Stop sharing stories of white activists in anti-racism movements - it’s black voices we need to hear right now.

Exploring how white people can be a good ally is important, but not if they eclipse the stories of black activists.

I saw a video on Twitter the other week with the comment: “this is how you use your white privilege”. It was of a young white woman jumping in front of a black man to protect him from the police. It has been described as “historic”. Another person said it moved them to tears.

It is indeed an extraordinary moment of solidarity, but let’s roll it back a bit. A black man jumped a fence near the White House and got down on his knees, by himself, in front of riot police. We don’t know exactly why he did it. We don’t know because focusing on the white woman’s behaviour has eclipsed his story. Was it was an act of protest? We will probably never know.

A few days later, memes circulated on social media about the story of Peter Norman, the white Australia on the podium with Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics. Smith and Carlos gave a black power salute, and Norman showed solidarity by wearing a human rights badge. It’s an interesting story, but it is the addendum. The focus should be on Smith and Carlos.

The sharing of these stories stems from the current obsession over “white privilege”. Not only is this obsession overshadowing the real story of racism, but it shifts our political attentions too. As Kenan Malik says in The Guardian: “The stress on ‘white privilege’ turns a social issue into a matter of personal and group psychology.”

Interestingly, this same argument was used by Sylvia Pankhurst in 1914. She was critical of the individual acts of heroism that the Women’s Social and Political Union employed. She thought action should be collective.

If white people want to show solidarity, one way to do that is by sharing black stories. In a recent interview with the Women Activists of East London project, Zita Holbourne said: “Amplifying voices of those who face discrimination is in itself an act of resistance. It means our voices, our lives and our perspective are out there.” So let’s shift the focus from white privilege, and onto collectively amplifying the experiences of black people fighting institutional and structural oppression.

Here are some of the stories Share UK has recorded of activists of colour, battling racism in East London and beyond.

Karpal Kaur Sandu — the world’s first Asian women police officer
Karpal was born into a Sikh family in Zanzibar in 1943, before moving to Britain in 1962. In 1971 she joined the Metropolitan Police Service, serving in Hornsey, then Walthamstow and Leyton.

It was a dream come true, but her life would soon take a turn for the worst. Her husband was furious about her career, claiming it was neither Asian nor Ladylike. Her husband left for India, taking her two children with her. Then he returned to confront her outside her house in Walthamstow. He attacked her, stabbing her in the neck and killing her. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Old Bailey in 1974.

Karpal was a pioneer — the first female Asian police officer in the world. Today there are 280 Asian women police officers in London, which campaigners say is thanks to Karpal.

Sari Squad — fighting racist legislation
On an unusually chilly day in July 1981 Afia Begum’s husband turned on their paraffin heater to warm their home on Brick Lane. Tower Hamlets Council had failed to provide them with proper housing with central heating, so this was their only way to keep warm. Something caught light and a fire ripped through the house, killing Afia’s husband.

Afia’s troubles did not to stop there. She had been given permission by the Home Office to come and live with her husband, but now that he was dead she and her one-year-old baby were threatened with deportation, despite there being no concrete justification. The Afia Begum Defence Campaign formed to deal with the legal side. Then the Sari Squad moved in to take direct action.

The Sari Squad were a group of Asian women who formed in protest of the thousands of similar immigration cases around that time. In an edition of Spare Rib they said: “The focus of our campaign is the plight of Afia Begum but we believe she is not a special case. She is just one of thousands of victims of immigration controls. We don’t want to change the racist Immigration and Nationality Acts but to abolish them completely.”

The Sari Squad engaged in many acts of civil disobedience, including chaining themselves to railings outside Conservative MP Leon Brittan’s house. They were arrested and taken to the police station, where they were forced to strip and were searched in front of male police officers. When they complained they were laughed and jeered at. They were denied bail and found themselves in court the next day. A prosecution witness — a neighbour of Leon Brittan’s who had complained about the noise the protestors had made — said in court: “If you don’t like the laws of this land why don’t you go back to your own country.” The judge sentenced them each to be bound over for £1000 for a year to keep the peace.

The Sari Squad did not give up, however. Leyton MP Harry Cohen condemned the deportation as a “disgraceful action”, and raised an Early Day Motion to put forward in parliament. The case was also taken to the European Court of Human Rights in 1984. However, before the commission could rule, Afia was arrested in a dawn raid and deported.

Julie Begum — Women Unite Against Racism
Julie Begum’s memories of growing up in the east end in the 70s are not good. Bengali families knew they were not wanted or accepted. Most people tried to keep a low profile, and just wanted to get on without being attacked. There were a lot of no-go areas in the East End, including Brick Lane, despite the presence of so many Bengalis.

In 1978 the murder of Altab Ali sparked a change in the community. There had been murders before, but this one sparked thousands of Bengalis and non Bengalis into action. The fight felt very personal to Julie, and she wanted to do something. However, she was often frustrated that it was always the same men at the anti-racism meetings, making the same statements each time. Many women felt excluded.

Julie got together with some other women and organised Women Unite Against Racism. There was childcare provision, and they made sure women who weren’t normally involved in activism had their voices heard. They came together in each others’ houses and made banners and posters, discussing how they were going to do protests. They wanted to make sure the women were visible, but still safe, as the protests could get violent.

In the 1990s the BNP put forward a candidate in the Tower Hamlets elections and won by half a dozen votes. The reason this happened was because many Bengalis were too scared to go out and vote. When the next election came round Julie and the others were determined this wouldn’t happen again. They went door-to-door and made sure people were registered. Then they targeted areas with high levels of violence, and escorted women to the polling stations. When the election came, the BNP were defeated — it was a huge victory.

Jennifer Whilby — fighting knife crime and Windrush
Jennifer’s parents came to Waltham Forest from Jamaica in the early 1960s. School was hard for Jennifer. There weren’t many black children, and people made her feel different. They would asked questions that weren’t malicious but made her feel “other”. Secondary school was hardest as that was when the National Front was taking hold in politics. Jennifer would see posters up in people’s houses saying they supported the National Front. That was a big trigger for her involvement in politics.

Jennifer is a member of Momentum. She is also involved in Black Caucus, which is a black interest group affiliated to Momentum. One of the things they are trying to do is get more black representation in parliament.

Jennifer is also working with groups in South London on Windrush and knife crime. Although there are larger black communities there, the problems are happening in East London too. Often it’s just less visible because the community is more disparate. Windrush in particularly has many hidden victims, because the government doesn’t know how many people they’ve deported. Many in the Afro-Carribean community are very scared about the future.

Zita Holbourne - trade unionist and human rights campaigner

Zita’s mother is from the Caribbean, and she was raised with a strong sense of racial and social justice. Her mother taught her how to stand up to racism in her own life, but also stand in solidarity with others around the world.

Her mother taught her about the South African anti-apartheid movement, and from as young as five she knew she should not buy South African goods. Zita continued her involvement in the boycott campaign as she grew older, eventually branching out into other areas of social justice.

In 2010 Zita founded Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) with Lee Jasper. Deepening racism, injustice and attacks on migrant communities goes hand-in-hand with austerity, so they founded the Movement Against Xenophobia with other migrant organisations. BARAC fought against the Immigration Bill, a racist and divisive piece of legislation. Unfortunately, the bill passed into law as at that time all major parties were pandering to the right wing. They warned that one of the outcomes of this legislation was a threat to long-term British residents from the Caribbean. This concern became reality as the Windrush scandal broke. Zita helped set up BME Lawyers for Justice, which supported individual families facing deportation.

Through her trade union work Zita has also represented hundreds of people who have faced discrimination, harassment and bullying at work and won.

Zita uses art a lot in her politics as she believes it enables you to reach audiences you wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. She organised an exhibition for young black artists in recognition of the institutional racism in the art sector and the disproportionate impact of austerity on the black community. The exhibition was such a success and is now in its 7th year.

Sonali Bhattacharyya — fighting fascism and imperialism

Sonali’s family are from Bangladesh. In Bengali culture there is a strong strand of socialism and being out spoken. Sonali feels both of those qualities were passed on to her.

Sonali was involved in campaigning against deaths in custody and miscarriages of justice in 1990s. After graduating, she got involved in the Stop the War Coalition, as the world was in the midst of the Iraq War. She was also involved in Palestine Solidarity, which overlapped with Stop the War work.

Sonali is very involved in her local Labour Party branch in Walthamstow, where she now lives. She was elected BAME officer to increase diversity and participation in the party. She has tried to open up discussions about racist policies, including around the hostile environment. She wants to educate people about what is happening and where issues likes Windrush have come from, but also to move internal policies to the left.

Most recently Sonali has been key in establishing Waltham Forest Black Lives Matter, organising protests in response to the death of George Floyd.

These stories are edited down from our report, Women Activists of East London. You can read the full stories and more at eastlondonwomen.org.uk