'Success, struggle and survival': Black founders speak out powerfully on the fight against everyday racism in the UK

Olayinka Ewuola

Yinka is a founding member of UK Black Tech and a director at Calla Success Systems. 

I feel the way many black people feel today – and have felt many times before, with the harrowing and traumatic deaths of so many posthumously famous black men and women in the US and the UK.

It's enraging and it's exhausting – but I reserve both my rage and energy for action, as that is the only way to make a difference.

The reaction to a police officer – a public servant appointed to protect and serve the public, treating anyone the way George Floyd was treated should be the same for all: one rooted in decency and basic humanity.

The murder and abuse of power should be a source of outrage for everyone, not just the "black community".

I don't think this will be a turning point in the way black communities are treated, because we've been here before.

Black men have been vilified, abused, killed, and murdered by the police before. Those killings have been documented and publicized before, those killings have sparked riots before – and we've had many long conversations about race before.

Hundreds of books and thousands of articles have been written, FAQs typed up, Lunch-and-Learns attended. Brands and politicians like to say: "We're listening."

My skepticism makes me ask: "How is this different?" All these things happened before, and it's happened again. So the event itself won't bring the change, but the follow-up actions will.

There is still such a stark level of ignorance about what racism is – and how it looks on a daily basis – that people will deny others' lived experiences.

Instead, people try to look like they are learning and changing, when in reality, it's worthless. This virtue signalling is almost mandatory to save face and ensure they look like they're on the right side of the debate.

Many of these organizations hide their own toxic cultures, in which staff are terrorized through both covert and daily acts of racism, often dismissed as banter, or rejected when it's reported through the official channels.

What happens next will ultimately determine what changes, and that comes from some harsh truths being understood on all sides. No "white saviors" are needed here: No collective group of people would knowingly dismantle a system designed to favor them.

We need partners to work across society, and that's not the job of a few tweets and black squares, it's a much tougher job than many are prepared to take on. Change itself will not come from outside of our community – but from within.

Because the fact is that racism happens every day. It happens when young black boys are called 'youths' or described as being in 'gangs' when they are standing outside their school in their uniform talking to their friends.

It happens when black people are paid 60p for every £1 paid to white counterparts. It happens when black professionals are constantly called upon to talk about diversity instead of their area of career expertise or study, often when their white counterparts have already been paid in full.

I've experienced it innumerable times. It's been overt, it's been covert, It's been called out, it's been ignored. It's been fought, and I've won and lost. I have one life to live, and I am focused on doing the best for me and my family – and impacting upon what I can control, and no more. 

But the change in this situation begins with the realization that co-ordinated and systemic changes will only come from black economic empowerment, at all levels.

And, most importantly – to quote Bob Marley – wth the emancipation from mental slavery.

Education is critical: The truth about Empire, about white supremacy, and about the history of black peoples, so they can know they are descendants of greatness, not just slavery and trauma.

They need to be taught how the levers of power work, and the importance of economic and financial empowerment. Only through education will change come, and the inequalities that underpin these situations begin to be addressed.

It is up to us to make the changes we want to see.

I'm optimistic that change will come, at least in my slice of the world, because I know it starts with me, and I'm committed to doing my part.

Original author: Martin Coulter