Our friends, Sabrina and Sikemi, social secretary and secretary of the UN Women UK Kent society wrote a great article for us following their interview with Aima and Natasha, youth leaders in the London BLM protests. The article discusses important points raised in the interview as well as the takeaways stressed by the authors. Here is their article:
We can all agree that 2020 has been a roller-coaster, but a common factor despite all the terrible news is how collective power can cause change.
After seeing the BLM movement sweeping across the world, we at UN Women UK Kent decided to interview Aima and Natasha, two youth organisers running weekly protests in London. We did this with the aim of bringing more awareness to the issues that inspired these protests.
We were lucky to interview two exceptionally inspirational young women: Aima and Natasha. As we said before, they have been organising protests in London and in fact, their very first protest was attended by around 15,000 people. Knowing that this movement must go on for as long as the problem persists, they created allblacklives uk.
We discussed a lot, but one thing the girls consistently highlighted was that the many problems birthed through racism are so systemic, that it would take a while for things to change. Nonetheless, the important thing is that change needs to start happening, and it needs to start happening now!
We discussed racism in systems of education, government and media, and the adverse effects this propagates. Similarly, due to the fact that many racist employees and students were being recorded and posted on social media, Natasha strongly held the view that companies, organisations, institutions, universities, et cetera, all need to do more in background checking of their employees and students, as these incidents should not occur in the first place. We agree strongly with her because there is a lot of micro-aggressive racism that impacts the lives of others. Incidents should not have to occur before steps are taken to try and deter others (and sometimes steps are only taken due to public pressure and to protect their brand). It makes sense to advocate for preventive measures rather than corrective ones because once these incidents happen, they have harmed people.
It was highlighted that the media is responsible for the criminalization of black victims of police violence. When the media reports criminal records and other information to do with the victim that is peripheral to the story at best — it is a blatant attempt to justify police brutality and perpetuates systematic racism. Natasha highlighted how this criminalises the black victim in the public’s eye, letting the police get away with mistreatment of black people in police custody (there have been a worrying amount of people dying while in police custody for example).
Natasha also highlighted that education was a great way to incite change, starting with ourselves. While it is mentioned that some level of education needs to be available to students at university in order to try and tackle ignorance, a lot of emphasis was also put on students themselves. The wealth of information available to all of us through the internet means that there is no excuse when being ignorant and racist. The school system also has a responsibility to teach the atrocities committed by our country, and fully explain colonialism and its effects as well as the reality and history of black people in the UK. They must also educate people practically on privilege and systemic inequalities and also encourage further readings but ensure that within their own institutions they are working to close the gaps caused by privilege and inequalities. Individuals personally need to not only keep up to date with what the government does but also question the different decisions made and its effects.
With regards to black feminism, the girls highlight that they both think the names and voices of black women are seriously overlooked. Natasha spoke of the appropriation of black culture through hair, clothing and music, insisting that this needed to change. Aima, on the other hand, spoke about the need for feminism to be more intersectional and how we needed to seriously prop up the voices of black feminists, and thereby change the notion of feminism as being a white woman's club.
We also asked them about their experiences as young black women and their interaction with black feminism, particularly, with regards to organising the protests and pushing the movement. They both shared lessons they had learnt so far from this and how they had dealt with it, as well as the power and faith they believe our generation has.
Aima told us how one of the biggest things she had learnt was controlling her usual responses to people, as now more eyes are on her and what she represents. She highlighted that she knew things shouldn’t be this way and black women had every right to be angry with what is going on, but she also had to do what she could to prevent the ‘angry black woman’ narrative from being pushed on her.
She highlighted that age, as well as race, had been a large obstacle for her; being only eighteen, she told us about how many people had underestimated her, and told her that she should not be doing this because of her age. But of course, Aima continued regardless and did not let all these voices drown hers out.
If anything, “it’s assuring ALL young people that their voices in social and political conversations matter and despite what is being said around them, they shouldn’t be afraid to speak up and use their voices.”
All in all, here are our personal views from the interview:
Sabrina:
“I can certainly say that this was a very fruitful discussion. I have personally learnt a lot more about the movement and even further educated myself about racism in the UK. Some of the personal stories the girls shared were heart-breaking- and they were so brave to share their experiences and wisdom. Sikemi and I are both very grateful to have had this opportunity and hope that many individuals, especially young people, will be inspired by this interview to be brave and put themselves out there (like Aima and Natasha have done), in order to drive change and make a difference to the world we are living in!”
Sikemi:
“I think what the girls are doing is extremely important, and the fact that they are shedding light on ALL black lives and not just some including trans lives, because all black lives are at risk of dying from police brutality, or being on the receiving end of racism. The UK is good at covering up and controlling what goes on here with regards to racism or even has a way of gaslighting black people by saying we are pushing a ‘victimhood’ agenda. Please do not be complacent in this, from MLK we have learnt that simply by doing nothing, we are choosing the side of the oppressor. I could go on and on, but I’ll have to stop and say the interview was spectacular, and I do encourage that we remember that this is not just a trend but it’s a whole movement, it’s people’s lives.”
So please continue the conversation wherever you are and continue to act wherever and whenever you can. Push for equality for all in the spaces you’re in and please use whatever voice you have to ensure justice for all.
All in all, the conversation was much more extensive than we’re able to cover on here, so be sure to head over to our social media pages on Instagram (@unwomenukkent) and Facebook (@UNWomenUKKentSociety) to watch or read the interview. The girls brought different responses to this interview and that made it super interesting as we realised that there was not just one way of viewing and tackling racism. They both had a lot to say and we learnt a lot from them.
They were only two brains at work, imagine what we could learn from each other if we could come together in multitudes?
For us, the conversation doesn’t stop here. We will be continuing our TLTalks both virtually and at the university in the new academic term, where we discuss issues directly from our timeline. Check out our Instagram and Facebook to see how to attend one.
By: Sabrina Court and Sikemi Okunrinboye
UN Women UK Kent Society
What is UN Women UK Kent?
UN Women UK Kent is part of the UN Women UK’s Student Champion Network that is working in partnership to raise awareness about gender equality and make a positive change for women and girls through empowering women, providing equal opportunities and tackling violence. UN Women UK Kent hopes to advance these aims and promote this message across the university and the wider society through involving students in fundraising for UN Women and educating people on the issues affecting women worldwide.
TO VIEW THE FULL INTERVIEW, CLICK THE LINKS BELOW:
Edited by Carl Grevel and Felicia Dean
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