Necessary Rebels

Our guest on this episode is Sarah Bentley, the founder of Made In Hackney - a vegan community cookery school and charity. We discuss the food poverty crisis in the UK, what can be done about it and how they’ve embedded anti-racism work in the charity. If you’d like to support or make a donation to Made In Hackney to help them continue to provide free community meals during the COVID-19 crisis, please visit their website at: www.madeinhackney.org 

Links to information mentioned in this episode: 

https://www.trusselltrust.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/SoH-Interim-Report-Final-2.pdf

http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/marmot-review-10-years-on 

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/new-evidence-of-child-food-insecurity-in-the-uk/

https://endchildfoodpoverty.org

https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l126.full

https://www.bigissue.com/latest/food-poverty-in-the-uk-the-causes-figures-and-solutions/

https://www.bigissue.com/latest/covid-19-crisis-is-driving-food-poverty-says-government-watchdog/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35873541 

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/feb/16/food-poverty-millions-children-uk-not-enough-to-eat https://cpag.org.uk/news-blogs/news-listings/children-growing-poverty-endure-hunger-and-shame

Charlotte Williams, founder of  SevenSix Agency, a go-to voice for brands  on inclusive marketing, talks about the  lack of representation in marketing and how an increasingly diverse audience is demanding a shift towards more representative advertising. She also touches on what sparked the viral video she created after the tragic murder of George Floyd.

You can find Charlotte here. 

Olivia Vincenti joins us again to discuss being our ‘authentic selves’ whilst dealing with the hurts of oppression. We would like to pre-warn our audience that this episode includes content related to racial trauma that some listeners may find distressing. 

If you have any concerns about the way you are feeling, please see your General Practitioner or Doctor. 

The Mind website has further advice on seeking help for mental health concerns: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/seeking-help-for-a-mental-health-problem/where-to-start/  

Black Minds Matter offer free therapy, funded by the organisation for up to 12 sessions (Tel: 0207 720 9110 or email [email protected])

For further information on re-evaluation and peer counselling please visit: https://www.co-counseling.org

Today’s episode features an interview with Josephine Namusisi-Riley. We discuss her ‘White Allies’ campaign and how racial discrimination shows up in schools. 
Josephine is interested in hearing from White people who want to share their experiences of living with White privilege and/or witnessing racism. If you would like to share your experiences anonymously, please see Josephine’s survey link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18EdMCglN4zoZ7FMExHFe5vyndy13jyxKQaMBvBRlAcM/viewform?gxids=7628&edit_requested=true 

Other links: 

Josephine’s blog for the Royal Society of Arts - An invitation to White people to be active allies: 

https://www.thersa.org/comment/2020/10/an-invitation-to-white-people-to-be-active-allies

White privilege - a guide for parents, by the children’s charity Bernardo’s: 

https://www.barnardos.org.uk/blog/white-privilege-guide-for-parents 

Getting vaccinated is one of many steps you can take to protect yourself and others from COVID-19, but are they the only way to end the pandemic?

On this episode we talk with  Amran Mohamed and Adama Saccoh who will help us understand the Covid-19 vaccine.

Amran Mohamed is a research project manager at an NHS trust responsible for an NIHR/UKRI-funded COVID-19 and ethnicity community intervention study.

Adama Saccoh is a cardiovascular imaging research assistant.  Check out her blog "thecatalystinme" where she talks about the pandemic.

You can find the WHO here. 

Over 10 million people have received a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK, which gives us a lot of information about the safety of these vaccines. However,  there are growing concerns about the rates of vaccine hesitancy in some black and minority ethnic communities. We invited Dr. Simi, Clinical Director at Titan Primary Care Network, to discuss vaccine hesitancy,  as well as health inequalities in black and ethnic minority communities, and to provide information about the vaccines and address concerns that people have raised. 

We are joined by Aiwan Obinyan, a friend and producer of our podcast, who also has some specific questions about the vaccines. 

You can find Dr. Simi here.

Articles and websites mentioned can be found below.
NHS England
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
BMJ
JCVI

Beverley Bryan was actively involved with the Black Panther Movement in Great Britain from 1970 to 1973. She was a founding member of the Brixton Black Women's Group and the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descendant.  She also co-wrote with two other members of her association, Stella Dadzie and Suzanne Scafe, the Heart of the Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain which was published 35 years ago. Here she talks about the book and the daily realities she and other black women faced personally and politically that are still alive today. 

There is a 30% shortfall in ethnic minority representation amongst Members of Parliament in the UK. In this episode we discuss breaking the mould with local Labour Councillor, Janet Campbell. 

The UK Parliament report ‘Ethnic diversity in politics and public life Research Briefing’ (2020), can be found here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01156/

‘Operation Black Vote’ information was taken from: https://www.obv.org.uk 

Please note the following corrections to this episode: 
Janet is the Cabinet Member for families, health and social care in Croydon (not the ‘Cabinet Minister’). 
The story concerning an individual losing their job is not related to Croydon Council. 

Colourism, the idea that light-skinned minorities are given more privilege than their darker-skinned peers. This type of bias dates back to slavery. It's part of white supremacy, or holding up whiteness over other backgrounds. It has deep historical implications in black communities from beauty standards to professional opportunities to how families treat one another. 

Two sisters talk to us about their personal experiences and how colourism has impacted their lives and the lives of their loved ones - Caroline Chinakwe,  who is a London based, Nigerian-born self-taught, mixed-media artist portraying the complexities of melanin heavy black women and men, and her sister Isabella Chinakwe, London born Business Finance Manager for Qatar Airways.  Although colourism cannot be eradicated in a day, we believe sharing testimonies can aid in the healing process and connect us together.

You can find Caroline's website here and her instagram here. 

In our Series 1 finale we interview Jade - a professional working at a large media and broadcasting company, and a passionate advocate of workplace equality and transformative change. Jade tells us about her role in promoting media inclusivity, having uncomfortable workplace conversations and encouraging diversity at the table.

If you’d like to support us to make Series 2 of this podcast, please head to our crowdfunding page to donate via the link below, and follow us on Instagram @necessary_rebels_pod 

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/necessary-rebels?utm_id=2&utm_term=Z9A3MA2Yy

Book mention in this episode: Diversify, by June Sarpong (2017). 

Thank you for listening!