I was delighted to address a Saturday class at the Westside Young Leaders Academy in Willesden yesterday. I spoke about the media and fielded a great deal of questions!
It was uplifting to meet a class-full of polite, inquisitive and intelligent young boys who most definitely are the future.
My thanks go to Bro Andrew Muhammad for inviting me. It was really good to catch up with other leaders involved with making this academy a success, and proof once again that quality conscious supplementary education can make a difference in areas where the school ‘system’ fails to inspire.
From Willesden I and my partner Listra Dawn Gilzene traveled to the London Sugar and Slavery gallery at the Museum of London in Docklands to watch curator Leslie Braine-Ikomi narrate his collection of paintings chronicling the depiction of Black people in 17th – 19th Century London.
It was well-attended and there followed a lively discussion afterwards. In the William Wilberforce lecture theatre, of all places!
Leslie Braine-Ikomi
Braine-Ikomi revealed that people of African descent made up an estimated two percent of the London population in the 19th Century, a very significant number given that this was well over a century before the Windrush.
But then again, we often forget that Black people have had a notable presence in Britain since Roman times and – as Bro Andrew Muhammad knows having researched this area – the Black presence here dates back to the 1st Century AD.
I certainly feel Black Londoners could benefit from more of an awareness of the history of the capital pre-Windrush, just as the Black communities of Bristol and Liverpool have a sense of belonging to the cities for two or three hundred years.
It was an enjoyable and educative day and I thoroughly recommend you put 20th April in your diaries for the next session at the Museum of London. Email:[email protected] for more information.
By Lester Holloway @brolezholloway
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