Newsletter: We wanted to be white, but my mum had other plans
She did something radical
In our latest summer series newsletter, a reflection on belonging and the enduring memory of Roots (1977), plus good news about the Parent Strike and Afghan entrepreneurship.
I grew up one of the only black girls at my London-based primary school. My sisters and I pestered our mum to relax our hair. We wanted to be white with blonde hair, and we said so, for years. In the summer of 1999 she'd had enough of hearing it. Instead of arguing with us about relaxers, she moved us to the Caribbean island of St Kitts.
