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In the wake of the recent General Election, Young African Caribbean people want to have the opportunity to confront their MPs directly, and are using spoken word - poetry and rap – to comment on the future of British society.
Serenity is a performance poet and trainee teacher who is involved with Youth Anti-Racism Open Parliamentary School (YAROPS).
Zhana – How did you become involved with YAROPS?
Serenity - I have been doing poetry performances for some time, which is all about giving a voice to the youth, giving them a platform to speak. Someone from YAROPS attended one of my events and we met up, and we came up with the idea for an event at the House of Commons.
Zhana – What does YAROPS represent?
Serenity - YAROPS stands for freedom of speech, giving young people of today a platform to voice their opinions about politics and about society.
We do have very influential Black MPs in Parliament who say they are out there to support the youth, but whether or not they are actually listening to what is being said and acting on what is being said are two different things.
YAROPS gets young people involved in the Parliamentary system, lets them see exactly how it all works, lets them speak to MPs direct. It’s giving them an open voice. Rather than speaking to a middle person, they are going straight to that MP and saying, look, this is how I feel. I’m the one growing up in this local area, I know exactly what’s wrong, and I am the voter of tomorrow. So you are in Parliament for me, to benefit me, to benefit my children and my children’s children.
One young person went in and mirrored David Lammy for a day. Opportunities like that are ideal, because they are seeing how the Houses of Parliament work. We are encouraging more of the young people to do this.
We reach the young people through creative arts. They are very highly influenced by what they see on TV. A lot of them live in an MTV Base culture, where music means a lot to them. The way the education system is, the only way a lot of young people can succeed is through their creativity. That’s the way they find it easiest to express themselves.
Young people need to know their rights, and know what the political system has to offer you, what options are available to you.
With organisations like YAROPS, we create platforms for them to perform their material. They can express their views through dance, drama and poetry.
We allow them to share their ideas and have feedback from other people.
They’re expressing their opinions and, although it’s not through a form which is usually accepted by the mainstream, it is via a creative form, which is just as relevant.
There is definitely a demand for what we do. The response is amazing. For a lot of the young people, it is the first time they are able to speak out.
It is primarily a Black project, but it is for young people in general. Young people are very much undermined in society, their opinions are looked down upon. These are the voters of tomorrow. They are the foundation of the country we are living in. If we are not investing in them now, what is going to happen in 20 years’ time? What kind of society are we going to have?
If you have a plant and you don’t take care of it, it will die. That’s what’s happening to so many of our young people.
Zhana – Why Anti-Racism?
Serenity - The youth have to realise that it’s not a colour issue. It’s about them working together for a common cause. If they are all working together, amazing things can happen. The common cause that unites us is change. If we share our experiences and our knowledge of various things, then we will be able to help each other.
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The politicians’ approach to young people just is not working.
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The politicians’ approach to young people just is not working. We held an event at the House of Commons in March of 2004, after YAROPS were invited to come down by Jeremy Corbyn MP. The MPs wanted to find out what the youth felt about Parliament.
We got six poets from different areas of London to come down and voice their opinions. The performers were excited because something like this had never happened before. We had never been invited into the Houses of Parliament before. We had a huge audience waiting to speak to the MPs. We decided we were going to have no censorship.
This was something that was planned and organised for eight months or more. We were expecting quite a few MPs, but at the end only Jeremy Corbyn was able to attend. He was very excited about finding out what the youth felt about politics.
Young people are frustrated about the crime rate, about the fact that, within education, they are being labelled constantly. The key issues were about the state of the youth. A lot of the poets were from Tottenham in North London and they were concerned about the state of the housing. No role models. No funding to improve play areas. School exclusions. A key thing, especially for the male poets, was the stop-and-checks by the police.
It was good, because we got to go into the Houses of Parliament, and at least one MP heard what we had to say. But I don’t know how much impact it had.
For example, Diane Abbott has done a lot for the Black community, but she does not listen to the young people. The school figures in Hackney are ridiculous. The expulsions rate in Hackney is ridiculous. Two secondary schools have been closed down in Hackney because of failure. There were an extremely high percentage of Black youths in those schools who then had to start again.
I do believe the Black MPs go in with goodwill, but one person amongst a party of many is just one voice. So there is only so much she can do.
Zhana – What about Diane Abbott’s Conference on London Schools and the Black Child?
Serenity - There are too many conferences. There is too much talking. What happens with the feedback they are given? Nothing happens. You can have as many conferences as you want to. With every conference I have been to, the same points are being made. Why are our Black youths being excluded? Why are our schools being closed down? Why are the play areas not safe? Why is there not funding, and why is the existing funding so hard to get hold of?
Everyone leaves the conference on a high, thinking something is going to be done, and then it’s left again to the following year. There never seems to be a solution to the problem.
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There are only a few Black MPs. If the young people don’t think politics are going to solve anything, and are not interested in politics, then we are not going to have any future Black MPs. If the young people don’t have faith in politics and don’t go out and vote, then we won’t have more Black MPs in power.
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There are only a few Black MPs. If the young people don’t think politics are going to solve anything, and are not interested in politics, then we are not going to have any future Black MPs. If the young people don’t have faith in politics and don’t go out and vote, then we won’t have more Black MPs in power.
It’s important for young people to vote. That’s their voice. If one person thinks, ‘I’m not going to vote because it’s not going to make a change’, there could be ten other people thinking the same thing. That turns into 100, then 1000. Those 1000 votes can make a huge difference in the General Election.
Operation Black Vote is crucial because it is letting you know how important voting is and what a difference one voice can make. People need to be going into colleges a lot more and explaining how important it is for young people to get out and cast their vote. Because it does make a difference. If they want to see more people in power whom they think can make a change for them, then it’s down to them to vote. Then you have a government coming in that isn’t going to do anything to help you.
There have been a lot of broken promises. During the election, they talk about funding for education and after school schemes. They talk about housing. But nothing actually happens. They say we want to improve the community and get the young people more involved and develop community spirit. But it never happens.
There is funding available. But it’s not easily accessible. And when the money is not used, then the funding is cut. The reason it is cut is that no one knows about it. The public needs to know about the resources that are available. It could be published in the local community; there are parent/teacher noticeboards in schools; community centres on Council estates. These are some practical ways to let people know about the funding that is available, the deadlines, etc.
Zhana – What do you think the different political parties are offering the African Caribbean Community today?
Every party is playing a game of ‘what problems are there in society today? What can generate the most interest to get people to go out and put a cross next to us?’
Every party knows that the Black vote is very crucial in the coming election. They want to appear to be listening to what the community wants. The Conservative party has been seen as the white middle-class party and the Labour party has been seen as the party for the everyday man. But when Labour came into power, they changed the university grants into loans. I would not have been able to go to university had it not been for the grants. By the time my generation finished university, a lot of us were £15,000 in debt. That was caused by Labour.
How is someone growing up in Hackney or Tottenham going to be able to go to university, or to pay back the loan?
Politicians are not guaranteeing that they are going to keep their promises. If you have faith in your MP, it is down to you as their constituent to stay on their back about it and to remind them about everything they stood for. When you write to your MP, they have to respond to you. You can set up local meetings and invite your MP to attend, and challenge them on why they are not doing what they said they were going to do.
Your vote helps to put them in power. Voting is important, but it’s not enough. It’s your responsibility as a member of the community to follow up with your MP. Put pressure on them to get things done and get things changed.
YAROPS has been a very successful group. The best thing about it is that it is a combination of groups mainly in East London, North London and South London. By putting on our events, we are creating awareness in each community.
We hold an event every summer at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich commemorating the ending of slavery. The performers are aged 15 and up. All the youth groups get to work towards something that they can perform in front of an audience. This is key in building their confidence. They put something together from start to finish, which they then perform.
We plan to do transatlantic workshops, to do a tour of the universities in the States. We can learn from each other, learn about how we can make a change. That’s what it’s all about.
We always reinforce the point that one person can do amazing things.
Comment from Diane Abbott MP:
Anything that encourages young people to take an interest in politics is very positive. But politics is not just about what happens in Parliament. It is important that people see the link between Parliament and what is happening around them locally – school councils, campaigns and other things in their community.
People get the MPs they deserve. If they don’t like the MPs they have, they should organise and get better ones.
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