English | Grenadian
Mixedracefaces have collaborated with UK Parliament to profile some of their staff members and MP’s , helping raise diversity awareness and to highlight that there is a place for everyone in their workplace.
My Dad came from Grenada in 1969 and my Mum is English, from London. I don’t think I would have gone to university and doing what I did without my Dad being around, and not having a mixed culture. My family are from a working-class background, on my British side. All of my cousins went straight into work after sixth form. They were pressured to get into a real job and regular wage. My Dads family prized education, if it was available then you took it. It was a way of bettering yourself. If you come from a background where reading and writing was a forbidden knowledge, and something to be craved then if the opportunity came for you to open doors you took it. I was given a drive over the kids who I grew up with in the council estate, they never understood why I studied so hard. I realised this cultural divide was developing. I connect to my cultures partially through music, but also through history. I went through my Black political phase/realisation in my teens, through hip-hop. Artists like Public Enemy taught me about my lost history and culture. There wasn’t really an equivalent of it in the UK, history in UK schools is very one sided. This was the first time I heard about Malcom X, Panthers etc. I would then go away and read about them. I think there is still a lot of work to do but changes are happening. It’s not just about getting people of colour into positions of power within Parliament, we need to get the right people into the right places. We also need to also look at class as well as race. The vast majority of Black people are working-class. Socially and economically they are most likely to be unemployed and to suffer mental health issues. If I had the opportunity to come back again I would like to come back as a woman and see how my experiences would change based on that.
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