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Tricky: ‘Bristol hasn’t got any better for black people’
Bristol is a city of haves and have-nots which has not got any better for black people since the election of the first mayor of African descent to lead a European city, according to Tricky.
The musician and early Massive Attack collaborator, who celebrated his 50th birthday last month, said that Bristol is still a very divided city that is worse now for people growing up in his old neighbourhood of Knowle West – with very little social mobility.
Speaking to Inside Out West on a programme due to be broadcast on BBC One on Monday evening, the early Massive Attack collaborator who was born Adrian Thaws said: “If you’ve got money, or you come from a privileged background, it’s one of the best places in England to live.
“But it has got another side. You’ve got the low-economy side of things where there’s literally nothing for people to do.
“I’d say Knowle West has got more difficult in some ways. It’s like where I come from it seems there’s even less for the youth to do than there was when I was there.
“You could go to certain areas in Bristol and you wouldn’t see anybody from where I come from there. It’s a huge class system there.
“You ain’t going to see many Knowle Westers in Clifton Village. I was in Clifton Village for a few days over Christmas and I didn’t see anybody from my area there.
“So you ain’t going to see too many people like that, because Clifton Village is designed for certain people.
“You won’t even see any black people up there. You hardly see any black people in Clifton Village.
“And you still got roads called Whiteladies Road, Blackboy Hill, Colston Hall. I suppose with the black mayor? You’d have to ask black people in Bristol if it’s got any better.
“But I’ve got black family, black friends, I don’t think it’s got any better for them, some of them, their life hasn’t changed since he’s been mayor.
Tricky’s comments come a few days after BCfm hosted a summit at Easton Community Centre about diversity in the media, featuring guests including Bristol24/7 Editor Martin Booth, head of BBC West Stephanie Marshall and Bristol Cable co-founder Adam Cantwell-Corn.
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Listen to BCfm’s Diversity in the Media Special here
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In his words of introduction, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees, a former journalist at BBC Radio Bristol, said: “We do know, because of the history in Bristol, it’s absolutely essential that our media, be it written or broadcast, has authenticity and legitimacy, otherwise you’re just talking to yourselves, you’re talking to each other.
“There’ll be some flow over into other communities, but the murmur into wider communities will be, ‘well, they’re having their conversation but what have they got to do with us?'”
Bristol mayor Marvin Rees speaking at BCfm’s diversity in the media summit at Easton Community Centre
Rees added: “It’s about bringing a genuine understanding of Bristol… Filtering what is news, what are the questions of the moment, is absolutely essential, and unless there’s diversity, unless there’s access to the full range of communities, critical questions of the moment will be missed out.”
Rees admitted that there is currently a “dynamic” about a politician telling the media what they should report, “so I’m aware of that”.
But he said: “Unless there is genuine diversity in the media in Bristol, what you’ll have is a white middle class commentary on a diverse city.
“Now it may be every now and again you stumble on the right question, but you will not get past the fact that you will have a privileged white middle class commentary on Bristol asking privileged white middle class people questions about the city.
“Now that’s nothing against white middle class people, some of my best friends are white middle class people, alright. But there’s a challenge in that, alright.”
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