Man, as a British person, I can’t help but shake my head in bewilderment at the simply awful race problems that they have in the US of A. I don’t mean to sound judgmental, but considering that we don’t have that sort of trouble over here in the UK, you can only come to the logical impression that the UK is simply a more liberally developed country than the US. More liberally developed than white America, I mean, all you African-Americans are obviously being treated horribly over there, it looks ghastly. George Floyd, isn’t it? Awful business, truly horrid. #BlackLivesMatter, ammi right? If only Obama was still president, I do so wish that I was able to vote for him. I’d have voted for him in the next three elections if they’d let me. Quite, quite, quite. You have my sympathies for that ghastly country. You’re welcome to come and romp in England’s green fields with me. So long as you don’t outstay your six month visit Visa Britain is full, I should stress, and we simply can’t take anymore people with skin as dark as yours. Oops, did I say that last part out loud?
You know why I think is the reason we’ve ended up a slightly more civilised society? You know why I don’t think any of us really even see colour? The reason why I don’t even notice if my cleaner, my personal driver, or my pool cleaner is black? Actually… I think my personal driver might be Indian or Pakistani, or maybe one of those Muslim ones… But whatever they are I don’t notice! And I believe the reasons for this go back to us ending slavery first! Yes, you Americans might go on about your Abraham Lincolns and your ’12 Years a Slave’ and your Sylvester Magees and your thirteenth amendments, but to be honest, us progressive Brits are chuckling behind our china tea cup! 1865, you say? Oh, how cute! Erm, cough, erm, cough cough, eighteen motherfucking thirty three, bitches! Golly, that must mean that the UK is a whole thirty two years more progressive than the colonies across the pond! And, to be honest my American chums, the UK is so much more progressive now, that I doubt you’ll ever catch up! And I believe your hick, backward country is still debating reparations, but I can see that the United Kingdom of Great Britain already paid some sort of reparations when they passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, I assume that all the slaves were fairy remunerated and that’s why the UK is free of racism now? I don’t mean to talk down at you, but when both my high horse and my ivory tower are this high, it’s difficult not to.
At any moment the Queen shall bе coming around wearing more jewеllery to tell me about the fact of blackness
And how anti-blackness has colonised the domains of truth Every domain, every property of the queen
So when I say the truth won’t do you no good here
You will understand the hostile environment of breathing, walking talking, dreaming against the law
Here’s a thought though: how about we don’t give anyone ‘credit’ for abolishing slavery? We don’t celebrate Adolf Hitler as the great emancipator because he eventually stopped exterminating people in death camps. The 7th October isn’t celebrated here in the UK as the day that Myra Hindley and Ian Brady stopped murdering children in 1965. When I was at my friend’s birthday party last Friday, was I acknowledged as a brave crusader for human rights when I stopped taking a shit on the floor of The Harvester restaurant? No. If anything, everyone there seemed to wait until after I’d stopped before they started physically accosting me. I guess they were all afraid of streaks. Generally, we don’t give much credit for people for stopping inhumane behaviour that they started.
The celebration of all these great ’emancipators’ is actually gross. It implicitly suggests that slavery was just a fact of live, like thinking of ending it was like inventing the light bulb. That slavery was just the natural state of things, that Africans and people of African descent were just natural slaves, and that the wonderful white men who first came up the concept of not enslaving these people had thought of an idea as novel as revolutionary as putting hats on bunny rabbits. When, in reality, the concept of putting hats on bunny rabbits should be celebrated to a far bigger degree. Because that’s just adorable. The ending of (chattel) slavery (in parts) isn’t looked upon as the (attempted) end of a pretty uniquely dark period in human history, but something to be celebrated. Like, hey, black people, we’ve all decided that you can be (kinda) considered as human beings now! Congrats, you made the team! This is more a thank you for all the hard work you put in to codify white supremacy, thanks guys!
And. Do not. Give the fucking UK. Credit. For basically anything.
The entire British Empire was horrific colonisation powered by the slave trade. Colonisation supported by slavery!! It’s like a Russian doll of racial exploitation! And some white British people might claim it’s a far better place for black people in the UK, but that’s only because all of our social news feeds are dominated by shit happening in the USA, and our mainstream papers aren’t super concerned with reporting on race relations in this country. And, yeah, less black people here get shot by the police, but that’s only because we don’t have many guns, which honestly does do a lot of help, I don’t know if you Americans have ever considered it. Also, as soon as you give police guns in this country they shoot a black guy, so it must just be a natural reflex or summat. Black people are still seven times more likely than white people to die after police restraint in this country, which is weird, innit? I’m not going to sit here – as a pasty, fat, middle aged, fat (did I say that already?), white guy – and try and convince you that racism very much still exists in this country. Either you know already, or you’re a white person whose literally never had a conversation with anyone who isn’t white, and if the latter you kind of need more reflection than a dumb blog post full of poop jokes is going to afford you.
And, yes, the UK did pay reparations when the country abolished slavery. Reparations to the slave owners. Of £20 million. In 1835 money, so around £17 billion in today’s money. Because obviously these poor slave owners were going to be losing a major source of free labour! It’s only fair! This is how capitalism works: you can’t just take away somebody’s source of surplus value! The loan for this great bailout
would only be paid back in full in 2015. This was the biggest bailout that the UK government ever paid. Oh, until the 2008 banking crash of course, but that’s a whole different necessity of capitalism that we don’t have time to discuss here. We need to know exactly who these people financially compensated for their slavery were. We need to know who their descendants are. And we need to… I dunno, execute them? Mate, I’m just a dumb music blogger, I can’t tell you what to do.
St. Margaret’s Church
A place of worship sits, 1614 in the house of common evils (House of common evils)
(Where do they get all the money?)
(Where do they get all the money?)
Diamond jubilee (Where do they get all the money?)
1753, British Museum
(Eight million items, eight million objects)
They heard about the kingdoms of gold (They heard)
They heard about the books of mathematics, philosophy, and ritual
They heard about the rituals
They heard about the dances
They heard about the drums
They heard about the rhythms
They fashioned themselves like the Romans before them
Thieves disguised as explorers
The storm keeps raging (The storm keeps raging)
Falling down, falling down, falling down, falling down
Empires falling down, bells falling down
The storm keeps ragin
You know who isn’t just a dumb music blogger? Camae Ayewa AKA Moor Mother, that’s who.
Think: not one of the enslaved received a penny in the form of compensation. Think: two British prime ministers – William Ewart Gladstone, prime minister on four occasions between 1868 and 1894, and David Cameron 2010–2016, both of whose ancestors received ‘compensation’.
Man, that segway was smoooooooth…
Camae Ayewa is an American poet/artist, comin’ over ‘ere and reminding the UK of its horrific past. God, I hate it when foreigners blacksplain UK history to me…🙄
“I’m not removed from the UK. As an African, our story runs all through the UK. I’m just following the threads. Where we’ve been. What has happened to us. How have we overcome it. My government last name is Dennis. That’s English. You gotta look at your name. Where am I coming from? What does this mean? Who the hell is Dennis?”
‘The Great Bailout’ is an incredible work of art. A lot of it – most of it – could only be very loosely described as ‘music’, but instead expertly created aural atmospheres backing up Ayewa’s spoken word relating tales of Britain’s complicity – their starring role – in history’s greatest shame. In fact, a lot of it isn’t really enjoyable in the strictest sense, but it’s a remarkable experience. It’s not just an education in this horrific history, but the words ans woozy soundscapes often manage to put you in the mindset of those people enslaved. So, yeah, not always a lot of fun. But it’s a fucking trip. Ayewa unflinchingly dissects the horrors of the very foundation of the country of Britain, and creates something absolutely essential in a very different way to how the new Hinds album is essential.
Album Title as AI Image
I like this one. Reminds me of baibuts.
Necessary Evil 
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