BRADFORD BASED JERRY CRAWFORD DELIVERS AN IMPRESSIVE SPEECH AT BLACK HISTORY CELEBRATIONS, UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT
The amazing Bradford based Jerry Crawford , The Founder of Collective Impact was one of THE KEY SPEAKERS at OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS AT THE UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT on Friday the 28th of October 2022.
Mr Jerry Crawford was at The House of Parliament to represent the positive stories and voices of Bradford, West Yorkshire. He spoke about life growing up in Bradford and his journey and mission to improve the spirit of community cohesion and inclusion in the amazing city.
Also watch this space for the video footage of his talk .
Other people representing Bradford on the day where Bradford Born Key Speaker , Anthony Peltier who delivered an impressive speech, Bradford based Sinead Campbell (an amazing performing artist ) and Mr Yusef of Bradford Telegraph and Argus
Our BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS took place at THE UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT for the 8TH YEAR.
The performing artists on the day were Bradford based Sinead Campbell and London based Da Sweetnezz.
Both artists thrilled the audience with their amazing voices, adding a profound spark and raw energy to OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS that many people will remember for a very long time.
WATCCH THIS SPACE for footage of their amazing performances on our youtube channel
THE AMAZING MR ISO BASSEY , THE FOUNDER OF CROSS RIVER MOVEMENT WAS ONE OF THE KEY SPEAKERS AT OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS AT THE UK HOUSE OF PARLIEMENT ON FRIDAY THE 28TH OF OCTOBER 2022.
HIS INSPIRATIONAL SPEECH ON THE DAY CAN BE FOUND BELOW
I’m delighted to be here today to celebrate Black History Month in this great edifice of the UK House of Parliament. I am not a historian so I suspect that I was not invited with the expectation that I would give an exposition on black history. I would be woefully inadequate if such a demand were placed upon me. Thankfully, the theme of this year’s Black History Month is “Sharing journeys”. Now journeys create stories, and since everyone has been on a journey, everyone should have a story or two to tell. So I’ll tell a story.
Sometime around 1777 a baby girl was born somewhere in Western Africa. Her true name remains unknown so for the purpose of this story I shall call her Miss. X. Miss. X grew up in a family where she was loved and nurtured. She had a home, a culture, a language.
Records indicate that sometime in the early 1800s Miss. X arrived the Island of Jamaica on a ship. Now, in 1800s we know that Africans did not take transatlantic holidays. Transatlantic movement of Africans was forced on them for the economic benefit of rich white countries. We call this the transatlantic slave trade. We also know that only the toughest of the tough survived these transatlantic journeys, so we can safely assume that Miss. X was a fighter, a young lady with an indomitable spirit. I wish I could tell you more about Miss. X’s life after she arrived Jamaica, but sadly I can’t. The book, “ROOTS” by Alex Haley and other similar books should help fill in gaps in terms of what her experience would have been.
I do know however that Miss. X found herself in what is known today as the parish of Hanover in Jamaica where she was given the name FELITIA THELWELL. In 1805 she had a son born into slavery named Thomas Nugent. In 1854 Thomas Nugent had a daughter who was named Sarah Ann Nugent. In 1893 Sarah Ann Nugent gave birth to a son named Martin Luther Dickson. In 1935 Martin Luther Dickson had a daughter named Clara Lorina Dickson. Clara Lorina Dickson gave birth to yours truly, she was my mother and Miss. X (or Felitia Thelwell as she came to be known) my great-great-great grandmother.
My parents met in Hull here in England while my father was studying to become a lawyer and my mother was training to become a nurse. They married in 1958 and both returned to Nigeria where they begun a family.
I suspect that my story will not be too different from those of my brothers and sisters who have either one or both parents from the Caribbean. I’m sure you will all agree with me that history over the last 500 years has been characterized by grave acts of inhumanity against black people. And even today black people continue to be marginalized and treated like second class citizens in most places around the world.
Whilst it is important for us to reflect on black history (and that is what today is about), it is arguably more important to plan for and figure out ways of shaping black future. If we don’t do this, we stand the risk of being trapped in an endless cycle of resentment and other negative emotions.
If we are to shape a bright black future, it may be wise to start by asking ourselves some pertinent questions.
Why for example would the UAE jail a black African woman for tweeting a video exposing the horrendous treatment she and other Africans were forced to endure at the Dubai International Airport? Why for example were African students fleeing Ukraine at the start of the war turned back at the Polish borders while white people arriving at the same time were allowed to cross the border? Peter Okweche the BBC journalist who visited Ukraine and Poland to investigate the treatment of African students said “I don’t want this part of the story to overshadow what’s happening in Ukraine. The Ukrainians are being bullied. But if in turn the Ukrainians are bullying a small group of people, I think that story should be told as well. Everybody’s suffering counts.”
Peter is right. Everybody’s suffering should count. But does it? The answer is NO. The sad reality of the world in which we live is that we as black people have the burden of having to earn the right to have our suffering count, the right to be treated with respect and dignity.
And this leads me to another question. Why are we saddled with this burden? Could it be because despite our huge resources, Africa is by far the poorest continent on the planet? Could it be because half the population of Africa live on less than $2 a day and lacks basic needs like nutrition, sanitation, and clean water. Could it be because the GDP of the whole of Africa is less than the GDP of the state of California. Could it have something to do with the fact that large sections of our landscapes have become conflict zones. Ladies and gentlemen, I could go on and on.
I do not for one moment excuse it when black people are treated any differently from other people. That’s racial discrimination and it is wrong, but could it be that a brighter future for black people may lie in channeling the emotions of mistreatment into a force for positive good in our families, communities and our home countries. The truth is that no matter how successful we are as individuals, when push comes to shove, like it did in Ukraine earlier this year, you are an ordinary black person and will be treated no differently than the world believes an ordinary black person deserves to be treated. So for me, the solution likes in the lifting of all black people around the world especially in Africa. In a book titled Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson summed up what I feel is a major problem in Africa “Developed countries have political and economic systems that are inclusive and offer opportunities for most people to create wealth, however most developing economies have political and economic systems that are extractive. Those in the ruling class have a strong hold on political power, and use it to channel economic resources to benefit themselves and those close to them.” Sadly that’s the story of Nigeria. That’s the story of my home state, Cross River State.
How do we break these cycles? How can we improve the quality of leadership and governance especially in our African countries. I am part of an organization called The Cross River Movement which has a focus on improving governance in my home state, Cross River State in Nigeria. We provide a platform for citizens to interact with politicians and ask them questions. It is a lot of hard work. Do we expect to see results overnight? Certainly not. I’m reminded of the forest man of India (Jadav Molai Payeng) who was told by an agricultural scientist “Plant trees and they will take care of us”. He went on to plant a tree a day and by so doing turned 550 acres of baren land into a lush green forest with a variety of birds and animals. If one man can make such a difference, imagine what will happen if we all embraced a single vision to improve leadership and governance in our communities and home countries. We can start the ripples of change that create the waves that shift the tides.
In closing let me remind you of the words of the agricultural scientist who said “Plant trees and they will take care of us”. To us here, I say “Plant good leadership and governance in Africa and they will take care of us”. Personally, this is something I feel I owe my children and future generations. But also something I feel I equally owe to my great-great-great grandmother and the millions of others like her who were so brutally taken away from their homes. We must bequeath not only to the future generations, but also to the legacy of those who’ve gone before us, a place where they would all be proud to call home.
The soul of any community lives in the heart of its people.
IT WAS A PROFOUND PLEASURE TO ORGANISE THE BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS AT THE UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE 8TH YEAR ON FRIDAY THE 28TH OF OCTOBER 2022
A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR AMAZING KEY SPEAKERS.
MR Roland Butcher – First Black Cricketer to represent England
MR Iso Bassey – Founder of the Cross River Movement
Special thanks to our media partners for this event, Black owned MBI Visuals managed by Malakai Israel,. Yusef Alam of Telegraph and Argus Newspapers and Steve Mulindwa
OUR ROLE MODEL OF THE WEEK IS ROLE MODEL OF THE WEEK IS MALAKAI ISRAEL – FOUNDER OF MBI VISUALS.
INFORMATION ABOUT HIM CAN BE FOUNDE BELOW . CONGRATULATIONS TO MALAKAI ISRAEL
ABOUT THE AMAZING MALAKAI ISRAEL
Founder of an award winning video marketing agency based in the West Midlands. I have 14 years experience in online marketing and art design. I also have 13 years of experience as a videographer.
My video productions have been featured on large Internet youtube channels: VEVO, SBTV & LINKUP TV, with a combined subscribership of 22 million plus.
I was tasked by Tim Watchorne, Jason Maza (Brotherhood, Bullet Proof, Shifty, Anuva Hood) & David Proud (BBC/EastEnders) to create a music score for a Panasonic G3 Promotional Video. Was great fun working on it!
I was also part of a film production team, providing original soundtracks and voice over, for a feature length film entitled “Last Flight to Abuja”, with a star cast including hollywood actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim. The film went on to win multiple awards, including Best Sound.
The film grossed 8.35 Million Nara in its opening weekend with an attendance of 9,638 and went ahead to gross 24 Million Nara beating Hollywood movies such as The Amazing Spider-Man, Think Like a Man, The Avengers and Madagascar 3.
It was released in many cities, including Lagos and London, where it was rated at 4 stars by Odeon cinemas. Also receiving over 2 million views on Ibaka TV’s YouTube Channel.
So far the film has grossed over 57 Million Nara making it one of the best selling movies in Africa and is currently streaming on Netflix.
As production manager I also helped to create a short film entitled “Second Wind” Directed by Andrew Webber (AW Broadcast). My duties were fulfilled, finding lead actress Emma Jeng of ‘Coronation Street’ (ITV), Emmerdale Farm (ITV) ‘Doctors’ (BBC) and Hollyoaks (Channel 4), filming b-roll, organising sets, securing locations, finding and securing props & supporting actors.
The film went on to be showcased at Portobello Film Festival in London, The Kingston Film festival in Jamaica, The Movie Video & Screen Awards and The Black International Film Festival. Backed by The British Arts Council, “Second Wind” was nominated for multiple awards. I did this for free, as I valued the experience over the money.
I also worked on a music video for talented Nigerian artist Priscilla Nwachi. I was first assistant director and camera operator on this project entitled “Just Like You”. Directed by Andrew Webber. This video was broadcasted on two African TV stations.
At the moment I’m looking to work with educational organisations, creating professional video production and video marketing.
MBI VISUALS BASED IN WOLVERHAMPTON WILL BE ONE OF OUR MEDIA PARTNERS AT BLACK HISTORY- UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT
MBI Visuals Ltd is a family run business. Founded in 2018, Malakai had a feasible vision to build a legacy for his children. Having already gained 13 years experience in content creation and Marketing, it just made perfect sense to pursue his passion, to put everything into forming & building his own company. With a previous background of creating on and offline marketing strategies, visualising marketing campaigns and bringing them to fruition, designing content, improving SEO, updating websites and blogs, creating mailing lists, writing press releases and producing video adverts, successful entrepreneurs would agree that mindset, self education, determination and experience always wins! With exciting prospects, passion & drive that cannot be hidden. With new Co-Founder Chris on board, Malakai is determined to steer MBI visuals in the right direction. MBI is a forward thinking B2B video marketing agency, providing top notch video production and e-commerce marketing solutions to local and national businesses. MBI Visuals is a Registered supplier to Cheshire West and Chester Council.
BRADFORD BASED SINEAD CAMPBELL WILL BE PERFORMING AT OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS AT THE UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT
INFORMATION ABOUT SINEAD CAN BE FOUND BELOW
Bradford’s Sinead Campbell is a singer-songwriter, creative producer and Music Instigator with Bradford Producing Hub. She supports the music scene within the district, curates music events and runs Bradford Buskival.
She is a soul singer who delivers smooth RnB basslines & propulsive rhythms. She seeks to inspire confidence in others and stands for connectedness. She has shared the stage with the likes of Basement Jaxx, Aswad and Arrested development, has support from BBC Introducing amongst others and is just getting started.
Jennifer is an independent unsigned published song writer and artist, who for the past 17 years + has been writing, recording and releasing her own music under the artist name Da Sweetnezz.
Jennifer has written and recorded her own songs for various labels, and continues to build her own catalogue as a writer and performer. Over the years Jennifer has acquired a wide knowledge of the use of social media and digital marketing, and also due to her many years as an experienced and working performing artist Jennifer has built up superb networking and communication skills. Jennifer’s love for music, and performance has really brought her to some amazing places and introduced her to a wide range of people within the music industry which have helped to shape her carer as an artist.
Jennifer is also an accomplished and experienced operations management professional and administrator bringing over 6 years´ experience managing large and small offices, with advanced abilities in team building and workflow improvements. Jennifer is innovative and analytical with excellent project management, and communication skills. Jennifer has some experience working with numerous branches, including payroll and human resources. She is comfortable facilitating an efficient workflow and improving the communication between multiple departments, with an expert-level proficiency using software such as Microsoft Office, and Kindersoft.
BRADFORD BORN ANTHONY PELTIER WILL BE A KEY SPEAKER AT OUR BLACK HISTORY EVENT AT UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT.
INFORMATION ABOUT MR ANTHONY PELTIER CAN BE FOUND BELOW
BRADFORD BORN ANTHONY PELTIER WILL BE A KEY SPEAKER AT OUR BLACK HISTORY CELEBRATIONS DUE TO TAKE PLACE THIS MONTH.
INFORMATION ABOUT ANTHONY CAN BE FOUND BELOW
Born and raised in Buttershaw in the 1960’s, Anthony has returned to Bradford to be part of the change needed to prevent the knife crime epidemic, which continues to affect many cities across the United Kingdom. Anthony is an accomplished Headteacher with 42 years experience in education with the last 20 years in school leadership.
Anthony has had four successful primary headships both in London and Birmingham. His Executive Headship of four secondary alternative provisions (PRUs) in Southeast London was the most challenging and rewarding. By building trust with disengaged young people and establishing collaborative working practices with statutory settings, Anthony created learning opportunities for some of Southwark’s permanently excluded young people who were at risk of crime and youth violence.
Anthony is an OFSTED-trained inspector, having achieved his NPQSI (National Professional Qualification for School Inspectors) in 2015. After receiving the Pride of Britain Award in 2002 for saving the life of a youth who had been stabbed in the heart, Anthony re-joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 2004. While policing the streets of London on evenings and weekends, he continued his work in education as a Headteacher because he believes working in these two integral public sector positions is the best place to work towards changing the mind-sets of young people.
Anthony is a Sociapreneur and change agent. As well as working to secure a cultural organisational change in all public sector and private sector organisations and institutions, Anthony uses his time to grow agents of change, young people who will develop the skills and attributes to influence and champion social change in their communities and networks. Anthony also continues to support Headteachers in his role as a School Improvement Advisor.
Anthony understands the plight of our black boys in schools. The achievement gap, the risk of Permanent exclusion, and the growing issues around mental health are all things he feels can be addressed through a collaborative working approach with parents, schools, pupils, and statutory agencies.
He believes people need to be honest about their responsibilities and be open to the fact that we cannot continue to lay all the blame on institutions and organisations for the failure of our black boys.
Anthony is the founder of Innovate for Growrh CIC, a social uplift company working towards creating change in our communities.
In 2020 when Anthony learned of Lynne Baird, founder of the Daniel Baird Foundation, and her work to have Bleed Control Kits in communities across the country, Anthony started his campaign to ensure all 32 London Councils had a Bleed Control strategy in place to support their communities. To date, 14 London councils have a Bleed Control Kit strategy in place. Later that year while working with a secondary PRU, Anthony spoke with a group of young people about why they thought so many young people choose to carry knives. He was astounded by the ridiculous reasons they gave. Sadly Anthony has also spoken with young people who have been victims of knife violence and perpetrators of knife crime. He found that none of the young people understood the implications of stabbing a human being. Their lack of understanding of the human body and the consequences of using a knife was clear. The next youth change education program was born – Bleed Control Education. Anthony continues to seek funders to support this vital program for schools and young people across the country.
to my amazing sister 
TONY TOKUNBO ETEKA FERNANDEZ 