I’m surprised and delighted to be nominated as an inspirational BME member of staff. Briefly, here’s a bit about me and my racial heritage: I’m mixed race – “half” white and “half” black. Nationality wise I’m ½ Guyanese, ¼ English, ¼ German. I’m a born and bred South Londoner.
So what do I think when I hear the phrase “Young, Gifted and Black”. The first thing that comes to mind is the age old mantra familiar in most black homes: you have to work twice as hard to get half as far. This is captured in the opening lines of Dave’s 2019 song Black:
Look, black is beautiful, black is excellent
Black is pain, black is joy, black is evident
It's workin' twice as hard as the people you know you're better than
'Cause you need to do double what they do so you can level them
In essence, when I think of the phrase “Young, Gifted and Black”, I think of the struggle and how much harder young talented black people have to work just to get a shot.
On the flipside, I also think of inspirational young black people that have “made it”. Some of my young black British heroes include Stormzy, Letitia Wright, Dave, Lewis Hamilton, Candice Carty-Williams, and Liv Little (founder of GalDem – a magazine ran by women of colour).
Lastly and more importantly, I feel hopeful about the next generation, and look forward to seeing even more young talented black people shine.