Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
Ask Ell #ASKELL - Decolonise Your Mind | My Black Experience

Decolonise Your Mind | My Black Experience

Ask Ell #ASKELL

06/14/20 • 49 min

plus icon
Not bookmarked icon
Share icon

I wanted to explore my experiences as a black man, growing up in the UK. And I have done so through reading history and attending therapy to ease the pain or at least better understand certain experiences. If you’re called a monkey or a nigger enough times, it certainly leaves a mark somewhere.

But until now, when having this conversation which is rarely ever instigated by myself, I am met with eyes that so quickly glaze over. Why would your eyes glaze over when someone speaks about something which affects them so greatly? And such a great source of pain?

I had one admittance of truth whilst having this conversation with a patient the other day

“I feel guilty” they said

This small admittance of truth is in my opinion such a great hint as to what lies under the tip of the iceberg. This guilt. This sense of ownership of the sins of the past is experienced by many British and American people of European descent, knowingly or unknowingly.

What a farce. What a fallacy. Guilty for what? During the height of the British Empire, 25% of Britains didn’t even have enough food to maintain a consistent calorie intake. Diarrhea and pneumonia were common causes of death. You wouldn’t have lived long enough to die from your first heart attack. If you were middle class you might live to 45

My family were on the plantations with scars on their backs as whips tore into their flesh. If of English heritage, your family were likely in the workhouses in more favourable conditions yet still not great.

But your ancestors were surely closer to mine than they were to the aristocracy.

The greatest lie that the working class have ever been told is that "as long as you’re better than a nigger or an immigrant, you are somebody”. So you look down on the people who are trying to make something better for themselves rather than look to banish the hand so firmly placed in your chest, stopping you from progressing any further.

You look to the imaginary ball and chain around your ankle rather than the very real knife in your throat.

So let’s now leave this fallacy behind that black progress takes from white progress. Let’s stop seeing black and white as being on this spectrum of push and pull where if one side wins, one side loses. Let’s accept that we’re different yet equal and let’s explore my experiences of being black and British for the hope of helping both of us rid ourselves from a legacy of inequality that has been perpetrated from the top down.

--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elliottreid/message

06/14/20 • 49 min

plus icon
Not bookmarked icon
Share icon

Episode Comments

0.0

out of 5

Star filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey IconStar filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey IconStar filled grey Icon
Star filled grey Icon

No ratings yet

Star iconStar iconStar iconStar iconStar icon

eg., What part of this podcast did you like? Ask a question to the host or other listeners...

Post

Generate a badge

Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode

Select type & size
Open dropdown icon
share badge image

<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/ask-ell-askell-103769/decolonise-your-mind-my-black-experience-5425901"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to decolonise your mind | my black experience on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>

Copy