McQueen: I was in fear at school... now I feel hope
SIR Steve McQueen has revealed he had to battle ‘racial discrimination’ from ‘day one’ at his west London school.
Despite remembering ‘walking to school with a bit of fear, because everyone, everything around us, was against us’, the Oscar winning filmmaker said his upbringing was during ‘a golden age of resistance. All Saints Road (in Notting Hill) was the front line’.
The 12 Years A Slave creator plans to revisit that time in Small Axe – a series of five films for the BBC focusing on black British life from the 1960s to the 1980s, starring Letitia Wright and John Boyega.
McQueen, 50, attended Drayton Manor High School – and revealed it has since acknowledged how he was treated.
‘I walked into racial discrimination. They assumed I wasn’t capable,’ he told Esquire.
‘When I went back to hand out awards, the headmaster told me that back when I was there the school was institutionally racist. They admitted it, but I didn’t need their confirmation. People were excluded, they were ostracised, graded down, not given a chance. It started at school. It was not a happy experience. And, unfortunately, that narrative continues for a lot of black people. It’s horrific to be confronted with institutional racism from day one.’
In the wake of Black Lives Matter, McQueen said the battle still rages.
‘People now understand that we do not have the best police force in the world. It took a while, a number of deaths, sacrifices, but we’re here,’ he said.
And he praised Star Wars actor Boyega for his speech during London protests.
‘I feel hope because young people now are willing to speak out. And it’s been very moving,’ he said.
‘John Boyega speaking out in Hyde Park. It’s very healthy, very cathartic.’ Read the full interview in the November/ December issue of Esquire UK, out today.