The Brown Girls Do It Newsletter #7: Celebrating Black Britishness
Black History Month in the UK might be over, but celebrating Blackness and learning about Black History should be something for all year round.
Hey everyone,
We know it’s been a while since you’ve heard from us. Hi, and Happy November! We’re still hanging in there. Just about, anyway. It’s been a tough few months here in the UK, and we’ve both been so busy in our professional lives that the newsletter ended up taking a backseat for a few months.
If we’ve learnt anything over the past few years doing the podcast, it’s that sometimes you just have to take some time out and breathe, knowing that the podcast and our listeners will still be there when we get back to it. So thanks for your patience, we really appreciate it.
Here in the UK, we’ve just sen out Black History Month, and we thought we’d include plenty of fantastic reads and resources celebrating the Black British experience specifically, because Blackness and Black British History shouldn’t just be celebrated in October, but all year round.
A little aside here, too, on the topic of Black History Month - it’s not ‘BAME History Month’, or ‘Black and Brown History Month’, and it’s important to remember that. If, we can pay (yes, that’s right, PAY) Black people to lead events and teach the rest of us about Black History, we should. And Black folks should be paid for their expertise all year round, not just when it’s politically expedient one month a year.
We did a whole episode about the importance of Black History Month a while back, and it is still relevant. You can listen here:
Sign & Share:
If you haven’t heard of Marcus Rashford and his campaign to End Child Food Poverty in the UK, have you been living under a rock? When he’s not scoring hat tricks on the field, Manchester United’s finest spends his time pushing the UK Government to end child hunger. You can sign his petition here:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/554276/
Although the petition has reached the necessary milestone to have the issue debated in Parliament, it’s important to keep signing and sharing, so that MPs can see how many of their constituents support the campaign, and will hold their elected representatives to account if they fail to take action.
Donate:
In the same vein, and knowing that food poverty overwhelmingly affects Black and Brown working class families, we’d like to urge all of our readers to donate to FareShare UK’s Coronavirus Crisis Response, to tackle child food poverty, here:
https://fareshare.org.uk/donate/
Alternatively, if you can, please drop off donations of food to your local food bank. You can find your closest food bank via The Trussell Trust here:
https://www.trusselltrust.org/
Brown Girls Do It Spotlights…
Here at Brown Girls Do It, we’ve watched in awe as Melz Owusu and their amazing team have brought The Free Black University into being. The project is a radical new way of looking at education, which puts Black folks and their wellbeing at the heart of it.
It’s a project that prioritises and platforms radical Black Thought, and giving people access to it, freely and openly, so that they can learn outside of the institutions we associate with learning. It’s an amazing, amazing venture, and you can sign up here: https://www.freeblackuni.com/
If you have the resources, we’d really, really urge you to donate to The Free Black University, because the work being done here is just so important!
Brown Girls Do It Recommends…
Brown Girls Do Books
From the Black women who co-write Slay In Your Lane, this edited collection is a timely and defiant series of essays by Black women. With a foreword by the one and only Bernadine Evaristo, and contributions from activists and artists alike, all answering the question: ‘What’s Next?’,this is a must-read. We can’t recommend it enough.
Candice Brathwaite’s book is groundbreaking for so many reasons. She writes evocatively about her experiences of pregnancy and motherhood as a Black woman in the UK. She doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, having blogged about the whitewashed portrayal of motherhood since 2016. Her book is eye-opening, and just so well written.
Brown Girls Do TV & Film
If you’re looking for a new British sitcom to dive into, look no further than Channel 4’s ‘Desmond’s’, which aired from 1989 to 1994, with not only a Black cast but primarily a Black crew, too. The show is available on both Netflix and Amazon Prime (and All4 if you’re based in the UK) and is a great exploration of life in Peckham for a British Guyanese family. It’s sweet and funny and doesn’t shy away from difficult topics. Well worth a watch!
If there’s only a single film you watch about the Black British experience, it has to be this one. Rocks follows a young girl, Rocks, who struggles to look after herself and her younger brother when they are abandoned by her mother. It’s a heartfelt tribute to the power of teenage girls and their friendships, and a beautiful coming-of-age story. Please watch it!!!
Brown Girls Do Podcasts
When it comes to Black British women killing it in the podcasting world, it’s hard to choose just a couple of examples!!!
Black Gals Livin’ is a great show. Best friends Vic and Jas talk about everything from what’s happening in the news to mental health and pop culture. They’re both hilarious in their own right, and together they’ve made something truly magical that makes you feel as though you’re part of a conversation with two of your best friends.
If you’ve not come across Kelechi Okafor online yet, or seen any of her videos, you need to rectify that immediately. Kelechi’s podcast is as outspoken, hilarious, unfettered, and as spot-on as her social media presence. This podcast is honestly a treat to listen to.
Brown Girls Do It Episode Update!
We’ve just released our latest episode, where we sat down with Faridah Abike-Iyimide and chatted about her debut YA novel Ace of Spades, and the issues she’s faced as a young writer trying to make a name for herself.
Please do give it a listen, and share if you can:
All our love,
Alicia & Iqra