An Anecdote From Lemn Sissay
as we were discussing this someone put in "lemn has the same trouble". "oh does he, who does he know in a wheelchair?" was the general response.
"oh no,its not that it's cos he's black"
i think we all spent a minute in shocked silence at that. ill just repeat it so you dont have to go back to read it.
taxi drivers will not stop for young black men. and please do bear in mind that lemn is not particularly big or imposing, he has short dark hair nothing too intimidating and he does not dress particularly smart or particularly scruffy. in other words there is nothing about his appearance that is particularly startling,unless of course you dont like black people.
lemn did an experiment while he was writing something dark a while ago. i remembered him telling me about it now someone brought it up basically he went and stood flagging taxis down on oxford road(busiest road in europe that isnt a motorway or dual carriageway for your information) it took him twenty minutes and six taxis driving past him before he said to anna our belgian technician who is white that she should have a go while he stood behind a bus stop.
first taxi comes up pulls in and waits for her to get in.she turns round to lemn and her words were
"im just so sorry lemn, this isnt even my country and i am just so sorry"
so there we go. taxi drivers are either intimidated by young black males or simply do not want them in their cab. perhaps someone might be able to think of a reason why and enlighten me.
we might be living in a liberal society, things might be getting better but largely they are still fucking shit. and i keep forgetting until i have days like this.
some suggestions for you.
when you are at work, uni, school, in a pub where-ever just have a look around to see how a wheelchair user would get by in this environment. contact was one of the first buildings in england to be built as an entirely accesible building. our facilities are still piss poor. we are one of the leading equal opportunities employers in the arts and we are shit at providing for people with disabilities. all i ask is that you do what you can and make what suggestions you think will be taken on board because the only real way to find out how suitable your building is is when someone in a wheelchair comes and uses it every day and by then if its shit, its too late.
another suggestion. play equal opportunities bingo. look at your staff and try to find
a black person
an asian person
a mixed race person
a person with a disability
there isnt a great deal you can do about the inherant racism in this country. its something that is so institutionalised that we again we can only do what we can but maybe just noticing that there is still work to be done is a start
"oh no,its not that it's cos he's black"
i think we all spent a minute in shocked silence at that. ill just repeat it so you dont have to go back to read it.
taxi drivers will not stop for young black men. and please do bear in mind that lemn is not particularly big or imposing, he has short dark hair nothing too intimidating and he does not dress particularly smart or particularly scruffy. in other words there is nothing about his appearance that is particularly startling,unless of course you dont like black people.
lemn did an experiment while he was writing something dark a while ago. i remembered him telling me about it now someone brought it up basically he went and stood flagging taxis down on oxford road(busiest road in europe that isnt a motorway or dual carriageway for your information) it took him twenty minutes and six taxis driving past him before he said to anna our belgian technician who is white that she should have a go while he stood behind a bus stop.
first taxi comes up pulls in and waits for her to get in.she turns round to lemn and her words were
"im just so sorry lemn, this isnt even my country and i am just so sorry"
so there we go. taxi drivers are either intimidated by young black males or simply do not want them in their cab. perhaps someone might be able to think of a reason why and enlighten me.
we might be living in a liberal society, things might be getting better but largely they are still fucking shit. and i keep forgetting until i have days like this.
some suggestions for you.
when you are at work, uni, school, in a pub where-ever just have a look around to see how a wheelchair user would get by in this environment. contact was one of the first buildings in england to be built as an entirely accesible building. our facilities are still piss poor. we are one of the leading equal opportunities employers in the arts and we are shit at providing for people with disabilities. all i ask is that you do what you can and make what suggestions you think will be taken on board because the only real way to find out how suitable your building is is when someone in a wheelchair comes and uses it every day and by then if its shit, its too late.
another suggestion. play equal opportunities bingo. look at your staff and try to find
a black person
an asian person
a mixed race person
a person with a disability
there isnt a great deal you can do about the inherant racism in this country. its something that is so institutionalised that we again we can only do what we can but maybe just noticing that there is still work to be done is a start