A reflective blog by our Policy Project officer Japheth Monzon and Yahye Jama
This year’s Black History Month theme is ‘Reclaiming Narratives’. But what does this mean? And how can we relate this to the day-to-day lives of Black folk living in the southwest of England? The act of reclaiming narratives has always been central to Black South West Network’s mission. But we also understand that reclaiming narratives can mean different things to different people. After all, the community is seldom a monolith.
To some, reclaiming narratives involves overturning and challenging myths about Blackness that harm communities. This was the case for a group of Black and Minoritised legal professionals we visited through the Ethnic Solicitors South West Network (ESSWN) who focused on the repudiation of harmful fictions imposed on Black people. To others, reclaiming the narrative can mean creating new stories about the community in ways that are more faithful and compassionate. We can see this in our own capacity-building work, where our Sector Development and Enterprise team colleagues work hard to weave new stories of Black excellence and success in business and the community sector. And to other groups of people, reclaiming narratives can even involve interrogating long-held beliefs, ways of living, ways of thinking, and ways of being. This deeply reflective and spiritual way of understanding the theme of Black History Month has been most reflected by the UnMuseum, which looks to not only reverse narratives and create new narratives, but to fundamentally shift the foundations in which narratives of Black culture and heritage are built upon.
All in all, these unique permutations of ‘reclaiming narratives’ are valid in their own right. Reclaiming narratives is, and should be, both an individually personal pursuit as well as a collective pursuit. Unfair narratives affect people of all walks of life, but harmful narratives aimed directly at Blackness are egregious and widespread in the Global North. They inevitably impact the ways in which people see themselves, conduct themselves, and interact with those around them. Certainly, Ayesha Dornelly (writing for The Black, African, and Asian Therapy Network) tells us that negative stereotypes can lead to negative self-talk as people begin to internalise the false narratives told about them.
We don’t have to look far to know someone who has been negatively impacted by harmful and false narratives. Even now, as I write this, I can look to my right and glance at my colleague Yahye Jama, who bravely shared his experiences as a young Black Somali living in Bristol. His thoughtful and soothing demeanour is something readily apparent the moment you meet him. So, to this day it perplexes me wildly how anyone who truly knows him could see him any other way. But in his own words, he tells me stories about him being misattributed and judged based on how he looks – a common occurrence.
“I’ve been stopped and searched more times than I could count.”
I asked him why. I knew the reason, but I just wanted to hear it from him.
“The way I look, the way I dress, the people I’m with, my skin colour…”
‘So nothing based on what you actually did?’ I asked. Of course not. It’s never to do with anything substantial, always based on prejudice and harmful narratives that perpetuate these forms of systemic injustice. He tells me more about the subtle narratives that come with being a migrant: people assumed that he could not speak well English, or speak English at all. “You’re so well spoken!” They often remark with glee. “Where did you learn to speak English so good?”
English is his primary language of communication, of course he speaks it well? They always assume he’s lesser-than because of how he looks and the narratives woven unfairly about people like him. And they remain unaware that Yahye is highly-educated, holding an undergraduate degree in Law from the University of West England. We graduated in the same year, albeit at different universities. Nonetheless, only 19,000 other people had the pleasure to graduate with such a degree that year. They assume he’s gang-affiliated because of the area he lives in, not knowing that he worked as a Detached Youth Worker at Bristol Horn Youth Concern to ensure that children in the area do not turn to gang activity.
To Yahye, these harmful narratives spun about Black and Minoritised people, migrants, and young men range from subtle interactions that unveil prejudiced beliefs, to explicit statements filled with ignorance. For Black History Month, he reflects, and for every year of the month beyond October he wants to see transformative changes in the ways that he and his community are viewed. From being looked down upon, to rightfully being looked up to.
I also had a conversation with our colleague and content producer, Rob Mitchell, who overheard the conversation about Yahye’s experiences. This sparked his interest and he joined the discussion, providing a unique perspective regarding education and the role of narratives in shaping young minds. Statistics from our Access to Justice research collated data from schools around the Southwest, unveiling stark realities for children of African and Caribbean descent. With disproportionate exclusions and detentions for these kids, these common occurrences embed harmful narratives on the educational skills and life opportunities that negatively impact the lives of children as they grow up. Our Access to Justice work seeks to better understand this. If we are to reverse these narratives, we need to become informed of the full scope of these narratives and their effects on our communities.
Now that we approach the end of October, the ‘end’ of this year’s Black History Month, we aptly close the month with our UnMuseum Conference – focused on uncovering unseen narratives and uplifting voices who have the power to uproot systems that perpetuate these negative stories, perhaps weaving them into something new, transformative, and liberatory. Our UnMuseum looks to do what Ben Okri, as brought to our attention by the fantastic Stuart Taylor, states:
“...There are many Black writers (artists/archivists/museologists, social justice activists, musicians, academics, etc) who are not just writing back, but writing in celebration, wildness and freedom that have nothing to do with colonialism and empire. Reacting to history is not all the Black writers are doing. There are writers who experiment, writers of fabulism, writers of new myths. Perhaps what is needed is going beyond the limited perception of what Black writers are doing, and learning to appreciate the immense scope of their literary freedom as much as their sense of historical responsibility…”
If we are to ever break free from the confines of harmful narratives, it is an essential first step to write and talk about more than just pain and tribulations. It is necessary, to truly reclaim narratives, to take stories back into the hands of those who lived through them and transform them into something that celebrates the beauty of life rather than the ugliness of reality.