What is there to BRAG about?
Back in the 80s, when I’d been teaching for a few years, I was enrolled along with four other teachers across Bermondsey and Rotherhithe schools to write a pamphlet for use in primary schools. The project was entitled ‘BRAG’, ie: Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Anti-Racism Group. We were a mixed group regarding our different cultures, race and backgrounds. The idea was to support school staff in how to deal with playground bullying and other related issues. We wrote the pamphlet over a few months, I can’t remember how long. It was also beautifully illustrated by a local artist and paid for out of the school budgets who took part. The six of us met two or three times a month while supply teachers were paid to cover our classes.
We spent a lot of time talking about our own experiences of what strategies we agreed could help staff in positive ways of dealing with it. In our discussions, it became more and more evident just how much young children are influenced by TV, images of ‘othering’ and the overheard conversations and influence of the adults in their lives. A lot of research has been done over many years about how people, adults and children, see themselves in relation to their environment, their community and the imagery presented all around them. We agreed that the perpetrators as well as the victims needed help in school. I don’t have any copies of the pamphlet left. Later in my career I was an advisor for Equal Opportunities and Religious Education in schools across Southwark and gave them away.
What I mostly remember as a child was being told: ‘just ignore them’ if anyone spoke or treated me negatively. I was one of a family of six children, the only Black family in Cornwall at that time. ‘Just ignore them’ became my mantra for many years, even as an adult on numerous occasions when I should have spoken up, a strategy described by writer Susan Cousins* as: ‘conscious conforming may be a necessary form of survival’.
The unrest across the world last year brought about by George Floyd’s murder and the disappointing comments of people I knew brought up a well of sadness which I had denied for a long time. I became cross with myself and fell into a bit of a decline. I did no writing for three months and lounged about feeling decidedly miserable, morose and yes – angry.
The first Race Relations Act in the UK was written in 1976 and has undergone several amendments and papers since then. It is now 2021.
Much has changed in regard to the attempts of large companies and businesses being at pains to show how much they welcome diversity across the workforce. To what degree those policies and procedures are actually put in place is questionable. One only has to read the vitriolic comments on social media to see that there are still large numbers of people who are only too happy to show their hate and mistrust of anyone who does not fit the ‘default’ position.
As a young teacher, one of the first books I came across featuring black children was written by Petronella Breinburg and published by Bodley Head, London in 1975. I was delighted to read ‘Sean’s Red Bike’ to my class. It’s an ordinary story about an ordinary boy from an ordinary family and his excitement at getting a new bike. I still have a copy of the book years later. Many writers today are including stories featuring different cultures and races and not before time. Petronella died two years ago, aged ninety-two; she continued writing well into her later years. Her funeral was a joyful occasion in celebration of her life and achievements. Do take a look on Google to find out more about her amazing life. I was honoured to say a few words that day, along with many others.
The only images I’d seen of black people as a child were those of starving children in Africa on TV, with swollen bellies and ragged clothes. The other occasion was when the ‘Sunny Smiles’ lady came around once a year to raise money for babies in orphanages awaiting adoption. She brought a little booklet filled with black and white photographs of babies. You could choose one or more photographs and would be given the child’s pictures in exchange for your donation. My mother always chose the black babies. After the lady had walked off down the path, Mum explained that her choice was because brown and black babies were less likely to be chosen for adoption.
The sequel to Masquerade is set in Cornwall and London. It is a complete fiction but as you can imagine there may be a few glancing references to personal recollections.
So, I’d better get my head down! Having lounged about like a wet rag last autumn I am trying to make up for lost time. I hope to be able to announce the final completion by the spring.
Take care everyone. Anna
(*Susan Cousins, MBACP (Snr Accred, Cardiff University) working in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.)
We spent a lot of time talking about our own experiences of what strategies we agreed could help staff in positive ways of dealing with it. In our discussions, it became more and more evident just how much young children are influenced by TV, images of ‘othering’ and the overheard conversations and influence of the adults in their lives. A lot of research has been done over many years about how people, adults and children, see themselves in relation to their environment, their community and the imagery presented all around them. We agreed that the perpetrators as well as the victims needed help in school. I don’t have any copies of the pamphlet left. Later in my career I was an advisor for Equal Opportunities and Religious Education in schools across Southwark and gave them away.
What I mostly remember as a child was being told: ‘just ignore them’ if anyone spoke or treated me negatively. I was one of a family of six children, the only Black family in Cornwall at that time. ‘Just ignore them’ became my mantra for many years, even as an adult on numerous occasions when I should have spoken up, a strategy described by writer Susan Cousins* as: ‘conscious conforming may be a necessary form of survival’.
The unrest across the world last year brought about by George Floyd’s murder and the disappointing comments of people I knew brought up a well of sadness which I had denied for a long time. I became cross with myself and fell into a bit of a decline. I did no writing for three months and lounged about feeling decidedly miserable, morose and yes – angry.
The first Race Relations Act in the UK was written in 1976 and has undergone several amendments and papers since then. It is now 2021.
Much has changed in regard to the attempts of large companies and businesses being at pains to show how much they welcome diversity across the workforce. To what degree those policies and procedures are actually put in place is questionable. One only has to read the vitriolic comments on social media to see that there are still large numbers of people who are only too happy to show their hate and mistrust of anyone who does not fit the ‘default’ position.
As a young teacher, one of the first books I came across featuring black children was written by Petronella Breinburg and published by Bodley Head, London in 1975. I was delighted to read ‘Sean’s Red Bike’ to my class. It’s an ordinary story about an ordinary boy from an ordinary family and his excitement at getting a new bike. I still have a copy of the book years later. Many writers today are including stories featuring different cultures and races and not before time. Petronella died two years ago, aged ninety-two; she continued writing well into her later years. Her funeral was a joyful occasion in celebration of her life and achievements. Do take a look on Google to find out more about her amazing life. I was honoured to say a few words that day, along with many others.
The only images I’d seen of black people as a child were those of starving children in Africa on TV, with swollen bellies and ragged clothes. The other occasion was when the ‘Sunny Smiles’ lady came around once a year to raise money for babies in orphanages awaiting adoption. She brought a little booklet filled with black and white photographs of babies. You could choose one or more photographs and would be given the child’s pictures in exchange for your donation. My mother always chose the black babies. After the lady had walked off down the path, Mum explained that her choice was because brown and black babies were less likely to be chosen for adoption.
The sequel to Masquerade is set in Cornwall and London. It is a complete fiction but as you can imagine there may be a few glancing references to personal recollections.
So, I’d better get my head down! Having lounged about like a wet rag last autumn I am trying to make up for lost time. I hope to be able to announce the final completion by the spring.
Take care everyone. Anna
(*Susan Cousins, MBACP (Snr Accred, Cardiff University) working in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.)
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