Minority groups are not so much excluded as forgotten. But activists would do well to leverage their support

Sometimes I think I’m just too black to be green. What with my required international travel (to see the relatives) and my hereditary love of meat it seems being black and green are two incompatible states. There are other times when I almost feel too green to be black. Trying to convince friends and family of the urgency of global warming is like trying to persuade the BNP that immigration is a good thing. As Muzammal Hussain, founder of the London Islamic Network for the Environment says, it’s a constant “cultural commute”. But over the last few months I’ve realised that, while advocating for the use of alternative energies, environmentalists would do well to consider the renewable benefits that a more diverse green movement would bring to the table.

As someone who’s usually the only black face in a green crowd it’s obvious to me that the subtle prejudices of the environmental movement have a lot to do with their inability to convert the masses to their way of thinking. Worthy though their cause may be, environmentalists are fundamentally a microcosm of society, albeit an impassioned one, flaws and all. The movement needs to be more sensitive to difference and inclusive in its outreach, across race, religion and class.

There are good reasons for engaging Britain’s ethnic communities. With its size, diversity and global awareness, black and Asian Britons, many of whom have roots in two continents, are uniquely placed to contribute to the discourse in a meaningful way. Take Bangladesh, for example, a country exceptionally affected by the cruelties of a changing climate. The UK is home to the largest Bengali population outside of Bangladesh yet how much do activists connect with British Bengalis on the issues? Similarly, Africans abroad are a powerful collective. They contribute more to the continent’s development through individual remittances than international aid. And in much the same way that the diaspora can exert financial influence and pressure on individuals and governments they can also do the same on green issues. But they must be encouraged and empowered to do so by being brought in to the national debate. It never ceases to amaze me how easily minority groups with real and vested interests are not so much excluded as forgotten.

It’s not just in the developing world that the movement can benefit from the amplification of other voices. Here at home, there’s a massive incentive for environmentalists to embrace ethnic communities. Black and minority ethnic groups are a fast growing constituency and activists would do well to leverage the support of those who will soon make up, not just the future face of the UK but the future body of the movement.

It’s not that black Britons are disinterested in green issues but more that they don’t seem relevant to them. In this respect British environmentalism could learn a lot from America. In Obama’s post-racial US, the green debate is a consensus of equals. Advocates, both black and white, have managed to broaden the dialogue in to one of opportunity for all, proclaiming the benefits of a green economy and green jobs rather than harping on about intangibles like apocalypse now. Van Jones, Obama’s former special adviser for green jobs, founded the Green For All group, which has been successful in mobilising large numbers of minorities and urbanites behind a new social movement. This country needs a similar community who are willing to take on both the indifference of politicians and the might of the insular green movement while bringing new people in to the debate. It’s a win-win situation.

(photo credit)

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Ashley Walters, Actor and Rapper
Asher D. Walters was a leading member of the So Solid Crew, a controversial 30-piece rap band that took the UK charts by storm in the early noughties. But Walters first made a name for himself as a child actor, showcasing formidable depth and character that belied his years. He is widely considered one of the UK’s most promising young performers, starring in small independent films like Love and Lyrics and Sugarhouse, blockbusters like Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and hit BBC drama series Hustle. Walters has been through and survived hard times. He served a prison sentence for firearms possession and five of his So Solid band members subsequently ended up in prison, one of them on a murder charge (later cleared). “There was a lot of fast living and I was doing things to be accepted by my peers rather than doing what I really wanted to. This resulted in me going to prison,” says Walters. “Behind bars I was so depressed because I thought everything was over. I think in some ways it was meant to happen. It was a positive experience because I learnt from it. Ego. It almost destroyed me once. I won’t let it again.”

Gary Younge, Journalist and Author
Journalist Gary Younge has been a leading light in British journalism for over a decade, producing the kind of incisive commentary that informs, and does so eloquently. Younge is a feature writer on race politics in America and a columnist for the Guardian newspaper, the UK’s leading left of centre broadsheet. He’s written extensively on Obama’s election and continues to provide insight in to modern American society and culture. Younge moved to America seven years ago after marrying an African-American and lives in New York with his wife and son. He writes a regular column for The Nation called “Beneath the Radar” and is the Alfred Knobler Journalism Fellow at The Nation Institute. His book No Place Like Home, in which he retraced the route of the civil rights Freedom Riders, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award in 1999 and he followed this up with Stranger in a Strange Land: Encounters in the Disunited States. His newest book “Who Are We and Does It Matter in the 21st Century?” is out next year. Younge is currently a visiting scholar at Brooklyn College, where he teaches classes on media and politics.

Roy Williams, Playwright
London born playwright Roy Williams has written some the UK’s most hard-hitting and respected plays over the last ten years, usually set in the multicultural metropolis that is the city of his birth. It was in 1999 that Williams really grabbed the public’s attention by winning three major awards: the 31st John Whiting Award and the EMMA Award for Best Play for Starstruck and the George Devine Award for Lift Off. These were followed by The Gift, Local Boy and Clubland which, in 2001, won Williams the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. He has been commissioned to write plays for the National and the Royal Court theatres among others in addition to developing one of his plays as a feature film and working on a BBC television drama. He also won the South Bank Show / Arts Council England Decibel Award, recognizing work that contributes to the development and promotion of the black and Asian arts sector, or an artist whose ethnicity directly influences their work. “I’ve never been bothered if people want to label me as a “black playwright” as long as I can get on with writing,” he said. Williams was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen in 2008 in recognition of his services to British theatre.

Theo Walcott, Soccer Player
Arsenal and England soccer player Theo Walcott, 20, was born in London to a black Jamaican father and white English mother. At the age of 10 Walcott started playing soccer with local club AFC Newbury and he scored 100 goals in 35 games for the club’s under-11 team and in 2000 won the Peter Houseman League Cup after his side beat Down Grange 4-2 in the final. From there he was offered a schoolboy contract to join Swindon Town’s Centre of Excellence, but soon left to join Southampton. Nike agreed to a sponsorship deal with the youngster when he was just fourteen years old. It wasn’t long before Walcott went from playing Championship football with Southampton to join top Premiership club Arsenal, who signed him for approximately $8m, and to top that, he went on to play on the biggest soccer stage – the World Cup – with England at age 17. He has since become an integral part of the Arsenal side, one of the UK’s top soccer clubs, scoring many important goals for both club and country, and becoming one of the most exciting young prospects in world soccer.

Dizzee Rascal, Rapper
Once you’ve seen and heard rapper Dizzee Rascal perform it’s unlikely you’ll forget him. His energy and focus have turned the grime artist from an underground hit to a mainstream star, scoring number one singles and albums in the UK charts. Dizzee grew up in East London on a council estate, raised by his single mother, a Ghanaian immigrant. He attributes his musical development to a school teacher who allowed him to skip regular classes and spend time working on music on the school computers. Dizzee’s distinctive sound is a blend of garage MCing, conventional rap, grime, ragga, and electronic music, with extremely eclectic samples and more exotic styles. His debut album, Boy in da Corner, won him the 2003 Mercury Prize while follow-ups Showtime, Maths + English and Tongue N’ Cheek have all been critically acclaimed and certified gold. Unlike many rappers, Dizzee doesn’t glorify gun culture in his music, but reflects it along with other grim realities of urban life. He has been described as “the vital unvarnished voice of modern-day inner-city London”, and a social element is usually to be found in most of his tracks.

Phillips Idowu
World champion triple jumper Phillips Idowu’s flamboyant style is almost as recognizable as his athletic skills and is reminiscent of basketball player Dennis Rodman’s minus the ego. Idowu was born in East London 31 years ago to Nigerian parents and was a strong basketball and American football player at school, but decided to focus on the triple jump. While for so long it looked like he would fail to fulfill his potential the talented Brit proved his credentials outdoors throughout a fantastic year in 2009 when he got the better of Portuguese nemesis Nelson Évora to take the IAAF World Championships Triple Jump gold in Berlin in August with a world-leading leap and personal best of 17.73m. Idowu was already a silver medal winner having just missed out on gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and last month, in recognition of his achievement, he was voted men’s European Athlete of the Year.

David Lammy, Politician
Once feted as a future prime minister, David Lammy has steadily risen through the political ranks. Ivy League educated, Lammy was the first black Briton to go to Harvard, where he studied law and came in to contact with the future US president, Barack Obama. Lammy became an MP in 2000 at the age of 27, following the death of prominent black politician Bernie Grant and has since served as a Minister in various high-profile departments including Health, Constitutional Affairs, Culture and most recently Minister for Skills with responsibility for the Commission for Employment and Skills. He is currently the Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Property.

Wale Adeyemi, Designer and Stylist
Walé Adeyemi combines youth culture and fashion with his now instantly recognised trademark graffiti print. Adeyemi has been working as a designer under his own name for more than eight years and lists Alicia Keys, Mos Def, Beyonce and Missy Elliot as clients of his bespoke collection ‘Walé Adeyemi’. Yet in spite of the high profile that his work has attained him, Walé has always maintained a relaxed attitude towards his achievements. He is an ambassador for the Princes’ Trust, Prince Charles’ charity to help young disadvantaged people start up in business.

Taio Cruz, Singer and Producer
Chart-topping singer and in demand producer, Taio Cruz is doing big things on the UK music scene. The award-winning half Nigerian, half Brazilian music maestro released his self-produced debut album, Departure, in 2008 to critical acclaim. His follow up long player, Rokstarr was released last month on his own label, Rokstarr Music London. Cruz launched his fashion and accessories brand earlier this year and it has already become popular with celebrities such as Kanye West and Keri Hilson. The 24-year-old has written, arranged and produced new music for a diverse range of artists including LeToya Luckett, Brandy, Justin Timberlake and The Pussycat Dolls and Britney Spears. He even gets the Simon Cowell seal of approval, having been hired by the American Idol judge to write and produce tracks for his protégée, Leona Lewis.

Come and hear leading journalists from top news organisations go head-to-head as they debate the big questions: how do the media influence your view on climate change? Is it their role to campaign or impartially present the facts? Who should you trust and why?

Confirmed speakers are:
Robin Pagnamenta, Energy Editor, The Times
Tim Gallagher, Executive Producer, Sky News
James Randerson, Environment website editor, The Guardian
Ben Jackson, Environment Editor, The Sun
Martin Wright, Editor-in-Chief, Green Futures (Chair)

For more information visit the Lucid Magazine website or to book your free ticket call (00 44) +207 942 4040 or e-mail tickets@danacentre.org.uk

Sylvia Arthur sets out a few inspirational and enlightening facts to get your minds in gear to explore the big wide world outside your comfort zone

Europeans take great pleasure in reveling in the unfortunate fact that just 6% of Americans own a passport, with only slightly more choosing to venture outside of their immediate environs and explore their own United States. Europeans love to travel and experience the world outside their borders and people of African descent, in particular, have long been a nomadic race. There’s a whole black world out there to explore and for those of you looking for that push to get out there and see it, feel it and taste it for yourselves, here are a few snippets to set you on your way.

1. The black population in Brazil will outnumber the white population this year for the first time.

There are more people of African descent in Brazil than in any country outside of Africa itself, making Brazil second only to Nigeria in terms of its black population. This racial melting pot is a result of the transatlantic slave trade in which more than 40% of Africans forcibly exported to the New World were taken to Brazil. Today, half the country’s 183 million people have African slaves as forefathers. Brazil has been celebrated for its vibrant, integrated “racial democracy” but Black Brazilians still lag behind whites economically and educationally. Most economic indicators show that black Brazilians are the poorest section of society, and the sprawling favelas or shanty towns are just one indication of this. As well as having the poorest jobs and housing, Afro Brazilians also fare badly in terms of health and access to education, while black faces are rarely seen in the corridors of power in either business or politics. Recently, there has been a heated debate about the issue of race, equality and discrimination and the use of quotas as a means to address lack of access by black students to universities has proved particularly controversial.

2. Black women are increasingly taking leadership roles in Europe
A new breed of political star is in the ascendancy. Black women all over Europe are rising up the ladder of political power and are assuming positions of prominence both nationally and internationally.

Rama Yade, a Senegalese-born daughter of a diplomat, is a French politician who has served in the government since 2007 and was the first ever French minister for human rights. She is currently the Secretary of State for Sports.

Rachida Dati, a Moroccan-Algerian, was the first woman from a non-European immigrant background to occupy a key ministerial position in the French Cabinet.

Joyce Sylvester, acting mayor of the Dutch city of Naarden, is the first black woman to serve as mayor in the Netherlands. Sylvester is born in Amsterdam and is of Surinamese descent.

Sandy Cane, a 47-year-old Italian-American, was elected mayor of Viggiu after winning 30% of votes cast by the town’s 5,000 residents. Cane, who has a black American father and an Italian mother, voted for Barack Obama in the US presidential elections but is representing an Italian anti-immigration party.

3. Rwandan women are world leaders
Rwanda, the central African country notorious for civil war and genocide, is the first country in the world where women outnumber men in parliament. At the last parliamentary elections in 2008, women took 45 out of 80 seats or 56.25%.

Rwanda, whose post-genocide constitution ensures a 30% quota for female MPs, already held the record for the most women in parliament.

In the run-up to the election, gender advocates called on parties not only to have equal representation of women and men in their party lists, but also to position women close to the top to ensure the presence of women representatives. The ruling party, the Rwanda Patriotic Front, placed a woman at the head of its list, and of the 42 seats it won, 17 went to women. Of the further 3 seats won by women in the general election, 2 went to the Social Democratic Party, and 1 to the Liberal Party.

An additional 24 women MPs were elected through the indirect electoral process managed by the National Women’s Council (CNF) — an organ attached to the Ministry for Gender and Family Promotion.

4. Black women are international literary giants
French-Senegalese writer Marie NDiaye last month won France’s top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, for her novel Trois femmes puissantes [Three Strong Women], a novel on family, betrayal and the hellish ordeal of illegal migration from Africa. NDiaye is the black woman, and the first woman in ten years, to be awarded the prize.

NDiaye was born in France, the daughter of a French mother and a Senegalese father. After her father returned to Senegal, she didn’t travel to Africa until she was in her 20s and now lives in Berlin with her three children.

NDiaye is only the most recent woman of African descent to be recognised for her literary flair.

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie is the darling of the international book scene, with her novels Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun scooping multiple accolades. Her newly published collection of short stories The Thing Around Your Neck has also gained international critical acclaim.

5. International black women are doing big things on the big screen
Thandie Newton, Sophie Okonedo, Naomie Harris and Carmen Ejogo – black, British and hugely successful actresses, internationally known and internationally respected. Following in the footsteps of Marianne Jean-Baptiste, the first black British woman to be nominated for an Oscar, these strong black women are taking over Hollywood with award worthy performances, representing for UK talent that is so often gone unrecognised at home. Newton is currently burning up the big screen in the blockbuster 2012 while Okonedo is starring in the biopic Skin. Meanwhile, Harris, famous for her role in Pirates of the Caribbean, is taking over the British small screen in an adaptation of writer Andrea Levy’s award winning novel Small Island.

I remember exactly where I was that night that history was made. I was fast asleep in my bed and was determined not to get out! I’d resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama’s defeat was imminent, that no matter what they said, the American people would never vote for a black man for the White House. Consequently, I’d decided to go to sleep early and put the optimism of the past behind me since the future was looking decidedly bleak. But I was awoken prematurely by the sound of my phone ringing endlessly. It was about 5 am. My people were desperate to tell me that the scenario we dared not hope for had, in fact, materialized. I was elated. Never had a US election been so closely watched in the UK. Parties were held in towns across the country as black Britons everywhere celebrated with African-Americans. We were all validated that night. Yes we can and yes we did!

Twelve months later and I honestly don’t think that the world has yet grasped the enormity of what the American people did when they voted Barack Obama in to office on November 5th, 2008. Just last week a survey for the Prince’s Trust, a UK youth charity, found that of 1,095 13-to-19-year-olds who were asked who were our greatest leaders, number one was Martin Luther King, number two was Barack Obama and number three was Nelson Mandela. Three black men leading the way and Obama has only just begun!

In my lifetime, I’m certain I won’t see a black British prime minister and yet us Brits take great pride in our liberalism as compared to our US cousins. Yet in America where, just forty years ago, black people were denied basic civil rights, a black man and his black wife and black children occupy the White House having got the mandate of Americans of every race, class and creed. We are proud indeed!

During the presidential election campaign last year I interviewed social commentator Jeff Johnson for Clutch. During our conversation, he spoke about the impact that the election of Barack Obama would have on aspiring politicians in Europe. It was something I hadn’t considered in any depth until Johnson explained: “I don’t think we’re acknowledging the potential global impact that a Barack Obama presidency can have in places like Great Britain and France, Portugal and other European countries where there are large populations of Diaspora people, where those people have been on the fringes or lower level of political electoral policy for a decade but where there’s still a question of will there ever be, or when will there be, a Diaspora president. I don’t hear black Americans talking about the global impact of a Barack Obama presidency and I think him becoming president of America has global implications in Western European countries that have large populations of Diaspora people who are saying, just like we’re saying in America, “When is the right time for someone who looks like me to lead this nation?”

And Johnson was right. Since then, there has been a black female mayor of an Italian city and a black Russian aspiring MP. Even conservative academic John McWhorter was backing Barack. “If there is that black man in the White House,” McWhorter opined, “suddenly a lot of black people will start feeling a lot more connected. And they might stay that way. That’s the sort of thing that works.”

My fear for Obama is that by being a pioneer, the first, whatever his achievements or lack of success he will always been judged through the prism of him being a black president, and even more unfortunately, future potential black leaders will be judged because of him. Whereas Bush’s failing are considered his and his alone, Obama’s perceived shortcomings will forever color the decisions of the electorate such that people will feel justified in saying, “Well, we voted for a black president once and look what happened.” The competency of a future black president will always be judged in relation to Obama.

One year on and I’m satisfied with our president’s performance. What Obama has brought is hope to the world, and hopefully, he’ll soon bring universal healthcare to America! But for me, it is a hope that we as black people all around the globe can believe in, that we can do better for ourselves and must aspire for more, regardless of the obstacles that inevitably stand in our way. Hope and change we still believe in. Yes we can and yes we do!

When Americans voted for Obama, they voted for so many things that I believe in. They voted for liberalism and diplomacy, for social reform over the protection of private equity. In short, they voted for change. It wasn’t about seeing the back of Bush because he was on the way out already. A man of direct African descent being the leader of the “free” world was genuinely exciting. I’m not a mindless optimist. I don’t think it’s now a case of ‘everything is possible’ for black people now we have a black president. I didn’t think opportunities would be any more plentiful and, so far, they haven’t been. But things have changed since Obama’s election. For a start, he was America’s Black President for about five minutes. Now, he’s just America’s President. The world has taken his black self, his black wife and his beautiful black children for granted. He doesn’t represent his own, he represents his nation, a president who happens to be black. I believe that he’s helped us, as Europeans in our own way, become Europeans who happen to be black too. — Athena Kugblenu, 27, England

Sylvia Arthur says the value of mentors can’t be underestimated in the corporate arena

The corporate maze is hard enough to navigate without having to do it on your own. The twists and turns of office politics and company culture can play havoc with even the most professional employee and threaten to throw you off your course. That’s why it’s important to surround yourself with people you can trust who have your best interests at heart.

It’s important to have mentors, especially other women who’ve been there, done that and bought the t-shirt. Why reinvent the wheel when you don’t have to? In his book, Love the Work You’re With, Richard Whiteley suggests cultivating a board of advisors to help you find your way up the corporate ladder. This board, like a company board, should consist of:

* a mentor, someone who wants to see you succeed and has the time and interest to dedicate to you;
* a strategist, someone who’ll help you map your professional future;
* a problem solver, or someone who focuses on the present and helps you to get past issues;
* a coach;
* a butt kicker, someone to challenge you; and
* a cheerleader, someone to encourage and motivate you.

Everyone in your team is an integral part of your eventual success.

I’m very much at the beginning of my career but, since I started on this road, I’ve met some wonderful women who’ve helped me along the way. These women have left an indelible mark on me, helping to shape me both professionally and personally and have, through their kindness and counsel, shown me that success, however you define it, is truly a collective achievement.

Dr Wayne W. Dyer, author of Everyday Wisdom for Success, says:

“Choose to be in close proximity to people who are empowering, who see the greatness in you, who feel connected to God, and who live a life that Spirit has found celebration through them.”

I’m lucky enough to have benefited from the wisdom of strong women. Here, I pay homage to them and their selflessness:

My mentors / other mothers – Natalie and Maria
It takes a generous spirit to open up their life to you and offer you a way through your own journey. Natalie and Maria were two women who did just that. I worked with when I was new to local government. They were both of a similar age, married with teenage children (although Maria was going through a divorce) and at similar stages in their careers. They’d both worked in the public sector for a number of years and had slowly become disillusioned but their passion for serving, parental responsibilities and other commitments had kept them there. Both of them had lived a life and were kind enough to share their personal and professional experiences with me so that I wouldn’t have to go through the same trials and tribulations that they went through. I learnt a lot from them and continue to do so though I don’t see them as often as I once did. I often wonder what they saw in me, why they chose to impart their knowledge to me and take me under their wing. Perhaps the fact that they both had daughters had something to do with it. Or maybe it was Maria’s religious beliefs. Whatever it was, their interest in me and my welfare was invaluable and I’ll always be grateful for their wisdom, guidance and support.

My strategist / problem solver – Tracey
I’d been without a manager for some time when, in early 2008, senior management recruited a young woman to fill the role that had been vacant for months. Tracey came in determined to make a difference and, from day one, she did. She proved to be someone to look up to. Tracey inherited a disunited, dejected team but, by the time she left eighteen months later, she had impacted on us all in so many ways. I, in particular, benefited from her management and, ultimately, her friendship. When I was on the verge of quitting my job in the midst of a recession, Tracey made me see sense. I was smack bang in the middle of typing my resignation when, at just the right moment, she emailed me some words of wisdom from Iyanla Vanzant that made me pause and reconsider. After that, she helped me scour the papers and the internet for jobs and helped me prepare for interviews when I eventually got them. When I was finally offered and accepted a new post, Tracey kept me sane in the four weeks I had to work my notice when all I wanted to do was flee. Like me, Tracey moved on to a better post. Like her, I hope to be the best manager I can be for myself and my team.

My cheerleader – Jacquie
Until a few months before leaving my last job, I never had any real relationship with the woman who was to become my cheerleader. Out of our team, Jacquie had been in the job the longest and had felt the sting of office politics. But she was great at not getting involved in the bitching and backbiting, preferring instead to withdraw in to her work and get on with what needed to be done. As a perfectionist, she was known to be difficult to work with and wasn’t the most popular among colleagues but that didn’t bother her. Getting the job done and doing it well was what mattered to her. Having been promoted to a manager two years ago, Jacquie was always busy but she spared me her time, even when she didn’t have it to give. When I needed advice on interview technique, she obliged and motivated me. When I resigned myself to being stuck where I was, she saw in me the potential to achieve far beyond what I was currently achieving. Jacquie had every confidence in me and never doubted my ability, only my self-belief. And she sought to rectify this. Through her continual encouragement I was able to see past my self-imposed limitations. Because of Jacquie, my whole approach to work has changed for the better.

Once you’ve been mentored, you’ll instinctively want to pass on your good fortune and mentor others. Freely give the benefit of your experience. It will certainly boost your professional karma. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. I look forward to the day when my mentors get the goodness they deserve. It’s surely just around the corner.

Who are your mentors? Who has helped you get to where you are? Tell us by leaving your comment below!

I remember the time when I started my last job. I was about two weeks in when I had a meeting with my boss and a colleague about a youth marketing campaign to encourage 16-18 year olds to register to vote. My coworker – a 25-year-old, white, middle-class male – had drafted some copy for a flyer. My boss said it sounded too corporate at which point my colleague immediately turned to me and said, “Come on, Sylvia, help me out. You’re from round here, you’re down with the kids. I’m just a public school boy from the country.” I was shocked. So many assumptions in such a short sentence! First of all, I wasn’t from ‘round there’. Just because I was a black person working in a deprived area with a large black population didn’t automatically mean I was at home. Secondly, in what way did he deduce that I was ‘down with the kids’? Though I was completely dumfounded by this man’s presumptuousness, I caught my breath in time to reply, “Well, how would I know? I’m just a public school girl from the country.” Which, to a large extent, I am.

This is me: I read the classics, watch the news and engage in political debate. I go to galleries and museums, watch foreign movies and attend debates and seminars. I follow pop culture, adore the theatre and care passionately about the planet. This doesn’t make me bougie, it makes me a normal, 21st century black woman. I’m living the black life. And I love it!

If I look at my own group of friends they too are black, female, highly educated and overwhelmingly professionals: doctors, lawyers, writers, publishers, public sector workers and private entrepreneurs, all of whom are representative of the diversity of black women today.

Cora Daniels’ excellent book Black Power Inc. is a must-read for black professionals. I read it at a time when, after a few years in the world of work, I was starting to feel disillusioned with the brazen cronyism and lack of prospects that reinforced the old maxim that it’s not what you know but who you know. It was a real eye-opener. Though I’m not yet at the top of the corporate ladder like the men and women featured in the book, it was nonetheless comforting to read the experiences of other people like me and recognize my predicament in their own. It confirmed to me that there was no chip on my shoulder, I didn’t have an attitude and I was, in fact, in the right place at the right time. We may have to work longer and harder to get there but it means that success, when achieved, however we define it, is all the more sweet.

Take, for example, Sharmadean Reid. The young nail stylist and entrepreneur was listed in British style magazine Grazia’s Cool List. Sharmadean, it says, is fashion editor on Arena Homme Plus, a consultant to Nike and Adidas and is working towards an MA in cultural studies while writing a stream-of-consciousness blog. Yep, the only black woman to make the list really does do it all (the only other black person on the list was President Obama!)

But there are problems for black women who do it all because, apparently, unlike women of other races, we can’t have it all. A report on MSNBC in August revealed that high achieving black women are consigned to a life of singledom and childlessness. According to a study by two Yale researchers, “marriage markets” for black female high-flyers are restricted because we can’t find black men of equal education and men of other races “devalue” us compared to our European and Asian peers. I tend to agree. In my experience, trying to find a black man to willingly go to the ballet is like looking for a needle in a very large haystack while the idea of dating outside the race is fraught with anxiety, both for the sister and any potential partner. It’s a lose-lose situation.

Despite all this, our climb up the corporate ladder can’t be halted. Black women continue to strive and thrive in our numbers, making up 71 percent of black graduate students in the US. Slowly but surely, we’re getting the respect and recognition we wholeheartedly deserve. So watch out, world. We’re diversifying the ranks en masse, one rung at a time. And we’re headed straight for the top, right where we belong.

Last week was a bad week for black people. First of all, tennis titan Serena Williams suffered a very public meltdown. Wow! Serena lost it, metaphorically and literally, big time. For some reason, at match point at the US Open, during her semi-final against comeback queen Kim Clijsters, she saw fit to launch a verbal tirade against a line judge who rightly called a foot fault against her.

Williams, who was defaulted from the match thereby handing victory to Clijsters, was furious, foolish and plain wrong, wrong, wrong! Even if the line judge had been incorrect in her call, Williams should’ve known better. Yes, people do crazy things under pressure and even crazier things under the spotlight. But there was no justification for Williams’s unwarranted attack.

Firstly, she’d more or less lost the match anyway and secondly, just why? There was no need for her eruption. The fact that she didn’t feel the need to apologize for her behavior in the immediate aftermath makes matters worse and weakens her later show of remorse in which she apologized for, among other things, bringing the game in to disrepute.

Next up was Kanye West. Man, oh man! Let me put my cards on the table. I love Kanye and consider myself to be one of his biggest fans. But even I couldn’t condone his antics at the VMAs. Yes, everybody knows Kanye loves attention and regularly courts controversy. That’s his thing. But that doesn’t excuse him from ruining a teenager’s moment in the sun just because he felt like it. Before anyone says anything, yes, maybe Beyoncé did have a better video and, yes, maybe B should’ve won the award. Maybe ‘the r word’ did play a part in B’s loss. But how, then, do the skeptics explain B winning in other categories, beating out equally popular, non-black artists? Kanye’s actions had nothing to do with Beyoncé or taking a stand against industry racism and everything to do with his huge ego, which, admittedly, is an intrinsic part of his appeal. But on this occasion he simply got it wrong and he apologized for his idiocy almost immediately.

That doesn’t justify President Obama taking a swipe at the self-proclaimed ‘Louis Vuitton Don’. There was a time when it seemed that Uncle Barack could do no wrong. And I’m not talking about his plans for healthcare reform.

I’m lucky enough to live in a country where free healthcare is enjoyed by all and I would hope that everyone, wherever they are in the world, could benefit from the same privilege. Even in my native Ghana, there’s a National Health Insurance Scheme where citizens can pay a small annual fee and benefit from free care and medication at the point of need. So healthcare is not the issue here.

Rather, why President Obama saw fit to comment on the Kanye West/Taylor Swift controversy, let’s call it Westgate, I’ll never understand. I was more than a little disappointed that Obama, whether for popularity’s sake or to show that he can be impartial in the face of a race-laced debate, decided to pass comment on this insignificant affair. Shouldn’t he have bigger things to worry about than Kanye West storming the VMA stage? What with healthcare reform, Jimmy Carter and Van Jones, you’d think President Obama would be too busy to tune in to MTV. I’d rather Obama talk about climate change and international security than concern himself with calling Kanye West a jackass.

Needless to say, everyone, including me, has an opinion on the events of last week and, after these three incidents, the Internet was on fire with the vitriol of racists who felt the need to come down hard, not only on the individuals concerned but on the entire black race. In this post-color world of ours it seems that, as blogger TheGrio wrote,“racism hasn’t gone away, it has just gone online”.

Whether we like it or not, the reality is that black people are expected to live up to higher standards in our public lives than our non-black counterparts. It’s also an unfortunate truth that the actions of one black person indict the actions of the whole race, which, rightly or wrongly, isn’t the case for any other ethnic group. So, while Serena and Kanye acting out was their own private issues and nothing to do with you or me, we know only too well that we’re being judged by their actions as much as they are.

I go to work everyday knowing that, no matter how much I know or how much I do, I have to be one step ahead of my white colleagues and work twice as hard to get half as far. That is why black women like you and me get better educated and better qualified in order to achieve a level of relative success. We should all take responsibility for our individual actions but we should also bear in mind that we’re under greater scrutiny. And I, for one, relish this challenge with grace under undue pressure.

Clutch: Tell me a bit about yourself.
Sweet Rush: We’re sisters and we were born in Somalia. After the war broke out we moved to Canada with our family and we’ve been living there most of our lives.

Clutch: How did you get in to the music biz?
Sweet Rush: We moved to Atlanta two years ago, not even knowing how hot the music scene was. It was a bit of a struggle in the beginning, finding people to work with us, producers and writers etc. By the time we met up with our producer, Jai, we worked with him for six months straight and we ended up getting a lot of offers from different record companies. It was very exciting and we eventually ended up going to Universal Motown. We’re working on our debut album right now.

Clutch: Did you come from a musical family? What did your parents think?
Sweet Rush: Our dad was very African and not very supportive of music. We used to sing around the house and listen to music and it was hard for him to accept at first. When we first came up to Atlanta, we had to tell him we were visiting our aunt, we couldn’t tell him what our real motives were. And when he found out he was very upset. He kept giving us deadlines. It’s kind of like a taboo thing in our culture to be doing what we’re doing. It makes us the first females from our country to get a major record deal.

Clutch: Do you feel the pressure of representing Somalia being the first female international pop acts?
Sweet Rush: It’s not so much a pressure. We want to do it. We want to represent our country. This is definitely something new for our culture. What the world thinks about Somalia is the war, that people over there are fighting… But then Somalian people are really our fans right now because we are the first. There’s a little bit of a pressure because it is new for our culture and it is taboo so they watch us closely and it is actually a lot of pressure. I guess we have to make our country proud.

Clutch: How would you describe your music?
Sweet Rush: We have music everyone can relate to. Our music is really fun, colorful, high energy and happy. We also have songs that are good for when you’re feeling down and you just wanna listen to something that makes you happy, something you can connect with.

Clutch: Who are your musical influences?
Sweet Rush: Definitely Michael Jackson, that’s what we grew up on. Mariah Carey. Right now I really like Mika, an artist from the UK. We love the Spice Girls. We aspire to have their success. When people look at us we remind them of the Spice Girls because we’re fun and happy and on stage we’re energetic, that’s who we are. So we definitely love the Spice Girls.

Clutch: What’s the concept of the album?
Sweet Rush: Originally, the album was gonna be called Sweet and Spicy, which was a good definition of everything but we ended up self-titling it so the album’s called Sweet Rush now. That pretty much defines the album because, if you think about our name, we’re sweet and our music definitely has a rush. It’s very energetic, happy and sweet. Our first album definitely represents our personality. It’s about what girls go through and about us being us. It’s what we do on a regular basis – having fun, what we go through as females. And Girl Power!

Clutch: Who are you working with on the album? Any collabos?
Sweet Rush: We’re on Akon’s new album and he’s definitely gonna be on our album. We’re gonna do a song together. He might produce or sing. We have Rock City, they’re also signed to Akon, they’re a duo, two males, they’re awesome, they’ve written all kinds of songs. They’re probably gonna be on one of the singles. As far as big names, that’s it. We’re not really gonna have too many huge features unless they wanna get on the remix or something.

Clutch: What was it like working with Akon? How did that come about?
Sweet Rush: We’ve known Akon for a while and, at one point, he wanted to sign us before we got signed to Motown. After we signed with Motown we were always like, “Why don’t we do a song together?” But he’s always so busy and flying all over the world. So one day we were at a studio recording and we were leaving and we accidentally bumped in to him and he was like, “Hey, girls, I’m glad I bumped in to you guys, I actually want you on one of my songs”. And we just went right back in to the studio and it happened like that. It was pretty exciting. We didn’t know it was going to be on the album. We just did it.

Clutch: Is it hard working so closely with your sister?
Sweet Rush: It’s great. We’d be pretty bored if we didn’t have each other around. We sometimes write together, we collaborate very well together and our personalities are a really good match. People sometimes ask if we’re sisters or friends because they don’t believe that we don’t wanna kill each other sometimes. It’s actually really cool working together.

Clutch: What do you like to do in your downtime, when you’re not doing music?
Sweet Rush: We like to play sports, we play basketball, we do swimming, walk the dog. We love animals a lot. We go to the shelter sometimes and volunteer. There are a lot of animal shelters in Atlanta, where we live. You just go there, sign up, walk the dogs, play with cats and stuff. It’s really fun.

Clutch: Finally, you’re heading out for a big night. What three items do you take in your clutch?
Sweet Rush: Cell phone, lipgloss and money.