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Find a book club
Find a Book Club, a club that does what it says on the tin, asked me to recommend 10 books for book clubs (including two of my own).
Category Archives: Allyship
Black History Month & Standing Proudly
Black History Month’s theme in the UK is Standing Firm in Power and Pride Paulette Hamilton, Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington writes: This year’s theme … is deeply personal to me, not just as Birmingham’s first Black MP, but as … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Artists, Black History, Democracy, Equality, History, Human Rights, Mental Health, Morality, Racism, White Allies
Tagged A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything, Black History Month UK, keep a lamp lit to show us where we stand, Kerry James Marshall, Malcolm X, Noah Davis, Paulette Hamilton MP, Standing Firm in Power and Pride, white follk like me intensely and immensely slow to recognise and acknowledge Black Brown and Yellow folks' humanity
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Hidden Histories with Nova Reid
Nova Reid, producer, author, truthseeker and all-round remarkable Black woman, has made a podcast with Audible about other remarkable and unsung Black women: women who not only survived enslavement and unimaginable racism, but who thrived. It’s called Hidden Histories and, … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Books, Education, Equality, History, Hope, Human Rights, Racism, Women
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Our view of the world is distorted – so our worldview is distorted
A big thank you to Black History Studies and Mark Simpson, Director of Operations, for the title of this piece and for his insight into the ways different world maps have been put together and how they affect our view … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Democracy, Education, Equality, History, Human Rights, Morality, Places, Psychology, Racism, Travel, White Allies
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Black History Month; Black History Studies and Nova Reid’s Student Confession
October is Black History Month in the UK. But obviously Black History should be taught and celebrated every day of every year in history lessons in our schools, in everyday conversation, in stories, in music and song, in any way … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Books, Equality, History, Human Rights, Kindness, Listening, Psychology, Racism, White Allies
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ORIGIN: Ava DuVernay and Isabel Wilkerson on CASTE
If you haven’t seen ORIGIN – Ava DuVernay’s film about Isabel Wilkerson’s life and why and how she came to write CASTE – I urge you to. If you have seen it, I’d love to know how it made you … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Books, Creativity, Democracy, Equality, Human Rights, Listening, Racism, White Allies
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Language: how it means everything, and nothing
A couple of weeks ago some friends suggested we see ENGLISH, by Sanaz Toossi, at the Kiln Theatre. It’s finished its run now, but if you see it advertised anywhere, go. Toossi wrote the play after the travel ban, colloquially … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Artists, Equality, Fiction, Human Rights, Kindness, Language, Listening, Literary Prizes, Plays, Refugees, Storytelling, Theatre
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If the son of a Klu Klux Klan leader can become an Anti-Racist, everyone can
It takes 25 minutes to watch this video. It takes a lifetime to remain committed to anti-racism. But this person’s journey from white supremacy to anti-racism shows us just how essential it is that we all begin that journey. Click … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Equality, Listening, Morality, Psychology, Racism, White Allies, White Fragility
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Antiracism: Student Confessions Series, with Nova Reid
I took part in Nova Reid’s series of Student Confession Interviews after graduating from her deeply affecting, life-changing course: Becoming Antiracist with Nova Reid. The Course altered the way I live my life and transformed my attitudes and my core … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Equality, History, Human Rights, Psychology, Racism, White Allies, White Fragility
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I’m breaking up with my shame, on Valentine’s Day
There are studies that show what happens to couples on Valentine’s Day: the less attachment-avoidant among us fare better, as you might guess, and some of us break up. But what if the relationship is between a person and an … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Equality, Human Rights, Love, Mental Health, Psychology, Racism, Rejection, Shame, Valentine's Day, White Allies
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Afrikan Reparations: a conference
On Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd October, in London, a conference to discuss Afrikan Reparations and to address the legacy of the trafficking and enslavement of peoples of Afrikan descent, of colonisation and colonialism, was held. I went, at the … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Equality, History, Human Rights, Love, Morality, Politics, Racism, White Allies
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Black History Month, and David Olusoga
October is Black History Month in the UK, but David Olusoga, historian and broadcaster, and many many others, including me, think it’s well past time that British history included everyone who’s part of the UK’s history wherever it’s taught, read … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Equality, History, Human Rights, Racism
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Independence Day: two dissenting points of view
Independence Day, celebrated in America on the fourth of July, commemorates the Declaration of Independence, ratified on the fourth of July 1776. It stated that the: Thirteen Colonies were no longer subject (and subordinate) to the British monarch, George III, … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Books, Democracy, Equality, History, Human Rights, Politics, Racism, White Allies
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Windrush, 75 years on
Seventy-five years ago, on 22 June 1948, HMT (His Majesty’s Transport) Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, on the River Thames. She was named, as many empire ships were, for a British river, in her case the River Windrush, a … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Black History, Books, Creativity, Democracy, Equality, Fiction, History, Human Rights, Morality, Racism, Windrush, Writers, Writing
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What does it mean to be good?
In a 2013 article by Steve Taylor PhD in Psychology Today, good is defined as: a lack of self-centredness … the ability to empathise with other people, feel compassion … and put [others’] needs before your own. It means … … Continue reading
A Ukrainian Christmas
Business Ukraine Magazine reports that Kharkiv’s main Christmas tree has, this year, been put up in an underground station – to protect it from Russian air strikes. The magazine also retweeted the Washington Post’s report about Volodymyr Zelensky becoming Time’s … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Christmas, Democracy, Flowers/Blossom, Human Rights, Refugees, Ukraine
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Blue Plaques for Black People: Nubian Jak Community Trust
For this Black History month, here’s an organisation which celebrates Black history throughout the year and throughout the land. The Nubian Jak Community Trust (NCTJ) installs Blue Plaques to acknowledge and remember notable Black people. It was founded in 2006. … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Black Plaques, Equality, History, Human Rights, Music
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Redemption Song
A couple of weeks ago I saw the Bob Marley musical, Get Up Stand Up! in London. It’s glorious, it’s uplifting, I felt sound waves, like a breeze, against my body; it’s brilliantly sung and acted, it’s very moving and … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Artists, Creativity, Human Rights, Listening, Music, Politics, Racism, Reviews
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The Good Ally by Nova Reid
When Claudia Rankine, a Black poet and playwright, was asked by a white man, after a reading from Citizen: An American Lyric (Rankine’s 2014 anthology about the collective effects of racism in our society) ‘What can I do for you? … Continue reading
Reading Black Writers
Until George Floyd was murdered on 25 May 2020, I had not begun to acknowledge, let alone unearth, my inherent racism. That racism includes not reading or even thinking about the work of Black writers. But since that May I’ve … Continue reading