Dispute to come to a resolution that we think will be satisfactory to all we have achieved set and progress septum point of time more than a year ago and then things has slowed down and right now there are some movements that we hope that this will put and for this crisis because we see that we believe actually that gulf unity is very important for the security of the region for the stability of of that region and for for the sake of our people this need this crisis needs to end. Human Rights Groups are saying the refugees have been forced onto a remote bangladeshi island the government says the group of more than 1500 people will move to ease overcrowding in camps it says only those who are willing to move have gone more than a 1000000 rangar who fled neighboring me and housed in the camps to tend the chaldee has more from cox is bizarre. Finally the controversial relocation of rowing a reference to a remote coastal island a bastion charter has started out of 2500 listed rowing as it is 1642 rowing a refugees are on their way to this Remote Island by neville bath and now the government has come under severe criticism from local and International Human rights bodies as well as un despite all those the government is determined to go ahead and relocate at least 200000 growing refugees there in phases now we know all talking from the growing refugee camp as well as. 300 plus who were rescued from the world who are living in the violent most of them are not happy with the situation the prefer to stay in the bordering area with myanmar where they feel closer to home they can visit their extended families and they can help each other out now there is a lot of controversy a short list were made by the camp leader a lot of growing us told that they were enticed and forced into putting their name in there we cannot independently verify that now the government on its part says that facilities are good theres never base hospital at least 120 cluster of villages with good modern facilities despite all there is there are still a lot of controversy the government insists the concentration is a major problem in one area and it cites security reason to moving this rowing us to disagreement island. The un has voiced concern about the situation for eritrea and refugees in ethiopia is to a great province it says some of the 100000 people sought ill fled can string the past month conflict if he and his government says its captured or killed most of the regions leaders. We continue to receive disturbing reports regarding the intrusion refugee camps in the region which remain in Community Called the new tunes of damages and destructions remain unknown until you reach them in a very for the information we hope that the recent exam agreement allows of. And then him you need to access to that sickly if you can and the us president elect joe biden is saying that figures showing job growth in the country slowed last month are evidence for a Coronavirus Relief program democrats republicans in congress have been unable to reach a deal on that the us is experiencing the deadliest 3 day stretch of its outbreak at the moment more than 200000 new cases were reported on thursday and just under 3000 deaths. The headlines this hour coming up next on aljazeera studio b. Unscripted theyll be another headline update after that in about 25 minutes. When you play for england i was never really going to be as accepted as my. Name was and why race is not an opinion when racism is an ideology thats fundamentally olds without Democratic Values you know if youre not upsetting people you dont seem to. Want out all i know. My name is and your honor and you care. Im the sporting director of Aston Villa Women Football Club i used to be a striker. And im also a media commentator. I have worked in human rights and development ive worked as a barrister a journalist an academic and a writer if always hard is the diagnoses of them employed in britain because we covered it my name is a for which. I grew up in london but my mothers family is originally from ghana i was born in nigeria but came to the u. K. As a baby and grew up in birmingham ive read any of those memoir about her passion for football since she was a young girl. She was at the top of her career as a successful striker when she was dropped from the England National team after speaking out against racism. Into a man play we dont 100 comes from their country after 11 years of playing i think it takes a lot of courage and determination to do that i know that africa has struggled. Has your life density because shes of mixed heritage i found my whole life wondering if this is really my country shes even moved to africa twice to connect with her culture shes also written amazing book about it so im curious to compare our personal experiences and our sense of belonging which. Africa is a part of both and me but we also british and black women so we have more than a few things in common but were actually quite different. Any other there were so many things in your book which i very personally related oh im so happy i loved it i loved it i thought it was so on earth and so revealing because i followed your career in real time and i thought i knew the story of what happened but actually i discovered there was so much that i didnt know him but the 1st thing i wanted to ask you about was the way you talk about identity and you use the phrase hyphenated identities to talk about your british nigerian background how you reconcile that relationship now because its obviously 2 very different lives that youve lived one in nigeria and one in burning away you grew up obviously writing the book is quite a reflective process so i really started to think about what how did i feel about myself when i was younger i was a popular kid you know i played football the boys loved me because i was running rings around them but actually it was a girl i was trying to be a boy the whole time there is the photo of you in your book with him that you know he was quite young like so happy to be i really think i want to the boy i was like that was just the biggest tomboy but actually really break that down i asked the boys to call me eddie i didnt want them to call me any which was my nigerian name and i actually love my nigerian name i love my name and you know but all of that i shut out for a long time and didnt actually want to explore and then theres all that stuff about actually when you play for england youre supposed to be as english as they come you know youre wearing the badge literally bar my names a narrow luko so i was never really going to be as accepted as my striker counterpart whose name was and why. And now im very much somebody that loves being a nigerian woman so the concept of hyphenated identity in my head was all about this constant balancing act that we have to do i love rich tea biscuits and lots of british stuff but i also love to draw for us. So we shouldnt read it we should embrace it or ive heard black british people doing such Creative Things with hyphens with but we often call ourselves black british british nigerian british command ive even heard someone refer to themselves as a 1st saxon which i thought rather like their creative but theres always this question should we need to hyphenate you know weve spent all our lives in britain you were playing for england and i think if you ask a lot of english people what is the ultimate representation or symbol of english and many of them would point to the Football Team i mean for me for me growing up that was an image of englishness and for me at the time when the england team was very white and england fans were very white and it was one of those things that made me feel excluded from the idea that i could be english and i think its no coincidence we often call ourselves british or black british if they were very rare to hear a person color say in describing themselves as english did you feel that this team has often represented quite a white idea of englishness was no longer going to be so much and because you are it and other but i am remember when youre playing football you know thats the beauty of football its kind of if youre talented youre in. And you dont think about you dont have to think about identity until you get a bit older and you realise if youre playing badly thats when media starts saying on nigerian born and they start becoming the other so when you do well your britain where when you die youre the nigerian you love the not doing so well youre kind of and thats the kind of dark side of sport and its not just exclusive to me its meant to in a measure oh so fast most famously stuck speaking about it you know. And he said when im winning work up some german when we lose and we do very badly im turkish reading your book i felt as if you really went on a journey where you started questioning things along the way but you were always very reserved in judgment and gave give people the benefit of the doubt. Way you describe things i think that speaks to my desperation in a way to just be accepted as being as footballers you just want to play football and that becomes a culture of just play football you know and so i used to dumb down my intelligence a lot and the questions that pop up obliged to ask or put the ball in the back of the net you know and it dates back to you know what i was saying earlier about just wanting to be one of the boys are you speak about it in your book you know at one point you wanted people to call you caroline but it like my middle name is caroline and i remember very clearly when i was 6 then i changed schools in my 6 year old mind i said to my friends this is a chance for a new start i am no longer going to start again were going to get a simple im carol i am you know i was literally trying to rebrand myself but why was that. I think that partly its an inherent issue if you dont look like either of your parents so my mother came to the u. K. From ghana when she was 12 and shes a black woman from majority Black Country and i think she had a particular racialized identity as youll know if youre african from an african country race is not your primary identify its your region or your religion or your Ethnic Group Language but everyones blacks not a thing and my father is why but i think as a small child you notice that you dont look like either of your parents and thats not necessarily a bad thing but it is just a thing and then in my case it was compounded by the fact that there werent any other people around the who looked like me and i remember told a story that parents when my sister was born shes 5 years younger than me the 1st thing i said when i saw who is that she looked like me. And that was the 1st time my parents realized that i wasnt expecting to ever see someone who was i thought that no one else did look like me because that was the environment i grew up in my father also has this immigration story his father was a jewish child refugee from germany but within a generation he dissimulated into britishness you know he married an english lady my grandmother i dont think anyone ever asked my father or their siblings his siblings growing up about you know his immigration status or what the impact of their immigration had been in britain or where he was really from but my mother because of my mothers heritage that people ask those very questions about me its that visible blackness that maniacal assumed really british you must have another story and my logic was well if its because of my mother that people treat me differently then if i go to my mothers country then ill ill solve all my problems are just going to garner and be going to and i live happily ever after and so it is a little bit of a shock to the system well the 1st thing that happened when i went and i thought i was going suddenly thin is that gun in school me which means white person in nigeria or you will i think all that is that interior. And i was horrified i was saying they dont understand in britain they said im black. Now im hurt and i dont know me why thats not theres nothing you can do about that and ive spent lots more time in gone i understand you know to a good man i represent. A european not bringing its not even so much about my mixed race heritage its more about my social conditioning and i have to acknowledge that and also theres a level of color privilege that comes out of a history of colonialism that there is privilege that people of european heritage get an african country so not to acknowledge that would be to benefit from that privilege or understanding what it means and the damage it still does but the other thing is that because in school i used to you know i went to predominantly white school and the girls that picked on me were actually black tobin and they used to say you know african butu in the state make up my big lips and pull my hair in and one of them is mixed race for pretty girl i used to think you know sometimes used to think life would be so much easier for i was mixed i dont want to be that and i dont want to do that just want to be in the middle you know and so there is that there is that sense of you know colorism and and you know we have it in other races too is a big emphasis on the color you know the actual color and the shades and where that ranks and i think there is still often a tendency to if theres an Advertising Campaign use a mixed race model someone of jewel heritage with lighter skin and curly hair and it is almost the acceptable face the blackness but the 1st one to garner just going back to that story the other thing that happened to me was that i said to my mother. I was black and i remember exactly what i meant because the immigration officials obviously were black theres a framed photo of the president on the wall he was black the police were black the Army Officers were black the pilots were black and my mother also said that was the 1st time shed realized that i did not live in a world. Where black people wore suits were in power were at the top on the bottom and i hadnt i didnt know i was missing that until i saw it you dont even realize how much you internalize the idea of what power looks like its still on usual to see somebody who is black in a position of real power i mean look weve never had a black Prime Minister weve never had a black judge in the Supreme Court theres only one black person in the c. 100 as a c. E. O. There has been so little progress compared to what i think many people expected but. At you know this is theres all these buzzwords about Diversity Inclusion but do you feel like diversity and inclusion has just become that deliberate attempts to try and please rather than actually it changing what we see in terms of power i do worry about that when you have one or 2 black people or people of color in the room but that hasnt been the cultural change that allows their voices to really be heard or theyre in such minority or or not a position of enough power to really challenge the status quo then it doesnt change the output it doesnt change the culture doesnt change the Decision Making and then to add insult to injury that person to be wheeled out if something goes wrong having one person in the room who may be put appreciates that nuance is not enough you need to have what would you know then is is the way to change it i think we need to be more radical in our approach and often ive seen this generation who are absolutely no nonsense i have to say and a lot more unapologetic in their approach just. Taking a different route starting up their own organizations and their own movements and really creating that Critical Mass of this generation they hold internet press conferences not just you know it is a positive linage of social media and Global Networks to organize to mobilize and really create campaigns that make change and i for 1 am so impressed by that and energized by yeah i mean us fanfic una lets find out what you guys yes any questions so my question relates to the scandal and to the caribbean people that have been deported and denied citizenship despite having lived in britain all of their lives but also to the conservative cabinet and in particular to the ethnic minority members whove done absolutely nothing to help so i just want to know is there a case for arguing that racism. And systemic disadvantage cant be much dismantled without 1st addressing issues of class i agree i think classes is a separate conversation from race ive been in situations where ive been the 1st to do 2 to do it and that is pressure in itself but then you get the expectation of all well what about us is that will give me a chance to you know figure out how going to change this 1st so its not easy but the agenda should always be to think about how you can open the door for others that look like you i dont think the wind rushing could have happened to people who were not both black and working class you know there are middle class people who could have been affected but they had the ability to hire lawyers or get professional advice to prevent them from being deported and this was really systematically targeted people who were excluded from those systems of power because of race and class but i think that the last concern. The government was particularly hostile as weve seen read to me there is nothing more profound than rounding up and deporting british people if you have told me that would have happened 10 years ago i dont know that i would have believed it its dystopian but i also think that black people we need to vote. We need to vote if we all voted it would be a lot harder for politicians to get away with this kind of behavior because we dont hold them to account where an expendable community to them we also have to take responsibility as well i have a wide range of friends and you know when you ask them a why did you vote a certain way or because storms he said f. Bomb is like thats not thats not enough for you to like educate yourself understand how is this going to affect me if i vote this way you know because theres also pressure to vote how your parents or grandparents voted no so i also think that theres a lot of conditioning in ethnic minority communities where its like we have to think this way we all of the this way no were much more powerful than that both of you guys within your own regard are considered to be role models to a lot of different people so how are you using both of your platforms to legitimize. You know the things that are sort of under represented by society in you know whether it be sport or whether it be race i take that responsibility so seriously i feel really strongly that its important to show a Younger Generation not just that you can get in the room but that you can get in the room and be authentic because i dont think theres any point in us getting in the room if were not going to be authentic when not going to be pushing for change and i often put myself in quite uncomfortable spaces where im saying things that the people around me dont want to hear and the reason im doing that is for my own the self or is for younger people looking at me because i know that we dont get change by doing the same things we have to be honest and we have to be honest even when everything is conspired to silence us but i also think we need to be strategic and we have to think what is power who actually is in power what are the avenues of control and authority influence and how can we start to shape our own destiny but it is a big responsibility and you feel so visible as well. Because there are fewer of us and the higher you go there are fewer of us and people to look at you and i remember the people i looked up to when i was young the huge influence they had on me and there were so few people to look up to which meant they meant the more to me you know one of things i really admire about is is what you just said the uncomfortable spaces that you put yourself in throughout my career ive had the opportunity to be the 1st a lot and i could have been like no like i just had to stay in my lane you know 4 walls and kick goals like i like i do stay in my comfort zone but nothing really changes need to inspire people if you do that you might do but not really. So ive been really inspired by the opportunity to be the 1st. Because i think its only then that you can really open the door. And i take it very seriously you know when i am the 1st i have to be the most person here and as a woman the reality is you probably have to work doubly as hard as if you make a mistake the margin for error is very very particular in football where its can youre competing with men where its like why did i get that you know that that opportunity any say that you know i go into unconscious with spaces but one of the things i took most from your book it really touched me was the story where any playing football and shes the only girl and shes winning as you always seem to do just scoring a goal off to go off to go all. The dads the supporters of dads you have the boys on your own team for whom you are winning started being hostile and saying why she here get her off because they felt so frightened that you were beating their sons how hard must it be to continue to excel in the face of that kind of hostility instead of rewarding you for your talent actually punishing you about a very hard it was really hard because. As a kid you just want to be clapped up for doing well like you know for scoring goals then. But then i started to realize that human beings are very jealous so they want you to shine but not too much dont shine as much as my son. And to be honest i i went back home and i was i dont play football anymore its too stressful so for like a year i was like i want to play tennis and i play tennis and i started when the b. s like the williams sisters them because you know because they were like black women and it was like ok its easier to be them rather than be different all the time so it was hard because i didnt understand it i didnt get it what did i do wrong. Im a good footballer and i. But you know thats i think now i look back on that. Success comes with opposition you know if youre not upsetting people youre not saying anything you know. Oh i like the other day i went on an hour and a show as a football show called the debate and i made a mistake and there was so many people on social media law oh my gosh she doesnt know what shes talking about she just said mine united rather man city and no matter how well you do there will always be people that are like she doesnt have to be there she made a mistake just waiting to pounce. But they wont be talking about you if you werent there 1st the way i kind of try and look at it. Stronger. Now a lot of International Charities have come under a lot of criticism for harvey we present africans in their fund raising complains what is your view about what they can do to me to gape this and what is the role of black people globally to own their own narrative thats a really great question. Because actually one of the things ive tried to do through social media my own social media when i travel to africa is to show sides of africa that are just not represented in mainstream the beautiful sides. I was we said in ghana in a cry and i was a slag this is such an amazing place and i was shown the Art Galleries the music scene in the colonies scene. But of course there are you know there are sort of extreme poverty as well you know its about i think showing a whole list moralistic side of us both of africa and again africa can be broken down into so many different compartments as well i work with a charitable Charity Water and they actually deliberately dont show you know the images of poor african kids with flies around their faces this is they show Economic Empowerment in african villages they show strong women pairing in the water but i think one of global scale actually africa to the world is becoming a bit more of a positive conversation i think theres poverty everywhere and i dont think we should ever try and sanitize it you know there is poverty anyway its not our job to try and remember size it or hide it we should be very honest about the problems of poverty we face my issue with the narrative around British Charity it is of a few different elements on the one hand i think theres a context that is almost never present so for example britain draws out in untaxed profits more multiple times as much every year as it gives through International Aid and charity and so we talk about the content. Continent is a place of need and suffering and we dont talk about the extent to which it still makes british people rich every day and i feel that if you really care about suffering on the african continent then why are we not redistributing the wealth from these huge profits that keep the top one percent rich and that is something that i feel responsible charity should be addressing poverty while also putting it in its proper context and in that context has a history the history is empire where we betrayed africans as savage you know as as dehumanised and so when i see charities depicting african children without the same dignity as they depict british children i immediately see the weight of that history of children everywhere deserve their dignity to be protected so im not saying people shouldnt support African Charities i think we should support African Charities we should do it on the standing that the agents of change in africa always been africans africans have been building africa they continue to build africa in the face of adversity in the face of continued economic exploitation by countries like britain so its just about putting some honesty back into that narrative thank you for those questions. If you raise facts facts about the empire people to come hysterical they say you hate britain if you like dont like it here leave one of my frustrations right now with football is that i feel that were talking too much about race and nothings actually happening. To in kochi to a culture of knowledge openness simply relisten worldwide to reward merit and excellence and encourage creativity the sheikh ahmad award for translation and International Understanding was founded to promote translation and on the translators and acknowledged a road in strengthening the bones of friendship and cooperation between our of islamic and wild coaches. The. Oh i Maryam Namazie in london a quick look at the top stories gulf states appear to be mia resolution with cats are following the 3 a blockade saudi arabias foreign minister says all the nations involved opposed to finalizing an agreement to significant progress in the talks cata has been under an illegal line to see an ad block by saudi arabia bahrain the u. A. E. And egypt for 3 is the Foreign Ministers of catherine quite have also spoken about progress we have achieved set in for a better set septum point of time more than a year ago and then things has slowed down and right now there are some movements that we hope that this will put an end for this crisis because really see that we believe actually that got a few unity is very important for the security of the region for the stability of that region and for for the sake of our people this need this crisis needs to end human Rights Groups saying they are concerned that rango refugees have been forced into a Remote Island the government is saying the group of more than 1500 people moved. To ease overcrowding in camps it says only those who are willing to move have gone but there are concerns about coercion more than a 1000000 rango who fled neighboring me and ma being housed in the camps for Ministry Says it wants to move 100000 people to the island which emerged from the sea 20 years ago u. S. President elect joe biden says that figures showing jobs growth in the country slowed last month are evidence that a Coronavirus Relief program is needed democrats and republicans in congress have been unable to reach a deal on that the u. S. Is experiencing the deadliest 3 day stretch of its outbreak well than 200000 new cases were reported on thursday with just under 3000 deaths bidens people to wear masks for the 1st 100 days he is in office. And then the United Nations of has been speaking out about the situation for eritrean refugees in ethiopias to great province it says some of the 100000 people off or to a fled camps during the past months conflict ethiopias government says it has killed or captured most of the regions leaders. Were going to bring you more analysis on that story actually in the news hour 2100 g. M. T. I will see you then studio b. Unscripted continues. So after i married got a little in common in terms of our legal background. I really wanted to ask you about going into the barrister world when i look at who i am and who i was when i was younger i was always that person that was good at speaking was kind of disturbed by injustice to kill a mockingbird was a book that i reading gauged with and the whole idea of like speaking up for the voiceless and so i think i always had a lawyer in me this final for how long you pursued both you continue to play sport at the highest level when you pull a fight and practiced as a lawyer as well yeah well i thought once i graduated i was like or im on the path now my eyes will finish. And its like as you do all playing things. I think like you i was influenced by books that show i also loved to go to market and i i had a strong sense of injustice and i was not afraid of an argument. From quite a young age i have to admit my curiosity for people i mean everything ive done has been driven by the fact that im interested in people and curious about them and i do to try to help people wherever i can and did you feel once you got into that world embarrass the world you know you talk about in your book did you feel like oh my gosh this is so non divests like wheres the other women wheres the a bit i mean its i mean and then theres but you know at that stage of my life i was getting frustrated because id grown up in wimbledon thinking as soon as i leave school im going to choose a very different environment right and then i went through oxford and i thought as i did also im going to be in a very different environment and then i went to the bar and i was like this isnt happening for me. The bar is a very unreconstructed English Institution right i mean we were white horse hair wigs in court right now im not really quick that jury thing yeah you know i actually like get that was lawyers for wigs you know why because. When i wasnt wearing it my clients mistook me for a codefendant i mean people for court and so did all the lawyers or they thought i was worse because at least from a defendant im doing something worse they thought i was the girlfriend of the defendant she was like at least 5 going to be a criminal act of one. That was frustrated when i put on the wig everybody knew who i was if youre young and black and female that can be helpful you need props one of my frustrations right now with football is that i feel like were talking too much about race and nothings actually happening and i know youve said that you dont feel like we talk enough about race so i feel like we have a different viewpoint on that because 10 years ago race in football was a sort of elephant in the room no one to talk about it no one said the r. Word now i almost feel like im called up every week to talk to nurtured rent a quote a quote from a new lead and im actually like why arent you calling you a for like why arent you calling for an Association Decision makers about like why this is not being punished more so i just feel like we have this conversation thats a click bait that makes people click on and click on twitter and kind of brings this level of divisiveness versus actual action i think my analysis is that were talking about race but were not having a high quality conversation and i think the conversation that were having is incredibly basic i mean im in a slightly different position because im not talking about race in the sporting world. I think the world im in still denies that racism exists so i mean weve seen recently this whole spectacle of her and megan leaving britain and absolutely desire real experience of high profile broadcasters. Claiming that racism doesnt exist while actively being racist its a very bizarre ive had phone calls from wreckage on the saying i dont understand this is like the conversation were having in the 1960 s. Im im missing something and i just say no you dont missing anything this is the conversation in britain i think that people dont know what racism ists so race is people think that racism is having personal vitriol towards black people or people of color in that if you feel you can personally absolve yourself from having what they imagine a racist thoughts or doing racist things then theres nothing to see here and theres no understanding of what systemic racism is of Structural Racism of how race can operate and i think you do a really good job of explaining this new book how race can operate in subtle ways a lot of times and sometimes it can be patterns of behavior sometimes it could be treating people differently rather than saying anything thats openly coded as racist and i think that because we dont understand a history of empire as well or White Supremacy we dont understand the legacies of that you know these whole ideas about angry black women or about. Black people being associated with crime you know the way that we criminalize crime if there is a paedophile who is of Asian Heritage its an asian grooming gangs and all the vast majority of paedophilic crimes in britain are carried out by white people we dont call it white paedophiles or white crime it creates myself like a small thing but i think a lot of people now believe that only asian people can be paedophiles you know and given that this is already a minority about him so much bigger insists that is a highly toxic and dangerous tripe and i pressed promote it i mean this isnt the right wing fringe this is the Mainstream Press on the front page day off today so you know my grandfather was a jewish refugee from nazi germany and he is no longer alive but his brother is he was kinda transport and im so fascinated by that period in his. How people can go from having so many jewish people who are considered german or who consider themselves german to going to the other extreme and i think people forget that didnt happen overnight how it started was with top white headlines and with truth and with narratives that conflated the identities and the history of jewish people with certain negative hate filled stereotypes and thats why i think im so sensitive to those narratives that people might say you know its an overreaction to conflate this to nazi germany of the reason to compare is to understand how it starts and to prevent ever becoming that extreme we havent approached that extreme nowhere near it yet but we have seen an increase in hate crime we have seen unprecedented levels of anxiety unfair among many of our ethnic minority communities people saying they dont feel safe in space as they used to feel say do you want to do you have conversations with your fellow journalists about the responsibility that we have to make sure that theyre not perpetuating some of the stuff because i feel like whenever i speak to. Other journalists they try and pretend as if i dont write the headlines. Its like when im writing a column every single word it matters so i dont i just i just feel like the media i used to think of journalists like you know like lawyers and i think the media these things have just become so desperate and so kind of base in the profession that were now perpetuating a lot of you know the problem there are also i think kind of structural factors so for example i think theres a lot of false equivalence and what i mean by that is this idea that if you have somebody like me who talks back and see racism about how to combat and fight racism theres this idea that you need to balance me out with a racist race thats not an opinion right racism is an ideology thats fundamentally at odds with our Democratic Values but i fear its becoming normalised by. Ignorance at best and at worst a kind of malicious attempt to really debase the narrative to get more views more clicks and i really think its crucial to call this out and i dont think this can be left to journalists i think we all need to call this out actually this is a loser and i have got to go to question time anywhere. On your point about journalism and how the media is in a way complicit in continue racist narrative so i would like to get into the Meat Industry what advice could you both give to me to try to in some way combat those narrative swaps im in the room because it can be quite challenging while im a bit ignorant to the actual process of like what happens in a news room we have recent examples where like you know kobe bryant sadie passes away and is is mistaken for Le Bron James that to me thats bonkers and that thats happened of quite a few times i think having a more diverse newsroom will help that but then i dont know whether actually practically speaking you would have a say in changing. What you know is a racist headline i think there is no substitute for diversity so on that basis i think its so important that young journalists from all backgrounds go into journalism thats what they want to do but you need to be prepared for the fact that its not a Straight Path and what i did which worked really well for me was actually to do Something Else 1st to build up my knowledge my expertise my credibility so that when i went in. A i had the confidence to speak and challenge and be i had to be listened to because i was someone who had the credentials that may be difficult to ignore in a way im kind of losing interest in asking me to organizations to take us seriously to pay us equally to listen because a serious we have to keep asking for thats like weve already lost why are we asking to be paid the same as our white similarly educated similarly qualified counterparts and i think that sometimes we have to vote with our feet and there are lots of very inspiring examples of people whove started their own media organizations and who understand how to reach audiences like them and are actually changing the way the whole media works by their example so i think we need we need to be represented in big Mainstream Media organizations thats theres no substitute for that but its not the only way a lot of times frustration with the system pushes you to do. An amazing thing that you would never have done if you were in the sort of majority so sometimes its about saying well ok i can get in that way im going to get in this way and do it myself and my last piece of ice is find allies you know there are allies everywhere you just have to find them and dont assume that black people or your allies also dont assume all white people are not your allies their allies and youve got to find them work with them and create those networks and i found that incredibly powerful in my career ive had white men whove been huge allies ive had black women whove supported me ive had people from all different backgrounds who ive worked with so i think find your allies know who they are work with them for a change both of you have roots in former british colonies can you talk about your experience of learning about colonialism and compared with what you learned to school and the impact you think the lack of colonial education in this country has on people on how brits see race and their own identity as well my colonial education was nonexistent im actually still learning now. Its nonexistent enough as book actually helped. I look back at my secondary School Education and i learnt more about Martin Luther king rosa parks america africanamerican Civil War History than i did about colonialism why because we dont want to touch on the things that we did in britain its easier to talk about that you know so that disappoints me. I guess its never too late to learn and i think now with rex and the kind of those feelings and sentiments theres a lot more focus on britain. Now but also like where is it coming from where is this sort of National Sentiment coming from so i think now people are delving more into those questions. And i think theres a push back a little bit from africa you know if you speak to people in business in africa its like its almost like we dont want the kind of 100 outselling we want to do ourselves and i think that comes from a postcolonialism mentality that shift in so yeah i didnt have. Yes i didnt have a. Little education in history which i loved with love history went from henry the 8th to the 2nd world war im not exaggerating and when you actually analyze what was left or how it says a lot just happens to be the entire period of empire building and unfortunately i have a daughter whos a turning 9 and very little has changed theyre actually being educated to believe something thats not true which is that britain existed in isolation and i think thats incredibly dangerous you know i think that ignorance about the British Empire which is by far the most important period in british history in the last 1000 years you cannot understand our position in the world the reason were a Multicultural Society our relationship with europe you cannot understand our industry you cant understand our regions none of it there is not a family in britain i believe that has not been touched by empire either because someone in that family worked for the empire empire was a huge source of employment and social mobility for working class white boys historically so many people who couldnt find opportunity in england scotland and wales went to the empire where they were able to move off in society its a complicated history and i think its also important to say that there was not really one empire there were multiple empires you know britain in west africa was very different from the raj in india to the caribbean to hong kong or Southeast Asia and i think we know almost nothing about this its completely invisible and not only has it been a raise from the School Curriculum but its there is no National Museum of empire in britain or what i was going to touch on that because i think it is a very deliberate a mission you know i love berlin for example and when i go to billin im so impressed by just the level of just kind of. Openness and honesty that they that the germans confront with the history there is not a Street League cant go to a museum and learn about the holocaust and you know i would add to that army was forced to reconcile its nestles by the allies having been defeated in the war i think a lot of this stems from britains victory in the 2nd world war that after the 2nd world war britain felt morally victorious rightly having to lead to the nazis and remade itself forced to lose its empire remade itself as this benevolent nation on the right side of history and any aspect by history that was not compatible with that was quietly sware because history is written by the winners and now were in a situation rice i believe that has created an incredibly dangerous for gelati when i say fragility i mean if you raise fact historically great facts about the empire in the Public Discourse people become hysterical they say you hate britain if you like dont like it here leave yeah and what kind of way is that to respond to historically facts about our recent history and i really think that if we cant understand how weve become this nation the reason we look like this that we occupy the position that we do culturally so much of our culture comes from the imperial period and were totally clueless about it and i think that weve been failed actually by generations of leaders who have continued that in public and theres nothing to see here so i feel very strongly about this and i dont think this is our job as people who have stories that come from colonies in africa or asia i think this is all of our job as british people to stop being curious and honest about this history i do think the whats whats great at the moment is im seeing lots more authors african authors you know i think now theres a demand rather than going on netflix in and just watching something that you know is sort of people want to learn like people want to watch documentaries that speak of this stuff so i think in terms of the entertainment world. I personally feel like theres a lot more out there that we can kind of tap into and learn that i didnt have growing up or at least didnt see as visible as we do now 21000 was termed the year of return in ghana and for those of us who were part of the guardian diaspora it was such a warm welcome and an exciting prospect the question i wanted to ask you is how do we find balance and practical who practicality in the idea of going back home and building a genu. Ine and practical relationship with the motherland i was so excited to see the groundswell of a Movement Towards gone out of there but i also think part if a person experience its important to have realistic expectations you know if ghana and see me as different thats completely justified ive had a different life but i want to contribute to ghana i want to go on as economy thrive i want to see other african countries rise i want to see the continent become unified again to see trade within africa not always extracted to europe and america i want to see some of those colonial borders that divided us through language and National Boundaries become useful trading cultural exchanges as they were before the imperial period so i think its about how can we contribute to that movement and i i am fascinated by the panafrican this period you know those intellectuals who actually created the independence of soviet sovereign african nations who managed to end colonial era and that philosophy was one of building up the african continent that there could be no future where black people can live anywhere while the african continent is oppressed and still controlled by foreign financial interests so i think thats a project which anyone who cares about this can contribute and its just a question of finding your place in that project i actually went to a panel like it was a success. But how do we continue this and so one of my friends is on the board of the tourism board and she was talking about beyond return you know the whole idea that actually the dyess board coming back to. Have to also have a practical mentality you know just Little Things like going into a restaurant and expecting service that you would get in Central London is not going to be the same you know and just understand in the culturally we have to adjust to as die a sport that we have to be patient to is not always about them receiving asked because there is differences so i think people are just more conscious about it and everybodys having a better conversation around how do we as diaspora help but also how do we assimilate ourselves into a culture that is is becoming selfsufficient is becoming successful. So its really exciting to see i think its a real accent and i had an amazing time garner to make too much of a good time actually going. To what extent can we really produce new knowledge within the system thats already been new knowledge on africa new knowledge on what would be considered the east when so much of what already exist is framed through the white i when are basis is already flawed i think youre right about the basis being floored i sometimes think about for example oxford if you study latin greek its called classics and just the name it legitimizes one history of ancient civilization as superior to other ancient civilisations. We study. Study the Industrial Revolution as completely separate from any history around the Transatlantic Slave Trade these things are kind of conceptually separated and even the language we use in everyday life you know we talk about b i mean people start that mean anything its everyone whos not white flying together in a big lump so here you go from here is a name for you all. I am really excited as a cultural creator about the opportunity is now to speak into. Woody and so you get it so im not really speaking to the academy im not speaking to people who arent interested in breaking down those conceptual bars im speaking to people who are hungry for knowledge and who are curious and now you have Global Streaming Services that reach people on the african continent that might reach africanamericans that mean i dont have to go to the same gatekeepers who will say we did a series on africa last year so the commune the thing ill say about africa you know oh if you picture serious enough now we did news that we did after music last year so. This is i mean after half a point like we are living in such a Creative Time and you know a lot of us all of us are many journalists in a way but actually theres real amazing people that create so i think were living in the time when we can definitely create new information and new perceptions to the point earlier. Because this is so many platforms to do it and whoever wants to see it will see it and whoever doesnt well youre losing are and i dont want to let the gatekeepers off the hook but we live in a global capitalist Society Money talks and what were seeing actually is that the platforms that do get it making the money i follow consumers are more i mean the word is work but i feel like people are much more inquisitive about ok well if i buy nike or whether actually coming from or if i watch this on this broadcast that broadcast is linked to that and so i do think people you know as you said are more conscious of the content that were consuming and what we are learning and the and because of we you know creators have to really be very responsible about like are we pumping out the same narrative is a different narrative and i think thats really exciting because were learning. Were feeding ourselves with new information because thats the demand thats whats been demanded so what do you see for the future for the well for me ive just retired. So young. Its almost like life starts again for me in a way you know ive just accepted a role sporting director of aston villa Football Club probably. I get to kind of make decisions now and i guess that i was kind of always that player that sort of prodded it Decision Makers that why we doing this and why are we doing that and now i am in it and its kind of scary but exciting at the same time if i see the new whats im working on writing projects. Which im really excited by and i think it just speaks to everything weve been talking about how do you reach people i am im an optimistic person yes i think that most people are decent and want to know and love and experience new things and so a good journalist a good writer a good creator finds ways of reaching people and about the big challenge that im excited to take up ill be looking out for it and everyone would have to thank you so. You can really make a record for something as monumentally horrific as slavery i think under of natural and we connect on our collective under a lot of the time what it what it poetry do for you its just rock. Weve got cold windy a weather heading towards the southeast of australia over the next couple of days still have some heat concerns 70 central and northern parts of the country but you can see how the the way in the going to drive away in from the southwest they are a westerly direction initially and then a significant cold front will sweep its way across South Australia towards the southeast so some heavy rain coming in on this system could be cold enough for a touch of snow over the high ground you saw the snow coming through here set in the case in sea pasta tasmania but even its victoria southern areas of New South Wales as we go on and see sunday the temps just fullbacks just 20 celsius in melbourne 20 celsius there to fall adelaide rick getting around 10 degrees below the seasonal norm such start to dry out there as wetter weather heads towards new zealand have had some bits and pieces of wet weather into japan recently that should move out of the way over the next couple of days some showers just straddling honshu for a time on saturday as we go on into sunday it will brighten up and warm up a touch temperatures in tokyo to around 15 celsius laci dry low as you try to across the Korean Peninsula but just not just want to see wintry flurries for north korea. Pakistans k. S. C. 100. 00 its said more than 36 percent we bring you the stories in development is that a rapidly changing the world we live in the water is going dispensable to Economic Activity but industrial use is worse than contest of fresh water counting the cost on aljazeera. If you want to help save the world. News into your own. It captures memory and present realities for you jenny and the camera as a tool for told her feet and often chant in one when as i raised most deprived areas children who have nothing. Now have a voice. Danios close part of the viewfinder latin america series on out to 0. 0. Hello im watching the news hour live from london coming up hopes of a castle blockade breakthrough saudi arabia says significant progress has been made in resolving the gulf crisis. Ships hundreds of rango refugees to a Remote Island despite complaints that theyre being forced to go. Americans are mosques and threatened with more stay at home orders as the u. S. 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