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The Empire Shuts Its Mouth: Writing West Englies
When you’re a member of a West Indian family and have grandparents from the islands, you pick up a few things.
Previously published in The Nenequirer
Colonialism has been on the tip of my tongue since I was old enough to speak, and the fact I was not taught it at school is a sad indictment on the British education system, since my experience is universal to everybody I know. My knowledge about slavery and the British Empire comes from books, the internet and twenty-three years family dinners and get-togethers. Something is very wrong here. My family saw that they couldn’t rely on the English education system to be honest, so they had teach me themselves.
I’m the second generation of my family to be born in England, and subsequently, I’m a product of the Empire. One would expect Britain to teach British history, all of it, honestly. Growing up, I was often silenced for constructively trying to discuss significant historical events such as: the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Easter Risings and The Partition of India. They are parts of our national story that many Brits would rather forget.
As a nation, we are quick to remember the White men that died fighting the Nazis. Whiteness is put on pedestal, as it always is…
