Reality of Black History | The History of the West African Diaspora

My name is Elliott Reid. I am an Osteopath, a business owner and have a special interest in Black History. Or African history to be precise. Why? Because I think it is extremely important for a people to be proud of where they come from. But to be proud of where you come from, you must know where you come from.

I want to share with you where I come from. I want to tell you the story of my family and my people.

Just over 100 years after emancipation my family emigrated to the UK. 3.2 million commonwealth soldiers from Africa, India and the Caribbean had volunteered to help Britain fight the Nazis. The UK needed help to rebuild its workforce.

Before my family had even docked at Tilbury, there was a nation wide petition to send them back. There were conservative campaigns in the north with the slogan “if you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote labour”.

13 black children were burnt to death by an arsonist in south east London in 1981. In 1993 Stephen Lawrence was killed by 4 men when they stabbed him with a 5 inch blade as they called him a nigger over and over again. There are countless more examples of racialised violence.

And yes, things have improved. But still the statistics show that we are considered stupider, tougher and more primitive despite this being completely untruthful. But why?

I would argue it is because the shadows that are dancing off the cave of people’s perceptions are the same shadows, the same misconceptions, the same propaganda that justified so many British people to do nothing whilst we were enslaved for 400 years.

It’s the same ignorance that caused a group of boys to drag me out of a party when I was 15 to give me a kicking. The same shadows of misunderstanding caused a man to demand his wife not sit next to me and my Nigerian friend on a plane. The same images which caused my classmates to send images of monkeys to my phone when they found out what my mobile number was.

Because no-one has taken the effort to step outside Platos Cave.

So now I ask you, what do you think the solution is?

Thank you

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