That Black British Feeling Newsbeat Documentaries

-CROWD:

-Put the guns down! Put the guns down!

Put the guns down!

Black Lives Matter.

Put the guns down!

It started as a hashtag in 2012 after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin

was shot dead by neighbourhood watchman George Zimmerman.

-He killed my

-BLEEP

-boyfriend. His licence he's carried...

Since then, iconic moments of police brutality captured on camera...

..meant the movement spread across America.

But now the Black Lives Matter brand has gone global,

with marches in Australia, Canada and around the UK.

But why are people here marching?

I'm Nesta McGregor, I'm a journalist at BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra.

I was born in Jamaica but my family moved to South London

when I was nine.

I'm looking to find out what's causing

a rise in black activism in Britain...

They look at her and think,

"She's a black little girl, she could be bad."

..and what it feels like to grow up black and British in 2016.

So I guess one of the primary reasons I wanted to make this

documentary was to highlight

what it's like being black in the UK in 2016.

Even at work it happens on a daily basis - I'll have an e-mail

conversation or a phone conversation with someone,

set up an interview, I'll go to their premises to meet them,

they'll come downstairs to reception,

look around, look around,

go back upstairs and give me a call and went,

"Nesta, you sure you're at the right place, mate?

"We've just been downstairs."

And then, like, there's a moment when you hear, like,

almost in their head, "Oh, you're the black guy that was at reception.

"You're the BBC journalist."

It's only when I'm saying this now I realise, but it saddens me cos

I've sort of accepted it cos it's the way things have always been.

And I know lots of people listening to this might feel the same.

But there's gotta be a reason why now people want to take a stand

and show the rest of the world how they're feeling.

I'm not really interested in hearing the same stats about black people

not being equal, four times more likely to be stopped and searched,

more likely to end up in prison. We've heard those numbers for years.

What I really want to do is meet some of the people who've come out

to protest, and find out why they're here.

For these protesters, obviously, trying to make their point,

causing as much disruption as possible.

Just in front me, traffic is at an absolute standstill.

-What do we want?

-CROWD:

-Justice!

-When do we want it?

-Now!

-What do we want?

-Justice!

-When do we want it?

-CROWD:

-Now!

-What do we want?

-Justice!

-When do we want it?

-Now!

-What do we want?

-CROWD:

-Justice!

-When do we want it?

-Now!

One thing that's quite clear is it's pretty hard to find out

who's leading the march or if it does have a root.

At the minute, the march has now gone back where it came from

and is now heading towards Suffolk.

# All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us... #

It's pretty much trouble-free

but not everyone is here to show support.

We come across a couple who should have been on holiday but missed

their flight because of a similar demonstration

-near Heathrow Airport yesterday.

-This is important,

something's happening here and we want you to address this...

-Of course it's important.

-But it shouldn't be met with resistance.

-It should be, "Yeah, that's true."

-We paid £3,000 to go on our holiday.

We're pissed off with you.

..they're dead forever.

Their family, everyone's gotta mourn them, everyone's gotta...

If you lot supported us before, we wouldn't have to do the airport.

Don't shoot! Don't shoot!

Eventually, by luck, we come across one of the organisers -

19-year-old student Binati.

It was to create as much, you know, awareness about Black Lives Matter

to the people that are here with us today,

and to the people that didn't know the event was happening.

And I feel like people who say that

what we're doing isn't going to change anything,

they're just trying to silence us and we will not be silenced.

There's things that annoy me, like comments about my hair not

being professional enough and I just feel like...instead of...

What I'd normally do, I'd change my hairstyle.

To more of a suitable... Like, European suitable hairstyle.

But, like, I've had enough of that and it used to, like, kind of

make me feel down but I've just learnt more to just embrace it.

# All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us... #

As the march goes on, we come across this guy.

..they're a fucking million immigrants.

So what we've got is a gentleman here now being lead away

by the police who, during the march, actually came out of his shop,

started shouting some abuse, telling people to go back home and how,

you know, they don't belong here.

-..born and grown here.

-Listen, I'm not...

They can't keep coming here, they can't keep coming here.

Don't talk over me.

I heard this gentleman say with my own ears that these people

need to go back home and stop coming here.

Listen, my wife is a Jamaican woman, yeah?

I've got four half-caste children. I can't even say "half-caste" no more.

I've gotta say "mixed race".

There's a thousand million immigrants coming, right?

-They can't come from France.

-These people are marching...

-They can't get to the White Cliffs of Dover.

-..for equality.

If they don't feel equal in society what do you want them to do?

Come here, come here.

So after the march I went to meet six of seven friends for a drink

and they were all white. And for the first time I was actually looking

at them and thinking, "What do they really think of me?"

And, "Are they being honest?"

And that was a little bit weird. And I also felt like...

after speaking to so many people at the march,

and now that I'm back at home...

And this is genuine as well, like,

it almost made me feel less black being at the march or that

I wasn't black enough because maybe if I hadn't been working

I wouldn't have been there, or I'm certainly not...

..as...

When I say "up for the fight" I mean up for marching.

Obviously I'm for equal rights but I don't think that I would have

got off my butt and went to a march.

A few days later, and I've arranged a catch-up with Craze 24.

-'Hello.'

-Hey, is that Craze?

-'Yeah.'

-How you doing, man? It's Nesta from the BBC.

'He tells me he's been pulled over countless times by police

'just because of the way he looks.'

How you doing?

'He was the one defending the protest to the couple who'd

missed their holiday,

but he's also using his music to try and change things.

# And when you hear me saying Black Lives Matter

# I ain't tryin' to say all lives don't

# I'm tryin' to make you pay attention to the facts

# You always say you got my back and then you leave me on my own

# If you're ready for the Black Lives Matter

# You wouldn't always try and criticise

# Instead of hatin' on the message, you would focus on the evidence

# The facts that we recorded on our phones... #

It's a lot cooler in here

than it was the last time I bumped into you at the weekend.

Why were you at the march?

I was there because I believe in the issues that they was marching for.

It's come to a point where we have to start talking and

addressing the issues before they go too far.

So, it just come to that point where...

And everyone's gotta be responsible. I felt responsible myself.

Black Lives Matter started in America and lots of people

can understand why Americans are marching on the street,

but not why British people are marching on the streets.

Black Lives Matter everywhere.

I'm not saying that we just march for Black Lives Matter,

but Black Lives Matter does matter everywhere in the world.

In Britain, black people are still affected by injustice.

There was some people who'd come there because

-a previous march had disrupted their holiday.

-Yeah.

What did you get out of that conversation, if anything?

I got that they was upset because they was inconvenienced.

I felt that they was enlightened briefly by us talking

so I felt positive that I touched someone

or there's a chance that I potentially touched someone

and made them see it from a different perspective.

Again, we're all humans and it's not about black lives mattering

more than white lives or all lives or whatever,

it's all about us just realising we're all humans.

If something happens that's wrong,

we need to come together and deal with it.

Craze admits, as a teenager, he was in trouble with the law, which

probably influenced his negative feelings towards the police.

But what makes a 19-year-old from Manchester like Binati,

who's never been in trouble, organise a march in London?

I guess the first place to start is the obvious - the hair is

a little bit different than last time we spoke to you. What's new?

I got box braids. This is what you call box braids.

It's like a protective hairstyle for my holiday.

So I guess people's immediate thoughts would be,

"So you changed your hair for a holiday but not for an employer."

For me, I can't keep up my hair for too long cos it'll start breaking.

So this just helps it grow and stuff and obviously

me being on holiday and if it's getting wet every day it's going

to damage my natural hair, so that's the only reason I've put it on.

Like, how would you measure the march, like,

whether it was a success or not?

I would have liked to have, like, thousands and thousand of people

but, you know, hundreds of people is better than no people at all,

and because our voices are not being heard.

So the reason that we're out on the streets is we want to stop you,

like, from your daily activities,

just to listen and feel our frustration.

We're frustrated we're even having to protest.

Do you remember the first time in your life that...

you felt you was treated a certain way cos of the colour of your skin?

I just went just to look for a job and over the phone I got it

and I got to the interview and the interview was fine,

they said, "That's fine but your hair would have to be neat,

"you have to wear your hair in a neat style."

And obviously I came with my hair out in my afro and I went home...

I was a bit disheartened but I didn't really think of it in-depth

like, "Oh, it's because of this," but it was just kind of like,

"What am I supposed to do with my hair, like,

"what way would be suitable for me to go into my workplace with

"hair that's suitable?" I didn't do anything,

I didn't raise the issue with anybody,

I just said, "Onto the next one.

"I'll just carry on looking for more jobs. It's not that big of a deal."

And that's kind of the mistake that I made for myself.

Cos it was a bigger deal.

Binati's frustration is about people not accepting her for her natural

self, and it's that gut feeling of inequality or injustice that

is uniting black people.

But everyone has their individual fight.

Why when we're learning about black history in schools does it

start at slavery or civil rights movements?

Why does my name stop me from getting a job?

Why is it an issue for me to wear my hair natural?

We never learn about the kings and queens but, when we learn

about the Greeks and Romans, they go back hundreds of years.

Why don't I see more people like myself on TV?

Why isn't there more black people in top jobs?

Why is it because I wear a do-rag and a tracksuit that I get

looked on as if I'm a drug dealer?

Why is it when people meet me they automatically think I'm black?

I'm not, I'm mixed race.

Why do people take gangsta rap so literally?

Because half of the time it's not even what you think it is.

Why don't we have a lot of black role models in life?

So why is it because I drive a nice car I get pulled over

four times in one year?

I question why we still don't have a black Prime Minister.

At my school there's not many black people, so everybody just looks

at you differently like, "Oh, she's the only black person."

I'm always unsure why is it people assume I like hip-hop or why

it is people assume I'm good at basketball.

I feel like I'm just the same as everybody else.

There's a lot of young black people out there,

especially young black males, who lack aspiration in life

and the reason they do is because they've not got

a role model to help and support them.

To try and understand why now more than ever before there's so much

momentum around the movement,

I've come to meet Bee.

Hi, thank you for coming to the exhibition.

I'm going to need this cos this is when I pretend I know what

I'm talking about.

'She's told me to come along to her exhibition which is about

'highlighting the voices of black women.'

And each layer is to show that black women are made up of multiple

different layers.

'Bee's been going to Black Lives Matter events for several years.'

So, talk to me then. What's your life like in Britain today?

I think life in Britain in 2016 as a black British woman is

actually really interesting.

Every single day I'm on social media talking about race and diversity

and that's really important for me.

The reason why I mentioned 2016 and social media is because...

ten years ago there wasn't these platforms.

So what happened in your life, then,

why you wanted to get up and your voice to be heard?

My daughter - I have a seven-year-old -

and I want her to be herself, unapologetically.

I don't want her to have to assimilate to

a culture that's never really going to be accepting of her.

And, actually, there'll be people saying these marches did nothing

but make people lose support for a movement they perhaps believed

in but all you did was cause disruption.

For me, it's like...the impact that had,

now people know what Black Lives Matter is.

People in Britain probably thought Black Lives Matter was just

an American issue,

but when that happened we were able then to insert our

conversation into how Black Lives Matter is also important in the UK.

The UK has a different fight and that's why you're out there.

The global face of blackness is American.

So therefore when we do talk about anything to do with black people

we instantly think of America. We don't even think of Africa.

Yeah, we're saying hands up,

don't shoot and we're not being shot in this country,

but we want to show our brothers and sisters in America that we

are standing with them.

In this county it's hands up, don't handcuff me,

hands up, I'm not the suspect you thought that robbed that car.

My child's life is at jeopardy if she went to America.

My child is a black little girl growing up in this country,

her life is also at jeopardy because people do not look at

her and view her the same as a white little girl.

They look and her and think,

"She's a black little girl, she could be bad."

Craze 24, Binati and Bee -

three different experiences of life.

The sort of problems they spoke to me about might not seem as

dramatic in those in America,

but don't forget this is on top of the fact that black people are...

They're underrepresented in jobs like judges, police chiefs or MPs.

And a black graduate...

..with the same degree.

Filming so far is interesting.

I am surprised at this point because, when I started making this,

I almost assumed what the story was and that I'll be able to easily

highlight how black people in the UK were victims of a racist system,

and I think there definitely is a large element of that.

But I definitely am starting to believe that the people that

are complaining, me included,

we need to do more as individuals, as communities.

Like, forget colour.

If you keep telling people that they can't be something enough,

slowly and surely they start to believe it.

Very early on I knew that I wanted to escape growing up on

a council estate, never owning your own home,

so I had a plan in place to do that. I'd go to school and college

and study hard and then I'll take it from there.

The only we can change it, if we want more black teachers,

more black politicians, more black police officers,

if we're not qualifying for those positions in the first place

then it makes absolutely no sense.

You say to people, "You want to be on TV?" They go, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

OK, or you're on YouTube or you're making videos,

"Are you applying for internships?"

"Oh, no, no, no."

Like, you can't just wait at the bottom of a ladder for something

to fall to you.

At least if you climbed halfway up that ladder and stuck up your hand,

someone might have a better chance of actually reaching for you

because they see you genuinely want to be on there.

Most of the people that we've spoken to have been stumped by one question

and it's, "OK, you've got a top politician

"or a leader right in front of you, and you want things to change.

"What would you say to them?"

What would I say to Theresa May?

Um...

Oh.

I don't know how to answer that.

No-one knows the change they're asking for. It's like...

that change can only be, I think, within yourself.

Like, if I've met someone who says,

"Every single time I go down the street

"in a do-rag and tracksuit bottoms, someone thinks I'm a drug dealer."

And I say to them,

"Well, don't wear the do-rag or the tracksuit bottoms."

It's like, "Oh, my God" Like... Like....

"You want me to whiten up." But it's not whitening up.

People are not going to change their perceptions but you can change.

So if you had to take off the tracksuit bottoms and people

judge you differently and you might get further in life,

like, what kind of a sacrifice is that?

# Right

# My eye just changed

# You just buzzed the front gate, I

# Thank God you came... #

Today I'm meeting Jen.

She's a film-maker now but studied law at uni.

-You all right?

-How are you? Good to see you.

-I'm good, I'm good.

'She's been on Black Lives Matter marches before

'but knows first-hand the importance of getting a good education

'and equipping yourself

'with the right tools to deal with an unfair society.'

-I was in a class of, I think, there's 26 of us.

-Yeah.

And there was at least one child from every major ethnicity,

but for the most part it was a black school.

But there were all races represented.

But we were all united by class.

Because we were all children of immigrants, basically, you know?

And you have a lot of kids who have this level of frustration

-who grow up thinking, "It's me."

-Yeah.

"There's something wrong with me."

And as an individual, and on a very kind of mental, psychological level,

it's kind of like a recipe for disaster.

If we say the system's not going to change and I'm for us

changing as people, lots of people say,

"Why should I have to change? Why should I have to perform?"

Is that something you can relate to?

It's the whole idea of, like,

tracksuits and hoodies or wanting to dress down.

And some people can say,

"It's no different to a white man wearing a tracksuit and hoodie."

You're both going to have assumptions about who you are,

based on what you're wearing.

But I guess the point I'm trying to make is the fact that it's true,

you know, there will be an assumption of this white person

in terms of what they're wearing

and there will be an assumption on you in terms of what you're wearing.

But as a black man there's an added assumption

on top of that general assumption.

You've done everything you were told that you couldn't do.

You're doing what I would consider, if not a dream job,

certainly a job that you love.

-So...fight's over.

-Fight's just begun.

So, as you can guess, I'm back at home,

about to make dinner for a few specially-invited guests.

And part of the reason I'm doing this

is because I'm a tiny bit confused.

We have my good friend Adrian who I play football with.

Have done for a few years.

And he works with disadvantaged children.

We've got Bee, who you might remember from the art gallery.

We have Brad, who is a friend of my girlfriend,

and we've been out socially a few times as well.

And me.

Obviously. Chef, host.

You name it.

Chicken to start, lamb for main, let's hope there's not an argument

for dessert over my new thought that it's better to change tact

than wait for society to change.

I think asking black people to change themselves is a reach.

We can't change because we haven't done anything wrong.

We live in a society...

Change doesn't always mean you're doing anything wrong,

it just means a different approach.

I know, but I think... I don't know, though, like...

No-one is going to...

You're not going to jump into the top of a company,

you have to start somewhere, that was my point.

Yeah, I do think so, I'm not going to deny that you shouldn't start

somewhere. If you want to be part of the game, you get in the game,

you don't sit on the sidewalk.

The key thing here - and this is where you come in -

in terms of...even if we're going to infiltrate the system and work,

we still need...

-White allies.

-..white allies.

-Of course.

-We're not saying...

-But...

-Do you guys...

I'm just...

Where you may see something, you've got the right to step in and say,

-"Hey, that's not right."

-Totally agree with you.

But I think there's a generational difference, I really do.

If I was in a position of power, it wouldn't bother me.

Like, I do think it bothers people to employ black people.

I think that's a generational thing.

'The night throws up a few surprises.'

-You've been stopped and searched. How old are you?

-26.

Can you imagine? I know boys who are under 15 that get searched daily.

'Talk soon goes back to the marches.'

I don't think we have to look at every single protest in, like,

causing a change.

You hope to get people to know what you're fighting for,

people know the issues. Just really bringing it to the agenda.

So, I mean, normally with a protest there is an end goal,

so if it's just to highlight

the agenda do you think people are unaware?

-That there is racism in Britain?

-Yeah.

Yeah, of course.

Who's unaware?

Um...

I think there's a lot of people will argue racism doesn't exist no more.

So..

As a black person I know there are a lot of cultures or races,

I'm bottom of the pile.

I'll speak to a friend and she's white, she prefers black guys.

But she's turned around and said,

"My dad will never allow me to go out with a black person."

Brad, is that a feeling you can relate to?

Um, no, it's not. I don't know, it just...

I've never felt that way.

And that probably is because I've gone through

a naive world where I've just kind of gone about my bit...

It's your experience, man, it's not naive, it's your reality.

Don't you think that what you said about that girl,

it goes back to the generational changes?

Because I would never say that to my son or daughter.

I think that is ingrained in those people and I don't think that

will change.

'With dinner over, there are some definite takeaways.'

It's an internal battle for me cos it's like certain people need

to be held accountable for their actions and their behaviour,

but we gotta play our role in this as well and create solutions.

Tonight for me has been huge.

I mean, there's things that I've learnt which, as you said,

the white saviours, you do need an ally.

And you said, like,

and I'll be watching the news and I'll see the Black Lives Matter

on there but I wouldn't go on Facebook and post it,

I wouldn't go on Instagram.

And now that's kind of changed my attitude to think, "Yeah, I should."

And I should help and do something to help.

Cheers. Here's to dessert.

And washing up!

Binati's now back at uni and I wonder whether she still

has the same drive she had in the summer.

When we spoke to you the plan was to definitely have another march.

What are you guys actively doing? Apart from sharing stuff on Twitter.

We've not...like, set a date for any marches,

just of yet.

Not that we're waiting for something big to happen, but...

we just don't think there's a particular reason just right now

to just go out on the streets and march.

Which might please a lot of people who were saying marching's

never going to do anything,

"You guys were out in London cos it was a nice day."

But, you know, "Do this for 90 days in a row in the rain,

-"sleet and snow and I guarantee you wouldn't be there."

-True.

I mean, that would definitely, like, make a statement if we did it, like,

carried on every day. But, erm...

I, personally, couldn't do that. Not right now anyway.

As filming comes to an end, I'm back where my life in the UK started.

So we're back in Southeast London. This is the estate I grew up on.

Got lots of new buildings.

Obviously some of the old stuff is still here as well.

And I definitely say some of the best memories of my life

were made here.

And this is where my attitude towards life in general,

friendships, relationships,

was definitely formed in this estate.

I lived here for maybe 15 years.

It's where I met this man. Known him for over, what, 20 years in general?

-Yeah.

-Do you remember over here playing when you could jump over

this easily?

HE CHUCKLES

And I keep on telling people the craziest thing about growing up

in a place like this is so many people live here that there was

so many friends for you to have. You don't even need more.

Don't need new friends, yeah.

I know lots of people are not council estate but it gives you

a certain character and a certain closeness and affinity to people.

The only thing that was bad is...and I got no shame in admitting it...

-let's say that there was ten of us in total.

-Mm.

-I think me and you

are probably the only ones who weren't in trouble with the

law every week, or weren't going to prison and going to jail.

What made you stay away from that side of things?

Well, everyone dips in and dips out

but I just looked at the bigger picture.

And also my home played a big part.

Your foundation, yeah?

My mum, sisters,

they were doing well so you didn't want to drag everyone else down.

Like, did you feel the system was against you and it wasn't

going to change so you had to give yourself the skills?

Maybe for the poor, working-class, it's harder, but that's general,

that'll be white, black, Indian, Chinese, you know, it's harder

than if I was coming from a middle-class family.

It's a mind-set.

So, I never really tried to play the race card.

I tried my best - it's too easy.

It's because I'm black why I can't get that job? No.

It's cos you didn't wear the right thing to the interview.

Simple. You know what I mean? You didn't do your research beforehand.

I've got a lot of...

I don't like even talking about race but I've got

a lot of black friends that do quite well. But that's because...

I broadened my horizon, went to university,

met friends at university,

then the places I now go I meet a certain level of people, you know.

So it's not a race thing cos I have black friends that are doing well.

-My thing is it's building blocks.

-Mm.

Me and you grew up on a council estate,

so my one dream is that - and there's nothing wrong with

council estates - but my one thing is I want to leave my

son a home so that's one less thing he's gotta worry about.

My thing is, my children have to go to private school.

-I teach, yeah?

-Mm.

So in school I'm saying, how old are you going to live for?

Till you're 80, all right. So you want to be a "gangster".

More than likely, between the ages of 16 and 20 you'll go to jail,

yeah? Get in trouble a numerous amount of times,

and that's going to shape your life for the other 60 years.

Look at the big picture. "No, but, sir, I need this, I need that."

Like, "This is what my bother does, this is what my uncle does."

I'm like, "But you don't need to do that."

Left.

'I couldn't leave here without saying hello to someone special.'

So we're just off to see my nan, who still lives on this estate.

Hopefully she's in.

SHE CHUCKLES

It's almost like you knew I was coming. How you doing?

Come give me a hug. You all right?

Would we get you to fix the hair...?

'When I started making this film it was to answer a simple question -

'why are black people in the UK marching?

'The answer's a simple one. It's that feeling -'

most, if not all, of the black people I've spoken to can relate to

the feeling you get when you don't feel equal.

All right, Nan, I'll see you later, yeah?

Yeah. Bye.

I promise I'll come tomorrow.

'Why now? Because, to be honest, from the time I arrived in the UK

'to my treatment now,'

nothing has changed.

I think the only difference is, with the power of the

Black Lives Matter movement, people are treating it like a brand.

It's something to jump on.

I describe it like it's a bus heading towards a journey

and at the minute the bus is travelling as fast as it's

probably ever going to travel,

so why not jump on to get to your destination?

So after the dinner party at my house the other day,

I was thinking about it all night and I woke up with a thought -

bear with me, this is going somewhere -

in the old days houses were badly built so rats could come inside,

but over time...

we've reinforced the houses and they're built better so rats

no longer come inside,

and you can't change the rats,

they'll exist and they'll do what they want.

But you can barricade your house, yourself,

so that the rats don't affect you.

I guess to me racism is the same.

You can't eliminate it right now

but you can barricade yourself so that it

no longer affects you in the same way it did before.

So, for me, the journey I've been on is very real

because back at the march in Suffolk I just wanted to hold hands

with all the other black people and take a stand about injustice.

And I don't want to play down those struggles cos they're real

and it's what black people face every day, but my opinion

has definitely changed throughout making this film.

He wants to play one touch.

Because the thing for me is, if we want to escape this cycle and

we don't want this for our children or our children's children,

should we as black people stop waiting for a saviour,

stop waiting for other people to help us,

stop waiting for the system to help us and take more responsibility?

Because if we do that then the rats of racism,

they shouldn't really be able to affect us, should they?