{"id":24759,"date":"2018-11-03T14:57:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-03T14:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=24759"},"modified":"2018-11-03T14:57:01","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T14:57:01","slug":"black-and-proud-for-a-reason-not-just-for-a-season-these-are-the-people-putting-black-voices-at-the-forefront-all-year-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/black-and-proud-for-a-reason-not-just-for-a-season-these-are-the-people-putting-black-voices-at-the-forefront-all-year-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Black and proud for a reason, not just for a season: These are the people putting black voices at the forefront all year round"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Alas, another Black History Month has come to an end! October promises 31 days of recognition for Britain\u2019s Black communities and their contributions and every year it increasingly feels like a cheap consolation for the fact that those very communities, the issues facing them as well as their triumphs, are largely ignored the rest of the time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ja_8uAXFLdg&#038;w=560&#038;h=315]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to promote black voices in the media and give airtime to black faces. The people working hard to ensure our stories are on the agenda and important dialogues around race in this country are being had throughout the year deserve recognition beyond the month of October, as do the aspects of our communities that we hold dearest.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a list of some exciting black journalists and creatives who have made big moves in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>Alex Reads, Raifa and Derek Owusu<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_24803\" style=\"width: 750px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24803\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24803\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2018\/11\/MostlyLit_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"755\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-24803\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Credit: ayibamagazine.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Hosts of award winning podcast \u2018Mostly Lit\u2019, these three young members of the African diaspora are shaking up the literature scene, one episode at a time. Their podcast focuses on books and pop culture but covers everything from mental health to the struggle of post-grad job hunting. Their following has been growing exponentially since it began in 2016 and that\u2019s because the message of the podcast- that anyone can and should be a reader, regardless of your cultural background, is an extremely pertinent one. Follow them on Twitter @mostlylitpod and listen to the podcast wherever you usually get your podcasts.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">***New Episode Alert***<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Winter Reads [Part 2]: Shiny Suit Black Women, Memes and 2019 goals\u2019<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/moWj9y9wds\">https:\/\/t.co\/moWj9y9wds<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/books?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#books<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/bookscast?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#bookscast<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/literature?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#literature<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/popculture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#popculture<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/podcasts?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#podcasts<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/podsincolor?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#podsincolor<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mostly Lit (@mostlylit) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mostlylit\/status\/1069518908661600258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">3 December 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>Dami Olonisakin<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Oloni really just frees the realness &amp; promotes safety as well as consent, whilst also providing humour &amp; entertainment. I actually love her lol<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 tans\ud83d\udc8e (@tanyanataliexo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tanyanataliexo\/status\/1071400320511733762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">8 December 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dami is a sex and relationships blogger who also co-hosts \u2018Laid Bare\u2019 podcast. She is one of very few black women operating in this sector and she works hard to break down the taboos around sex that exist in Britain\u2019s Afro-Caribbean communities. These taboos have meant that many black women are either ashamed or afraid of their sexuality and to see a fellow black woman writing and speaking so openly about these issues is truly liberating (plus she\u2019s hilarious). You can follow her on Twitter @Oloni and listen to Laid Bare on Soundcloud.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_28820\" style=\"width: 611px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28820\" class=\"wp-image-28820 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2018\/11\/Screen-Shot-2018-12-09-at-02.27.24.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"601\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-28820\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Dami Olanisakin via Instagram<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>Kelechi Okafor<\/h4>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I don\u2019t see why marginalised communities have to be able to \u201ctake a joke\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like I know you\u2019re withstanding all this fuck shit but let me just make jokes about the dangerous place you\u2019ve been confined to in society.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kelechi Okafor (@kelechnekoff) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kelechnekoff\/status\/1071215868175151105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">8 December 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Actress, twerk and pole dance instructor, podcast host and self-confessed \u2018baby girl\u2019- what doesn\u2019t Ms Okafor do? Her voice is always one of the loudest on my timeline as she\u2019s constantly calling out and exposing racist bigotry happening in this country and all over the world. Her podcast, \u2018Say Your Mind\u2019 has an entire section dedicated to appointing somebody who has been racist, sexist, bigoted or just generally ignorant online or in the media, a straw with which they can (in Kelechi\u2019s words) \u201cSuck their mum\u201d- if that\u2019s not the perfect way to shed light on injustice I don\u2019t know what is! Follow Kelechi @Kelechnekoff on Twitter and listen to her podcast wherever you usually get your podcasts.<\/p>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>Tobi Oredien<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_24804\" style=\"width: 838px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24804\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24804\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2018\/11\/TOBI-OREDIEN.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"828\" height=\"552\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-24804\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Credit: Mark Harrison for Stylist magazine<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/africa-on-the-square-2018\/\">See also: Africa on the Square 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tobi recognised how underserved black women are by the mainstream magazine industry and as a black female journalist, how hard it was for her to get work writing about anything other than explicitly \u2018black issues\u2019- so she took a shot at those two birds with one stone and that stone was Black Ballad. Black Ballad is an online magazine built by black women, for a black female audience.\u00a0 There is a huge shortage of content we can look to that represents us in a truly authentic way, making Tobi\u2019s work with Black Ballad nothing short of revolutionary! Follow her on twitter @IamTobiOredein or subscribe to Blackballad.co.uk<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">It\u2019s been 2 years since we said &#8220;White women&#8217;s media cares more about \ud83e\udd51 than \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffd\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffe\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udfff&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mainstream media still don&#8217;t hire us as much as they should<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Black Ballad has paid dozens of \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffd\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffe\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udfff writers in \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7, to create 100s of articles for hundreds of thousands of readers <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VkEGHYiW2h\">https:\/\/t.co\/VkEGHYiW2h<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Black Ballad (@BlackBalladUK) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BlackBalladUK\/status\/1065606007815110659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">22 November 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Words: Memuna Konteh | Subbing by\u00a0Maria Campuzano<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Photo credit: Armando Moreschi on flickr<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alas, another Black History Month has come to an end! October promises 31 days of recognition for Britain\u2019s Black communities and their contributions and every year it increasingly feels like a cheap consolation for the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":24802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[149,52,75,87,115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-travel","category-featured","category-investigations","category-magazines","category-specials"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}