What’s it like to be a white man writing Black history?
Bourne reveals how he has been received by the Black community
I haven’t had any criticism about being white. I always state that not all white people come from all-white families. My Aunt Esther was a young adult when my great grandmother adopted her into my family during the Second World War. By the time I was born she was part of my family and that was normal. I’m thankful to have come from a family that had that diversity. Those who have been suspicious, wary or critical, are white middle-class people. I don’t have a chip on my shoulder – some of my best friends are white and middle class! But if they don’t know me, or if they do and know my background, they still don’t get it. White working-class people get it, Black people get it, but the white middleclass people are very wary.
Even now, after 30 years of writing Black British history books, I still come across this suspicion because I don’t fit the profile. The profile has always been if you’re white and write about Black subjects then you must be a lefty or a liberal. I’m apolitical. I don’t subscribe to that way of thinking and that is problematic for a lot of people because they can’t pigeonhole me or fit me into a box.
I just know that the positive reaction I’ve had from the Black community in Britain has been phenomenal, and it’s been the thing that has really spurred me on and made me want to do more research and continue this work. It’s just evolved. I never know, from one year to the next, what’s going to happen. I’m just thankful that I’ve had the stamina and the bloody-mindedness to persevere with the things that I believe in and that I’m most passionate about. It has been an incredible journey and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.