For our final installment celebrating Black History Month UK we hear from long time and much loved Brits in LA member Kara Miller. Even though this month is now over it doesn’t mean we have to stop the movement, in fact it would be a real shame if we did. We welcome contributions from all of our members. Email us at info@britsin.la if you have something to share.
Last but not least, if you can vote make sure you do!
Now over to Kara….
I am a Black Jamaican woman and I understand first hand what ‘white privilege’ is. How the hell is that possible?
‘White privilege’ does NOT mean, if you’re white, that you’re privileged and there’s nothing bad happening in your life. What it means is that there are things (big and small) that you don’t have to think about, that other people do and you may not even be aware of them. And, because you’re not aware of them, from your own personal experience, you may find it difficult to believe or understand the experiences that other people are sharing.
How do I know so much about ‘white privilege’?
When I came to Britain from the Caribbean, I had ‘West Indian privilege’…. I’d grown up in a Black majority world. There were no limits to what I could do or to what people expected of me. People did not treat me differently based on the colour of my skin. Race wasn’t a defining factor for the way I was treated by police, for academic opportunity and achievement, for home ownership, for career advancement or anything.
In Jamaica, the official national motto is ‘Out of Many, One People’. There is a real celebration of the racial and cultural diversity in our melting pot society (African, Indian, Chinese and European). We see the differences and we celebrate them…and because of that they are ALL part of OUR culture. There isn’t a dominant culture that ‘the others’ need to fit into (or maybe I was a part of that dominant ‘majority’ culture so I would say something like that lol!).
But when I got to Britain, what struck me was that (unlike in the Caribbean) conversations about race were verboten…. There was an unspoken rule that the Black friend or Black friends in a friendship group (or even in a corporate environment) shouldn’t cause any ‘awkwardness’ by talking about any ‘uncomfortable’ history or experience that differed from their white friends.
And if the subject of race was brought up:
“But I’m colour blind. I don’t think of you as Black. You’re just like me.”
“How can I be racist / prejudiced when I don’t even see colour..?”
These white, British people meant well, they meant to include me. But I knew that many of the things that made me different, that also made me ‘me’ weren’t being seen. I was being praised and accepted for the ways I was exactly like them and any points of difference just weren’t being seen. Or were politely looked over.
So the real conversations can’t happen and no one gets a chance to really share themselves. No one gets a chance to really hear what is being said and to understand that there are things other people are experiencing that they have no clue about.
“Black people in Britain are 9 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.” (Home Office figures published in The Guardian – 27 Oct 2020)
My first, and only, police stop happened in Britain. I was 18, and I will never forget it because I was so genuinely surprised by it. I was a first year law student at Oxford, and I was visiting a West Indian friend in London (who was studying to be a criminologist) when she and I were stopped in a car. We were stopped for no discernible reason and the way the police treated us…. We couldn’t understand it. The policemen were so rude, they didn’t believe anything we said and they treated us like criminals.
Fast forward to now. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many more. It’s always been happening but now we’re talking about it. Finally. Now, in 2020, honest conversation is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.
We need it to move forward as a society in both the UK, the USA and around the world.
When my friend Craig Young (co-founder of Brits in LA) called me and said he wanted to do something to celebrate UK Black History month, to amplify Black voices and to start a discussion, I was an immediate YES! We created a video podcast series which all can be viewed on Facebook or Vimeo @BritsinLA:
EPISODE 1: ’How To Talk About Race With Your Kids’ – As part of Brits in LA’s celebration of UK History month, we’ve brought you Uju Asika to lead you step by step through the process! Uju is author of the new book that’s been taking Britain by storm: ‘Bringing Up Race: How to Raise a Kind Child in a Prejudiced World’ published by Yellow Kite (Hachette UK).
EPISODE 2: ‘Black & British’ – As part of Brits in LA’s celebration of UK Black History month, we’ve brought you a panel of some extraordinary Black British people for a frank, no holds barred discussion filled with insights, revelations & some laughter too.
EPISODE 3: ‘Black, British & Out’ – As part of Brits in LA’s celebration of UK Black History month, we’ve brought you a panel of some extraordinary Black British LGBTQ people for a discussion that is insightful, funny and at times shocking. Such honesty. This is a must watch. NOTE: ADULT CONTENT.
EPISODE 4: An interview with actor T’Nia Miller (of ‘Dr Who’ and ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’) – Black, British, LGBTQ trailblazer!
I saw a handwritten board that said, in all caps: “IF YOU’VE EVER WONDERED WHAT YOU’D HAVE DONE DURING SLAVERY, THE HOLOCAUST OR THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT…YOU’RE DOING IT RIGHT NOW!”
It’s funny, because of the exact time we’re living in – you don’t have to risk your life to make a difference (e.g. running an underground liberation movement or fighting in WWII or being a Freedom Rider on a bus in the deep south in 1961…). You can be a hero, just by exercising your right to vote.
However you want to vote. Just use it to effect change. Because, it will. Your vote matters and so, so much is on the line.
