‘Racism never dies, it only slumbers’
I first encountered Paul Stephenson delivering a talk on the Bristol Bus Boycott over 22 years ago at Bristol Central Library. I had attended the talk in the hope I might begin to understand the city’s black history as a fairly recent arrival with a young family from London. Listening to this elder’s powerful, measured delivery, throwing light on racism Bristol in 1963 and the community organisation behind the Bus Boycott, I recall being somewhat distracted by Stephenson’s enunciation, where might he have hailed from? I went up thank him for the insight his talk gave me to my newly adopted home and, feeding my curiosity, asked where he was from. ‘Essex’ he said. ‘Me too!’ I laughed. It was the start of our friendship, an anchor enabling me to begin to understand the pernicious way racism operates in the city evidenced in the seeming intractable inequities for black and brown working-class children in the city’s schooling.
What I remember most, was the abundant generosity of time that the Stephenson home afforded. It was warm and welcoming; you could go in and out of freely for they really understood the racism those of colour experienced in Bristol in their everyday lives. In the tired and weary came, laying down their burdens seeking advice to achieve racial justice…
I recall witnessing two race discrimination cases at their respective Employment Tribunal hearings in Bristol in 2011 & 2014. Both ruled in the complainant’s favour. I sat in the public gallery disbelieving that these public institutions (schools) tasked with the delivery of public services with equity could be so in want of affording dignity, respect and equality to its black staff whilst lamenting the paucity of black staff, earnestly pledging to increase numbers among its ranks.
The Stephenson home, I recall, was one of good Caribbean food cooked by Joyce, parties, good company and animated discussion on everything that impacted on black and brown lives and working -class lives. Discussions necessitated action. For instance, every article Paul Stephenson encountered in the Evening Post, with a racial slur, conscious or unconscious, required a crafted letter response. Of course there was the backlash, but this Paul Stephenson took in his stride, with his typical unflinching fierce determination. This clarity purpose was his modus operandi. This was his life mission informed by lived experience of his own, and for the betterment of the marginalised black and working-class communities in the city.
Paul Stephenson encouraged, supported, empowered and mentored many of us in whatever our ambitions, career paths, choice of action, to combat: ‘that which slumbers but never dies’: pernicious racism to raise our common humanity. The discussions, the opportunities to critical think for oneself, I cherished more than anything else. Working together with Our History, Our Heritage, the Bristol Bus boycott and Beyond schools workshops all those years ago, linking local black history to active citizenship our aim was to enable students to critically think: what lay behind attitudes, beliefs and behaviours displayed in opinion letters that informed the huge1963 Bristol Post bag about the bus ‘dispute’? We worked with partners: elders, local artists and educationalists, Shakti Imani, Firstborn creatives to bring people together in shared reflective learning experiences etc.
It is this ability to critically think, observing what is happening, then and now and act according to one’s conscious, that informs our common humanity. Stephenson’s legacy is rich and a reminder it is incumbent on each and every one of us to play our part in combatting inequities and injustice in our midst.
I extend my heartfelt condolences to the Stephenson family at this time
& bid you Paul rest in peace as you join the ancestors
Ashe
Ros Martin
Students from St Georges 2003 Our History Our Heritage GCSE Short course in Citizenship the Bristol Bus Boycott & Beyond interview Paul Stephenson with Shakti Imani and Firstborn Creatives
Remembering Scipio Africanus & the Bristol bus boycott, Henbury Church Service 2003 with Our History, Our Heritage, Henbury Church, Black Development Agency.
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