0:00:02 > 0:00:03When I heard the name Black Is The New Black,
0:00:03 > 0:00:06- it really made me smile.- I think we're on the edge of a revolution.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07Boom!
0:00:07 > 0:00:12We have our own thing and it's really rich.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15We're the influencers, the taste makers.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Remember when we invented jazz and you didn't know what it was?
0:00:19 > 0:00:21Well, now we're going to do something else.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26I've never really seen myself as an immigrant. I see myself as a person.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31I'm proud to be black. I've never cared to be any other way.
0:00:33 > 0:00:34Everybody wants to be us,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37but they only want the good parts of being us.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40They want our physicality, they want our musicality.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Selling our culture, it's like one big hustle.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45They want our talent,
0:00:45 > 0:00:47they want our dancing skills, they want our singing skills.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Music hasn't got no colour.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53The oppressed always find a way to celebrate, right?
0:00:53 > 0:00:55It's a great feeling.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59We are people of talent, people of vision,
0:00:59 > 0:01:00people of passion.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02SHE LAUGHS
0:01:02 > 0:01:05There's a great seam of British success.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07HE LAUGHS
0:01:07 > 0:01:10When it stands out, it is dazzling...
0:01:12 > 0:01:13..and we should celebrate it.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16We should celebrate it.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42I was going to school on my own at seven years old.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44These days, you'd be, like, arrested for neglect
0:01:44 > 0:01:46or abuse or something like that.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48When I'm in, put the chain on the door,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51don't answer the door for no-one until she comes home, watch TV.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53I had a happy childhood.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55There was mum and I, we did our thing.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00I'd travel with her on the bus to the nursery, she'd go off to work,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03and then at five o'clock she'd pick me up.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05I remember enjoying junior school.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08I think it was called Mary of Magdalene or something
0:02:08 > 0:02:09and I remember it was run by nuns.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Like every other child, mischievous, wanted to dance,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16so my mother sent me to a dance school.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19I remember getting quite a few slaps across the backs
0:02:19 > 0:02:20of my legs for being naughty.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23So I remember... Yeah, the kids have got it easy now,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26they used to be able to smack the shit out of us when we were kids.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32Right from day one, till the day I left school, was a very,
0:02:32 > 0:02:34very positive experience for me.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38We were told when we were,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42I don't know seven or eight to bring in something that really reminded us
0:02:42 > 0:02:46of our family at home, and I came in with a bit of Kente cloth,
0:02:46 > 0:02:48which is the national cloth of Ghana,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50fashioned into a waistcoat for me,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53and I brought it in and I explained why it was important
0:02:53 > 0:02:56and I did a little sort of traditional dance
0:02:56 > 0:03:00and all the class loved it and the teacher just was really surprised
0:03:00 > 0:03:01that not only at that age,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04I was that knowledgeable about my heritage
0:03:04 > 0:03:08but that I was accepting of it and also quite proud.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10I went to a small private school in Essex,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14but I came back to East London and my friends were from East London,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16and I used to hang out in East London.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18I started school at three years old,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21then my parents divorced when I was eight,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24and I ended up going to school, actually,
0:03:24 > 0:03:26funnily enough, in Wood Green.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30And, yeah, that was an experience.
0:03:30 > 0:03:31HE LAUGHS
0:03:31 > 0:03:33The people in the class that were considered,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36I don't know what the PC word is these days,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39but were nerds are geeks of whatever like that, they were my friends,
0:03:39 > 0:03:41I could speak to them, we could talk about comics and all that kind
0:03:41 > 0:03:46of stuff and all that. But then the people that were the bad boys,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49they liked me too, because I had a certain thing about me
0:03:49 > 0:03:51that they liked, too, so I could talk to them and, like,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54"Yeah, I can test all these guys and keep my reputation,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57but I'm not sure... If I test that guy and he clouts me back,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59"my rep's kind of going to..."
0:03:59 > 0:04:01So I was that... I was always in the middle,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04I was never a bad, bad kid but I was...
0:04:04 > 0:04:06No police ever came to my mum's door.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Because my father was so keen on education,
0:04:09 > 0:04:10I mean, he used to say to us,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12when we were sort of three or four years old,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15"What college in Oxford are you going to go to?"
0:04:15 > 0:04:19And sort of just this idea of going to university, getting an education,
0:04:19 > 0:04:21was instilled in us from a very early age.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26You know, my experience of growing up is this.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28I tried not to let my dreams...
0:04:29 > 0:04:32..be taken away from me.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37I wanted to be a writer as well as being an astronaut, but I also,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40once I put my feet on the ground, I wanted to be a writer.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44I was singing melody long before I was talking.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45Long, long, long.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48They didn't understand anything I was saying in nursery school,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51but they understood that voice when I started to sing.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54I thought unless I could articulate myself through words,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57then I was stuck
0:04:57 > 0:05:02because I was very conscious of the fact that people were quite keen
0:05:02 > 0:05:07to define me, to determine me before I ever said a word.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Modelling just never entered my mind,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12it was just never something I ever thought about.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15I was very much into my athletics by the age of 14.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18I was very much, "This is what I want to do."
0:05:18 > 0:05:20I went to my careers teacher and she said to me,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23"OK, Malorie, what do you want to do?"
0:05:23 > 0:05:25And I said, "OK, I want to go to Goldsmiths,
0:05:25 > 0:05:27"and I want to do an English and Drama degree,
0:05:27 > 0:05:28"and then I want to be a teacher."
0:05:28 > 0:05:30And she looked at me and she said,
0:05:30 > 0:05:31"Black people don't become teachers."
0:05:31 > 0:05:34And she said, "Why don't you become secretary instead?"
0:05:34 > 0:05:36"I remember saying that I wanted to be an astronaut,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39and the teacher said, "Well, Maggie, you know, why don't you go into
0:05:39 > 0:05:42"nursing, that's quite scientific, you know? And you like science."
0:05:42 > 0:05:46I was working for Sainsbury's at the weekends and my teacher said,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50"Oh, well, now, if you were to work really hard,
0:05:50 > 0:05:55you would perhaps be able to become a supervisor."
0:05:55 > 0:06:00Now, look, there's nothing wrong in being a supervisor in Sainsbury's,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03it's a great job to have. But as I said to David Sainsbury,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05I don't think he could really afford me, but, you know,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07that's another matter.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11When I was at art school, and I started making work about, you know,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14world issues, one of my tutors said,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17"Well, you know, you're of African origin, and you...
0:06:17 > 0:06:19"Why aren't you producing, you know, ethnic art?"
0:06:19 > 0:06:22And I didn't quite understand that,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26but I realised then that an African artist
0:06:26 > 0:06:29was not expected to be modern.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32I'd finished my degree, I was 20 years old,
0:06:32 > 0:06:34and I was saying I wanted to go to the Bar.
0:06:34 > 0:06:41I was told, "These two impediments may be insurmountable."
0:06:41 > 0:06:43And I thought, "What impediments?"
0:06:43 > 0:06:47"Well, the fact that you are black and female."
0:06:47 > 0:06:52And I thought, "Those are the two things that I can't
0:06:52 > 0:06:55"and don't want to change, and anyway,
0:06:55 > 0:07:00"which profession will being black and female be an advantage?"
0:07:08 > 0:07:11I personally think that one of the biggest problems is that, at school,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14all the black history I learned was just bad,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17it didn't make you feel good about yourself.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19What a lot of people in England don't know
0:07:19 > 0:07:23is that the actual development of England and the development
0:07:23 > 0:07:26of most of these powerful Western nations was by the manpower
0:07:26 > 0:07:30of black slaves but they've just been wiped out of the story,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32so these buildings just...
0:07:32 > 0:07:34They'll tell you about the architect and they'll tell you about
0:07:34 > 0:07:36the guy who had the idea to build the building,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38but they won't tell you how it was built,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42even if you put that bit of information in the story,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44you've changed the story completely.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47I remember when I was growing up, you know,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49you were given the impression that Africans
0:07:49 > 0:07:52have all been brought up in mud huts and it was all terribly primitive,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54which used to infuriate my father.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57It's one of the reasons he was like, "I am taking you back to Nigeria
0:07:57 > 0:08:02"so you understand where you are from and what it is really like."
0:08:03 > 0:08:05My thing was...
0:08:05 > 0:08:07I just felt we were deceived a little bit.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Our generation. You know, everything came as a surprise.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14When you have to watch a programme called Roots
0:08:14 > 0:08:15to understand what slavery was...
0:08:15 > 0:08:18I walked to school the next day so angry.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21For most of the men that I grew up with,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24reading books and knowledge was like kryptonite,
0:08:24 > 0:08:29it wasn't something that you dealt with, it was for the nerds etc.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32I guess some of us were a little nerdy behind the scenes.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38When I think about reading books that have really been very powerful,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42slave trade, the islands, the trail winds,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45all of that movement of humankind as men of colour
0:08:45 > 0:08:50and women of colour was horrific, beyond horrors of horrors.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54We'd bought books, and then we empowered ourselves with knowledge,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58and it wasn't about being Black Power, it was just knowing your history!
0:08:58 > 0:09:00Ali was important,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and I think the first autobiography I ever read was his.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Muhammad Ali was my hero,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09simply because the first black man I remember hearing was Cassius Clay.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11You know, as a little kid, I'm thinking, "I like Cassius Clay,
0:09:11 > 0:09:14"why's he changing his name to Muhammad Ali? What's that?!"
0:09:14 > 0:09:17And then as time goes on you hear him talking.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19You don't have to agree.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23But he empowered himself, and he said stuff and did stuff.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25And I just thought, "Wow."
0:09:25 > 0:09:27He really made a difference.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36The need for cultural identity is crucial.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38The sense of not belonging...
0:09:38 > 0:09:40For my brother particularly, that was huge,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42the feeling of not belonging.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44You have that argument with your parents where they scream
0:09:44 > 0:09:47at you and say, "You're not like your white friends,"
0:09:47 > 0:09:49and on some level, they're right, because you definitely
0:09:49 > 0:09:52don't look like your white friends, but on some level you are,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55because you've grown up with the same cultural references
0:09:55 > 0:09:57in the same schools with the same accent.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01It's about being at cultural orphan. That's how I term it.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04You know? And if you don't feel that belonging,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06at least you've got your family, right?
0:10:06 > 0:10:08Jamaica is a conservative country, by and large,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12and my parents are very much part and parcel of that.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16But, although that is where my heritage lies, I'm not a Jamaican.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20There's a strange...disconnect,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24because of our parents telling us to integrate from our
0:10:24 > 0:10:27original culture, and some of us clung to our culture and went,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29"OK, I'm not going to disconnect,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31"I'm going to stay true to my culture, because it's important,"
0:10:31 > 0:10:36and some of us kept our culture but also were interested in integrating
0:10:36 > 0:10:38and assimilating because that was the game in town, right?
0:10:38 > 0:10:41And then, obviously, coming to this country,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44and suddenly seeing a kind of diaspora of black people
0:10:44 > 0:10:47and a kind of new way and not in a kind of ethnic way
0:10:47 > 0:10:50but more of a kind of...
0:10:50 > 0:10:52a national and racially mixed way.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56And that, I think, as a young, sort of, African,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58was just sort of fascinating.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02I and millions like me fit into a very unique
0:11:02 > 0:11:05little category where I was my own culture.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Every aspect of my life,
0:11:08 > 0:11:12I wanted to demonstrate the duality of my heritage, of my identity.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16We are, I think, the first generation in that line of sort of
0:11:16 > 0:11:20immigration that both accept where we're from
0:11:20 > 0:11:22but also embrace where we are.
0:11:32 > 0:11:38At times in those weird, angsty teenage years,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40you look at other girls,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43this girl's considered pretty but no-one ever says anything like that
0:11:43 > 0:11:45about you. Was it to do with colour?
0:11:45 > 0:11:47Was it to do with the fact that I wore glasses?
0:11:47 > 0:11:49What was it? I don't know.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54At those ages, what you look like is so important to you.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00When you were first spotted, what was your reaction?
0:12:00 > 0:12:02I thought she was talking to my girlfriend, sort of blonde,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05long-hair, blue eyes, you know, I didn't think she was talking to me.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08And she, like, said, "No, you."
0:12:08 > 0:12:10She gave me her card and...
0:12:11 > 0:12:13I was like...
0:12:13 > 0:12:16"OK... I have to ask my mum."
0:12:17 > 0:12:19And my mum said no.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26When I started, sort of back in the late '80s, early '90s...
0:12:26 > 0:12:32The successful black models were sort of very exotic,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34very dark, very African looking.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36And now...
0:12:36 > 0:12:40It's incredible what's happened in the last 20, 30 years.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Incredible the difference!
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Halle Berry is considered the most beautiful.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47She's stunningly beautiful, but there's Angela Bassett,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50who is also stunningly beautiful, but...
0:12:52 > 0:12:55Halle's lighter, thinner nose, smaller lips,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58closer to the white ideal of beauty.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02One of the things that, in later years,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06I questioned was how I had,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09in my early career...
0:13:09 > 0:13:14I was the acceptable face of blackness.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16You know?
0:13:17 > 0:13:22Which was something I couldn't possibly have anticipated.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25India, China, Thailand.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27Everywhere you go,
0:13:27 > 0:13:31being seen as lighter skinned is being seen as superior,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35and that's because when white people went and colonised the world,
0:13:35 > 0:13:40they foisted on us this ideal of white superiority and we still...
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Even though we think consciously, we're like,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45"I don't believe that," we do still.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56I am a part of the generation that wants to be Beyonce -
0:13:56 > 0:14:00beautiful blonde hair/weave...
0:14:01 > 0:14:03..fairer skin.
0:14:03 > 0:14:09I know that, as much as I have been raised to appreciate who I am
0:14:09 > 0:14:11from the inside out,
0:14:11 > 0:14:17the heavy burden of this ideal image has often been far greater.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20It speaks louder.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24The anxiety comes from trying to be something
0:14:24 > 0:14:26that I know very well I am not.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32The song that I was always asked to sing
0:14:32 > 0:14:37as a... little bit of an awkward teenager
0:14:37 > 0:14:39was The Greatest Love Of All.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42They can say that you're ugly and that you've got
0:14:42 > 0:14:44great big thick lips, which is funny now,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47because everyone is trying to buy great big thick lips.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51They could say all those things, but they can't take away my dignity.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54I was telling myself those words,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58because what is special about me comes from within me.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03- Could you give us a little bit of it?- Yeah.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09# I believe the children are our future
0:15:09 > 0:15:14# Teach them well and let them lead the way
0:15:14 > 0:15:20# Show them all the beauty they possess inside
0:15:20 > 0:15:24# I decided long ago
0:15:24 > 0:15:28# Never to walk in anyone's shadow
0:15:28 > 0:15:32# If I fail, if I succeed
0:15:32 > 0:15:35# At least I'll live as I believe
0:15:35 > 0:15:39# No matter what they take from me
0:15:39 > 0:15:44# They can't take away my dignity
0:15:44 > 0:15:49# Because the greatest
0:15:49 > 0:15:57# Love of all is happening to me
0:15:57 > 0:16:03# I found the greatest
0:16:03 > 0:16:09# Love of all inside of me. #
0:16:17 > 0:16:19I didn't know who I was.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21I didn't know who I was.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Not white, not black, not anything, not belonging anywhere.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28I was taken into the care system, because my mother
0:16:28 > 0:16:33just couldn't cope, she couldn't cope with everything.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37And then I walked backwards all my life, trying to find myself.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Ugh.
0:16:42 > 0:16:43Well, I myself had a breakdown...
0:16:45 > 0:16:47..when I was 23.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Struggling with...
0:16:51 > 0:16:55identity and who I am.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01I am a human being and I've never said I was perfect.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03I am a work in progress.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06It's good for people to see it's not always happy, happy, happy.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10You know, I don't ever want people to conceive me as that way.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12I am human, I break down, I cry.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14I have real blood.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17I am not always up, I'm sometimes down.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19I'm not depressive but...
0:17:19 > 0:17:21Yeah, it's not every day is a fantastic day
0:17:21 > 0:17:25but we have to make do and we have to be grateful for what we have.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28When you leave drama school
0:17:28 > 0:17:31and you're in the world and you're a black actor,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and you don't see many black actors doing well,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36and you're always going for the black role
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and it's not the central role,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41and I struggled with that.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44And I think I started to...
0:17:44 > 0:17:46drink a lot
0:17:46 > 0:17:49and...self-medicating in other ways,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52and eventually lost control of that.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53How bad did it get?
0:17:54 > 0:17:56I was sectioned.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06It was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11I was in the grip of something that was telling me to do things.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Like hearing voices.
0:18:14 > 0:18:15What voices were you hearing?
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Well, it turned out to be Martin Luther King,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20- which was extraordinary. - INTERVIEWER LAUGHS
0:18:20 > 0:18:22Extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary!
0:18:23 > 0:18:25I went with absolutely everything this voice told me to do,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28and I remember doing all kinds of crazy things, singing for my lunch.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30I would go into restaurants, eat the food and then say,
0:18:30 > 0:18:32"I've got no money but I will sing for you."
0:18:32 > 0:18:37And they would laugh and we'd sing and they'd say,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39"Go on, on your way."
0:18:39 > 0:18:41And I was very lucky that it was kind of entertaining or jokey
0:18:41 > 0:18:43or whatever, but...
0:18:43 > 0:18:45I managed to kind of survive like that for about a week.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50And then it all started going a bit wrong and...
0:18:50 > 0:18:53I obviously started getting mentally tired
0:18:53 > 0:18:56and ended up getting sectioned.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03Black culture in general is kind of quite informal,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05quite expressive as a culture,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07whether it's African or Caribbean or wherever else.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10You know, you see a lot of them go "Hello," and then a black man goes,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13"Yes, brother!" You know what I mean? It's a different vibe.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18So you can't be as open, informal, expressive as you'd like to be.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22The one thing that a lot of people who are watching this in the most
0:19:22 > 0:19:24respectful way are not going to realise, is that,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28even with someone like myself, when you walk into a room,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30because of the colour of your skin,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33you are already kind of judged in a certain kind of way.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35If I walk in, like, hastily, like...
0:19:35 > 0:19:37HE WALKS QUICKLY
0:19:37 > 0:19:40..someone's going to be like, "What's happening here?"
0:19:40 > 0:19:44But you kind of feel like you always have to check that because,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47the moment you speak aloud, you see people jumping or grabbing their
0:19:47 > 0:19:50purse, or someone says something to you and you answer them back
0:19:50 > 0:19:52and it's like you're aggressive, even though they said it to you,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54you answer back, YOU'RE aggressive.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56It's like, well, no, you came at me a certain way,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00I responded in the same manner, you just didn't expect that,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02and now you're shook and you're calling me aggressive.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05That's the kind of thing that gets us shot, isn't it?
0:20:05 > 0:20:07You move too quickly, bang! You're shot.
0:20:10 > 0:20:16Every time a black boy aged under 18 is stabbed
0:20:16 > 0:20:18or murdered on the streets of London,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21they never talk about them as the 16-year-old GCSE student
0:20:21 > 0:20:24or the talented geography student who's been murdered.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26You never hear that.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29All you hear is that they were an aspiring rapper
0:20:29 > 0:20:32while, actually, they were uploading music to YouTube,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36which a lot of people do, but when we talk about younger white males,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39you hear he had plans to go on to study mathematics at a university
0:20:39 > 0:20:42or something, and it is how those two lives are then viewed
0:20:42 > 0:20:45and the assumptions that happen as a result.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52I think it is easy to dismiss black kids in this country
0:20:52 > 0:20:56because it's only certain areas that are mixed,
0:20:56 > 0:21:01so if you're white and you've grown up in an area where you've only
0:21:01 > 0:21:04really been around white people, then it comes down to, OK,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06what's the media showing you?
0:21:06 > 0:21:09If the media's showing you gangs, hoodies, this, that, left,
0:21:09 > 0:21:13right and centre, then that might not help your perception.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17And that narrative just grows and grows and grows,
0:21:17 > 0:21:18and then you do get people,
0:21:18 > 0:21:22when you see groups of boys walking down the street with sportswear on,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24immediately, they get the fear about it.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26That hasn't come from nowhere.
0:21:26 > 0:21:31It's a narrative that is slowly but surely drip-fed to the public,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35so then instinctively they then become scared of that person.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37The people in this country,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40they've got to liberate their minds also.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43Not to see a black person
0:21:43 > 0:21:47as an object but as a person.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51And until that happens, particularly those who wield power,
0:21:51 > 0:21:55it isn't easy for us to change it.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57All violence is pointless, but...
0:21:57 > 0:22:01there's a history of violence just in this country, full stop.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03And it's not a black thing. I know the truth.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05I grew up around rough white boys, too.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09I'm tired of hearing that shit - knife crime, knife crime.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11It's just violence, man.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16As an victim of knife crime, how did it feel?
0:22:16 > 0:22:19It felt... I don't know.
0:22:19 > 0:22:20It hurt.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26It hurt. It hurt physically, it hurt my ego.
0:22:26 > 0:22:27At the time, I didn't really think...
0:22:27 > 0:22:29I don't know if I thought I was going to die.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32It did feel that when it was happening, like I was looking at it,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35looking at myself getting stabbed, I remember that.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38And then... It's a tricky one, because...
0:22:38 > 0:22:40The same people that, whatever, stabbed me,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43it was people that was with them that took me to the hospital,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45tried to preserve your life.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48People are violent. It's not a black thing, it's not a white thing.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50It's a people thing.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52It's not as black and white as black and white.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04Anyway, as a black person, you're always a slight space traveller.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08You're always a figure who's walking through territory
0:23:08 > 0:23:12that has potentially not been explored before.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16It's... It's very difficult to navigate the game,
0:23:16 > 0:23:18because the rules are unwritten.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21The fact that it is even
0:23:21 > 0:23:29a game of sorts, is never made explicit to you, so what do you do?
0:23:29 > 0:23:31That was something I did.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34I did a lot of self-deprecatory jokes aimed at myself,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37aimed at my colour, because I'd seen other black comedians do it.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39I'm not making excuses, I have half a brain,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42I could have made a decision not to, but, you know,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45I was 16 and in show business and going, "Hooray!"
0:23:45 > 0:23:47And not really making many...
0:23:49 > 0:23:51..decisions that you could go, "That's a good decision, my boy."
0:23:51 > 0:23:54I wasn't making many of those good decisions for a very long time.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Still don't, sometimes.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59But there is a time when you can own your identity and go,
0:23:59 > 0:24:01"This is who I am, let's do this."
0:24:05 > 0:24:09I was at college at 16, I had a girlfriend at the time,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11doing a fashion show...
0:24:11 > 0:24:14and she asked me to help her make the collection.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16I'm like, "Make a collection?
0:24:16 > 0:24:19"I can't do that. Maybe design a programme, but that's about it."
0:24:19 > 0:24:22She said, "No, I'll show you." And she showed me
0:24:22 > 0:24:25and I had a natural talent for it.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27And after the show, you know,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31people were interested to buy what I had created, and, you know,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34I was like, you know, "Really?"
0:24:36 > 0:24:40A friend of mine said, "Look, you should go to Savile Row."
0:24:40 > 0:24:43I said, "It's not really interesting for me."
0:24:43 > 0:24:45He said, "No, you should really go and have a look."
0:24:46 > 0:24:50There was a very famous tailor called Anderson and Sheppard,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52it was on the corner.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56And I had a little picture in my mind, like, you know,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00one day I'd have a store in that very location,
0:25:00 > 0:25:06but, you know, I'm 18 years old, I'm looking at the store and I'm going,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08"What a crazy notion."
0:25:12 > 0:25:13When I was 17,
0:25:13 > 0:25:17I was in A level theatre studies and we went to see Othello.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21It was David Harewood, and, like, I'll never forget it.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Seeing him on stage at the time was just, like...
0:25:24 > 0:25:28I was like, "Wow!" I remember just watching him.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31And not just because of the performance, but I was like...
0:25:31 > 0:25:35"I don't know how you did this, but I'm going to do it, too.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37"I'm going to do it."
0:25:37 > 0:25:41When I was at college, that voice that we all have inside us
0:25:41 > 0:25:44that some of us listen to and some of us choose to ignore,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48told me I should be doing something else, and I felt like
0:25:48 > 0:25:50there was a bigger plan for me,
0:25:50 > 0:25:55and I didn't 100% know what it was but I really, for some reason,
0:25:55 > 0:26:00trusted that instinct and they decided not to go to university.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04I know that other people may have looked at what I was doing as risky
0:26:04 > 0:26:11and frivolous. I spent four years, where I had no money in my pocket,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14sometimes having to bunk the train just to go and rehearse,
0:26:14 > 0:26:16be a part of this girl group.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18I was willing to sacrifice going out.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21I didn't care about having the latest Levi 501s at the time,
0:26:21 > 0:26:26because the dream that I had for myself was so important
0:26:26 > 0:26:30that I had to make it work. It was like there was just no other option.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39My name is Shevelle Dynott and I'm a ballet dancer
0:26:39 > 0:26:42with the English National Ballet.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45This picture was taken in my second year.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49This picture is so special to me because this is what it's like
0:26:49 > 0:26:52being in the Royal Ballet School.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57I cannot say I felt like, "Oh, I'm a black guy in this."
0:26:57 > 0:27:01I didn't see that as a problem.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05I always saw myself as Shevelle the ballet dancer.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Nothing was going to stop me.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Ballet is all I've done from 7 till now, 30.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16It's never talent that holds somebody back.
0:27:16 > 0:27:2099 times out of 100 it's people's vision of themselves
0:27:20 > 0:27:24and their idea of what is possible.
0:27:24 > 0:27:25You know, why shouldn't it be you?
0:27:29 > 0:27:33I did an Oxford Union address, Oxford University, I was invited
0:27:33 > 0:27:36and I remember standing there, thinking,
0:27:36 > 0:27:41"This is crazy. These are probably our future leaders all in here,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44"and they're waiting to hear me speak."
0:27:44 > 0:27:46I didn't have anything written down, I just...
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Did it all off the top of my head.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50And I just thought, "This is insane."
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Not very long after I joined ITN,
0:27:55 > 0:28:00the editor who employed me called me up to his office and said,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03"I've been thinking about your career."
0:28:03 > 0:28:07That was news to me, because at that stage I didn't even know I had one.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12And he said, "What I think you should do is anchor the news sometimes."
0:28:12 > 0:28:15And I thought,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18"This is the finest job in the world,"
0:28:18 > 0:28:22because I don't think I would have ever gone to him
0:28:22 > 0:28:24and made that suggestion.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27I never had that vision of what I would do.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32I never, never thought it would end up this way.