5 APRIL 2021 THE COLLECTIVE presents… …THE VOICES ISSUE 5 APRIL 2021 INTROs Shameful end to last week?!….for some (although it may be shown that they truly don’t have any shame) UK Government selected Commission publishes delayed Race disparities report.....expected rhetoric but still a little astounded at the blasé denials and clumsy ‘same old’ attempts at distractions, dilutions and division. And extremely surprised to hear that not only do we not have institutional racism in our country but we are a model society for the rest of the World! Good luck with that one, considering what all the World has seen happen here in just the past 12 months! Since 2017 alone, at least four key reports have stated the presence of institutional racism across a range of our mainstream UK structures….but last week, the Governments flagship ‘new dawn’ post 2020 report (following the year of Global movements in support of Black Lives and huge Race disparities in UK Covid19 deaths) found no evidence of such and furthermore suggests institutional racism is (essentially) in our heads and doesn’t really exist in our present day UK society. We must have been living in an alternate reality all these years, alongside way too many of Our Brothers and Sisters. How many individual (and collective) experiences does it take to make a case for a systematic problem? I believe we have (nations of) millions across generations of our peoples. The case has been proven on many occasions…so what’s the problem?!…. surely even in covid times, they can’t simply wash their hands of this!!! The struggles continue, the fight remains and the spirit gets stronger. SAY IT LOUD, the Voices Issue, is here to share and celebrate with you some of the cultural journeys that can nourish, light and bring strength to our souls. Enjoy. Peace “Our Histories Give Us PEACE and STRENGTH, alongside Deep INSIGHTs and FORESIGHT” 5 APRIL 2021 BLACKS BRITANNICA (1978) was originally commissioned by the Boston public television station WGBH but later "raised hackles” at the station due to its perceived overtly political content. The ensuing legal battle over censorship, the right to make final cuts, and airing and distribution, was widely debated in the media at the time. In Blacks Britannica, David Koff uses the Black lens to explore the ways that Black Britons are racially excluded, terrorized, and politically and economically barred from society. Blacks Britannica plays on the pre-existing title "Encyclopædia Britannica". The encyclopedia is seen as a treasured bound collection of information that covers a wide array of topics be that history, geography, context, social cues, culture etc., and to have a Blacks Britannica means not only that they were excluded from the popular one, but it places Black people at the centre of the story. Specifically, the film addresses the ever-so present tragedies of systemic racism and police brutality. Clips show videos of British police participating in segregation movements and arresting young Black people for 'suspected person of loitering with intent to commit an arrestable offence.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsKeRFpyKNw PRESSURE is a 1976 British drama film directed by Horace Ové and starring Herbert Norville, Oscar James and Frank Singuineau. It is hailed as the UK's first Black dramatic feature-length film and has been characterised as "a gritty and dynamic study of a generation in crisis". Ové has said: "What Pressure tried to do was to portray the experience of the Windrush generation, the kids who came with them and the kids born here.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Pressure_(1976_film) 5 APRIL 2021 MALCOLM X VISIT TO BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND Malcolm X's visit to Smethwick remembered in pictures https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-31417235 The US political activist Malcolm X visited Smethwick, in the West Midlands, on 12 February 1965, just nine days before he was assassinated. He met with Avtar Singh Jouhl, from the Indian Workers' Association, who had been involved in organising the visit. Mr Jouhl said he wanted to make Malcolm X aware of segregation in local pubs and bars. Following his visit, Malcolm X returned to the US. He was shot and killed on 21 February while speaking at a rally in New York. A film marking the 40th anniversary of his visit to the Smethwick was being shown throughout cinemas in the region in 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4260027.stm FIRE IN BABYLON the incredibly captivating story of the glorious domination of the West Indian cricket team who with a combination of phenomenal skill and fearless spirit became the longest reigning winning team in sports history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlCZwIOK-do UK COMEDY: DESMONDS was the most successful Black sitcom in British TV history. It ran on Channel 4 for over five years, attracting millions of viewers. Trix Worrell, the man who wrote it, believes that Desmond's changed attitudes to race in the UK. Trix has been speaking to Sharon Hemans about the show, and the people who inspired it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csyx0t BERNARDINE EVARISTO Booker Prize-winning author, chooses the eight tracks, book and luxury she would take with her if cast away to a desert island. Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize in 2019 for her novel, Girl, Woman, Other. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000mrb1 5 APRIL 2021 PLAYLIST ONE Lowkey - My Soul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN4eySlToGw James Brown Experience - Mind Power https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=yeTP6qsu0Bo&list=TLPQMDUwNDIwMjHRX3uxeatkJQ&index=7 Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ25-U3jNWM Common and John Legend - Glory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z_ifDgElFw The Isley Brothers - Harvest For The World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz_OsEISBGo Teddy Pendergrass with Harold Melvin The Blue Notes - Wake Up Everybody https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzTgwo2uNbg Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=4wZ3ZG_Wams&list=TLPQMDUwNDIwMjHRX3uxeatkJQ&index=11 Gil Scott- Heron - Save The Children https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8-7JDRr9wo Public Enemy - Rebel Without A Pause https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djuc0kg97yo Aretha Franklin - Bridge Over Troubled Water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-yfeA2JZs Rodney P Feat Peoples Army - Live Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXRjhlmob_U 5 APRIL 2021 CHECKING OUT ME HISTORY (2004) By John Agard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFV_06_UidI Dem tell me Dem tell me Wha dem want to tell me Bandage up me eye with me own history Blind me to my own identity Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat But Touissant L’Ouverture no dem never tell me bout dat Toussaint a slave with vision lick back Napoleon battalion and first Black Republic born Toussaint de thorn to de French Toussaint de beacon of de Haitian Revolution Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloon and de cow who jump over de moon Dem tell me bout de dish run away with de spoon but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon Nanny see-far woman of mountain dream fire-woman struggle hopeful stream to freedom river Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and Waterloo but dem never tell me bout Shaka de great Zulu Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492 but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale and she lamp and how Robin Hood used to camp Dem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soul but dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole From Jamaica she travel far to the Crimean War she volunteer to go and even when de British said no she still brave the Russian snow a healing star among the wounded a yellow sunrise to the dying Dem tell me Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me But now I checking out me own history I carving out me identity 5 APRIL 2021 CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS: The British Black Panthers The untold story of the years when Black Power came to Britain and forever left its mark - the coming together, political ideas, leaders and legacy. Inspired by the American Black Panther Party, the British Black Panthers were founded in London’s Notting Hill in 1968 – the first Panther organisation outside the United States. Their mission was to change the terms of engagement about race in Britain, promote self-determination and challenge the British state. Writer Kehinde Andrews, who launched the first UK Black Studies degree in Birmingham, meets key former Panthers and the generations that followed them, and – hearing from critics, artists and historians, drawing on a wealth of archive – explores their legacy. From the late 1960s, following Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech, and throughout the early 1970s, the British Black Panthers drew on the example of their American counterparts. The politics of Black Power traveled across the Atlantic and took unique form on British soil, inspiring a generation of multi-racial Black British youth. Putting aside revolutionary rhetoric, the British Panthers focused on policing the police at street level and on educating their members in Saturday schools. They championed racial equality - better housing, legal aid, immigrants’ rights and non- racist employment practice. They took on the criminal justice system and won. They agitated, argued, demonstrated, printed a weekly paper and marched under the flag of the same logo as their American counterparts - the leaping Panther. Special Branch responded to the movement with its own Black Power Desk, while the 1970 trial of the Mangrove Nine, following a clash between police and Black Panther demonstrators in Notting Hill, evoked Magna Carter and changed racial justice in Britain forever. Members included Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Farrukh Dhondy, the photographer Neil Kenclock and dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. The movement was inclusive, embracing members from Asian as well as West Indian and African descent. The Panthers were the new, multi-racial Black youth of Britain - children of immigrants, educated in British schools and more radical and defiant than their parents. Contributors include poet Benjamin Zephaniah, former Panthers Farrukh Dhondy, Neil Kenlock and Beverley Bryan, historian David Olusoga and Mykaell Riley of Steel Pulse, US Black Panther leaders Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown, Ian Macdonald QC and British rapper and writer Akala. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0007b0y 5 APRIL 2021 PLAYLIST TWO Nneka - Lost Souls (Live) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1C2D- MzziY&list=TLPQMDUwNDIwMjHRX3uxeatkJQ&index=1 Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Dam Dam Karo Fareed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp7Z1ABKqG4 Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=iN3KsbnQZxU&list=TLPQMDUwNDIwMjHRX3uxeatkJQ&index=5 Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose - Too Late To Turn Back Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVZH3EzVZtk James Brown - People Get Up And Drive That Funky Soul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV5UilNUYRY Zakir Hussain - Horse Running (Live in Kolkata) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHa8r2esEU4 Leroy Sibbles - Garden Of Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYvpYvFsf4A Tom Browne - Funkin' for Jamaica https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=CfUuamLRsbE Phyllis Dillon - Perfidia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnXIM3yPhw4 Wain Ya nas ﺳﺳﺎاﻧن ااﯾﻲ ﻧﻧﯾﯾوو- ررااﻧﻧﻣم https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjp4wEy_TRk Ronnie Foster - Mystic Brew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nj1HWC-dQs 5 APRIL 2021 SMALL AXE A Series Of Five Incredible Films… Love Letters To Black Resilience And Triumph In London's West Indian Community, Directed By Oscar Winner Steve Mcqueen. Vivid Stories Of Hard-Won Victories In The Face Of Racism. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/ p08vxt33/small-axe WHO IS MANIKARNIKA? THE REAL STORY OF THE LEGENDARY HINDU QUEEN LAKSHMI BAI Under Lord Dalhousie, the British government had adopted an aggressive policy of annexing Indian states. Charges of mismanagement often offered an excuse. Another justification, applied with increasing frequency after 1848, was the Doctrine of Lapse, which placed any sovereign Indian state as a vassal state under British rule through the East India Company. The British already exercised the right to recognize the monarchical succession in Indian states that were dependent upon them. As a corollary, Dalhousie claimed that if the adoption of an heir to the throne was not ratified by the government, the state would pass by “lapse” to the British. https://www.historynet.com/who-is-marnikarnika-legendary-hindu-queen-lakshmi- bai.htm BOOK SELECTIONS 5 APRIL 2021 PLAYLIST THREE Erykah Badu - Appletree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nujt-- zPa70 The Isley Brothers – Summer Breeze https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=T88fbHOmvRk Sade - Your Love Is King https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=1yfuCpcX7EU Boubacar Traoré & Ali Farka Touré - Duna Ma Yelema https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4-uq8cTF7o The Five Stairships - O-o-h Child https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=gIsj8VxQNkw&list=TLPQMDUwNDIwMjHRX3uxeatkJQ&index=8 Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves The Sunshine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSBWiFGzsyU Ty - Brixton Baby https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hydrv80v_u0 OUTROS “We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit which can recognise that we, as inheritors of a proud civilisation, are entitled to our rightful place on this planet. If that indomitable spirit were to arise, nothing can hold us from achieving our rightful destiny.” C. V. Raman NEXT ISSUE: SUMMER 2021
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