I consider myself to be situated politically in what I term the "underclass" and what we refer to colloquially as the "endz". For me it is important to be who I am; to walk, talk and communicate in a way that is authentic to my social roots. To show my peers that being who we are and sounding and walking and talking like we do is not something to be ashamed of; to show them that the body language and spoken voice that we have adopted from our social background should not be considered a barrier to participation in British public life or reaching the highest echelons of British society. It is from this perspective that I want to begin this reasoning.
In the media in the last few days there has been a conversation about "race" instigated by Trevor Philips' controversial programme on the issue that was aired on Thursday. I have made my opinions on the ideas that Philips espoused in the programme clear and disagree with the conclusions that Mr Philips has drawn. I have also read and heard other peoples responses to his comments that have echoed similar sentiments as myself.
I disagree with the conclusions that Philips has drawn but I think that now is an opportune moment to discuss "race" in the context of my social roots and class affiliations and to also discuss some of what I have disagreed with in the responses of others and my general inclination towards "race" politics today.
Today I believe that "race" politics and race-relations misses the mark and does not speak to or for those people of colour that are truly disadvantaged. I believe that "race" politics has become the realm of a middle class elite whose lives and experience' are at odds with the many people of colour that make up the "underclass" that occupy the imagination of the public as violent and disorderly criminals. The grand middle class elite struggle to tell a political story that resonates with that experience and I believe that they are more or less in the business of race.
In a recent video montage on The Guardian site rapper Akala spoke about "everyday racism" and argued that "race is a business", this I believe to be the truth but I believe that it is a business of a small "black" elite who promote and discuss "race" politics at the expense of those that are truly disadvantaged and occupy the public imagination in the ways I have outlined. For me the conversation about "race" becomes ever more frustrating because it does not get to tackle the problems that affect the growing underclass that includes a disproportionate amount of people of colour; it does not speak to those that US academic William Julius Wilson referred to as the "truly disadvantaged".
William Julius Wilson transformed the conversation about "race" in the US when he identified that in understanding racism in the US today it was important to recognise that there was a growing African-American middle class that were able to succeed and integrate in the global elite and the middle classes. He identified that in the areas where there was the greatest deprivation with dynamics that played themselves out racially "race" was not the defining factor. He argued that there was a growing gap between those African-Americans that came from middle class homes and rich families and the swelling ranks of the African-American "underclass". For Wilson the conversation around "race" could no longer focus on skin colour per se but on tackling the social conditions of those people of colour that were struggling to integrate into society and developing a culture at odds with the culture of the conservative African-American middle class. The people of the projects; the people in the ghetto.
Today in the UK I believe that we are having a similar experience. There is a growing middle class elite that speak of structural racism; they speak of "race" politics in the context of skin alone and because of their social roots in some cases or because of the trajectory of their lives in others have no self-interest in starting a new conversation that brings those that want to discuss the immediate issues of people of colour in inner city housing estates to the table.
In 2011 many of those young people of colour that share my social roots took to the streets in protest at the lack of respect given to them by the wider society both "white" and "black". Those that have been socially excluded for so long rose from the shadows to bring their invisible lives to the forefront of the political arena. Yes; maybe they went about it the wrong or used crude methods but it was a cry to put their issues into the political mainstream. They may not have articulated the issues clearly or in any type of political context but to me it doe's not take a genius to recognise that it was a political act that simply lacked political sophistication and theory.
Today I believe that there is a "black" middle class; an elite who are not affected by the issues that impact the burgeoning "underclass". For me their constant reference to "race" and the negative impact it has on their lives is not important to me. I don't believe that they experience anything as near as the disregard as those that hold the dominant voice in "black" urban popular culture. I do not believe that they can speak to that experience that transcends the racial parameters that were part of the debate in earlier years. The calls for positive action and for a few more of the "black" middle class such as Trevor Philips in race-relations or academic posts is not going to speak to the issues and the people that they are technically making money from. It will not change the new "underclass" politics that plays itself out racially.
The demands of the "black" middle class are not the demands of those that occupy the public imagination as criminals and drug dealers. I do not believe that people think that the public intellectual Ekow Eshon is a criminal or that Oxford educated UCL academic Nathaniel Coleman is styled as a gang leader on a regular basis or Cambridge educated lawyer Kevin Bismark Cobham considered a coke dealer. I do not believe that they are excluded from consumption; so they struggle to speak to this politics. I appreciate that they have risen to the highest levels but I don't think that an excellent education alone makes one a credible voice on the issues that those in the "black" poor experience. I do not believe that left-wing academic conversations about "structural racism" do anything but add some nice theories to the canon of left-wing thought to sit on the shelf so the next generation of "race" men can sit down and pontificate on them; in libraries, lecture halls and at Pan-Africanist intellectual gatherings.
The urban "underclass" need politics and policy that is realistic and improves their day to day lives like the raising of the threshold on personal allowance; prison reform; legalisation of cannabis and decriminalisation of drugs; an overhaul of stop and search; funding for legal aid; mental health funding; large scale investment in social housing; digital inclusion and living wage jobs in our inner cities. We are not interested in another ideological; theoretical fairytale but some intelligent policy that tackles the issues rather than a simplistic request for positive action that will fundamentally expand the gap. "Race" politics is the home of the "black" middle class and not those down to earth folk struggling on the breadline from one day to the next.
Yesterday, I watched a recording of a debate at London South Bank titled "being a black man" and one of the panellist' spoke about people not thinking he was "black" enough because he spoke well; didn't smoke weed; have children for different women and was gay. This man exemplified the struggle of many in the "black" middle class that are aware that they are treated differently from the black "underclass" that occupy the public imagination but sometimes seek solidarity and recognition of their blackness by playing the "race" card in a way that is as odd as Cameron and Osborne's "we're all this together" slogan. I believe that there is a recognition amongst the middle class of who "race" really impacts negatively but "race" is used to secure a career as the next Al Sharpton or Cornel West whilst the "endz" is looking for a Bob Marley or a Huey Newton.
The mantra is that there is a need to talk about "race" and in many ways I agree but I want to talk about it in a different way that I have outlined previously but I also want to add the voice and experience of the weed smoking, broken English speaking, single-parent, multiple children having, council estate living constituency that I am a product of. To inject that voice into the British political landscape, public life and the conversation about "race" without causing a riot. Should I be ashamed of my roots?
Interesting point. I am wondering who you are aiming your comments towards? Other black people who share your back-ground? Those middle-class black people you mention (Ekow et al.) or 'white people'? At the same time I would say that there are so many ways to be black - I have been lucky enough to have gone around the world and there are places where your experience - from endz but western would have made you a member of the elite.
ReplyDeleteHi, bless. I would say that I am trying to engage with "race-relations" organisations to engage more different voices; with government institutions to listen to the issues of the underclass and to encourage professional blacks that may have a platform to use it to engage and give opportunities to the "Hood" and I am speaking to white people to think differently about who they engage with as credible black voices. I am not really trying to say that I am engaging in black politics. My point is that there is black middle class politics and black underclass politics and it is not the same. The underclass may need drug and prison reform, they may need social housing and these are the important issues but the middle class may see race as the biggest issue, they may be thinking about home ownership and the like. I am not emphasising blackness but coming from the Endz. I have met many different black people; some have been some of the richest people I have known; many have been professionals and not disenfranchised. I write from where I am and what I know. There is no country that I know that I could be considered in the elite economically but perhaps educationally. Even in developing countries the elite are much richer than poor people in Britain. I may be better off than the average Nigerian but I would not be in the elite. If I was outside of Britain I might be destitute. I have no wealth or contacts with rich people abroad. If you live in social housing and have no accumulated wealth then you would be poor anywhere. One only survives by the grace of the council or the housing association. Anyone without wealth would be empty-pocketed and poor even in the poorest countries. Living in the western world does not make you part of a global elite. Poverty in industrial British towns and in the inner cities is not unlike poverty in developing nations; the government just provide a better safety net but relative to costs in say London it is not much different. Those displaced in London would be displaced anywhere.
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