Race in the time of childhood

“Growing up in north-west London in the 1970s … we learned to have a radar for racism, keeping our heads down, crossing the road, sticking together to avoid trouble.”

“who treads water seeking humanity
hearing proudly that you have none?
who sweats the story long before it’s read?”

“And yet. I remain hopeful, grateful for all the work anti-racist activists have done and continue to do – the black and brown people who are not afraid to speak out. The white allies who’ve done the uncomfortable work of examining their own privilege, learning the history, listening.”

“The salad cream sandwiches gave me the seal of approval I didn’t realise I had been auditioning for.”

“You’re fourteen when you leave the heady suburbs of New Cross and hop two trains and a bus to what feels like the other side of nowhere.”

“Me and Christine. God gave us these feet. We are stars of disco at New Century Hall. On the sprung dancefloor, a circle gathers around us.”

“At first you hear the word as a tapping on your shoulder. You stop and resist the compulsion to turn around. Instinct tells you to take a moment to process. The tap has touched the beating of your heart.”

“I wanted blood and guts and howling demons and white-knuckle, hair-raising adventure and blood-chilling horror, but with a brown kid. You know, getting up to all the cool stuff his white peers did on every bookshelf.”

“But, yeah, of course comics are literature. The question is, what is literature? It’s a really complicated question actually.”