Black Lives Matter

                            June 4, 2020

                Black Lives Matter

                        Hi there,

While the acronym ‘BAME’ has become has become the standard way to refer to non-white people in the UK, the umbrella term squashes together the very different experiences that Black and Brown people can face. 

This week has not been a moment for BAME voices. It has been a moment for Black voices. Amplifying them is the aim of today’s newsletter. 

The View @TheView
Central Park birdwatcher Christian Cooper tells us even though the viral incident “was a racist act,” he’s “uncomfortable with defining someone by a couple of seconds of what they’ve done” and condemns the death threats made against her. abcn.ws/3edJjvA May 28th 2020
91 Retweets385 Likes
Christian Cooper’s video of Amy Cooper threatening him in Central Park, NY, was shared on 26 May, the same day that the video of George Floyd’s death under arrest in Minneapolis went viral

The Nikki Diaries @thenikkidiaries
“Look I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this but, f**k that.”
John Boyega. 
June 3rd 2020
233,881 Retweets861,463 Likes
I’m following everything John Boyega’s saying right now, because it’s impossible not to
My former colleague Elizabeth Bananuka has written a painful but powerful thread on her experiences of racism in the PR industry, and why she set up BME PR Pros:
Elizabeth Bananuka @ebananuka
Talking about race and racism you’ve experienced can be both traumatic and, weirdly, humiliating. I say “weirdly humiliating” because it shouldn’t be. As I’ve always said, racism shouldn’t be an ethnic minority problem but society’s problem.June 3rd 2020
4 Retweets50 Likes
Below is a #BlackOutTuesday Instagram post from my friend Emmerline Smy. Take a few moments to read it, and to imagine this level of internal work underscoring a life, beyond the pressures of living through a pandemic that is much more likely to kill a Black or Brown person. 
smygoodness
#blackouttuesday 
My heart is breaking but I am not shocked, not surprised but my heart is still breaking. Enough is enough.
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I have been called a nigger, been spat on, accosted, pulled over and had a policeman lie to a judge about it, had a boyfriend’s parents disown him for dating me and had a white supremacist attack my friend because of “what him and I would be doing later on.” All of the above happened on American soil and are a big part of why I left 20 years ago. I’ve had incidents happen to me in the UK and travelling the world which are generally subtle but happen everywhere and often.
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I’m tired and don’t know what to say. I have been sharing and chatting with my friends, family and colleagues of all backgrounds mostly that the oozing wound that is American issues around race is symptomatic of an illness across the entire globe.
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#blackouttuesday
June 2, 2020
Links
Jessica Morgan’s excellent piece How You Can Support Black People Today, Tomorrow & Forever contains links for petitions you might want to sign and causes you may wish to donate to
Guardian editor-at-large Gary Younge’s We can’t breathe is an incredible read. The standfirst says it all: “What connects the most brazen forms of state violence against black people and the struggles of BAME coronavirus patients is systemic racism”
Amber Ruffin’s segments are always the most memorable parts of Late Night with Seth Meyers (and this movie trailer parody is chef’s kiss*)
This free online event about the Future of Podcasting has a brilliant all-female, all-Black panel: Renay Richardson, Christina H Moore and Kim Fox, with Fatuma Khaireh moderating 
Renay Richardson tweeted about what it’s like to see the podcast About Race that she made with Reni Eddo-Lodge hit the top of the charts this week, two years after they finished making it: 
Renay @RenayRich
This is so bittersweet. This was the first series I produced end to end and I always wanted something I helped create go to number 1 but I can’t help think all the podcast/media journalists who did not give us a platform. How if we had the support and people commissioned more https://t.co/E3542ofKP8Renay @RenayRich
#AboutRacewithReni is the number 1 podcast on @ApplePodcasts 2 years after the last episode was published.
I hope everyone listening really hears every episode. #EqualityInAudio https://t.co/F0P7oCjrJa
June 3rd 2020
11 Retweets81 Likes
That’s all for this edition - stay safe & well x

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