Race, Faith and Community in Contemporary Britain Essays on Black, African, and African Caribbean Muslims in the UK PROUDLY MUSLIM & BLACK REPORT 2022

been excluded from school, according to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and
Wales. This is critical because students that go to these establishments meet other individuals
who are involved with criminal activity - many of the boys - then get encouraged to join gangs
and get involved with crime.
Education research reveals how troubling the picture is. In “White teacher’s reactions to the
racial treatment of middle school Black boys” Battles (2017) states:
‘The experiences and challenges of racial identification in school seem to be especially
common among Black males, past and present, many of whom have been racially
profiled and who struggle with being negatively labelled by some White teachers.’
Battles’ research strikes a chord for me as a teacher. The prejudice Black boys face in school
may be shaped by demographics of British schools in which there are few Black teachers and
a large proportion of the teachers are white females. Negative stereotypes and images of
Black boys are prevalent in schools (Parveen and McIntyre 2021); for example violent, lazy, not
interested in education, aggressive and highly sexualised, many of these negative images are
perpetuated from the British media. This is a major issue because it is near to impossible to
teach someone well if you have low expectations of them and in some cases fear them.
Halley, Eshleman, and Vijaya (2011) show that Black males suffer in schools because of poor
expectations from their white teachers. This prejudice also happens because of a lack of
empathy as white female teachers do not understand what it is like to be a Black male and to
face the challenges they face.
Another issue is the school curriculum; it is incapable of catching the imagination of Black
children. History is taught in a euro-centric way where Black children are taught about the
contribution of white individuals but what is missing is the contribution of Black people. 25
The way slavery is taught in schools British people are painted as saviours of Black people. In
reality they were one of the main countries promoting and benefitting from slavery.
Afua Hirsch, author and journalist, explains in her article (2019):
As I and others have argued before, one reason that British people feel complacent
about Britain’s role in pioneering slavery, and the racism that underpinned it, is that
it happened slightly farther away. The Caribbean is Britain’s own Deep South, where
enslavement and segregation as brutal as anything that existed on American soil took
place at the hands of British people. And that distance facilitates denial.
Also when Black role models are taught for example Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.
Malcolm X is taught as the dangerous, angry and violent individual, while Martin Luther King is
taught as the peaceful, calm and loving one. This is inaccurate; Malcolm X never used violence
and was peaceful and respectful. This image of him is not taught (see Fisher 1992)
What is not made clear when studying Malcolm X is the source of his anger. What doesn’t get
explained well is that he is reacting to the systemic racism that Black people have experienced
in America since the days of slavery and which is still going on today. The deaths of George
Floyd and Breonna Taylor are just the tip of the iceberg.
iv. The Current Scenario
Research tells us a great deal but the situation is even more dire. My experience as the Director
of Save our Boys working with young men gives me a deeper perspective of what young
people and their families are dealing with everyday.
Part of the problem is a lack of preparation and resources in Muslim communities. A recent
case in Scotland featured a young man who was killed by another Black Muslim youth. The
victim was the son of an Imam. In London, there was a recent case with a youth of Sudanese
heritage who was murdered. The parents were unaware of what their son was doing, and what
he was going through. Some parents have sent their children to Africa to protect them (Clare,
2019).
These are examples of a generational difference in which young people face a different reality,
a reality grounded in Britain. Young people are getting drawn into the challenges and realities
of the street, while their parents don’t understand that reality. Some young people are caught
up in gang territorial conflicts, and become part of gangs like any other youth and Black British
Muslim youth are no exceptions to that trend.
Another part of the scenario has to do with public policy. Thanks to budget cuts due, youth
clubs were closed, which led to young people being pushed onto the streets. Much of the
violence is after school, and has to do with money, drugs, and territory. Right now the safest
place for kids is at home!
The divide is felt in our communities. Mosques tend to cater to the older demographic, while
young people tend to spend time in other places. It’s not unusual to find in mosques older men
who sit inside the room, while there are signs that say ‘no talking.’ Commonly youth are outside
chicken shops, end up in shopping malls, or worse, shisha bars that have mushroomed lately
and seem to operate all night.
Parents don’t understand the youth when children are talking to them, they don’t know what’s
going on. Youth however are in tune to what’s happening on the streets. Youth use social
media, different WhatsApp groups, different Snap accounts and are part of all the madness
that goes on online.
For example, one youth told me recently, there’s one Snapchat that tells all the news such as
gang wars between Tottenham and Wood Green. Then there’s taunting that goes on on social
media - which has basically amplified things. Years ago, to find out what’s happening you had
to talk to someone in the know. Now it’s all on social media. You need to know the gatekeepers
25
See Ahmed (2021) in this volume
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