The Power of Dave

Breaks from school can be a catalyst for big time reflection in teachers.  This is most likely due to the pace of life during term time, which means that for most of us, we just keep on running with the next holiday in sight and then promptly take a big sigh of relief when we make it to the finish line.  I have been reflecting a lot myself this week as I have revelled in the half term break and have enjoyed some much needed recharging. And for me, one way to achieve this recharge is to regain my social life a bit. So to kickstart this, on Tuesday night I took up the opportunity to attend the Brit Awards with a couple of colleagues and a selection of students.  One of the perks of working in a creative industry academy founded by a very successful musician means that there are often free tickets to high profile events. So off I went without expectation, assuming that I would enjoy the performances and then be on my way - I really didn’t expect the show to affect me in the way that it did. The whole night was amazing, a true celebration of the drive, ambition and talent of many amazing British musicians.  But what was so noticeable this year was how young so many of the nominees were. The power of young people has always astounded me and the Brits were no exception. With 18 year old Billie Eilish, 24 year old Mabel and 26 year old Stormzy all performing and taking home awards, it was inspiring to see just how amazingly the youth are doing at a time when arguably many don’t get the easiest ride. But there was one stand out individual on the night in my eyes and that was Dave, the South London grime artist and star of Top Boy and now winner of the Brit award for album of the year.  All at just 21 years old. On the night he spoke and rapped powerfully about some of the most pertinent issues relating to young black people today with perfect articulation, wowing the whole of the O2, the viewers at home, and it would appear, my mum. Not the most obvious person that I would expect to be affected so much by Dave’s performance although it is worth me saying at this point that my mum was the person to introduce me to Stormzy when she somehow stumbled across him before he made it big (I think she was more excited than me when I got the news that I was going to be interviewing him last year!) So when I think about it, it was not entirely unusual to see her enthusiasm for another grime MC.  It started with a text message that I received from her whilst I was at the awards that simply said, “Love Dave”. Little did I know that this was going to lead to one of the best conversations I have ever had with her the following day.

 For a little while my mum and I had a rule.  We agreed not to talk about anything political that might result in friction or an argument as we don’t share the same views on a fair few topics.  Not that I am someone to shy away from saying my piece but to be entirely honest, I didn’t want to risk fracturing the strong relationship that we have. Now my mother is a truly amazing woman.  She is one of the most generous people I know, mainly with her time (which is the truest and most selfless form of generosity in my opinion). She is smart and funny and empathetic and has provided so much support and surrogate maternal care to many of my friends who, unlike me,  didn’t grow up in London and so in the past have naturally missed a parental presence here, which has been tirelessly provided by my amazing mum around her kitchen table for the past two decades. However as with any two people, there are obviously going to be opposing views particularly when you throw in a generational divide that is of course, going to have some natural side effects.  Fortunately for me I don’t have any of the problems with my parents that I see with many other older people. But one thing that we seem to differ on consistently is that she can’t quite understand why I am so passionate about issues that don’t directly affect me - not from a place of lacking empathy, I think it is more that she cares so deeply for me that she doesn’t like the thought of me neglecting myself at the expense of others.

 For a while I started to question this myself as it can, at times impact my mental health.  And during this period of self analysis, I came to the conclusion that it is my young people that I am surrounded by every day.  I realised that when a young person you care about has been through something it affects you in a profoundly different way. I like to think that I am a pretty empathetic person anyway but something that I have noticed since becoming a teacher is that I feel things that I have never experienced even more deeply than I did before.  And I find myself having very strong emotional reactions to things that I have witnessed my kids go through. I am not a mother but I imagine that this experience isn’t too dissimilar to the fierce feeling of protectiveness that is so visible from parent to child and indeed from my own mum to me.

 A couple of months ago during a routine one to one tutorial with a boy in my form it transpired that he had been stopped and searched by two police officers on his way to college.  The boy is of British and Caribbean heritage and the two police officers were both white males. They stopped him on the train platform, allegedly on the grounds that he looked as if he had been smoking marijuana.  Rather than taking him to a quiet spot for questioning, they proceeded to conduct their search on the packed train platform during rush hour in front of the hoards of London commuters, speaking abruptly and aggressively towards my angel of a student.  When they stared at him accusing him of looking nervous he told me that he had replied “yes I am nervous because you are speaking to me aggressively and I have no idea what I’ve done”. In their continued threatening and accusatory manner they then went on to say “you had better not have a sharp object anywhere on you”.  Eventually when they had finished their search and interrogation they sent him on his way. When he arrived at school he was shaken and confused and had missed an hour of his education. I’m sure for the two police officers they gave very little thought to the interaction as soon as they left the station but I wonder if they gave any thought to the impact that their aggressive approach had had on my tutee?   I couldn’t shake this off. It made me want to cry just looking at him for the next couple of days. And it wasn’t just because that of all the young people they could have stopped he might just have been the most angelic, it was more because of the awareness that it gave me of what young black boys have to face these days. And this is just one example. I can think of countless times that I have been told about my students dealing with unpleasant conversations, judgement, prejudice.  And it shifts your whole mindset.

 So on the day after the Brits I met my mum for a cup of tea and I asked her about her text.  And then we broke our rule. We spoke about issues relating to the struggles of young people, the flawed criminal justice system, ongoing racism in society, stop and search, white privilege, the list goes on.  And it was amazing. It was as if the power of Dave had provided a completely new insight on all of the topics that I already engage in so regularly. His honest and heartfelt lyrics had touched her deeply. And I don’t take this for granted because the difference between the views of the old and young in today’s society can be astonishing and when these differences confront you head on they can create difficult situations to navigate.  Only a few months ago, during a family event, an older person from the same generation as my mum, appeared at my side, brandishing their phone opened on their Twitter feed displaying a tweet that they had found to back up a point that they had raised in an earlier (and frustrating to say the least) debate about the continued prevalence of systemic racism in this country which unsurprisingly entirely juxtaposed my own view. When I challenged which Twitter account the tweet was from they didn’t even know.  It literally could have been plucked from the BNP feed.  You can imagine how the rest of the interaction went.  

Unfortunately, the views of some people might never be changed.  And as frustrating as that be and as powerless as it can make you feel, it is important not to stop.  It is never good enough to be passive when it comes to situations of injustice.  So for now, I will continue to support and speak out for those who haven’t got it so easy and focus on the wins when they come, which, thanks to Dave, this week, have been monumental.