In the past four weeks we have travelled along a road pitted with Black male suffering and of those who loved them. We have glimpsed at the histories of Black presence in Canada (14th March 2018) and the United States of America (24th March 2018) and we end our four part series in the United Kingdom where Black people have been resident in the United Kingdom since the time of the Roman empire, as members of the invading Roman armies, a number of whom settled as did their offspring with indigenous residents.
The history of the presence of Black people of African descent in the United Kingdom and the response to it from residents, mirrors that of Canada and the United States of America. A lack of acknowledgement of the humanity and worth of Blacks, crystallised in slavery, fear of Blacks couched in the stereotypes still repeated today, of being non Christian, infidel, needing to be managed and controlled as they were deemed unable to do it themselves, sexual predators as far as Black men are concerned, idle, prone to engaging in criminal and anti social behaviour, stealing the jobs of White men, a harbinger of neighbourhood disruption, such perceptions going back centuries. Indeed, so concerned was Queen Elizabeth 1st of England about the growing number of Black people that on 18th July 1596, the Privy Council issued an open letter to the Lord Mayor of London, indicating that she wished them removed from her realm and set up a scheme to put that into effect. Due to lack of planning and inadequate communication with key stakeholders not to mention the slave owners whose property the Blacks were, the intent did not materialise in practice in spite of a repeated request in 1601.
Needless to say many similar attempts have been made over the subsequent centuries in various guises, largely through immigration regulations and procedures, practices of officials and how the State apparatus and its multiple agencies combine to undermine the human rights of individuals of colour.
Over the centuries of Black presence in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America, there was a growing awareness amongst Blacks that seeking recognition of being accepted as a member of the wider society and accorded the status, respect, privileges as well as the responsibilities and duties attendant upon that status, was not going to be forthcoming. In this toxic environment individuals and communities of colour, developed strategies for self preservation and making what contribution they could to the society they had been introduced to and which now was their home. It is fair to say that the lives of Black people were lived out in parallel to that of White people. In other words different worlds developed in the same geographical location, one mainly where Black people lived their lives, survived, sought recognition, received acclamation and support, developed economic opportunities, built families, and where needed, made contact with a separate world of White people, for those opportunities not available in their own world. Segregation in all but name, when it was not officially state policy.
The different worlds developed came with differing views of the society in which the worlds were located and of the occupants of the separate worlds held by the residents of each. It is easy to understand how ingrained ideas, prejudices, discriminatory practices based on ‘race’ can be honed in such environments, supported in a largely uncritical way by like-minded individuals, and how difficult it is to change, if it ever can be.
The differing world views developed are sustained by the ingrained inequities built into the separate world living spaces through education opportunities, employment possibilities, health services, the economic system, the health system, environmental resources available, housing, sanitation, transport, landscaping. The world is monitored and policed by the State consistent with a set of views shared with the separate World of White people. In short, the cards are stacked against the world of individuals and communities of colour. Where contact is made by the residents of each world with the other, it is judicious, carefully planned, and fraught. It is purposeful, designed to achieve an aim.
One can understand how difficult it is as parents of Black children and youth, to teach them how to cope in such an environment and be hopeful and positive about their humanity and worth. That their hard work at developing skills and further educating them selves will result in dividends in spite of what they see and hear: That their prospects will be good regardless and that they must believe that. One can understand in certain quarters of that world how since they did not recieve recognition of their worth from the other world they do not accord it to others, especially those accessible in their own world, those who look like them. An example of this is the spate of 50 killings of mainly young people in London, primarily of colour, in the first four months of 2018 to April 6th this year by other young people. Questions have to be asked based on our histories, why the forces of law and order have allowed this to occur. Would it have been a similar case if the victims were White and from a different socio-economic level? Our histories tell us NO.
Resist the calls for ‘solutions’ to London’s murder surge | Simon Jenkins https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/06/solutions-london-murder-surge-new-york-crackdown?CMP=share_btn_tw
Acknowledging and drawing the lessons from our diverse histories is critical in working out for our selves how we will and do currently conduct our lives and where our energies should be focused and are for some. We should not waste our finite energies on areas where there is negligible return. Our histories teach us where such energies have been spent, on what, the achievements if any and, the cost. We should be developing ourselves to be informed, highly competent agents of change in our own lives first and that of our immediate families, however defined, and then extending that out to others. We should further develop the knowledge and skill-set in demand in the separate worlds that exist and pass them on to those following us.
Change must start with you. Our history demonstrates that we are pillars of agency. We need to remind ourselves of that. Once achieved and the added confidence that accompanies it, a ripple in the water is produced and who knows what waves it will be part of in due course. Water can be a major agent of change over time.