“The places that I've worked throughout my life, I've generally been the only Black person that has worked there and even in a place like Liverpool which is somewhat cosmopolitan, you don't see many Black people in customer facing positions within the city. It's so frustrating and in the places I've worked there are so many microaggressions from White colleagues that they seem just to get away with casual racism and it feels like most of the time as a Black person working in these places you just have to swallow it. Heaven forbid if you get angry or emotional about something going on or you will be labelled as aggressive. You do not want to be labelled as that angry Black man.
“In a music venue I worked in, there was a person that boasted about how he Blacked up for a party as Prince and because he was merely paying homage to his idol, it wasn’t offensive. This was said in front of my manager, to which he remained silent to the point of being apathetic to the whole conversation. I was so utterly frustrated by the whole situation that I posted about it on my Twitter account. Numerous people came forward and said to me ‘we've heard about his behaviour and all the stuff he used to get up to years ago’. I just don't get why they didn't say anything? There were so many other stories that got posted online, after mine, about this particular person’s conduct towards women and other inappropriate behaviour. The people he worked with and the venues he had dealings with must've known this – they just turned a blind eye. The reason being, in my opinion, he had influence and he brought in money for them.
“I worked in a retail store with two other Black people during that time. I'm somewhat more alternative in the way I dress and style myself and there was a White guy who was deeply into Black urban culture and I used to get the sly racist comments from him saying that he was Blacker than me because he was into Hip Hop and styled himself in a more 'Urban' fashion. It's totally frustrating because I know I could be justified in kicking off and being angry but because I'm in a majority White working space, no one's going to have your back at the end of the day, this proved to be the case with the Blackface comments. If I bring it up or make it an issue, then I'm the aggressor in the whole situation.
“All the things that have been happening in Lockdown such as the BLM Protests and the George Floyd murder, it's so important that it's happening in the age of social media. People aren't working – they haven't got other outside factors to take their minds off the movements going on in society. They are able to educate themselves on these things, but if they choose to ignore them then it's purely down to the fact that they don't care. If you are not taking the time out to educate yourself then you do not believe that Black Lives Matter.
“Black Lives Matter because we are just as human as everybody else. As far back as Black people can remember and looking back on our history it has been one of oppression, torment and generational trauma that goes with being Black. If something does not change soon, this cycle will perpetuate itself with our future generations. It is a scary thought, that for everything we've brought to the world, the fact we're still having to fight just to have a normal life is crazy.”
Jamel Burke - 27
