
Have Black people stopped trending?
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Looks like we're not trending anymore.
I was recently at an event where Angela Davis was speaking, and I noticed something. When this great revolutionary spoke of injustice around the world she named some places. When she said Palestine the room, containing a couple of thousand women, applauded and whooped. In the same breath when she said Congo there was silence. I leaned to the Black woman next to me, (who I didn't know) and said, "Did you see that?" and she nodded solemnly.
I saw the same thing again this week. I was listening to a spoken word and when Palestine was mentioned there were cheers, but silence for Black lives.
Last summer hundreds of right-wing racists were deterred by thousands on the streets of Brighton and a victory was claimed. For the days following people wanted to talk about being Black and Brown in the UK, but it passed. Racism didn't pass, life didn't tangibly improve for Black people, but the conversation went back to Black people being shushed and racism not spoken about.
These are the conditions under which racism thrives. For myself and so many around me we are seeing a rise in racist incidents as the apathy beds in. The gaslighting is continuous, over, and over being told this is not a thing. I have heard people say, "We made it clear last year that we are not a racist country." Tell that to the racists who come into my shop.
So, my question is where are you? What does your antiracist stance look like? The children I teach antiracism to get this. They say antiracism is an action. Yet, it seems, so few want to act, it's too much effort, it will make them feel uncomfortable.
Literally as I sit in the shop and write this there are a group of people in a car outside, looking at me in the window and shouting racist abuse at the shop. Guess what passers-by are doing in this moment? What are they saying to combat this disgusting and violent behaviour? Nothing! They look, they pause, some look disgusted. And they move on. No one checked in to see if I was ok and certainly no one challenged the racists.
Afrori Books continues to be a safe space for Black people and their allies, but let’s be honest.
Places like Afrori Books and people like me cannot last forever and we cannot last without true tangible support. Hugs and accolades are wonderful but if you are not buying the book, reading the book, and making the change then we will be unable to keep doing the work.