Tea at Four - Why Christie doesn't celebrate Black History Month...

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

It's Black History Month! So this week on Tea At Four, Christie takes over to tell us why she DOESN'T celebrate.The theme of this year's BHM is 'reclaiming the narrative', so Christie dives into her past to tell us how and why she can reclaim the narrative within her own life. She talks about what she was taught at school versus her Gen Z siblings, how she struggled with her identity growing up, and why people shouldn't put themselves in a box.Please comment and tell us how you're celebrating Black History this month, and share any recommendations for films, books, theatre etc!

Hi guys, welcome back to TF4. My name's Christy and this is the podcast where we talk all things that normally stay in the group chat. You may be wondering where's Lauren, where's Billie, but today is a very special episode because we're talking all things Black History Month! But I don't celebrate it and we're about to get into the reasons why. get into the reasons why so first and foremost happy black history month to those that do celebrate it but your girl here it's a it's a no it's a no for me it's it's a big no and don't get me wrong i'm not being against it it's just that i feel the way i grew up and learned about black history was not inspiring, was not empowering. And it was very overwhelming. Yeah. So I do feel like back in school days, lessons were usually about, you know, the slave trade or about negativity.

It gave me it gave me basically trauma, I would like to say. I would like to say but um just in a way that you spend your whole curriculum literally learning on like you know Henry VIII for Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks um you know Margaret, Margaret Thatcher yeah it's Margaret, yeah Margaret Thatcher in school and then October comes and it's just like that one month that you've got to cram a whole bunch of like you know learnings of like black culture and black history but I think what I feel like I missed out on and why I feel like I stand by not celebrating it is there was never an emphasis on black British history um it was always about you know America the American dream like you know i feel like the uk is america's little sister always hiding behind like we don't know what's second in command

whereas with black history month you see that the the big faces martin luther king malcolm x rosa parks um always being taught in schools and then talking about the slave trade as well nothing about you know things that resonate with me living in the UK so I do feel like that is one of the reasons why I was just like I don't know why we should celebrate black history is quite trauma reliving just because you're a little girl sitting in a classroom hearing about these you know like difficult situations people were you know displaced from their families brought to like a brought to the UK brought to different parts of the world um so hearing that and obviously they are black people like myself it doesn't scream motivation it actually makes you just kind of like feel as if

you are in their place and then you kind of question I used to question myself a lot um thinking that what what would I do would I have survived if I was in their shoes so I do feel like the history that we were taught back then especially as being a young child in in school was very difficult to swallow it felt as if I had something stuck in my throat whereas now if I compare it to what my nieces my nephews are learning in schools it's so much more positive they have great examples out there and you're more inspired to be what you hear and what you see whereas back then yeah we had you know the the very few role models on TV, you know, doing their thing for like young black kids and children to kind of inspire to, but it wasn't a lot. I thought a lot of guys in my class were like, you know,

when I grow up, I want to be a footballer. I feel like for me, as a young black girl, it was either I want to be a hairdresser or I want to be a presenter or someone that's like works in tv for instance I need to give my flowers to Angelica Bell because honestly um that is someone that has truly inspired the person I am today in regards to seeing something that you want to aspire to be I do feel like back then when she was presenting shows on the CBBC like 50 50 in exchange for the young black girl within me it was like wow I can also be on tv wow I can

you know lead these amazing shows I can entertain like the masses and it was just lovely to see so I wish we were taught more of that in school not the slave trade not the you know we we were i want to say tortured but we went through that through through hell and hearing that every single year for the six years that in school keep having to like replay that moment every october was traumatic honestly traumatic so i do feel like, yeah, for me personally, I don't celebrate it for my own personal reasons, but I can appreciate the reasoning behind it, the beauty of understanding your culture

because it's actually part of your identity. So this year, this is somebody that doesn't celebrate Black History Month, but she did her research, guys. So this year's theme um for 2024 is all about reclaiming the narrative and it's so funny because i didn't even know there were themes i just thought you know black history month comes and we celebrate it and you know it goes on again so there's actually themes every single year and this year's theme is reclaiming the narrative and what reclaiming the narrative means to me honestly

it was something that I had to sit down and ponder and think about and actually kind of ask myself like yeah let's let's have a moment of honesty here Christy like let's delve deep into it how how I see myself reclaiming the narrative in my own life. I've had a roller coaster of trying to identify myself in society in regards to my hair. So obviously right now my hair is nicely slicked, but I have beautiful Afro hair and living or growing up in a society where Afro hair was seen to be unkept, untidy and not suitable for the workplace. I used to battle constantly when it came to like, you know, applying for jobs and going to interviews because I just didn't want to give that wrong impression. Like I really wanted the job and I didn't want to give that wrong impression. like I really wanted the job and I didn't want to give that wrong impression so I feel like where I'm reclaiming the narrative now is that I am being confident in the way that I present myself if I my hair wants to be out it can be out if I want it slicked it will be slicked

but also it's the fact that looking back I held myself back from applying for certain jobs for instance like I wouldn't go for anything corporate, because obviously corporate has a certain look, a certain, you know, feel about it. You've got to look and present yourself in a certain way. And it kind of did push me into the trajectory to kind of apply for, like, more creative roles, roles where, you know, you're more, like, behind the camera,

not face on. And it's crazy that I think that because as a child I really did want to be a teacher if not a presenter I wanted to be a teacher or like teaching a school in the university but I just didn't see people that resembled like me in those places in those spaces which was actually quite sad because I think I could have been quite a cool teacher like my my students would love me like we would have so much jokes in the class i do feel like that negative stereotype was super hard and i think it's super hard for a lot of young girls as well and what obviously i don't blame my parents but you know when you're you're

growing you've grown up in a society where they've gone through so much hardships and they don't want that on you so their fears and their insecurities they put that on you so obviously your parents will be like no make sure your hair's presentable so that's another like generation holding back another generation so how i'm reclaiming the narrative for myself this year moving forward is understanding yes there is they might yes there might be a stereotype but i don't i don't have to stand for it i can be my own person i can be unapologetically me i can wear my hair out i can you know show out for myself and obviously for the generations behind me for my nieces for my nephews and i'm congolese right and to the world if you were if i was to ask somebody oh where you from oh congo and they didn't know where congo was if they were to search it um

congo is one of the top four poorest um countries in the world right and what's so crazy about that i is that for the for a country that's the most for a country that's the poorest in the world we are the richest in resources we are the reasons why we have iPhones for like cameras um hydropower so it's one of them ones where if you were to like read that and kind of think that okay cool this is what my country's about this is absolutely me you will hold yourself back well more than just what it said out there and i do feel like reclaiming the narrative is changing the perspective of people changing the perspective but also teaching people at the same time because i can't be ignorant and be like oh yeah say for instance johnny you're from south america so you you do this or you you know you speak spanish or

you did it no i feel like stereotypes should be broken and should be challenged and challenging the way that is teaching and helping people to learn instead of like causing a rebellion and conflict between between people if that makes sense um so yeah i do feel like my parents have always also done such a great job in reclaiming the narrative at home because at home I speak French, it's my first language and they've always kind of like taught us about, you know, back home, our values, our language, our food and just the greatness about our country instead of what you see on the news, what you hear on the news and what you yourself would search and find online so reclaiming the narrative is literally just is about being confident in yourself being confident in the person you are in the world in the person that you are with in any and in any space whether

that be at work in your friendship groups is literally reclaiming the narrative and not and let and not letting anyone put you in a box describe you in a way that is not you if that makes sense so yeah i'm definitely down and i i'm definitely here for the the theme of this year i feel like it's very touching and it will make a lot of people think about what they have been one hiding or what they have not been confident in claiming back why put yourself in a box claiming back why put yourself in a box you know why put yourself in a box stand out be you and be confident in yourself because at the end of the day i do feel like when you fall into the traps of stereotypes you shy away from the

real you um so my younger days oh yeah i definitely did feel as if I did shy away from who I was internally and kind of molded myself into the Western world and their imagery of what a person is meant to be. So if I was to go back, the old me maybe would have been a lecturer in all the top unis. I could have been a lawyer or um I don't know someone that's more corporate but I'm I'm happy of where I am right now and I do feel like the fact that I'm here now sharing this story is that it's also empowering because it's like you know what you defeated the purpose of you've got to look a certain type of way and now you're standing sitting talking to you beautiful people on tf, on, you know, subjects that mean the world to me

and hopefully will give you guys a little bit of gems to go home with. In my culture, we have, we are basically known for being the fashion giants in Africa. If you search something online called sapologie, where the guys and the girls wear these flamboyant bright colored suits is absolutely like it's crazy it's wild it's in your face it's loud so a lot of the

time when you meet people you meet a congolese person you're thinking yeah that person you know it's loud it's bright but i do feel like in the midst of that stereotype and that description we're all about community having family values you know we are people people people people we love people we are people people so it's yeah we are people people that is something that I I'm not taught at school or like for instance I know other cultures have their own you know descriptions but what what's what's their heritage what's their heritage like what is their culture like so I do feel like black history is also how you know your own cultural influences have influenced the person you are today but also the society that you live in now um so yeah we are great flamboyant people

I myself I would say I'm flamboyant in the way of personality we're very sociable we're very loving and we just like to see people being happy um so yeah I feel like that is that is that is me that is the congolese side of me don't worry you won't see me out or on the podcast wearing anything flamboyant like the sapologies but yeah i'm here for it definitely here for it so what do you think is something that you would go back and tell yourself when you were younger growing up now see guys this this podcast they like to put me in the same in a space of emotions like you guys love it I think something I would tell my younger self is to stand up for yourself more um speak more in like rooms where

you are inspired I do feel like younger Christy was so like overwhelmed by certain situations that she was in in regards to like you know opportunities but never wanted to be the person that was that spoke too much or was too outspoken and I do feel like having that kind of drive of like you know asking the questions that you always wanted to ask or getting to know like information or like talking to people I feel like I would have prepared myself for the world and the space that I'm in right now I do feel like sometimes in the back of my head, there's always that person talking. That's like, OK, cool. Calm down now. Don't talk now. Or like, just hold up. Wait. Whereas if you have that drive within you, don't be afraid to go accelerate.

Do not be afraid to accelerate. And I think I think that's one thing I will tell younger Christy. Like my parents always tell me, like, you actually need to calm down. You don't talk. Don't ask many questions don't talk too much but i do feel like if they allowed younger christy to accelerate talk a lot um the knowledge that i would have had but also the environments that i would have been in and the conversations and the friendships i would have built will still be with me right now if that makes sense yeah that i think that's something i will i would say speak speak your truth sis ask the question be curious it's nice i know your girl said that she doesn't celebrate black history month but i do celebrate history and history comes with learning

so from now and onwards and throughout the year i do a ton of different things that I would love to recommend that you guys should also check out and do. So there's things like Black Eats London, which is a directory for all black owned businesses. festival street food have workshops like food bags a whole bunch of like stores that you can immerse yourself in different like cultures and heritage and that happens every end of each month they used to be in Hackney guys and it used to be so amazing because I would just skip there but now they're in South London Woolwich which I personally I do need to go because I haven't been in a while so there are exhibitions at the Tate Modern, but also if you go to your local, you know, Oxford Street and just walk down the road,

there are like exhibitions on like shops, shop fronts that you can literally see and explore. Reading a lot of books, going to see theatres and plays. Shifters was a very very amazing play that was put on on the at the duke of york by benedict lombo yes she's congolese so big up her because that means i could have been a writer in my past time but it's fine yeah shift this is about two best friends that are basically lovers but they're not lovers and they keep missing each other at different stages of their lives so the typical you know young young love story um that was absolutely amazing to watch at the theaters there's so much more out there like i didn't know

that well i did know there were black writers but there's so much great quality work out there so if you log on to the national theater type it away book yourself a theater a play and go and watch it and enjoy during black history month but also i do feel like every day is a learning curve like i was today years old when i found out that walter toll i think it's walter toll right there walterull was the first black professional footballer in the UK who also served as a soldier in World War I and that is absolutely crazy because he actually paid for Tottenham where I do feel like he should have played for Arsenal but that's a story for another day but I do feel like learning new things every day about you know your heritage black history black culture is absolutely amazing and it kind of just you know

inspire you to be like raw there are people that we have not heard of or seen that basically did so much before for our time that we are standing here now and we are celebrating and also um just check in online like i was even i even saw the other day 2e had the first black um the first black um flight crew that were all black and i think that's absolutely amazing i would love to fly one day and bump into like a you know a black air hostess or black pilot that is crazy so the fact that we are out there in space is doing great stuff is amazing and i do feel like this is a black air hostess or black pilot that is crazy so the fact that we are out there in space is doing great stuff is amazing and I do feel like this is a black glory that we should have been taught in school and I just do hope that moving forward it's not just limited to

one month it's something that it's throughout the years we're talking and touching on the great things that black british people have contributed to society and how we can inspire the next generation and the next generation and the next generation to come to continue to strive for what they want have big dreams have big goals and you know continue to build this diverse community that we have in London and big up the mayor the mayor what's his name um I should know this Sadiq Khan I just have to big him up because I was also today years old when I found out that there's an event that happens every September called Black on the Square where Trafalgar Square gets transformed into a big stage where there's stalls, events, workshops, and performances. And it's just basically a celebration of Black culture.

And again, a way of reclaiming the narrative, showing that we are artists, we are amazing, we are inspiring, and we are helping to build the society, helping to build and support the society that we have here in London. So, yeah, I do feel like as long as you are learning every day about your own culture, Black British culture, whether that is American culture as well, instead of just limiting ourselves to one month, which is at the end of the year and it's cold, guys, it's freezing. one month which is at the end of the year and it's cold guys it's freezing i feel like black history should be taught all throughout the year of us just having conversations with everyday people learning about history teaching somebody something new about your own heritage and your own culture

because learning comes from hearing and every day we hear beautiful stuff of how we have contributed to society so guys don't just limit to october let's celebrate black history month every single day yeah yeah before i go off um yeah so i hope you guys have you know taken some nuggets on that please do not come at me for not celebrating i am i do celebrate in my heart in my own way but we will be back or i myself will be back with billy and lauren for another exciting episode of t out for so make sure you guys like comment and subscribe if you have any questions dilemmas please do send them to t at four at jungle creations.com if you have any recommendations

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