Claudia Jones

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Researching the race riots that have been happening in the UK since the 1958. Found the work of this great activist, who started the Notting Hill Carnival as a response to racial inequalities.

humming birds at Nottinghill carnival http://www.demotix.com

“An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!” [edit]
Jones’ best known piece of writing, “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!” appeared in 1949 in Political Affairs. It exhibits Jones’ development of what later came to be termed“intersectional” analysis within a Marxist framework. In it, she wrote:[4]
The bourgeoisie is fearful of the militancy of the Negro woman, and for good reason. The capitalists know, far better than many progressives seem to know, that once Negro women begin to take action, the militancy of the whole Negro people, and thus of the anti-imperialist coalition, is greatly enhanced….

As mother, as Negro, and as worker, the Negro woman fights against the wiping out of the Negro family, against the Jim Crow ghetto existence which destroys the health, morale, and very life of millions of her sisters, brothers, and children.

Viewed in this light, it is not accidental that the American bourgeoisie has intensified its oppression, not only of the Negro people in general, but of Negro women in particular. Nothing so exposes the drive to fascization in the nation as the callous attitude which the bourgeoisie displays and cultivates toward Negro women.

 Don’t mess with Claudia Jones!! 
“A people’s art is the genesis of their freedom” – Claudia Jones
Lauren Ashi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mYEPQO6UEE&feature=player_embedded#at=91
A series of other Claudia Jones Youtube videos will appear once to play the first preview.

It reminds me of stories my mom would tell me about when she and my dad were looking for a place to live when they first met in Birmingham.
Almost all the houses would have a sign in the window saying
NO BLACKS, NO IRISH, NO DOGS

In my meeting with Marjorie Mayo at Goldsmiths recently I discovered that Marjorie also had a hand in the planning of the first carnival events, She also gave me some great organisations to contact regarding community arts and activism.
http://www.iacdglobal.org/about/board-members/prof-marjorie-mayo

Marjorie Mayo (2000) Cultures Communities, Identities: Cultural Stategies for Participation and Empowerment. London: Palgrave MacMillan