Free resources. Safe and healthy - what's different for black children?

In Saturday’s Guardian, Hugh Muir queries whether female genital mutilation is safeguarding issue or simply ‘cultural’?  (For the answer, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/05/hideously-diverse-britain )

I recently completed a chapter on children and social policy for a book on 'race' and social policy to be published by Policy Press next year.  As I was revisiting the wealth of guidance on Every Child Matters, an old anger was reignited - why was reference to racial equality so absent?

Acknowledgement of the specific experiences of people from different ethnic groups and the impact of assumptions, prejudice and racism was absent from Every Child Matters policy.  While the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce, developed following Every Child Matters, omitted mention of racism and ethnicity.  It also did not include ‘race’ equality legislation on its list of relevant legislation, even though the public bodies who trained and employed the majority of the children’s workforce were legally required to comply with the public sector ‘race’ equality duties.

In 2009, Lord Laming compiled a progress report on safeguarding children in England following another tragic murder, that of a White British child, Peter Connelly, (‘Baby P’) in Haringey.  Laming’s remit was –

‘…. to evaluate the good practice that has been developed since the publication of the report of the Independent Statutory Inquiry following the death of Victoria Climbié, to identify the barriers that are now preventing good practice becoming standard practice, and recommend actions to be taken to make systematic improvements in safeguarding children across the country.’ 

Again, in this progress report there is no specific mention of competency in working with children and young families across many ethnic backgrounds, nor delivering effective services to a culturally diverse society.  The opportunity to explore how statutory services can benefit Black and other minority ethnic children and young people was not taken up.

Beverley Prevatt Goldstein gives a provocative analysis of this lack of will in this article.

So where are we know?

BRAP, the Birmingham-based ‘think fair tank’ has published a report of a May conference on child protection and black and minority ethnic children. 

Chapters include:

• A pressing issue – find out why protection of black and minority ethnic children is such an important issue
• Getting the fundamentals right – an overview of the disparities relating to child protection and black and minority ethnic children, and a look at some of the causes behind them  
• Managing equalities change – find out what stops equality working for you, your colleagues, and your organisation
• Forwarding the agenda – ideas, issues, and concerns from professionals working in the field

 Meanwhile, if you were listening to Dotun Adebayo’s BBC London show last night, you would have heard the Afiya Trust CEO, Patrick Vernon, talking about Afiya’s new report on mental health and black and minority ethnic children and young people.  Just as in safeguarding, a colourblind approach has permeated health policy.  ‘Enjoy, Achieve and Be Healthy’ analyses the current policy context and, even more importantly, gives a voice to young people to tell service providers  what is needed for good emotional health.

 

The report highlights that a worrying profile at national policy level, of BME children receiving insufficient and ineffective consideration due to their age and ethnicity, is emerging.

 In relation to the coalition government’s ‘No health without mental health’ strategy, the report shows: 

• Around 20 percent of children and young people are believed to have a mental health problem, yet there is no indication how many are from a BME background 

• Despite a breakdown of disorders being available for BME adults, none is available for BME children and young people, and has yet to be explained why 

• Risk factors highlighted for children and young people regarding mental health fail to include racism, racial harassment or racist bullying 

Patrick Vernon, Chief Executive of The Afiya Trust, said: "The Afiya Trust commissioned this report in recognition that BME children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is being systematically failed by education, criminal justice, health and social care services. The report captures the challenges they face, the ineffectiveness of service provision and the woeful lack of the most basic information about them.”

 Report author Mhemooda Malek added: “The overall picture is that mainstream public services and programmes, with some notable exceptions, are failing to meet the mental health needs of BME children and young people. They are more likely to come to the attention of services at the point of crisis, yet there appears to be no significant progress in redressing this injustice.”

Children's film 'Rio' from a black perspective

For those who continue to insist that colour doesn't matter - and by strong implication, those who say it does are just troublemakers - it may be worth referring to the following analysis of the recent animated film 'Rio'.  It is taken from the newletter of 'Black History Walks' - you can sign up http://www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk/

 Rio 3D from a black perspective

At an average price of £9 for adults and £7 for kids. Parents had an expensive day out. Rio was one of the top ten box films recently but what of the black image in this blockbuster movie?

Set in Brazil a country which holds the biggest black population outside of Africa (only Nigeria has more African people), were there black people in the movie and how > > were they portrayed?

The human white American male and a white Brazilian female form a loving couple. The human thief is portrayed as a black boy who lives in a shack. The thief is however later adopted by the loving white couple after he changes his ways.  The criminal gang who kidnap Blu are composed of one white Brazilian and two black Brazilians males (black women are absent from this movie) the black Brazilians are particularly noticeable because it is so rare to see black characters in animation on the big screen. These characters are naughty/ bad as well as stupid.

Three of the supporting animal characters are played by black actors Jamie Foxx, Tracey Morgan and Will.I.Am. Their accents and terminology are identifiably African American although they play Brazilian birds and dogs. The toe-tapping music is undeniably African as it was composed by Will I Am using traditional African-Brazilian beats and musicians.

Then there are the monkeys...the monkeys are another set of bad characters  who work with the kidnappers. They wear lots of jewellery, oversized  watches and could be said to be 'blinging'. The first time we see them  they are 'break-dancing' on the street. They are doing acrobatics and handstands to funky music. The monkeys are also thieves and have a gang.  Anyone who has ever visited Rio will know that it is a daily occurrence to  see groups of young men on the street with a Berimbau practising the unique form of martial arts/dance /acrobatics known as Capoeira . This is a traditional African cultural practice that was used by Africans to resist European slavers. It was banned in Brazil up to the 1970's. These groups are normally young black men. ..

All of this can be dismissed as 'just several of those things' but in summary.. all the white humans have positive characteristics while all the black humans have negative characteristics, apart from the black boy who  is originally a thief but later becomes part of a white family. An African-Brazilian art form which signified African resistance is used by a gang of criminal monkeys as recreation when they are not being an anti-social nuisance. A film set in a country where the majority of the people are black does not have a single black human character in a starring role and black women don’t exist.

These images/stories as defined by white animators can have a huge impact of the minds of black and white people especially children.  African-American playwright Augustus Wilson replied when asked why is there a need for black people to tell stories from their perspective  -"Self-definition is the first step to self-determination".

'Rio', 'Thunderbirds', stereotypes are go! (But not Cbeebies!)

When I give public talks, I often compare having a black perspective to taking off your 3D glasses in the middle of 'Avatar'.  Some things look the same; others are distorted.  But who on earth is going to take off their glasses and share your perspective if it ruins their viewing experience?  It's just an annoying interruption.

Film and TV itself is such a rich area for exploring how children learn insidious messages about themselves.  (And remember - children pick up those negative messages pretty early.  If you didn't see the 'A Child of Our Time' programme that touched on racial bias, John Siraj-Blatchford describes the research in this paper.)

As a child growing up in the 70s, I never expected to see people like me on TV - other than Derek Griffiths, a nurse from 'Angels' and the mighty Floella. I grew up in a predominantly white area, so, to be honest, that just reflected my reality! For me, that's just the way it was.

In my 20s, prompted by bell hooks (check out 'Real to Reel', it's dead cheap on Amazon at the moment), I felt brave enough to think about how black (if any) and white actors are used in film. 

As a parent in my 30s, it became even more urgent to understand the ways my daughter was learning about her place in the world, through books, TV and film.  I also completed a Masters in Writing for Film and TV, researching my dissertation on black fathers in film.  That gave me a bit to munch on. 

Meanwhile I came to adore CBeebies.  Black presenters abounded and one year there was an impressive series of short films called 'Open A Door', where children living in different places in the world (Mongolian yurt, Brazilian favella etc.) opened their door and went about their business. Which usually involved playing.

Personally, I feel that CBBC has also tried hard to include presenters and children of all backgrounds, so some of their few lapses are just forgivable.  (The trailer from 'The Sparticle Project' with the Caribbean/African kid acting like a gangsta is only, only just forgivable...  The otherwise fab black boy in 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' has to be called 'Clyde' and have an absent father...)

And in Doctor Who, black heroes and heroines are plentiful.  (Though, the scary, black father in the wardrobe was a bit of a wobble.  And when Matt Smith yelled that it was 'a black day for earth!', I presume he wasn't announcing Obama's inauguration.)

But what about blockbuster fare? 

Name a black child hero.

Dre Parker in the karate kid.

Okay.  One that isn't played by someone related to Will Smith.

Walt Disney's Princess Tiani.  I haven't seen it, but I understand that the black princess spends much of her time as a frog.

Another one...? 

Well, there's a few sidekicks.  Vanessa Lee Chester plays Becky (a servant) in 'A Little Princess', but turns pretty heroic in the second Jurassic Park film.

Wybie in 'Coraline'?  I have a soft spot for a geek, but his lips are sewn shut in much of the main adventure.

And 'Tin Tin' in the execrable 2004 'Thunderbirds' movie.  Vanessa Hudgens plays 'TinTin' - the servants' daughter.  (For some reason, I believe the character is supposed to be Malaysian.  Vanessa Hudgens isn't.)  She is pretty heroic. 

But the villains?  The one black character, Mullion, a grunting, inarticulate man mountain, whose sole role is to provide muscle for villain, The Hood.  Transom, is an intellectually gifted woman, who consequently must be socially inept and cartoon-ugly.  (Go compare with Lady Penelope...)  And The Hood, played, as one reviewer describes by Ben Kingsley, 'in a creepy, vaguely racist, Ming the Merciless mode'.

And the heroes?

The trailer will give you a clue.

'Thunderbirds' is pretty overt in the way it depicts heroes and villains.  But what about the more subtle messages?

Well, there is 'Rio'... 

See the next posting.