Black leaders see opportunities in greater engagement

Black church and charity leaders spoke of the challenges and hopes facing Britain’s black community at a groundbreaking gathering on Saturday.

The State of Black Britain Symposium was hosted by Baptist minister and Street Pastors co-founder the Rev David Shosanya to coincide with Black History Month.

Keynote speaker Lord Victor Olufemi Adebowale, chief executive of the social care enterprise Turning Point, said that problems like violence and unemployment affecting the black community were the same problems affecting the whole of British society.

He encouraged black people to see themselves as ‘and-and’ people – black and British – rather than ‘either-or’.

“What we have now at this time is an opportunity to create an ‘and-and’ society, an ‘and-and’ justification for getting things right,” he said.

“The ‘and-and’ generation is a good thing because the state of black Britain is the state of Britain.

“We’re not some separate state or society. This isn’t South Africa circa 1962. We are society. We are what makes society work.”

Lord Adebowale said it was not enough to pray because God helps those who help themselves.

“(US President Barack) Obama has taught us one thing and it isn’t about race. It’s about engagement in the process of politics and in the process of society,” he said.

Angela Sarkis, Chief Executive of the Nurture Group Network, pointed to some of the challenges facing the black community.

She said that the black community had “systematically failed to see the needs of those beyond our church doors” and had not done enough to stop black people from ending up in the criminal justice system.

“We have systematically held our heads in the sand while we see our young people taken off like fodder in this society, being criminalised, ending up in mental institutions as if it doesn’t matter, A, because they are not our children and, B, because they are not Christians.

“What a shameful situation and one we need to do something about immediately.”

She added that the black community had failed to give young men proper leadership and was “practically non-existent” in engaging with civil society.

“When we engage it is often piecemeal, tokenistic, we are too easily pleased, and we are enthralled by the photo opportunity,” she said.

“We need to wise up … let’s stop talking about being victims. We suffer many of us from economic poverty but we also suffer from poverty of aspirations, poverty of hope, and thinking we are not worth more than what people think we are. Well, we are worth more.”

Ms Sarkis warned the black community that unless it marshalled itself properly it would miss the “window of opportunity’ open to it to make its voice heard.

She also called for better leadership within the black church, saying that many of its leaders were too comfortable materially, spiritually and physically.

“They think we’ve already arrived,” she said. “The Kingdom of Heaven has still to be reached and attained and we have to actually work for it here and now.”

Ms Sarkis pointed to the state of the African Caribbean Evangelical Alliance, which was forced to suspend operations this year due to lack of funding. She encouraged black people to take part in the consultation due to be launched on the organisation’s future.

Dr R David Muir, Director of Public Policy at the Evangelical Alliance, echoed their sentiments.

"There’s an Obama moment and it’s the ‘Yes we can!’. Yes we can, if we try.

"We’ve got to stop defining ourselves by what has happened to us as opposed to who we are ... and change our mind and believe we can make a difference if we participate."

Rev Shosanya said the fact that leading black Britons had contributed to the symposium was an indication that the black community was keen to solve some of the pressing issues that it faces.

He said: "We have experienced the Lord’s hand in taking us to where we are now and we need the Lord to take us further."