By Elliott West
“All you do when people don’t show you love, is show love yourself. You have to smile and feel worthy. I realised that if anyone else had a problem with the colour of my skin, then it was their problem. I had to begin showing the world who I really was”.
Floella Benjamin
Introduction
Growing up in the 1970s, the cultural landscape was frankly sparse and unrepresentative. Although only a young child, even through my infant’s eyes, I could even then detect that the sheer wealth of black talent that exists in this country was kept at arm’s length from the multitude of media that the United Kingdom prides itself on. Thankfully there were a few key players who dared to stand up to the establishment and show their excellence. Norman Beaton, Evelyn Dove, Derek Griffiths, Lenny Henry, Trevor MacDonald, Joan Armatrading, Shirley Bassey, Margaret Busby and Olive Morris are just a few people who challenged the myth that we live in a white Britain and turned the tide to recognise that we live in a multicultural country.
Thankfully black people are no longer shown as an extra in the back of a television or ridiculed through a vile humour that dominated our lives for far too long. We have come a long way since those days that have thankfully been kicked into the television vaults but don’t for fooled it has gone away completely. It just festers in the shadows and is peddled by an ignorant few. The fact is that black people have enriched this country for centuries with the Windrush voyage in 1948 being a defining moment. People and defining moments that should be celebrated. Black History needs to be constant and not just a concept showcased once a year. It defines all of us and helps show why Great Britain is so great.
A Woman of Substance
As we celebrate Black History Month, I want to look at some of the black people who knocked on the door and were bold enough to ask the question. One such lady who has inspired me is Floella Benjamin. A woman and child of the Windrush Generation who combated adversity and emigrated to Britain as a 10-year-old girl in 1960 as described in the book and subsequent 2005 television drama, Coming to England who went on to star in the 1978 film Black Joy with Norman Beaton, groundbreaking BBC children’s television in Play School and Play Away and in recent years a Liberal Democrat peer in the House of Lords and an acclaimed writer with children’s books such as Keep Smiling and My Two Grannies with her life vividly described in her autobiography What Are You Doing Here?.
A Different World
The Britain that Floella was faced with in 1960 certainly is the polar opposite of the one today. The rare glimpse of black people on television was portrayed in the form of stereotypes such as a thief, prostitute or bus driver. Benjamin herself fell foul of this in one of her early acting roles as a 16-year-old when she was cast in an episode of Within These Walls, a prison drama with Googie Withers with Floella playing a shoplifter. When Benjamin called for greater diversity on television, she was told to shut up or she wouldn’t work again and when she asked for serious roles, was met with the response that it wasn’t realistic. This wall of adversity that faced the young and driven Benjamin would ignite a spark inside her, leading to her fight for diversity that began in 1973. Just one of the many ways that she shows she is a survivor who gets herself up and dusts herself off every time she is knocked down.
A Vile Language
When Floella went to view their first house in Beckenham, a neighbour called the police suspecting them being burglars. Going to buy something in a shop, you were often ignored and had to stand at the back of the queue. She came to a Britain where racism permeated society from top to bottom. Highly insulting vocabulary was the norm and the police stopped black people for just walking down the street. Yet this Trinidadian is a tough cookie, adopting a sixth sense to pre-empt this prejudice of verbal and physical abuse. No one without exception should be judged on the colour of their skin and nothing less is acceptable. Black doesn’t crack and that comes in the form of drive as well as appearance. Benjamin lived it and survived it.
The Leading Light
Through those kind eyes, beaming smile and beautiful hairstyles, I embraced Floella as an extremely happy part of my childhood. I knew her from Play School. A BBC children’s programme that transported you away from reality for twenty-odd minutes with presenters getting you to learn differently through visual presentations, songs and film. The stuffed toys of Humpty, Big and Little Ted, Jemima and Hamble momentarily came to life and blended well with the live pets that were shown on the programme.
Floella made learning fun and kept many a child transfixed when it was on television. The beauty was that the producers allowed Floella to be herself, a far cry from the world outside the round window. Yet even Hamble, who was introduced to promote diversity, was replaced in the 1980s by Poppy. Hamble was described by some of the crew as ugly and creepy. Wrong behaviour as this doll helped to pave the way for so many black dolls that you can readily buy today for children. A BBC that may have been in colour but certainly wasn’t representative of people of colour.
The Way Forward
Floella Benjamin continues to be a champion of many causes today. A loud voice and influencer who aimed to be the first black bank manager but achieved much more. Whether it is diversity and inclusion, poverty or the beauty of Windrush, Benjamin lives and breathes these causes. She doesn’t tire and looks as youthful and vibrant as I remember her as a child. This lady from the small town of Pointe-a-Pierre is inspirational, a breath of fresh air in the changing world we live. A woman who has lived and has been there when society was so much different. She is just as diverse in her own life as the diversity she passionately believes in. A leading light that helps make this world a better place.
