Читать книгу No Win Race. A Story of Belonging, Britishness and Sport онлайн

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The reality for people of colour in Britain is that our skin tone is a barrier. It limits opportunities. Things have improved. But for all the success displayed on the field of play, black people remain the poor relations in British society. We are still over-represented in the criminal justice system, in unemployment, in mental health institutions, in school exclusions. We remain absent in positions of power, around decision-making tables, in government. The black athlete may often be triumphant, they may create an illusion that we make up a more significant percentage of the population, but some gross disparities still exist in Britain for black people.

For all our success on the playing field, it is still hard for me to use the word ‘we’ and ‘us’ when referring to my place of birth. Why? Because in so many British people’s eyes, we (black people) remain outsiders, visitors, not the ideal conception of Britishness or Englishness. As a friend once said to me, ‘I only feel English when I’m abroad.’ Another friend recently said to me, ‘The only time I’ve ever seen true diversity on television was during the coverage of the Grenfell disaster.’ So, while sport provides a remedy in the form of positive images of black people, does this also mask society’s deep-rooted rejection and ignorance of Black-Britishness? Can blackness and Britishness ever be compatible?