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‘Casual’ racism is not entertainment
‘Casual’ racism is not entertainment After a long day I decided to relax in the late evening with film, something light and entertaining, maybe even a comedy or a drama. So I flicked through the menu of films on offer and read the accompanying descriptions of new films from my streaming provider. My attention was …
A letter to … an abuser
A letter to … I have learnt a lot about the use and misuse of power since I first met you. I was not a child at that time, but I was still innocent, in the ways of the world at least. I was unfamiliar with the art of seduction, you obviously had an advanced …
Anti-Racism Resources
This list of resources to watch, read and listen to have been compiled by Marjorie H Morgan to accompany ‘The Talk‘, The Mis-Education of a Moonraker, and #WeTalkLiverpool. Listen: Mind Power Mixtape – Common in conversation with Bryan Stevenson (on Audible). Raising the Bar – Lenny Henry examines the evolving depiction of Afro-Caribbeans on TV from Love …
Beyond Normal – Life from 2020 to 2021
January started with the usual fireworks, but the spirit of celebrating life had been truly dampened by 11 March 2020, when the WHO declared that Covid-19 was a global pandemic. Everybody who has lived more than two decades has become acquainted with some grief in their life, yet nothing had prepared any living human being …
Black Men Walking – Unity Theatre, Liverpool
Black Men Walking, Unity Theatre, Hope Place, Liverpool 26th April 2018 Written by Testament, directed by Dawn Walton. Photo credit: Eclipse Theatre Thomas, Matthew, and Richard walk. They are three Black men who walk, talk and narrate their existence in the present, the past, and the future. As they travel into the safe spaces of …
Blank Panther
Image source:www.animalhi.com I am a black panther. I have always had an affinity to this animal. I sensed its majesty ever since I was a child reading the discarded National Geographic magazines that my mother would bring home from her office cleaning job. This is odd for me because I have never had a close …
British Bulldogs and Coronavirus
The traditional first Bank Holiday Monday in May was this year moved to Friday, 8 May 2020 – to coincide with VE Day. When the calendar change was proposed there was no inkling of the pandemic that was due to transverse the globe. Just over one week into the month of May, and the prospect …
Coronavirus – UK vs Europe: Different political policies and their social outcomes
Facts, figures and policies You may approach this essay with a deep sigh and pass over to a more lighthearted read, after all I’m sure we have all had our fill of information on Coronavirus. It is not something we can really avoid when the majority of us are in enforced lockdowns across the world. …
Different folks, different strokes
I fully support the NHS, I’m also afraid that we are seeing the system dismantled before our eyes by a capitalist, right wing Government. Yet the officiousness of the NHS Business Services Authority for a potential charge of between £23.80 and £65.20 for an individual is terrifying. I had to have emergency dental treatment as …
From slavery to voguing: the House of Swann
Drag Queen Culture From slavery to voguing: the House of Swann What is Drag? Where did the concept of Drag Queens start? There are multiple answers to those two simple questions. Drag has been variously described as the theatrical performance of gender, a man in a dress, ‘wearing clothes of the opposite sex, creative self-expression …
Is Your Hairstyle Killing You
I now have very short natural hair. Before this current hair choice I had long dreadlocs for over two decades. It seems like a long time ago now, but I also recall having perms and enduring the long and painful process of having my hair straightened. When I was a child in the 1960s …
Kanye West, Performance and Controversy
Kanye West is no stranger to controversy. He calls himself a genius. Causing public outcries appears to be part of his toolkit of skills – unless you buy into the idea that he is a hair’s breadth away from insanity: but isn’t that where genius resides? In an interview on TMZ Live, on 2 …
Letter to America (No. 2) 16/02/17
Letter to America (No. 2) 16/02/17 16 years ago, in 2001, another President who lost the popular vote, George W Bush, took his place in the annals of history as the 43rd President of the United States. This year, in 2017, Donald J Trump, who also lost the popular election vote by around 3 million …
Letter to your MP – Policing Bill
Dear xxxxx, I am writing tonight as your constituent to urge to you vote against the Police, Crime and Sentencing Courts Bill on Monday 15th March. I’m sure that you too are shocked by the images and videos from the Clapham Common vigil last night. Women who attended to pay tribute to a murdered woman …
My Letter to America 12/02/17 American Political Dissent in 2017
My Letter to America 12/02/17 American Political Dissent in 2017 Under the current American Republican government the people of the country, and the world, appear to have been motivated into a vocal and physical show of dissent, specifically and particularly, against the 45th President of the United States. To dissent is defined by the Cambridge …
National Geographic continues to fail
April 2018 cover – “Black and White: These twin sisters make us rethink everything we know about race” – the National Geographic (Nat Geo) says it’s covering and addressing its past racist coverage, yet in the article associated with the cover photo of the April 2018 issue, Patricia Edmonds continues the form of reporting that …
Preview: Night of the Living Dead – Remix
Preview by Marjorie H Morgan 23 January 2020 imitating the dog, in conjunction with Leeds Playhouse are co-producing an exciting piece of new theatre, this production, Night of the Living Dead – Remix is exactly what theatre in 2020 should be about: storytelling, with an edge. imitating the dog raise the intellectual bar for audiences …
Review – Bob The Russian at Unity Theatre, Liverpool
Thursday 28 June 2018, opening night of Bob The Russian at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool – the stage was set as the audience filed in: loud music blared, five silhouetted figures were seen on the semi-darkened stage – three of them looking extra menacing wearing helmets. Smoke billowed around them and the interrogation of Bob …
Review – Nina: A story about me and Nina Simone
Tuesday night (20th March 2018) in Hope Place, Liverpool at the Unity Theatre was where audiences witnessed Josette Bushell-Mingo channelling the revolutionary spirit of the immutable Nina Simone. In an act of mesmerising alchemy Bushell-Mingo ensured that both women were present on the stage and weaved their personalities and sections of their individual life stories …
Review: Dead and Breathing
The European debut of Dead and Breathing by Chisa Hutchinson took place in the Unity Theatre, Liverpool on 7 February 2018. This captivating 90 minute play is not afraid to tackle the big issues of life and death, gender, religion and everything in between. The main subject matters of terminal illness and assisted suicide are …
The London Shipwreck of Rapparee Cove, Devon, 1796
In February 1997, there was a discovery of human remains buried in a mass grave at the foot of steep cliffs in Rapparee Cove, Devon. The media interest in this discovery created a trail that led back to information about a ship that had been wrecked in Rapparee Cove, north Devon on October 9th, 1796. …
The new cult of PoTUS #45 (Letter to America – No. 4 02/03/17)
The new cult of PoTUS #45 (Letter to America – No. 4 02/03/17) PoTUS #45 has the main characteristics that have been evident in other cult leaders, such as David Koresh, L. Ron. Hubbard, Jim Jones, and Charles Manson. PoTUS #45 has followers who are devoted to him in the same way that has been …
Trump and the legitimisation of hate (Letter to America – No. 3 19/02/17)
Trump and the legitimisation of hate (Letter to America – No. 3 19/02/17) Under PoTUS #45 hate has been legitimised. Well, it has been allowed out from under the cover of white sheets, nighttime raids, and conservative Christianity and placed tenuously in the White House. The irony of the last President (Barack Obama) living in …
Tweet. Reflect. Delete. HM Treasury tweets #FridayFact to celebrate tax payers contributions to ‘end slavery’
Tweet. Reflect. Delete. Friday 9th February 2018. HM Treasury on Twitter: “Here’s today’s surprising #FridayFact. Millions of you helped to end the slave trade through your taxes.” @hmtreasury “Did you know? In 1833, Britain used £20 million, 40% of its national budget, to buy freedom for all slaves in the Empire. The amount of money …
What does Black sound like?
Some of the following information is fact and some is fiction. I’ll let you decide which is which. Some incidents happened this week some happened decades ago. The events are not sequential … but they have been before. Sometime I really want to be disappointed. You see I want my negative expectations to be disappointed, …
Travelling While Black
I do this every day, I walk the local streets, I drive and often take taxis, buses, trains and airplanes to destinations all around the world – I travel while Black. I chose not to notice it at first, wishing that it was an aberration of my mind, but it’s not: I have an (in)visible …