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Day Four - Steve Mcqueen

The first Mcqueen film I watched was his film making debut, Hunger - A brutal, beautifully sensitive film about the 1981 prisoner hunger strikes in Northern Ireland. Led by a searingly good Michael Fassbender (who would go on to become Mcqueen's muse, appearing in several of his later films) the film brings you out into the middle of a war zone and dumps you with no way of finding your way back. You know in your mind that it must end eventually, but the trauma of seeing these men beaten, degraded (by the prison guards and ultimately by their own hand), leaves you wondering when the film will be over. Mcqueen, being a sensitive filmmaker, is acutely aware of how brutal the images are, (see his later work "12 Years a Slave" for reference) kindly offering respite in scenes where the camera does not move but remains in one unbroken take as two old friends philosophise on the meaning of men. Mcqueen was an artist before he was a filmmaker and even won the Turner Prize. Mcqueen's slow-moving, sometimes completely static camera style that he later went on to perfect, becoming something of a calling card, is evident in Hunger. Mcqueen's intelligence comes across in his interviews, as his fast-talking style gives the impression of a brain working on overtime. To this day, if I'm struggling with my reason for creating art, I will watch great directors like Mcqueen talk about their process. "I'm not really interested in money, there are two things I wanted from money in my life, I wanted shelter and I wanted to be able to buy any book I wanted"  Me too, Steve. Me too. 

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Day Three - Mathematics

Yasin Bey was one of the first hip hop artists I discovered as a teenager. How I found out about this song remains a mystery to me, but I revisited it time after time and have done ever since. As my love for hip hop grew, so too did my love for his song. His social commentary paints a bleak picture for what it means to be black and poor in America; with expert lyricism, Yasin Bey (Formerly known as Mos Def) dissects how the dominant power structure keeps people from being free to dream, free to create and be themselves. As with most art that moves me, the theme running through the heart of the work is social commentary. Although it paints a dark picture, Yasiin infuses some hope, offering people a way out of the matrix: Education. Much like other people and ideas on this list, Mathematics is advocating change. The powerful, overall hopeful message rings as true today as it did when the song first dropped in 1999. 

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Day Two - 9th Wonder

I didn't really listen to Hip-Hop when I was younger, I was more into Rap music. There's a lot of contention as to what constitutes Hip Hop and what constitutes Rap. For me, I was more into 50 Cent, Eminem, Biggie, those kind of guys. It wasn't until I was a lot older that I really started to listen to Hip-Hop and even later when I discovered 9th Wonder. I remember finding one of his collections on YouTube and nodding my head along to the beats, thinking "Ah yeah, this is cold". I did some research, I watched 9th Wonder in interviews; I also watched him making beats - it was clear that this was a true master at work. His ability to listen to a sample, picking the parts that will combine most effectively with the beat, is what makes him a true virtuoso. 

9th's creativity inspired me to make music of my own, I was fascinated with the process, likening it to writing with regard to how free I felt I could be. 9th Wonder is second on my list of black people and ideas that have inspired me, mostly because not a week goes by where I don't put one of his albums on, bumping his tunes whilst taking a walk somewhere. 9th Wonder's humble demeanour is coupled with a fierce love for the genre he works in. He is a learned scholar of Hip-Hop, lecturing in the subject at Universities across the US. Listening to 9th Wonder is not just a musical experience, it's an opportunity to discover more about Hip-Hop culture.

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Black people and ideas that shaped me - Day one: bell hooks

Reading bell hooks has been a labour of love for me. I don't consider myself to be an intellectual type that can understand and dissect great works on the first try. For me, it takes a few goes at reading for the material to really hit home. The first time I read bell hooks, it went over my head, by quite some distance. I remember looking at an essay about Madonna called "Power to the Pussy". At first, I thought it might be a love letter to someone who I thought was a feminist icon - how I was wrong. "Embodying the highest expression of capitalist patriarchal pornographic power, Madonna emerges in Sex as the penultimate sexual voyeur." hooks goes onto remind us that what we are looking at is a construction, a sexual stage. 

As is common with hooks' work, she asks the questions only a true critical thinker can ask; Why has the stage been set in this way? Whose voice is being elevated? Whose is being silenced? In the case of Madonna, she plays the role of capitalist patriarch, giving us a lens through which to view homosexuality and homosexual sex, which is "re-inscribed as a trope within the cultural narrative of patriarchal pornographic sexual hedonism. If all this sounds a bit too heavy for you, don't worry, it's 11:00AM and already my brain is knackered from all this critical thinking. 

The reason bell hooks is the first on my list of black people and ideas that have shaped me is that now more than ever, the critical eye that hooks writes with is vital in cutting through the fluff and fake news of today's times. If you look hard enough, you can find a category you belong to that is being oppressed by the dominant patriarchal culture; perhaps you are a woman, perhaps you are black, perhaps you are an effeminate bloke who would rather paint all day than chase women. The fact that we are all oppressed in some manner does not negate the validity of the individual stories, in fact, it serves to bolster their importance. Now, more than ever, we need to listen to one another's experiences. We need to humble ourselves in front of people. I have been guilty of being too headstrong in some of my recent encounters. I think this was because after an experience I had recently, I was temporarily hardened and was not able to create from a place of love. That isn't to discount any of the writing I've done over the past couple of weeks, however, what's important for me is to consolidate what happened and realise that there are lessons in everything. bell hooks (and more specifically her critical thinking) is the first on my black people and ideas list for Black History Month. 

- Christian D Lindsay

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Murakami - how a Japanese author inspired my creative life

For me, growing up in a small town near London, we get the sort of cast-offs of London life. Our town has recently become viewed as a mini-London, with Reading’s transport links to the capital being highlighted as the major reason to live there. It's difficult when the place your from doesn't have an identity except for that which it can borrow from it's nearest neighbour, but I think that plays into this idea that to be a black man in the UK is to only exist in reference to what has been referred to as the white gaze. Your blackness is inherently tied into a sort of dichotomy between your identity as a British citizen and a proud black man. 

Where you come from is undoubtedly going to influence you, whether you decide to accept or reject the influences of your environment, you're still making a conscious choice whether or not to accept those things into your work. I read a lot when I was young, and I'm still inspired by amazing authors who had a flair for painting pictures with their words. Not every author's going to resonate with you, but some just seem to have an access key to the inner workings of your mind. Murakami was like that for me. The way his books read, the cadence of the writing mimicked the way I would internally dialogue. It was quite a strange experience when I first discovered his work. Here was a Japanese man, in his 70's, writing works that spoke to a then 18-year-old black kid in Britain. My friend introduced me to Norwegian Wood and I fell in love after the first paragraph. I wasn't sure why, but something about the work seemed to capture my interest and imagination. I could see everything that was happening on the page in my mind's eye, with clarity. That sort of engagement with a piece of work can bond the two of you together. Some books challenge your understanding, this wasn't quite what happened with Murakami- Instead, it gave me the courage to accept that there were minds like mine out there, and those minds had turned their attention to creating art. That excited and frustrated me, as I never had the patience to sit down and write about my experiences, nor did I think anyone would listen. 

What I love most about Murakami's writing is his sensitivity. As a man now in his 70's, it seems he still hasn't lost any of his sensitivity, as most people do. People stop being sensitive as they grow older because they think they've seen everything. They shut themselves off from certain things, their skin gets thicker and they start bumping into things because they no longer have that sensitivity.  But you simply can't think of it like that if you want to create, it's all about breaking down everything you've done into the next thing that's in front of you. It doesn't matter what you've done in the past, you're only as good as your last at-bat. For me, the worst thing one can do is to rest on their laurels, you get to a point where you think you can't do better than what you've done,  so you quit. You have to let go of everything you've done up to that point and tap into what you could create. But that's a slippery slope too, if you get too into what you could be creating, you won't create from the present moment. And that's the killer.

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how to combat racism (in a non-post-racial society)

This article is, in its essence, a guide for people who believe themselves to be "woke, intelligent individuals on how to challenge racism. This article is based on the premise that It is not nearly enough to say that you are against racism, but you must actively oppose it;  simply put, you can't just talk about it, you've got to be about it. In this article, we will look at the ways in which whiteness pervades all aspects of culture, as well as the ways in which to turn white privilege on its head and talk to white people about it (as a white person). The reason I believe it is important for white people who are "woke" to speak out in white spaces is that black voices are simply not being listened to. In cultural spaces black voices are often either excluded completely or included with the strict proviso that the attending black person must behave well (meaning not upset his fragile white colleagues). If one subverts the predominant narrative that black is inherently evil, it is met with resistance and "White rage". As Carol Anderson points out in her book "White rage - The unspoken truth of our racial divide", every movement for equal rights for people of colour has been met with anger, hostility and fierce opposition. This is what I was referring to when I mentioned a scarcity mindset, as if somehow black rights, or to love black people, means you can no longer have any love left over for white people.

1. Understanding your privilege

This section is fairly brief as it requires the reader to take matters into their own hands and do some reading. There will be a short reading list at the end of the article but don't be afraid to branch out. There are plenty of books on white privilege and reading a breadth of material on this subject will be useful not only as a tool to combat racism but as a tool to develop critical thinking. This may sound condescending but the main problem with racist thinking is that it is inherently (as Edward C Lawson put it) "Intellectual cowardice". Basing your arguments on pseudo-facts and anecdotal evidence is the beginning of bad reasoning and ultimately the demise of your respectability. What we need to understand is that our systems, our institutions, schools, hospitals, churches, are built on imperialism and racism. If it weren’t for England becoming the world’s premier slave trader, this country wouldn’t have the wealth it does. Britain was so heavily involved in the slave trade that in order to make abolition even a possibility, the British government had to take out a loan from the Bank of England to compensate the slave owners, the debt was so massive that it was only paid off in 2015. 

The reason we don't have a white history month is clear - Every month is white history month. Even the names of the months are references to white Roman leaders. The schools are a reflection of the dominant culture's narrative that places white Europeans as the norm and places people of colour as the other. In order to challenge and subvert these ideals, we must be willing to bear the brunt of angry, culturally displaced white people, who must now face the task of reimagining their identity in the modern world. Why this is necessary is clear to anyone with a basic understanding of history and the current state of affairs. For those that claim we live in a post-racial society, I would suggest you do one thing. Go to your Instagram or social media account and follow a couple of pro-black Instagram channels. Soon enough your feed will fill up with disturbing images of black men and women being killed by white police officers and other every day tragedies that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. 

2. Race in the workplace 

In order to address race in the workplace, we should start by looking over a case that is close to home for me.  My own story is one that highlights the propensity of both white men and women to use their respective privileges in order to maintain a status quo that places them as the saviour of the poor lost black boy.

A white woman I was seeing took offense to my comment that I would find it difficult to marry a white woman and have children with her because of the difference in experience. I also said that the way we might relate our experiences of the police, for example, would be different, also instilling a sense of black pride in a child is infinitely more powerful coming from a mother who has herself lived that experience. Several days later I received an email that was incredibly emotional and accused me of being racist. 

The problem with educating yourself on topics such as race is that once you begin speaking on the issue you are ostracised, often labeled as an “angry black man” or “Anti-White” or having a chip on your shoulder. Coming to know my own blackness has been a journey fraught with difficulty and resistance. What started as a difference in opinion was then escalated (by the woman in question) into a work issue. She called my boss after I refused to talk to her (A grossly inappropriate move) even though the two of them had met only a handful of times and were hardly ‘close’. What’s more troubling is that my employer took it upon himself to chastise my “behaviour” going on to call me “self-righteous” and “putting white people below me”.

“Pro-Black” is often appropriated for “Anti-White” and in this case, my willingness to express my view that it would be hard for a white woman to fully understand what it means to raise a mixed-race son was met with aggression, silencing, channel switching and outright denial. I believe that comparing race with gender can be problematic, but please bear with my example: (Speaking to my employer) X, if your partner came to you after doing research and said “X, I’ve been doing some reading and sometimes the things you say to me are not only hurtful, but I think that they are sexist and inappropriate.” Would you A) Thank her for her feedback and work on changing your behaviour. Or, B) Tell her that she’s being too aggressive and hurting his feelings? An intelligent and reasonable person would take the feedback and work on changing their behaviour.

I put my story of what happened along with a commentary on my personal Instagram story. According to my boss, explaining your views to people is a step too far. In an attempt to silence me he used emotional triggers, getting defensive, withdrawing from the conversation, using aggression to try to control the dialogue. Instead of having a fair and logical conversation, emotion was brought to the forefront with my boss angrily slamming drawers closed, acting in a hostile, petulant manner. Calling me “self-righteous” and “grandiose” for expressing my view is indicative of privilege that lives on through acts of omission. The bringing of race to the forefront of people’s consciousness makes people feel uncomfortable. This discomfort should not be met with aggression and a desire to control and dominate. 

3. How to challenge racism (Talking to white people in white spaces as a white person) 

If you consider yourself to be a white person who is “woke” it is your duty to talk to other white people about race. We cannot disect race without white people talking to other white people about their white privilege. In some contexts, you risk funny looks, snarky comments and even losing relationships. That’s what it costs to be "woke”. As we have already established, black voices are not being listened to by the majority of white people; we need smart, educated and enlightened white people like yourself to speak on these issues and to help the cause. When you hear someone make a racist joke, challenge it. When somebody says something that you know to be racially problematic, explain to them why it's not acceptable to say things like that. When your mum or dad, or brother or sister, or whoever bemoans that there is no white history month, educate them on the tyranny and colonial mindset that has repressed people of colour for several hundred years and why a celebration of black culture and history is necessary. 

Reading List: 

White Fragility - Robin Diangelo 

Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race - Reni Eddo Lodge

A small place - Jamaica Kincaid

Brit (ish) - Afua Hirsch

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race in the workplace.

When race is raised as problematic in the company of white people, it is problematic to the white people in the sense that it calls into question something rarely called to mind: one’s whiteness. This is something, as a white person, I never had to consider as a thing, I was “colour-blind”. For POC, race is something that has been a defining factor and is something that actively works against their personal development. In the above situation, the boss was exhibiting aggressive behaviour, whilst placing the responsibility for the resolution of said aggressive behaviour on the employee. The clear discomfort of a white person to the telling of such experiences demonstrates the internalisation of the conversation, as opposed to attempting a logical and calm conversation about race. In situations where whiteness is brought to the fore, it is ignored for what it really is and immediately internalised as a personal attack. Whiteness is a construct that permeates every level of society structurally, and its roots are so deep it often goes by unnoticed to the average white person. Because one’s own race is irrelevant to white people, in the sense that we have rarely been hindered by the reception of one’s race by the mechanisms of state and society. It is taken to be a personal characteristic as opposed to a societal, economic, historical, and political construct.  It does not take away from your positive attributes to admit that you are inherently racist, to admit such is an acknowledgment that the society we live in is engineered to serve those who were in power at the inception of such apparatuses of government and markets: predominantly white men.

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Pierre Bourdieu / The Art Vandelay Prank 

Scott and Khloe demonstrated that the work of art itself is not the means by which value is gained; value must be distributed by the functioning field of agents which operate within a sphere that “recognise” value already.