Windrushed
More interesting was to learn of the PANIC amongst British politicians when they found out about the ship. Secret memos reveal worries about Black people taking up their RIGHT to settle in Britain. It showed that the British were happier taking people who had fought against them as SS officers and spoke no English than Black men who had fought FOR Britain, had been fed 'British culture' all their lives and believed they were going to help 'the motherland'.
'The Windrush Scandal' grew out of the Tory "Hostile Environment" strategy which suddenly required people who came to Britain before 1971 to prove that they were not "Illegal Immigrants". Those who could not provide the ridiculous "proof" demanded of them were detained and some deported where they ended up being killed. I thank my motherI was not one of those!!! Around the time of the 1971 act, she applied for me to have a Naturalisation Certificate (It cost £58 which, according to a quick google would be around £1,000 today!). Without that naturalisation paper, I think I would have been susceptible to similar treatment.
Last week, a friend from university, who lives in Edinburgh came to visit and at the weekend my BIG crush from Bristol days was here with his partner. Combined with the documentaries I've been watching about Black lives in Britain, some fascinating ideas are percolating up for me: I went to university in 1979, did a year of teaching practice in a boarding school 1982/3 and went to The Bristol Old Vic Theatre school 1983/4. MOMENTOUS things happened for Black British people during the time I was closeted in academia. I was insulated from so much of it, but affected by it without realising it.
I keep seeing stories of how the British 'system' and 'institutions' restrict Black Briton's development. Even writing that feels strange: I have been conditioned not to moan and to accept that life is what it is etc. I confess to feeling slightly embarrassed when some Black people complain about life being unfair... The thing is that life for Black people in this country IS unfair and has been so for a long time. I have had success in my life- more than many, so it IS difficult not to sound like sour grapes now that my orb is not in the ascendency, but something I was watching recently raised the issue of how far Black people are ALLOWED to rise and which ones are allowed to remain at the top for long.
Comparison is an interesting and subjective excercise. I think of an organisation which had been in existence since before the organisation I grew into "Intercultural Arts" in the mid to late 2000s: It did very little: obstensibly a "cultural organisation for minority ethnic art" when it presented events, the audiences were small and related to each other/performers, its key worker was on various committees where they were tolerated for their diversity points whilst other members rolled their eyes when this token spoke. Having said that; this other organisation has survived more than ten years longer than Intercultural Arts, despite still not having much discernable output.
Certain people of colour will always be invited onto committees if they never rock the boat with awkward questions or objections. These toxic relationships are mutually beneficial to their participants: the structural organisations and funders get ticks in boxes and the supposedly representative community organisation gets cash and public back-patting. I was always a lot more rigorous: My first boss; the very wonderful Jenny Harris of The Combination Ltd at The Albany Empire in Deptford, S.E. London instilled in me that community arts needs to be effective and relevant to the communities it claims to represent. I don't know how some continually funded minority ethnic community arts organisations sleep at night! -Especially when funds from dynamic organisations are diverted to them.
Other idiots (ahem)... "Creative Professionals" from minority ethnic communities, actually believe they will be able to make things change through their work (bless 'em). I honestly believed my work was going to change things for Black AND other people, for the better. I learned the words and the intonations, I drafted the papers and anticipated most of the logical potential objections. I was allowed to get close to my goals several times, but the rug was pulled at the last moment too many times:
1980s National Centre for Black Arts In Britain*
1990 London Lesbian and Gay Centre Ltd
2000s Interculural Arts: North East Sustained Theatre Centre*
2013 Cowgate Neighbourhood Centre
2015 Durham Dales Centre
My contributions to the above projects were significant but when I got within spitting distance of the final goals, parameters changed and it was suddenly impossible. The National Centre and the North East Centre would have been incredible achievements but, in the case of the National Centre, the Board of trustees to whom I was reporting had no vision and smaller balls! Where the funders were enthusiastic about releasing £27m, my bosses wet themselves at the thought. They had only let me pursue the project because they didn't think I'd get the offer of the cash. They believed they were being set up to fail and declined the grant. Years later, it was the Arse Council who baulked at giving North East Black creative professionals their own space in Newcastle and justified it by saying that although me and other members of the group had building management experience, because THE GROUP had no such record, they were unwilling to risk giving us the funding.
When Intercultural Arts was unfunded, the Arse Council claimed there was no need for it or similar organisations as "everyone" would be responsible for diversity in their arts practice in future. We all know that when something is "everyone's" responsibility, Nobody usually does it. It took slightly less than previous times this has come out of the Arse Council for them to throw up their hands and bemoan the lack of diversity across its funded projects and if you google "intercultural Arts" you will find a number of Arse Council funded projects with similar remits to the organisation I created- in fact: "intercultural Arts" is now a pretty common term, but I have not yet seen another Black led intercultural arts organisation.
Intercultural Arts was set up to advocate for minority ethnic creative professional and to agitate for greater awareness and support of them from venues and funders. As 'Director' I was being paid to represent a number of people, few of whom received the kind of income I took home every month. The members would tell me about how they were treated by the Arse Council and funders in comparison with their paler compatriots and I would complain on their behalfs. Arse Council even went as far as to challenge me- creating a narrative that because none/few of the creatives shared their complaints directly to them, the only person with a problem was me. They refused to accept that artists wouldn't complain to them directly for fear of receiving no funds at all. Once Intercultural Arts was defunded, Black arts has declined in North East England.
I walked away from Intercultural Arts in 2011 and it still hurts, but mainly because NOTHING took its place.
I have toyed with writing about all this for far too long. Even if I create something too terrible for public consumption, I think that an attempt to manage all these recurring thoughts will be good for my mental health. I HAVE had more opportunities than many in my life, but I am frustrated by how often I have been sabotaged once I have served my purpose for the organisation or I am about to succeed in something with which the powers that be disagree.
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