I grew up in the mid 80s in a place called Lakenham on a council estate in the city of Norwich, England. Life in Lakenham was very interesting and was extremely tough to navigate as a young kid at times. Drugs, crime and violence are heavily woven into the fabric on most council estates in England and my area was no different. It’s just the way it is unfortunately. It becomes very easy to fall into the lifestyle as it is constantly surrounding you and ends up consuming you. You can’t be what you can’t see right?
You never quite know what you might see or experience on any given day on a council estate. Let’s just say you have to learn very quickly to be adaptable. This being said, I wouldn’t change a single thing about my upbringing or the place I call home. It moulded me into the person I am today and I’m still in regular contact with lots of my friends from Lakenham.
I have a lot of memories from my time in Lakenham. Some are great and some are quite bad. There is one particular memory that I would change though. Or, maybe I wouldn’t change it because witnessing this experience served as a massive eye opener to me and the profound issues surrounding racism. It instantly changed my perspective and enabled me to see the world through a lens that many of my white peers would struggle to understand or grasp even into their adulthoods. This memory is burned into my psyche and upon reflection now, taught me more than words or a lesson at school. I knew from that moment on that I didn’t want to grow up hating anyone just because they have a different skin colour to mine.
When I was around about 10 or 11 years old we had a lovely family move into the house next door to our little semi detached house. The family consisted of a single mother and her three beautiful young children. They had recently immigrated and moved over to the UK from Kenya, Africa. The family set up home right in the heart of the estate next door to us at number 20 Birkbeck Road. Oh, I suppose I should mention they just happened to have a different skin colour to our family. It wasn’t a big deal at all to me or my family as my sister and I were very lucky that we had a mum that taught us well to love every human being the same way no matter what they looked like.
I can’t remember the exact day they moved in but let’s just say it was a Saturday. I woke up the next day on the Sunday morning the same way I did on most days. Very keen to ram some Marmite on toast down my neck, grab my beat up football and scamper out the back door over to Jubilee Park for a kick about and some park life with my mates.
Football was and still is a great escape for me. I feel completely free when I play and am able to block out all of life’s stresses, pressures and noises. As I opened my front gate that morning I couldn’t help but notice the huge bright blue words that had been spray painted overnight all over the front of our new neighbour’s house. When I say all over, I mean all over the entire front of the house. The massive words read “NATIONAL FRONT. FUCK OFF YOU NIGGERS”. Now as I mentioned earlier this kind of stuff was pretty normal. You’d often see peoples’ houses hit with spray paint etc. Although I’d never come across this kind of wording and this time I couldn't help being extra curious on what all this meant. I knew what the F off part meant, but that was about it.
Later that day after numerous games of World Cup and crossbar challenge and a few too many wham bars and no doubt a sneaky drag or two on a lambert and butler I went home for my tea. That evening I vividly remember asking Mum what the spray painted words meant on the house next door. She looked at Emma and I and took a big deep breath and sat us down and proceeded to tell us very calmly and factually about racism, The National Front and what the NF represented. Essentially she told us the NF is a racist far-right political organisation made up of Neo fascists forcefully imposing racial supremacy over any race that wasn’t white and British. Something like that that anyway.
Of course, my mother went on to explain how utterly wrong and hurtful those horrific views are in her mind and how she strongly hoped and wished we would never adopt or condone such a stance on racial differences. So as it turned out it was our other next door neighbour’s from number 16 that had spray painted the house. This family were renowned on the estate for being brutal and that’s putting it mildly. The Kenyan family soon found out who was responsible for the awful vandalism.
By the Monday afternoon things got pretty heavy. As my sister Emma and I were outside our house having a game of curby we noticed both sets of neighbours crossing paths as the Kenyan mother was returning home from the hospital after her day’s work as a nurse. What we saw next was painfully intense and will stay with me forever. What we were about to witness would be my stark introduction to racism and horrifying unfounded hatred. The same racism and hatred that is still deeply intrenched in societies all over the world today.
I remember it was raining lightly outside and the mother had an umbrella to help keep her children dry. I’m guessing she had just picked the kids up from school. The other opposing male neighbour saw her and approached the Kenyan mother. He was large and menacing in stature and intimidating in his stance. The mother asked if the vandalism on her home was his doing and why would he paint such an awful and hate filled statement on their house? I remember standing in horror just outside of our front gate and just a few meters from the man and women in confrontation.
The tensions rose and an argument soon ensued. Fingers began being pointed and the situation was getting very heated. Voices started to raise and soon the shouting and vicious racist abuse began. “You’re not welcome here you black bitch. You and your family is hated here. You need to piss off back home to Africa you fucking nigger.” In addition to myself and my sister, her three young children were there seeing it all as well. Of course they were even more horrified than me and my sister. The confrontation continued to escalate rapidly and Mum heard all the shouting and immediately came outside to swiftly usher me and Emma back inside.
As we closed the door the shouting escalated. The mother was doing her best to stay calm while also rightfully standing her ground to confront the harrowing racist abuse from the large male. Mum quickly told us to go upstairs and close our bedroom doors. We quickly did that but as inquisitive young kids do, we then continued to watch on from the landing window. It was at this point the man got ahold of the mother and pushed her violently to the ground. He then shockingly proceeded to punch and kick her all while shouting vile racist abuse at her. It was so sickening to see.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I certainly couldn't understand it. I saw my fair share of violence and fights during my childhood up to this point as that was just par for the course of any council estate. But the 10 year old in me couldn’t understand or grasp why this man could be so angry and violent towards another human being all because of the colour of her skin.
The man left the mother badly injured and weeping on the ground as he went back to his house still shouting at the top of his lungs. It was a mess. A racist and bloody scary mess.
Mum then immediately rushed outside to console and help the mother and her traumatized children back into their house. Even though I was very young I knew it was the right thing for Mum to do in that moment. She was setting an example of love and kindness and I’m so grateful we got to see that.
As traumatic as it was to witness the appalling events of that day it was a life changing event for me. Something that I’ve never forgotten. I was able to observe a young black family, our neighbours and fellow human beings trying their very best to settle into a new area and home. My close proximity enabled me to witness the black family standing up to the horrendous racist torment that is still so painfully active in 2020 all over the globe.
The recent shocking murder of George Floyd along with the many other acts of racist, oppression and brutality over hundreds of years has rightly sparked a movement. I hope that is what this current global social unrest brings. A movement that removes white people’s blinders and ignorance and empowers and advances black people in societies across the world. A movement that hopefully brings about the long awaited change to a world that desperately and justifiably needs it.
After seeing what I saw that day I hoped for racial equality and harmony amongst all humans. But I’ve quickly realised hoping is not enough. It’s time for institutional and systemic change. The change needs to come from the white community as we currently hold all the power and all the seats at the decision making tables. White privilege is a hot topic but that is exactly what we have as white people. As white people we have an immediate privilege that enables us to move throughout the world with less friction and prejudice than people of colour. We need to start sharing out the seats at these tables of privilege. At almost every level these tables are packed full of mainly white males. In schools, on boards, in offices, and in government…
I can only hope that when my daughters get to be my ripe old age the scales have tipped to a place of balance. Equality should be a basic right to all humans. Black, white and everything in between. It’s time to stop sweeping racism under carpet and time for real change. Be kind.
Below is a selection of images I’m photographing as part of a new documentary series I’m currently working on. The collection is called “Who are you London” and centers around celebrating the beautiful diversity on the streets of England’s capital city. If you are interested in seeing more from this series please check out @whoareyou_london on Instagram.
Peace and love!
