Black History in Britain

Posted on 02. Oct, 2009 by admin in Politics, UK, World

Written By Kwabena

Black History in Britain will become a thing of the past if we do not comprehend its meaning at present

Saturday night early March and practically every young Ghanaian in my phonebook is worrying about their Kente cloth or Lyle & Scott, trims and weaves, D & G sunglasses, eyeliner, plimsolls, Gucci or Kurt Geiger shoes.

Having made my decision not to celebrate Ghana’s Independence Day this year, a young male questioned my sense of patriotism, “Yo sho, your on some joke ting, you don’t rep Ghana fam, your swagger ain’t 100.” For a ‘man’ who clearly had problems standing straight and was dressed like an ‘urban’ Zara advert with a spliff hanging from the corner of his lip with the upper left side of his lip bent upwards to put emphasis on his gold tooth, he surprisingly made that statement with confidence.

He clearly had no comprehension of what Ghana’s independence was supposed to signify but he was an example of what it had become.
I replied “Nkrumah himself said the independence of Ghana is MEANINGLESS without the total liberation of Africa, which I believe extends to the islands. The likes of Garvey, Nkrumah and Lumumba would be rolling in their graves to see how tribal and individualistic we have become.”

In many respects Black History Month in Britain has struck the same chord. We run the risk of celebrating an event just for the sake of it. We run the risk of losing the meaning by diminishing our empowering historical experiences, taking the present for granted, thus leading to an ignorant and dangerous future.

Our presence in this country was felt long before the 1948 arrival of SS Windrush. For peat sake Marcus Garvey not only had numerous members in this country but he also died here. Show some respect. George Padmore’s work in this country and for black people across the globe must be acknowledged. He was one the key organisers of the 1945 Pan African Conference in Manchester, which was attended by Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, W.E.B. DuBois, Jaja Wachuku and Nnamdi Azikiwe.

On the 10th November 1913, John Archer was elected mayor of Battersea thus the first black mayor in London. Although 6 years later the black communities all over Britain would riot against the racial hatred they faced at various seaports. One of the most memorable riots was the black community in Cardiff. Yes that’s right the welsh town Cardiff along with other black seaport communities would act as a beckon for anti colonial activists such as Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta.

Do we ever remember the black people that died in World War I let alone World War II? So then it is no surprise we have allowed history to forget the black faces that died for Britain in 1805 at the battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Lord Nelson’s navy is recorded as having 1 Brazilian, 1 African and 9 West Indians and we do not know how many of the 21 Americans were black. Also some sources say the battle ship Africa, which prior to the war was stationed in the West Indies also had black people. Despite the fact that in the British navy blacks were still slaves George Rose proved he had enough military savvy to warrant him becoming a sergeant.

The 18th century ended on a revolutionary note of hope for black people as Dutty Bookman signalled the start of the Haitian liberation. Yet on this small island, we call Britain the 18th century displayed that black people had revolutionary thoughts of their own. We must be grateful to our heroes Olaudah Equiano, Ignatius Sancho, Frances Barber and Mary Prince who played instrumental roles in abolishing chattel slavery in his country but we must remember they were not alone. Unfortunately I do not remember no Hollywood Blockbuster for these champions of justice. I mean how did most us show our appreciation for them last year? That is right we did not instead many of us praised the man who condemned the Haitian revolution and maintained that slavery should not be abolished on the continent.

You have to laugh when you know that many black people will celebrate Black History Month and accept the insult, ‘black people sold black people into slavery so how can they point fingers at the British Empire’. They clearly need to purchase Maafa 2007 (should be shown in every school and ACS in the land) or pick up a book.

Dr. Kimani Nehusi says it best “It is like saying Hitler and his crimes must be excused because a few Jewish people where involved in the Holocaust; nothing could be more ridiculous.”

The 1780 Gordon riots involved numerous black people; now forget what you see on TV that was a real prison break. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I’s letter in 1596 to the Lord Mayor also provides evidence suggesting that black people were in Britain. We know black people where here even earlier than that because on New Year’s Day 1511 John Blanke, the black trumpeter performed for King Henry VIII and prior to that he frequently performed for Henry VII.

We can go from century to century, decade to decade, year to year looking at black people here as you’re starting to see. Just to put it into context, Claudius of the Roman Empire who conquered Britain in 43 AD accounts for the existence of black Kelts.

Although we know black people are not foreign to the Roman Empire either because the black Roman Emperor Lucius Septimus Severus who was born in modern day Libya in 145 AD shows this. Let’s turn our clocks back to 2900BC and look at the Beaker people, who some say are responsible for Stonehenge and some historians say you may even find Black History there as well.

Black people’s contribution to this country has been cleverly white washed from the history of Britain so many times that the future has a right to ask will it happen again?

That is up to you.

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