Reported last week, the words of Tony Sewell, chairman of the government’s race review: “culturally African people transformed themselves.”
On duty at my school’s front door I once refused admission to a young man who had not bothered to buy a ticket for a concert; he was black. He called me a racist and attempted to summon back-up on his phone. There was a tap on my shoulder; it was the head boy, also black, who asked me to leave matters to him and suddenly the problem turned and walked away.
All this was witnessed by a grandmother of the Windrush generation who then insisted on apologising to me, “on behalf of the black community.”
Such kindness and consideration from a teenager and a somebody’s grandma; a humbling but unforgettable moment.
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