I was born in 1993 and my adolescence was really framed by the Iraq war. And my name was concluded by other people for Saddam Hussein which is not. This made people really racist, calling me a terrorist and saying ‘brownie’ to identify me. Right. But I guess people can contribute to war propaganda and can make people start questioning the other. That was my experience growing up. You wonder what you can do, but trying to fight against it now is the main priority.
Concerning the killing of George Floyd, I find it difficult to watch those videos and I still haven’t watched it all to be honest. What happened was just the logical conclusion of one of the most racist states, most racist areas in the whole world, which is the United States of America, born off of slavery, born off of the exploitation of Black lives, leading to the death of Black people constantly.
Let us be clear, George Floyd didn’t die for this. He had a life that he should have been living and he should have known a happy and healthy life. But this system just takes those things away from innocent Black people, and the only thing we can do is try and fight for their legacy, but understand that their life was much more than this and it was ripped away from them.
I think that with the circumstances surrounding the injustices we are seeing here in Wales from cases like Christopher Kapessa and the sudden death of Mouayed Bashir, it shows us quite clearly that the amount of progression we’ve made, such as changes to the curriculum and changes to policy, are getting positive. What we’re seeing is that racism is far deeper and it’s right in the grains of the institutions and more so than any other, the institution of police and the institution of policing. And Mahmoud dying after police contact, Christopher Kapessa, not being seen in the public interest is worthy of investigation. Siyanda now being in prison for four and a half years is so sad. But again, it’s just what this system, what this state is all about. And we have to keep fighting like we are doing, protesting outside the police station four days in a row for Mahmoud has seen misconduct notices given to the police. I don’t think that would have happened without massive public pressure.
The state and the policing institutions, et cetera, rely on us to just forget and see it as something that is almost expected or something like, ‘oh, they were Black, so they probably did something wrong’. Well, no, actually prove that they did something wrong and then prove it again, because the burden of proof is not on us, it’s on the state because they have the power. So, they need to prove to us that they did nothing wrong. And if they’re not going to do that, we’ll keep protesting and we’ll force them to prove it.
I think the statement that Black Lives Matter is an American concept is absolutely nonsense. Because Black lives don’t just matter in the US. Black lives matter everywhere. And let’s be very clear again, the UK empire was one of the foremost exploiters of Black lives around the world, including concentration camps in Kenya, the degradation and the dehumanisation of Indian lives. The bread and butter of this country is born again off racism, born off the back of Black and Brown people. So, it’s a silly statement because if we look at where we are right now, Mahmoud, as you mentioned, has passed, Moayed has passed, Christopher Kapessa has passed and he cannot even get justice, Siyanda can’t get justice, She’s in a prison cell. Also, Cardiff Three, one of the biggest fraudulent, mishandling injustices in UK history. Quite frankly, the last man to be hanged was Hassan in Cardiff, outside Cardiff prison.
So, this is quite clearly not just a UK issue, not just a US issue, but a worldwide issue. The whole system of capitalism, the whole system where we live, has been born and has flourished in a really grotesque way off the lives of Black people.
Black Lives Matter is such a simple statement, but it’s also quite such a powerful statement because just the phrase Black Lives Matter is obvious, but so many people don’t believe it. The idea of All Lives Matter and all this rubbish, it’s opened because it’s such a statement that almost you would think, ‘how can anyone disagree’? It shows the depth of racism within our society because it shows so many people disagree with such a basic statement. But while I think we need to move on to Black Lives Matter 100%, we also need to move to Black liberation. And I think Black liberation is the most important thing that we need to start thinking about. Black lives do matter. But how are we going to liberate Black lives from the chains of society?
Activism through protests is powerful because this is where the action, the defence of the rights of innocent Black people, innocent brown people, takes place right outside here by people. Just people fighting against the system and the Home Office, the police, the most racist institutions in the whole world, and what it means to be out here. It makes us feel that a lot of people actually are against this. A lot of people are for the liberation of Black lives. Some people are against the racism of the state. And we need to remember that because if we don’t remember that, because of the amount of racism we see all the time, the refugee crisis, the death of Mouayed, Mahmoud, George Floyd, it can feel like we’re never going to win. But when you’re out here, you remember that actually we will win and it is on us to do that.
When we organised the big demonstration after George Floyd, so many, I think like 4000 people came, obviously there was a pandemic. And to be quite honest with you, let’s be very clear, the pandemic has been killing Black and Brown lives more than anything else, because Black and Brown people are the working class and they are in the parts of society that are underpaid and the nurses and the people that are doing the most important jobs. So that was scary.
But we knew that we had to make noise. We were outside, we social distanced, but we knew that we had to make noise for a death that was taken, yes, in the United States, but quite clearly resonates with what has happened in Cardiff. For example, the Cardiff Three and everything now we’ve seen since post the George Floyd demonstration.
It is sad to say that it wasn’t the first time I have been protesting, because it just shows you how long this has been going on for. And I have been doing it for a while and doing it before the uprising of the BLM movement in 2020. But again, when things like that happen and an explosion of rage happens, you have to jump to action. There’s no time to waste. And racism is something that has framed my life, not just my own, but in my heroes. Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, the Black Panthers, the British Black Panthers as well. These people that framed how I view myself and how I view the world. So, it’s been a feature of everything. The way I understand the world, the way I look at things, the way I picture myself within that world. And sadly, again, it wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time, I’m sure.
I think it is great that we have a leader willing to say that. But again, I would say actions over words. I would say that in a society or in a country where we have again had two lives taken after police contact, then what does that actually mean? What does antiracist mean when we’re looking at dead Black men after police contact? So, I want to see more pressure on the police and on the institutions that have been causing the issues. I want to see more pressure on the home office and all the facets of society that’s been causing grief amongst Black and brown communities. And how are we going to get that? I think, again, we need more than just words. We need real action. And that action to answer the second part isn’t going to be simple.
It’s going to be talking about defunding the police. It’s going to be talking about allocating resources to Black communities so they can live in safety and not worry about trying to find the next meal, having to resort often to crime because society makes you so desperate, that’s all you can do. We’re talking about moving away from this dehumanisation of Black and brown lives at every facet of society. We’re talking about funding Black people to Black projects, Black led projects. We’re talking about moving away from incarceration and the prison system and the prison industrial complex. We’re talking about huge questions. We’re talking about pressure on the UK government to stop funding wars that are taking the lives of Black and brown people around the world. We’re talking about massive things. And until those things happen, until every one of my brothers and sisters are free around the world, then I don’t see myself as free.
Even if there’s a slight change in my own wellbeing in this country, unless there’s something changing around the world and serious changes happening in this country, then we’re just as in change as we once were.
I think there’s no magic formula. You just get involved. You’re passionate about things. Read about the liberation and the people that came before us because we are just standing on the shoulders of giants. We understand that this is something that people have been fighting for a long time, and potentially you won’t see the results by the time you pass yourself. But this is all part of the struggle. Because it’s not hard to find local groups to get involved in activism. You will find an accepting community. You will find people that want a society, actually, where your life is valued, whoever you are, whether you’re disabled, whether you’re trans, where people who want you to be valued. And you will find a world where, actually, we’re fighting for something far different than what we have to offer or what they have to offer us.
So, get involved. Doesn’t matter your profession, or what you do or the level of education you have. Because, let’s remember, people like Malcolm X never went to school. It doesn’t matter what they say. You have to do what you say. You have to overcome poverty and racism because it all limits your ability to do the things you have potential to do. So just remember that. Get involved, get active and fight the good fight.
No justice, no peace.
