A medical student turned BBC producer and author spoke about the struggle to feel “authentically Jamaican” after years of trying to be British, at the Off the Shelf festival in the Millenium Gallery last night.
In conversation with BBC Radio Sheffield’s Paulette Edwards, Colin Grant discussed his new memoir I’m Black So You Don’t Have to Be.
The British-Jamaican author was born to parents of the Windrush generation, and explores his family history and identity through a series of intergenerational stories.
Grant said: “There are so many rich stories about the Windrush generation that live in you, and it’s now our job to tell them. It’s a difficult but rewarding process to dig into the past and to try to make sense of what’s happened.”
His memoir introduces readers to characters, like his violent father “Bageye” and his beloved mother Ethlyn, and the influence they have had on his identity as a first generation British Jamaican.
With the 75th anniversary of Windrush having just passed this June, Grant’s book explores how the children of the Windrush generation had the privilege of assimilating into British society, while leaving the burden of being black to their parents.
Now, the 62-year-old British-born author examines the struggle to feel ‘authentically Jamaican’.
Mr Grant said: “It is a bit of a burden, but you have to shake it off, because what good does it do? I grew up with the idea that I wasn’t an authentic Jamaican, and it’s a pain to internalise that.
“I wrote a book on Marcus Garvey (the Jamaican political activist), and when the book came out, I did a phone interview on a Birmingham radio show. The first call that came in was from a Jamaican, who said: ‘I resent the fact that the publishers got a white man to write a book about Marcus Garvey’.
“So I said: ‘Well what makes you think I’m white?’, and he replied: ‘Well you don’t sound black’. So I wanted to skewer that idea – there’s no ‘authentic Jamaican’. Even the Jamaicans are from Ghana, Tokyo… All the aboriginals were wiped out by genocide. So ultimately, all of us are one.”
The critically acclaimed I’m Black So You Don’t Have to Be by Colin Grant is now available online and at bookstores nationwide.