Viewpoints 10 Years Of Making A Difference | 10 Years Of Making A Difference |
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The first time I saw or heard a Black person on British radio and television during the whole of the Christmas period, apart from in the soaps, was Lee Jasper being interviewed about guns. Until that moment, African Caribbeans did not feature anywhere of significance in the British media. At a time when most Black families would have been huddled around their television or radio during the long break, their invisibility merely confirmed their perceived insignificance. Yet to the many youngsters, like Charlotte and Sophie Ellis, desperately seeking a reflection of themselves, their worth and their activities, it would have been hard to accept being invisible, insignificant and inconsequential. African Caribbeans did not even feature on the one token minority comedy programme on the BBC, The Kumars at No. 42. This programme has been a virtual no-go area for Blacks, the involvement of only White celebrities appearing crucial to its credibility. This presents a great irony for a minority programme, especially in view of Greg Dyke's much vaunted objectives, because it represents the diversity being sought in its presentation while excluding it in its content! A few hours later, it was my turn to be dragged out of festive hibernation to talk about guns too, being asked the usual searching questions relating to what can be done about these atrocities and what could prevent same in the future. At these traumatic times, we always seek particular answers, and scapegoats, to things we cannot understand or have studiously ignored and which makes us feel uncomfortable. Minority people being a case in point. They are virtually invisible, excluded from all things positive, until something dramatic brings them into focus. Black people measure very little on the scale of living in Britain in any routine way, stuck perennially at the lowest end of the continuum. When they are catapulted into the limelight through a barbaric, mindless act, suddenly there is much attention and concern, not so much for the community involved, but for ourselves. We fear for our own lives as the consequences hit home. The actions of a few finally touch the lives of the many and it is time to vilify every Black male with a gun and to focus on visible minority communities in yet more negative ways. The usual knee-jerk reactions follow, devoid of any real strategy: Five years automatic imprisonment for carrying guns. Tons of money being offered for information by the very newspapers which would not even bother to cover a positive story within the Black community the day, week or month before. Endless talk of monitoring Black-on-Black shootings by the police and media. Incidentally, when another man was shot shortly afterwards, there was no mention of Asian-on-Asian or White-on-White shootings! That was just a shooting with a possible racial motive. All other shootings were routine crimes external to those law abiding communities. Colour seems important only in African Caribbean cases to the extent that African Caribbeans toting guns immediately criminalise their whole race and community! And so the interviews continued with the usual suspects being asked the same old tired questions; expected to provide instant cures for the acts of a few selfish, evil people. Yet, for example, when Harold Shipman was convicted of all those murders, he was treated as just one very evil individual from the White community who ran amuck. No one asked his community leader what they should do about him; no one used him to judge the rest of White society in Britain, otherwise all White males would have been perceived as potential serial killers before they are even seen! Shipman was just one bad individual who needed to be punished. Positive stories about the rest of his community continued unabated. Not so for Black communities. They are simply bad throughout. There is also a show of surprise that, despite these awful killings, people are still reluctant to come forward and provide any evidence, but that is the effect of racism on all communities. Racism per se not only affects the victims in one way. It also leads to a mentality which shuts out outsiders while those perceiving discrimination and disadvantage cling to each other for support, regardless of what actually goes on within their environment. When trust goes, it is difficult to replace and the halo effect takes hold, no matter the degree of wrong doing. Where there is fear, disadvantage and ignorance, control and intimidation by a few is never far behind. Nothing much is going to change in Black communities after this tragic event because the same old perspectives and approaches are still being used by the majority community - and through the same spokespersons - despite their dismal failure up to now. Stemming the growing culture of guns within the Black community needs a complete change of perception and rationale relating to how minorities are marginalised and treated exclusive to mainstream society. There are a host of issues to be addressed in tandem to get the appropriate reaction from most minorities. Once those are taken into account, the purveyors of evil will gradually be isolated. Like the issue of power among Black males and their lack of it while they struggle to compete with their White colleagues without the necessary equity; the lack of education on various economic and social aspects; lack of successful role models who are denied public enhancement and recognition; basic deprivation and discrimination; low-self esteem among African Caribbeans who tend to work within the exploitative public sector while their Asian counterparts are independent business people, richer and more welcome to all political parties; the poor perception of Black people as a whole; the economic discrimination in business, especially by banks and other grant-making authorities; the chronic lack of money and support for one-parent families to enable parenting to be more effective and, most of all, the way minorities are starved of positive media exposure at ALL other times except when they are involved in something chilling and evil. My business will be celebrating 10 years of national achievement this year through our work of bringing communities together and recognising excellence and inclusion within our multicultural society. I believe that's a remarkable milestone, especially as we are unique to our field and many other cash rich businesses have fallen along the way. With very little resources we have affected the lives of hundreds of awards recipients through the years and have made a huge impact with our magazine and training which is totally disproportionate to our size. There are lots of stories to tell over the 10 years and the fact that we are here to celebrate this special anniversary in the face of the most mind-blowing obstacles is a testament to our vision, self-belief and self-determination. As a huge, successful role model within the African-Caribbean community, one which has worked tirelessly with the White majority to make a difference, will there be any coverage on our achievements? Will there be cameras rushing to record our efforts and available vox pop? Will Ministers be queuing up to pat us on the back and attend our events? Any interviews about our struggles? More money to extend our efforts even further? I doubt it very much. As I have never seen a fly on the wall documentary which involves a Black business or home, no Black person on programmes like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, no Black person winning any public competition like Pop Idol or Big Brother, no minority commenting on economics, politics or education (i. e the sort of programmes which reinforce White visibility and worth), no positive acts relating to minorities on the news, I do not hold out much hope. If the beginning of this year is anything to go by, it will be brisk business as usual - deathly silence until another calamity. My guess is that the next time I am in the limelight I will be talking about something negative. And that is the crux of the matter. If we are invisible, insignificant and inconsequential at all other times, does a criminal act increase our visibility any more as a genuine, contributing section of the wider community, or does it simply confirm our impotence, worthlessness and social exclusion to the influential majority, conditioning them subconsciously to simply expect more of the same? Not too sure? Well, don't take my word for it. Just watch what happens when the attention around this terrible act dies down and see for yourself the real effects of the ongoing tragedy of comprehensive visible minority exclusion in yet another year in this 21st century. Elaine Sihera is the leading authority on diversity development and practice in the UK. She is also a columnist for Black Britain Online, the founder of the annual Windrush Achievement Awards and the author of Managing the Diversity Maze. Contact: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it Join the debate : http://www.dimsum.co.uk/cgi-bin/ikonboard/forums.cgi?forum=9 |
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