent father to the care of the state as his mother felt she could not afford to look after him or his younger brother. She felt that the state would be able to find a foster family in time that would be able to provide for her two sons what she considered she could never be able to provide herself. Justin never accepted this explanation for his expulsion by his mother. It is interesting and painful to listen to, that in the film, the mother of Justin and John still held the view that she had done the only thing that would ‘benefit ‘the two children, as she was too poor she felt, to give them what they needed. What was missing in my view from the mother’s commentary was the absence of recognition that the ‘presence’ of a loving parent to a child often means more to a child than material wherewithal. A child can ‘forgive’ not having what others have, but may have more difficulty with being seen as ‘dumped’ like soiled goods and brought up with strangers, however well intentioned.
The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia’s Family Division, Canada, took a different view to the mother on this issue relating to custody of children and material poverty of parents, in a judgement reported in the press in the first week in January 2018. The social services establishment through the Government Minister responsible for the Department, applied to the Supreme Court to have permanent custody of a 20- month-old girl arguing that the child’s safety was at risk with her impoverished ‘troubled family’, citing mental health issues and poverty. The presiding Judge wisely stated in her judgement that ‘There is a difference between parents who are poor, and poor parents…The parents are aware of their daughter’s needs and seek services and assistance to meet her needs, and protect her from the challenges posed by their mental health conditions and poverty’.
Ways of thinking, policies, practices, change with passage of time, and this is reflected in how staff of service departments catering to the marginalized, sometimes operate. Context is critical. The time when Justin and John’s mother made her decision was different to that of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court Judge cited earlier. Preventative support services are possibly available now as a matter of ‘good practice’. In Justin and John’s case it was a matter of individual service worker discretion and that came with considerable risk to the worker.
Is support to such families not the reason for the existence of such social services support Departments in the first place?
The reason why Justin is so unique and stands out is primarily for two reasons. He was the World’s first one million pound Black football player and an International celebrity, and he was the first openly Gay National and international quality football player in the UK and possibly in the World. He lived his short life in a gold fish bowl (1961-1997). Next week I will outline why Justin matters to us all and why he merits belated recognition for his contribution to social justice.