This 1920s racist caricature has been given life in 2022 at a recent book launch in Edinburgh (11th December), celebrating ‘Black Lives in Scotland’. The ‘rolling white eyes’, and ‘enlarged red lips’ can be seen on the t-shirt on the Black woman being embraced by the Black authors of the book.
The media res paradigm, as represented by their book, begins with contemporary Black experiences from the 1980s. These experiences perpetuate the myth of Blacks ‘not belonging’, resulting in the deliberate and confused questioning of one’s notion of ‘nationhood, Scottishness and Britishness‘. This premature, dichotomous narrative is a popular one and strongly supported by the power structure and many historically uniformed Black academics. Even when other Black academics reach out in solidarity (recent communication), it is immediately severed and shut down.
These are the faces of evidenced indigenous Blacks of Scotland that the status quo, such as Edinburgh University, do not want you to SEE. Baba Asa Hilliard reminds us: “Even when those among us rescue our culture, we have a greater appetite for the culture of people other than ourselves”.
When will YOU break the loop of the controlled cycle of centralised disinformation? If not now WHEN? If not you WHO?
Missing Faces In Teaching (MFIT) 