In a new DRI blog, we chat with Eric Ehigie, political coordinator at Black and Irish, about the organisation’s growth since forming in June 2020, their community engagement and collection work, and the role that Black and Irish plays as a platform in shaping black Irish identity.
Community archives aim to give visibility to the stories and histories of specific cultures and communities that are often underrepresented in national or regional archives. In this blog, we speak to Eric Ehigie, political coordinator at Black and Irish, an organisation that aims to highlight the successes and struggles of black and mixed-race Irish communities.
About Black and Irish
Black and Irish is a community-driven organisation that aims to highlight the successes and struggles of black and mixed-race Irish communities. It was founded in June 2020 by Leon Diop, Boni Odoemene, and Femi Bankole in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the global amplification of Black Lives Matter movements.
In October 2020, Boni spoke at our collaborative webinar with National Archives, Ireland (NAI) ‘Archival Activism: Community-Centred Approaches to Archives’. The purpose of this event was to highlight the memory work of community archivists, like Black and Irish, that are building freely accessible online collections documenting the stories of their communities and making decisions about how these stories should be collected, organised, and shared. Although Black and Irish might not be an archive in the traditional sense, they have led the documentation process in collecting and sharing the stories of black and mixed-race communities in Ireland and, as community archives expert Dr Sharon Webb pointed out in a post-event blog:
If we view the function of an archive as to collect, to share, to disseminate then [Black and Irish] possesses a lot of those characteristics… We therefore need an expanded version of what archives are, and indeed who they are for – who gets to build them, to collect and control their content?
– Dr Sharon Webb, Digital Humanities Professor at the University of Sussex [1]
During his talk, Boni shared that he, Leon, and Femi were motivated to create Black and Irish to highlight the successes and struggles of the black Irish community after realising that ‘there doesn’t seem to be a platform…where our Black and mixed-race community can actually showcase our stories’. [2] They decided to ‘be the change they wanted to see’ and created the Black and Irish Instagram page as a platform for all generations of black and Irish people to share their personal experiences of growing up in Ireland. [3] Within an hour they had 1,000 followers, in less than six months they had expanded the community to over 40,000 followers, and now, over a year later, they have over 50,000 followers. What started as an Instagram page run by three volunteers has developed into an All-Ireland organisation with a team of dedicated volunteers, which has formed extensive partnerships with non-profit organisations, businesses, political organisations, and educational establishments. Black and Irish have also extended its reach through the launch of a national podcast in partnership with RTÉ which explores questions of culture and identity through conversation with a diverse range of individuals. In this blog interview, we speak to Eric Ehigie, the political coordinator at Black and Irish, about the growth of Black and Irish and his work with the organisation.
Interview with Eric Ehigie
DRI: Hi Eric, thank you for speaking with us today. Can you tell us a little bit about your role at Black and Irish and what motivated you to get involved with the organisation?
Eric Ehigie: Hello! It is an absolute pleasure to be partaking in the interview, thank you for having me. Of course. I am the political coordinator at Black and Irish. This sees me working to promote political education within the black and mixed-race, Irish community; highlighting political issues which may affect the community; and lobbying politicians to lead in a manner that accounts for issues that impact the black and mixed-race, Irish community. In regards to why I got involved with Black and Irish, there were many reasons. Most prominent of them is my reverence for the ideals that Black and Irish stand for. We are an organisation that aims to promote a robust, holistic model of race relations in Ireland, that prioritises inter-communal cooperation and togetherness. The goal is to amplify the spread of equality, inclusivity, and understanding within Ireland. Oftentimes, the idea of being Irish falls short at including Ireland’s black, and mixed-race – and more broadly, immigrant – residents into its clutch. Black and Irish works to expand the idea of being Irish, to allow it to encompass everyone within the nation, regardless of arbitrary criteria such as one’s race, ethnicity, or creed.
DRI: The formation of strong partnerships and community engagement work seems to be central to how Black and Irish works. Can you tell us more about some of the partnerships that Black and Irish has developed over the last year and how these collaborations have helped the organisation to achieve its aims?
Eric Ehigie: It certainly is. Black and Irish fundamentally believe in staying in touch with the grassroots; community is the backbone of our entire enterprise, and is essentially the reason why we are doing the work that we do. Over the past year, Black and Irish have collaborated with community-based groups such as Nasc, the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre, and the Network of African Leadership. These collaborations enable us to keep in tune with the work that is occurring within our community, and to see how we can contribute to that work. We have also collaborated with organisations that contribute to the enhancement of equality and social justice in Ireland, such as the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. In addition to this, we have worked in tandem with media enterprises such as RTÉ, and black, Irish media outlets like the Where’s Your Head At Podcast and the OhMan Podcast. These partnerships allow us to work alongside other organisations that have mutual values to ours and to actualise our goals, which are designed to benefit Ireland’s black, Irish community and the national community in its entirety.
DRI: In a June 2021 Black and Irish podcast, you joined Fine Gael Councillor Yemi Adenuga to explore the opportunities and challenges of getting involved in politics if you are part of the black and Irish community. In the podcast, you said ‘as more black Irish youth recognise their place in Ireland and as we continue to mould and shape our black Irish identity, it’ll naturally see us growing an interest in the politics that affect us and our community’. [4] What role do you think Black and Irish plays as a platform in shaping black Irish identity and what is the significance of this representation?
Eric Ehigie: Great question! The journalist Touré Neblett, stated in one of his books that there are an infinite number of ways of being black. A foundational issue, which is very much at the core of the racism and bigotry that many members of the black and mixed-race community have confronted in Ireland, is a logically bankrupt style of racial reductionism, that reduces individuals to caricatures, and soulless figurines, simply due to the colour of their skin. One of our primary goals is to promote the struggles, but also the successes, of the black and Irish community to reveal the diversity and multiplicity within the community, and oppose such reductionist ways of thinking. The black, Irish identity exists, and is being evolved continuously – especially as the integration of the community becomes more solidified from generation to generation – and we hope to uphold, and encourage this, through our work. Black people are more than the slaves depicted in textbooks, more than the impoverishment highlighted in charity organisations, and more than the artistic spheres where they may heavily populate. Realising this opens the door for one to appreciate the fullness of the black, Irish community – and the fullness of the individual – and can inspire members of the black, Irish community to find themselves within the rubric of Irishness – and the dome of self. This realisation is what we attempt to bring about through the projects and campaigns we lead. In terms of politics, there certainly needs to be a consensus based upon acceptance, which states unequivocally that anyone can become politically involved! However, issues that deny the stake that black and mixed-race people inevitably have in the nation can alienate members of the black and mixed-race community and discourage political participation. This needs to be challenged, and the community needs to be included within the political mould of the country.
DRI: Black and Irish have highlighted the successes and struggles of the black and mixed-race Irish communities by developing collections around a diverse range of themes such as education, sport, history, and music as well as doing targeted calls for stories to spread awareness of Direct Provision and to increase the visibility of the black and mixed-race Irish members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Is there a thematic collection or story that you find particularly significant?
Eric Ehigie: I honestly cannot pick one! All are valuable, and all are certainly necessary. I will say though, that there is somewhat of an unexplored potentiality in the relatively untouched (untouched, in an Irish context) area of black history. There are an endless amount of links that can be drawn between the history of the black community and the history of the Irish. The institution of slavery impacted black people through the manifestation of chattel slavery, as it did the Irish through indentured servitude. Many nations within Africa were subject to the colonial boot of the Crown as Ireland once was, and all nations in question eventually regained independence, albeit with an indelible scar that will perennially live on. Daniel O’Connell, the parliamentarian and Irish activist, worked in coalition with Frederick Douglass, the black abolitionist, to campaign for the abolition of slavery – highlighting the decedent nature of the institution, and the overriding power of our common humanity. These historical avenues really have the power to bring about a sense of unison amongst people within Ireland, and I certainly believe that they need to be pointed to more, in media, formal education and popular discourse. Our work on the subject of history strives to do this, as well as to disseminate information on the great chapters in the chronicles of black history.
DRI: Thank you, Eric, for your time. Before we finish up, would you like to share your hopes for the future development of Black and Irish?
Eric Ehigie: I would like Black and Irish to become an example to the world of an organisation that promotes a model of race relations that espouses sustainable, unifying values that uplifts communities that are often marginalised and amplifies the importance of cooperation and understanding amongst all. Our goals are in relation to the black and mixed-race community but also in relation to the wider Irish society and I hope for both societal sectors – both of which are fundamentally inextricable – to be greatly impacted by our work. As we cater to our community, we also intend to contribute to the flow of equality within Ireland, and we know that this not only benefits the black, Irish community but everyone within the country, now, and hopefully for generations to come.
References
[1] Webb, Sharon Webb. 2020. “Archival Activism: Community-Centred Approaches to Archives.” Digital Repository of Ireland. October 27. Accessed September 14, 2021. https://dri.ie/dri-blog-archival-activism-community-centred-approaches-archives.
[2] Boni Odoemene quoted in Digital Repository of Ireland. Archival Activism: Community-Centred Approaches to Archives, Digital Repository of Ireland [Distributor], Digital Repository of Ireland [Depositing Institution], https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.m6141k788
[3] Ibid.
[4] Eric Ehigie quoted in 2021. “Black & Irish Podcast: Politics – S2 Ep 7.” Apple Podcasts . June 10. Accessed September 14, 2021. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/black-irish-podcast-politics-s2-ep-7/id1537975613?i=1000524923327.
As a publicly funded repository for Ireland’s social and cultural heritage data, the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) believes it is important to make long-term preservation of digital materials open to a wide range of organisations. We, therefore, offer free membership and digital preservation training and support as part of our DRI Community Archive Scheme, which opened to applications on 1 Sept 2021 with a deadline of 29 Oct 2021. Find out more about the DRI Community Archive Scheme on our dedicated webpage.
Interview by DRI Communications and Engagement Coordinator Áine Madden
