#black british

[fyeahblackactresses]

Wunmi Mosaku's London promo looks for Sinners | Part 2

[leikeliscomet]

Obviously not expecting a (white) American site to gaf about today so lemme talk a bit more about Windrush Day and the Black British experience:

I feel like the Black British experience is constantly one of work and struggle. Our parents and grandparents lived through colonial and post colonial (using the term lightly) rule just to end up working and serving the imperial core, targeted by the same government that invited them here. A lot of the time its phrased as a choice but in reality what else could they have done? Ts and Cs apply bc for some West African Brits their parents were middle class back home but for me and others our families grew up in poverty in places still recovering from slavery and colonialism.

Britain whitewashes the history of Black immigrants, literally in the sense we're not taught our own history of Black people in Britain and metaphorically by applying British individualist myths; that as long as you work hard, don't complain about it and love Britain you can be British too. But it erases, ignores and distorts the truth that the British state used our community as nothing more than a labour force to rebuild after WWII and actively targeted Black British communities with police surveillance, brutality and systemic racism. All whilst denying it of course and turning their nose up at the very accusation. Very British.

Black British contributions, West African and West Indian to be more specific don't just apply in terms of work but in terms of shaping culture. 'Roadman' has become a meme and a caricature (including by some Americans on here ik u lot love 'chav') with barely any connection to its Black British roots, even when the term gets used as an insult to mainly Black working class men or used as a British version of 'thug'. The grime scene is undeniably a staple of Black Britain yet it is pathologised and judged, moral panics about Black people's violence and yet capitalised and profitted off of by non Black Brits as an aesthetic. Everybody wants the tracksuits, the tunes and the terminology innit. To be 'road' means to be Black British yet when its time to talk culture, nobody wants to credit it us. All of a sudden its 'London culture'.

But it isn't all doom and gloom. There's so much history and culture here in our spaces. I'd be lying if I said growing up where I did was easy. But it has shaped my outlook and made me and I'll carry that with me forever. Our grandparents and parents came here with so little and made so much out of nothing. And I'll always honour that. Justice for the Windrush generation.

EDIT: Wow this blew up. If you're an American or non-British person and you wanna know more I linked some videos that talk about Black Britishness in an easy way, like a Black Britain 101. I have a sideblog for history posts and I have a lot of Black British history stuff on there, mainly post-war if anyone's interested. Also made this list of Black British music recs x

[creatingblackcharacters]

apologies for the lack of captialization !! that's my bad :((

here's my ask again, corrected this time 😅

just wanted to put this out there for the folks who might be interested in Black british characters:

the cultural exchange between Black americans and black british people is a one sided one, but it does exist! many Black british people readily engage with black american art, especially through music, and so britain has its own rnb and rap scene, and i think that's important to represent.

even though Black british people are majority of african or caribbean descent, 'Black british' is its own cultural identity, with its own dialect and music - such as grime or drum and bass, and mle (which is a flawed name since its 'Black british language heavily influenced by patois, arabic, and west african grammar structures, that non-Black people adopted to seem 'cool/urban' rather than genuine cultural exchange'). and its important to acknowledge that when it comes to creating Black british characters!

don't be afraid to give them a non-british heritage, such as caribbean, west african, or southern african, but don't dilute their Black britishness either. they're not a black person who happens to live in the uk, they're Black british.

(disclaimer: im ethnically Black american/nigerian, but this is what ive observed from the wayyy too long time ive spent living in the uk!!)

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[stemmehistorian]

Marc and Brad at home, 1992. Photograph: Marc Thompson

[firelise]

SINNERS + fathers

It's 'cause of me. My daddy told me. He said the devil was coming on account of my music.

[moonfirebrides]

“My mum stitched every uniform I wore growing up. She made clothes that lasted decades. I try to do the same with my designs—create heirlooms, not just dresses.” — Zama Mwale Juma, VOGUE UK, June 2025

[starlightshadowsworld]

Afrori books in Brighton, England is the biggest supplier of books by Black authors in the UK and its trying to save itself from having to close up shop (video is by jaswritesstuff on tik tok)

Please support them if you can. The books are fairly priced and there’s quite a wide selection across different genres along with various community events. It’s important spaces like this aren’t lost and I hope they meet their goal in time.