Lifting The Barriers to Black Academia – Through Positive Action and Decolonisation.

8 Feb. 2023 (18:00pm GMT) - ILAS Grand Challenges Lecture Series - Keele University.

Malik Al Nasir - Keynote lecture.

'Lifting The Barriers to Black Academia – Through Positive Action and Decolonisation'

The latest in a series of Grand Challenges lectures from the Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences and brought to you in partnership with the Race Equality Lecture Series.

Malik Al Nasir - Photo Credit: Bradley Ormesher.

Abstract

"As a black person growing up in a predominantly white society, there are often a range of intersectional barriers we face, particularly in education. Higher rates of child poverty, often institutionalised and systemic racism within the structures of the society, when added to the historic misconceptions of Black people, fostered through hundreds of years of disinformation – a legacy of enslavement and colonialism – result in a plethora of disadvantage. This often feeds into poorer academic outcomes, than even similarly disadvantaged white children, who do not have the added factors of race to contend with..." Malik al Nasir will explore how these barriers impact Black academia and what can be done to lift them.

Location: The Salvin Room, Keele Hall, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire. ST5 5BG.

Online: Via MS Teams (Teams link upon online registration).

Organiser: Steve Kilner

Contact: ilas@keele.ac.uk 

This lecture will be available in person as well as online via Microsoft Teams.  For those attending in person, refreshments will be available from 5.30pm onwards.  For those attending online, please register (by no later than 4.00pm on the day of the lecture) and joining instructions with further information will follow ahead of the lecture. 

This lecture is free and all are welcome to attend.

Booking is required. Book here.

Keele Hall

The Salvin Room

BBC Scotland - Mark Walters in the Footsteps of Andrew Watson - RTS Award Winner

Malik Al Nasir's Research Informs RTS Award Winning Documentary for BBC Scotland.

Broadcast: 25th May 2021.

After years of research into his ancestral cousin - Andrew Watson (1856-1921) - Malik Al Nasir worked with 14th Floor Productions, to bring the ever evolving story of the worlds first Black international footballer back to the screen.

Mark Walters interviews Malik Al Nasir.

Andrew Watson Capt. of the Scottish national team 1882.

Mark Walters (L) and Malik Al Nasir (R) at Watson's Grave.

Malik Al Nasir filming with the BBC.

Football star Mark Walters traces Watson steps back through football history.

• Mark Walters in the Footsteps of Andrew Watson

Former Rangers player Mark Walters looks back at his career with the Glasgow club to assess the racism he faced while playing for them. Watching harrowing footage of his early matches, he vividly describes the visceral atmosphere as he was targeted by opposition fans. In a candid conversation with Graeme Souness, the player-manager who brought him to Ibrox, Mark reveals the inner resilience that got him through those tough games and reflects on how unconscious bias in TV commentary affects the way black footballers are perceived today.

Mark also finds out about early black footballing pioneers in Scotland, including an early multiracial football team who played a stone's throw from Ibrox stadium. He unearths the incredible story of Andrew Watson, the world’s first black international player, who captained the Scotland national team in 1881 to its greatest ever win over England. Watson was a complex figure who was both the descendant of slaves and the beneficiary of slavery. Mark asks how Andrew overcame racism to be welcomed into the footballing elite in the 1880s

Credits

Role	Contributor
Presenter	Mark Walters
Executive Producer	George Scott
Consultant	Malik Al Nasir
Producer	Dave Donald
Producer	Scott Given
Director	Dave Donald
Director	Scott Given
Production Manager	Kyrie MacTavish

Broadcasts

• 

  Tue 25 May 202122:00

  BBC SCOTLAND
 
• 

  Fri 13 Aug 202121:00

  BBC SCOTLAND
 
• 

  Fri 6 May 202222:30

  BBC SCOTLAND
 
• 

  Fri 14 Oct 202221:00

  BBC SCOTLAND

BBC Radio 4 - The Descendants – Episode 2 ‘Malik and Mark’, aired 4th June 2021

Malik and Mark

Descendants - Episode 2 of 7.

BBC Radio 4 - 'Descendants' which aired 4th June,– Episode 2 ‘Malik and Mark’.

"Descendants looks into our lives and our pasts and asks - how we are connected to slavery? And, in turn, who does that mean our lives are connected to?" (BBC Radio 4)

One year on from the toppling of the Colston Statue in Bristol, Descendants asks... how close is each of us to the legacy of Britain's role in slavery? And who does that mean our lives are connected to?

Yrsa Daley-Ward narrates seven episodes telling the stories of people whose lives today are all connected through this history.

Malik was a lost teenager in Liverpool when a chance encounter with Gil Scott-Heron set him on a path to find out more about his history. His journey to uncover his ancestry would take him to Guyana where he would discover the way Britain's role in slavery shaped the lives of his family today. But it also led him to discover his connection right back to the place where he began, and to the heart of power in Britain. In Liverpool, 200 years ago, Malik's ancestors would clash with Mark's ancestor, a prominent abolitionist called James Cropper. To this day Mark runs the family paper mill, James Cropper PLC, and the legend of James Cropper has travelled right down through the generations... yet Mark makes a shocking discovery when he learns that there's another side to his ancestry after all.

Producers: Polly Weston, Candace Wilson, Rema Mukena.

Editor: Kirsten Lass

Academic consultants: Matthew Smith and Rachel Lang of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at UCL.

Additional genealogical research by Laura Berry.

Listen on BBC Sounds 

Broadcasts

• 

  Fri 4 Jun 202111:00

  BBC RADIO 4 FM
 
• 

  Wed 20 Oct 202120:30

  BBC RADIO 4

The Revolution Will Be Live! Gil Scott-Heron 10yr Anniversary Tribute. Blues Kitchen Manchester 2/9/21.

The Revolution Will Be Live!

Gil Scott-Heron 10yr Anniversary Tribute.

Live Performance

Kim Jordan & Noel McKoy Play Gil Scott-Heron, 

With 

Malik & The O.G's, Ft. Michelle John.

Thursday 2nd September 2021.

Tickets

General Admission Tickets *£16.50 (£15.00)

* Handling and delivery fees may apply to your order  

Doors: 19:00-22:30

The Revolution Will Be Live is the critically acclaimed, festival-headlining show, lovingly put together by Kim Jordan, Gil’s musical director for over 30 years, and his protégé Malik Al Nasir, whose band Malik & The O.G’s will feature Voice UK finalist Michelle John.

Kim Jordan, who can be heard on many of Gil’s albums including Spirits, Tales of the Amnesia Express and Gil’s last album I’m new here, will be performing a set of his finest works with a full live band and vocalist Noel McKoy as Gil.

Malik & The OG’s will open the show with a Gil-inspired spoken word set. Through a chance encounter at the age of 18, Malik would go on to work with and learn from Gil for the next 27 years.

As his musical family come together to celebrate the great man’s life, this is a fitting tribute to someone with a huge place in not just our own musical history but music in general.

Official launch + book signing.

'Letters To Gil' by Gils' protege - Malik Al Nasir - (Malik & The O.G's) of his new memoire 'Letters to Gil' about the 27 years he was mentored by Gil with a foreword by Lemn Sissay. This will take place during the intermission between sets.

'In Letters to Gil, you will be spirited away too, as I have been. You will learn much about Gil Scott-Heron, but it is Malik’s story that transfixes me in its glittering eye'. LEMN SISSAY.

Published by HarperCollins.

‘A searing, triumphant story. A testament to the tenacity of the human spirit as well as a beautiful ode to an iconic figure’. IRENOSEN OKOJIE

________________________________

Published in the UK on the 2nd Sep' 2021 

by the William Collins imprint of HarperCollins.

________________________________

The Revolution Will Be Live! Gil Scott-Heron 10yr Anniversary Tribute. Jazz Cafe London. 1/9/21.

The Revolution Will Be Live! 

Gil Scott-Heron 10yr Anniversary Tribute.

Kim Jordan & Noel McKoy Play Gil Scott-Heron, 

With 

Malik & The O.G's, Ft. Michelle John.

Wednesday 1st September 2021.

Tickets:

Standing: £18.50 

Restaurant: £30 (SOLD OUT)

Doors: 19:00-22:30

Live band performance

This show has been rescheduled from 1st April 2020. All tickets will remain valid.

The Revolution Will Be Live is the critically acclaimed, festival-headlining show, lovingly put together by Kim Jordan, Gil’s musical director for over 30 years, and his protégé Malik Al Nasir, whose band Malik & The O.G’s will feature Voice UK finalist Michelle John.

Kim Jordan, who can be heard on many of Gil’s albums including Spirits, Tales of the Amnesia Express and Gil’s last album I’m new here, will be performing a set of his finest works with a full live band and vocalist Noel McKoy as Gil.

Malik & The OG’s will open the show with a Gil-inspired spoken word set. Through a chance encounter at the age of 18, Malik would go on to work with and learn from Gil for the next 27 years.

As his musical family come together to celebrate the great man’s life, this is a fitting tribute to someone with a huge place in not just our own musical history but music in general.

Special pre launch book signing by Gils' protege - Malik Al Nasir - (Malik & The O.G's) of his new memoire 'Letters to Gil' about the 27 years he was mentored by Gil with a foreword by Lemn Sissay. This will take place during the intermission between sets.

'In Letters to Gil, you will be spirited away too, as I have been. You will learn much about Gil Scott-Heron, but it is Malik’s story that transfixes me in its glittering eye'. LEMN SISSAY.

Published by HarperCollins.

‘A searing, triumphant story. A testament to the tenacity of the human spirit as well as a beautiful ode to an iconic figure’. IRENOSEN OKOJIE

________________________________

Published in the UK on the 2nd Sep' 2021 

by the William Collins imprint of HarperCollins.

________________________________

'Letters To Gil' By Malik Al Nasir - Published in the UK on the 2nd Sep' 2021.

 

'Letters To Gil'

By 

Malik Al Nasir

‘A searing, triumphant story. A testament to the tenacity of the human spirit as well as a beautiful ode to an iconic figure’. IRENOSEN OKOJIE

'In Letters to Gil, you will be spirited away too, as I have been. You will learn much about Gil Scott-Heron, but it is Malik’s story that transfixes me in its glittering eye'. LEMN SISSAY.

________________________________

Published in the UK on the 2nd Sep' 2021 

by the William Collins imprint of HarperCollins.

________________________________

Letters to Gil is Malik Al Nasir’s profound coming of age memoir – the story of surviving physical and racial abuse and discovering a new sense of self-worth under the wing of the great artist, poet and civil rights activist Gil Scott-Heron.

Born in Liverpool, Malik was taken into care at the age of nine after his seafaring father became paralysed. He would spend his adolescence in a system that proved violent, neglectful, exploitative, traumatising and mired in abuse. Aged eighteen, he emerged semi-literate, penniless with no connections or sense of where he was going – until a chance meeting with Gil Scott-Heron.

Letters to Gil will tell the story of Malik’s empowerment and awakening while mentored by Gil, from his introduction to the legacy of Black history to the development of his voice through poetry and music. Written with lyricism and power, it is a frank and moving memoir, highlighting how institutional racism can debilitate and disadvantage a child, as well as how mentoring, creativity, self-expression and solidarity helped him to uncover his potential.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Hard Back

ISBN: 9780008464431

ISBN 10: 000846443X

Imprint: William Collins

On Sale: September 2, 2021

Trimsize: 159x240mm

Pages: 336 pages

List Price: £20.00

_______________________________________

E-Book

ISBN: 9780008464455

ISBN 10: 0008464456

Imprint: William Collins

On Sale: September 2, 2021

Pages: 336 pages

List Price: £11.99

_______________________________________

Audiobook

ISBN: 9780008464462

ISBN 10: 0008464464

Imprint: William Collins

On Sale: September 2, 2021

Pages: 578 minutes

List Price: £12.99

_______________________________________

Malik Al Nasir features in 'Mark Walters in the Footsteps of Andrew Watson' BBC Scotland 25/05/21

 

Mark Walters in the Footsteps of Andrew Watson

Airing on Tuesday 25th of May at 10pm, (BST) watch it live on BBC Scotland or catchup on BBC iplayer.

Mark Walters with Malik Al Nasir at Andrew Watson's grave - 2021.

Mark Walters in the Footsteps of Andrew Watson

From BBC Scotland

"Former Rangers player Mark Walters looks back at his career with the Glasgow club to assess the racism he faced while playing for them. Watching harrowing footage of his early matches, he vividly describes the visceral atmosphere as he was targeted by opposition fans. In a candid conversation with Graeme Souness, the player-manager who brought him to Ibrox, Mark reveals the inner resilience that got him through those tough games and reflects on the role unconscious bias in TV commentary has on how black footballers are perceived today.

Mark also finds out about early black footballing pioneers in Scotland, including an early multiracial football team who played a stone's throw from Ibrox stadium. He unearths the incredible story of Andrew Watson, the world’s first black international player, who captained the Scotland national team in 1881 to its greatest ever win over England. Watson was a complex figure who was both the descendant of slaves and the beneficiary of slavery. Mark asks how Andrew overcame racism to be welcomed into the footballing elite in the 1880s. (BBC Scotland).

On TV

Tuesday22:00

BBC SCOTLAND