Over a week ago I went over to West London to meet Emma Haslett from the Big Fat Negative podcast. I am always surprised and excited when someone contacts me and invites me onto their platform. Emma came across my blog and just had to get in touch and I am so glad that she did 🙂
When I met Emma I was surprised at how tall she is, I am 5’7″ and am used to being one of the tallest women in the room but Emma made me look short, something that I am so not used to.
One thing, other than her height, that struck me was how gently inquisitive she is. Along with being very aware of her privilege I found Emma to be apologetically conscious about how she may come across to me, which was so refreshing to explore especially around my experiences of being ‘that’ black women in the room. I talked about those times when I questioned if a situation was racist where I was dismissed as being too sensitive or with the comment “that’s something that is hard to prove” and was found that she could identify with this from her own experience of sexism.
Emma really wanted to hear my story and about ‘black women’s’ experience around infertility including the silence that engulfs us. As I am growing in my journey I am hearing from more and more women of colour as well as learning about generation trauma, emotional emancipation and cultural conditioning, things that can impact on how we (as a race) function in a white society ….you’ll have to wait for the podcast to hear more about this. What was great about this conversation was that Emma was open to hearing about it. It’s not something you’ll hear about during day-to-day conversations but it is a topic that needs more air-time and acknowledgement regardless of what you believe.
Emma asked me how can this be changed??? Knowing how excited I get during interviews I probably didn’t really answer this question but thinking back on our conversation, for me, the change starts when white people are not afraid to hear what we have to say, when white privilege doesn’t get in the way of exploring other peoples cultural truths no matter what emotions are brought up for them whilst being able to explore those emotions too. It starts with us! I really don’t know what will change or how much of that change I will see in my life time but while I am here I will continue to strive for my voice to be heard and am thankful to Emma for this very opportunity to walk this part of my journey with her.
Emma thanks for listening!!! xxx
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