Where Do We Go Next?: An Interview With BLM Brighton

In the UK, it can be difficult to know where to direct protest as racism can sometimes operate more covertly over here than in the U.S. I sat down and spoke with one of Brighton’s Black Lives Matter protest organisers to discuss which areas of change need attention within the UK and where activists should focus their demands for change. They gave me insight into their local views on systemic racism within modern Britain.

Black Lives Matter protest in Brighton, 2020

1. There are some very apparent systems in the UK which bear racism, discrimination and disparities. One which can often be overlooked is healthcare. What is the landscape of that in the UK currently?

There are many branches of the UK’s inherent discriminatory social system that need to be tackled. The UK and the US have broad disparities in how Black people and their white counterparts are diagnosed, treated and their overall experience of the healthcare system. Substantial inequalities are seen within higher rates of maternal and infant mortality among Black women, for example.

There seems to be a trend in catering to the white body and comfort, whilst disregarding the depth of the effects/impact on the Black body and their relationship with healthcare. That happens in the whole of healthcare. Healthcare is a pillar of any society and, if that is neglected, it is one of the first things that will cripple a community of people. It’s clear that many areas of our healthcare system don’t resonate with ethnic minority groups. I think we need to target this as activists and as a nation entirely. 

2. What systemic changes need to happen within education?

The education system is programmed to accommodate white middle class individuals and tends to penalise Black and ethnic minority children. That becomes very apparent in the exclusion rates which are trebled for BAME students in many areas of England. Anecdotally, then, that would be incredibly disheartening for young Black students who can witness the odds being stacked against them. Especially for children, it is easier to withdraw and not engage if you believe that you are within a system that wasn’t built for you.  

Take the recent exam algorithm scandal which displays the conspicuous disregard for BAME and underprivileged children in terms of education. It paints a clear picture about how they value white lives over Black lives because they’d rather put these white middle class children in better positions than they would BAME people. That’s something that we need to shout about.

3. How can the UK acknowledge its colonial past?

I think something that the UK needs to tackle specifically is the colonial history and the impact of its colonial legacy. When you look at many countries within Africa and the middle East, you notice similarities in the state of leadership, extreme poverty and dire healthcare. We are often too quick to hold these countries completely accountable and label them as uncivilised.

We really need to understand and be taught the impact that the British colony has had on these countries. Often, they’re in their current position because Britain invaded their country, bled them dry, exploited them, and orchestrated a system which completely destabilised lives. They’re still puppeteering a lot of these countries and taking no accountability. British colonial history needs to be brought to the surface as it still leaves a very tangible legacy and very little attention is given to that. 

4. What is the current dynamic between BLM Brighton and the police?

The policing system has really galvanised the BLM movement into existence. It is under a lot of scrutiny at the moment and rightfully so. Policing bodies need to be held accountable. We need to understand exactly what it is that the police stand for and how they are perceived by the public. What is it that they are trying to instil? That can become unclear when you’re seeing daily police brutality and gross neglect. 

We need to rewind a bit to understand why such an organisation exists in the first place and question whether it should continue to exist in the same capacity that it currently does. Black people have a long history of mistrust of the police and this is starting to come to a head. If they want to keep policing as it is, they will have the arduous task of addressing this widespread mistrust. Alternatively, and with growing support, policing could be defunded and restructured.

5. When calling for the defunding of police, how would you like to see money redistributed? What change will this make?

I think that the BLM movement in general sides with the defunding of police. All this means is reallocating funds to public and social services and other community projects. We’re regularly seeing mental health, youth and other specialised services being underfunded and shut down. Funding these smaller, more niche organisations would tackle root causes with specialised support and, ultimately, we wouldn’t be coming across the problems that police are there to ‘fix’. I think the police are given a lot of hats to wear: a social worker, a mental health professional, domestic abuse specialist, and so on. They're not trained specifically in any of these areas and roles. It’s too generic. Re-establishing the distribution of power and influence to community services would see support being better catered to the specific needs of individuals.

The police are there to stop things that shouldn't be happening in the first place but are because of the system that we exist in. It’s all orchestrated in a way that makes us feel like we need the police and we fear having less of them. If we looked at the numbers and we put the money where it was supposed to be then we wouldn't need such a big umbrella organisation. We can’t actually expect the police to have such a broad responsibility. Redistributing responsibility and funding is the only logical way forward.  

6. The government recently refused to review the school curriculum around Black history. If the curriculum was changed to include more Black culture/input, what kind of areas would you like to see covered?

First of all, we need to understand that there's Black influence in every single part of academia - not just history. I thought I hated so many subjects growing up, until I realised that it was because I was only given such a limited scope and lack of diverse perspective.

Take art for instance, I’d always thought I didn't have an interest in art at all. I couldn't relate to a painting of a cottage - it didn't make sense to me. After I was exposed to Black artists and Black perspectives within art, I had a newfound interest for it and went on to explore it. However, we’re not exposed to black art within the education system, we have to seek it. As children, we’re only taught a curriculum from a white perspective. We hear half of the story and the half that we do hear tends to be that of the oppressor. 

 I think science is a prime example of this. We need to understand at what cost to Black individuals science has developed and also Black contributions to it. For example, Black women and their bodies and how they have been used in science without consent and the atrocities there.

And in terms of global warming, we’re taught about climate change but we’re not taught about who is most responsible for global warming and who is impacted the most by climate change. We’re not taught that Africa and Asia are the areas most impacted by global warming. We’re not taught that the West produces most of the pollution.

I think the whole curriculum needs to be reimagined in terms of giving credit where credit is due and in terms of acknowledging BAME contributions to it. The Black Curriculum suggested moving away from looking at history through the lens of the UK understanding the discourse that happens outside of the UK and the international development that's occurring. We need to hire and train more Black and ethnic teachers.

As for history, you teach Black history not only for the benefit of Black students but for the benefit of British society as a whole. People seem to think that we want Black history so that ‘Black children know where they came from’. No, we want Black history because Black history is the world's history. 

7. Is there anything that you wish was different about the BLM movement as a whole? Is there anything that you would change about the BLM protests OR movement?

I often think that particularly young individuals don't understand how much power and how much strength they have and how much is behind their voice and actions. 

Something that has crippled the movement is young people's inclination towards instant gratification. Social media has definitely perpetuated the need for immediate results at our fingertips and an easy fall in momentum and interest if change isn’t seen instantly. We need to get out of this habit and know that solving a problem like this requires resilience and commitment. 

I also wish we didn’t have to justify ourselves all the time and every time we went out. It’s so heart-breaking having to justify your existence to someone. It’s exhausting. If they didn’t close their eyes so much to what was going on around them then they would be just as disgusted and outraged as the rest of us. They'd feel the same fire. 

Sometimes you have to justify why you're out here to Black people too who say that no difference will be made. I ask them whether they think that previous political leaders thought that what they were saying would be instrumental to a whole movement? No, they were just speaking what they felt needed to be said at the time and 50-60 years down the line we’re still quoting something that they said in passing. 

People don't understand the power they hold.

8. I was glad, but also quite surprised, to see that you are collaborating with Extinction Rebellion. I know a lot of people are apprehensive towards Ex Re and that they have been ostracised in the past for being white-centric. What would you say the future looks like for the relationship between BLM and Ex Re. 

Extinction Rebellion have had a lot of bad press in the past and we’re not necessarily completely affiliated with the organisation but the Brighton branch have gone out of their way to reach out to us. We have a really good relationship with them, they are really listening to us, offering support and ensuring that they highlight the intersectionality within the climate crisis.

We do understand that they have been problematic in the past but we are seeing how we can build a better relationship with them because at the end of the day we do come hand in hand. Advocacy for Black lives is advocating for the climate crisis because we're disproportionately affected by it.

However, it is up to these organisations to reach out to BLM groups across the country and show their willingness to uplift Black voices. 

(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)