and I used to live 10 minutes away from the event. in fact, we used to stand outside and just watch crowds of people (we were mainly watching girls to be honest) going from the station all the way up to Edgware Road and then all the way back in the evening. good times
my interest waned when I saw the first Trance float then a House float or something. then randoms goons with masks on scaring peeps for no reason. then too many man dem that we knew wearing those shiny Sean Jean / Bushi / Johnny Blaze jean suits (that I still have never figured out if they were fake) posted up just watching each other. then some s*** going down at the former Westwood area. these were isolated incidents however
I went back street evangelizing with my old church back in 03′ I think. one dude gave his life…then that was me done
my mood towards the event soured further when I realised that the event was a more or less a cultural safari: a lot of non – African (Black) people smiling, suddenly feeling irie, eating chicken, corn, drinking Red Stripe, wearing RGG wristbands. funnily enough these same people would transform into the same people screwing me on public transport and clutching their bags the very next day
it was around this time that I stepped back to think “what is this event really about?” I discovered Claudia Jones. then the final nail in my interest coffin was brotha Toyin getting treated like a criminal for trying to start a remembrance for her one year
I think a lot. all the time. especially the relationships of power that involve Global African people. it’s kept me in good stead. sometimes it holds you back. so I may go back tomorrow. we’ll see
reh
Idris is holding a rave yeah? this is like 10 minutes from where I used to live. I hear the areas in a state of gentrification. so it goes I guess
Nii-Teiko 