An Afternoon with George the Poet: Refreshingly honest conversation about Empire

The conversation at Willesden Green Library (Credit:Omar Al-Badri)

 

Guest post by  Brent Resident, Farida James

 

George the Poet, world renowned spoken word artist, award-winning podcast host and author was in conversation with Nadia Khan from Golden Threads about his autobiography ‘Track Record: Me, Music and the War on Blackness’ 

 

The event took place at Willesden Green Library on Saturday 26 October to a packed room of community members and was part of the Becoming Brent project - the centenary moment of the 1924 British Empire Exhibition. Becoming Brent promises to decolonise the story of Empire, enable difficult conversations and explore how Empire has impacted the diverse communities in Brent.

 

George’s book speaks to these lofty aims perfectly. As a child of parents with Ugandan heritage, he grew up on St Raphael’s Estate which is nestled away behind the A406 in Neasden. In the book, George writes about his own story which is heavily centred in St Raph’s, his music career and the war on Blackness, and how it has directly impacted him and people of Afro-descended heritage.

 

The conversation was open and honest, discussing themes from the book of which Empire is an important thread. In 2019, George rejected the Member of British Empire (MBE) honour. In the book he said: “The choice was already made for me by the wording of this ‘honour’. I wasn’t necessarily anti-monarchy at this time, but I wasn’t about to co-sign the whole idea of empire by attaching those words to my name.” When asked about what feelings the British Empire conjured up for him, he said: “The British Empire was a system of extraction. In this country, there is such a hubris, there’s such an arrogance, there’s such a dismissal and denial of that history.”

 

The legacy of Empire continues to adversely impact people from the former colonies, and George mentions how Empire has a direct link to his estate, St Raph’s. The Empire stripped its colonies of wealth and resources, and when independence was granted, there was imposed debt, which kept these newly created nations tied to Empire indefinitely. This led to large-scale immigration to the west. In the book, George says: “Eventually, the threat of Black and Brown self-determination was crushed under the weight of crippling debt, imposed by the West on the rest. This debt caused much of the migration that led to St Raphael’s Estate becoming home to thousands of people from Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, Pakistan, and even a few Ugandans.”

 

As well as an insight into George’s life and music career, the book addresses the history of the war on Blackness. George explores the history of Empire, and the exploitation of Africa and its resources. He also talks about racist mainstream narratives, miseducation of the masses as well as the presence of racial superiority and injustice. George spoke about labels and identities like ‘BAME’* being imposed on Black people as if there was not a rich heritage and diversity amongst those of African heritage. The conversation went on to labels being imposed rather than genuine expressions of identity, and George said: “I came to realise that the racial categories we were put in were dreamt up by a group of elites once upon a time.” And he mentioned that when he went back to his parent’s home of Uganda, no such labels existed and that these narrow identities were very much part and parcel of the Empire’s tactic of control.

 

George’s book demonstrates that not much progress has been made in terms of equality and the fight against racism. The discussion centred around the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion industry which is designed to increase awareness and representation from people of global majority backgrounds. George said: “So I’m very suspicious of the DEI industry, of representation politics. Because a lot of the time it’s just tokenism.”

 

The attempts to diversify faces on TV, film and in politics has done nothing to stop systemic oppression, or the increasing racist rhetoric which contributed to the Far Right riots this summer. When speaking about the riots which targeted Muslims, immigrants and people of global majority backgrounds, George mentioned that: “The rhetoric started at the top, at the level of politicians, media pundits, public so-called intellectuals who would normalise the most racist talking points.”

 

Despite reaching the pinnacles of the UK’s higher education establishment at Cambridge University where he studies for his degree in Politics, Psychology and Sociology, George said he learned nothing about Blackness. In his book he mentioned that Cambridge was white privilege at its core. George had to ironically re-educate himself on history after he left university. That is why he states that self-education is important, away from mainstream prescribed reading lists, and George very much is an advocate for education. 

 

 

 

At the event, George’s mum said: “I have this memory of bringing George here (Willesden Green Library), quite literally in his pram and I pushed it all the way down from Gladstone Park. Money was so tight so we had to walk. The two little girls here today- I am so impressed- that is the way to go. Bring them to events like this. Bring them to the library. Me and George’s dad in our wildest dream didn’t know what it would lead to - we just knew that  children needed books and that children needed knowledge. We were not rich, but we brought them to the library. When George rang me to invite me to this event, he and I were quite emotional as this library was very much part of him growing up and our experience. I just want to give a shout out to this library.”

 

The book also goes into detail about how the music industry has become part of the war on Blackness as it exploits Black talent to control the voices of Black artists. George talks about his direct experience of being manipulated by the system and having his work controlled to suit a racist agenda.

 

The feedback from the event was really positive, and the community applauded the opportunity to hear from a respected local champion who has been consistent with his fight against injustice and oppression. The comments included:

 

“Thank you very much George and Nadia, It’s been really interesting informative and inspiring”

“Everybody appreciates George being here, you are fantastic.”

 

“Thank you so much for the event today both of you. Just one quick question, if we want to knowmore about our history and we are confused - how do I de-programme myself? Can you recommend one book that I can go and borrow from Willesden Library and start reading”

“I follow you on your socials and I applaud you for being unapologetically you and speaking your truth. Well done. Especially being a black man and black men’s voices aren’t heard.

“Hi George - it’s been amazing to watch your story.”

“How can we dismantle this view that blackness looks one way”?

 

“A powerful and amazing event…looking forward to more interviews”

 

“Thank you Nadia and George for an afternoon of inspiration and conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to you both and can’t stop telling my nearest and dearest to look out for more like it.”

 

“Great event. George was fantastic. Left me with lots of thoughts and hopes for the future.”

The key takeaways were about the importance of education and not buying into mainstream narratives that are designed to push false truths, maintain an unjust power dynamic and oppress those of global majority backgrounds. The need to decolonise our minds from hundreds of years of oppression must be at the forefront of the fight, with an emphasis on telling our own stories as well as continuous learning from the cradle to the grave. George also gave an important message that Black History Month is bigger than just one month, and when he is invited to corporate events to give a five-minute speech to show that progress is being made, he finds it quite offensive.

 

You can purchase Track Record at mainstream book retailers.

 

*BAME – Black and Minority Ethnic