Supacell BAFTA, Sickle cell race crisis, police cleared, carnival ban and other stories from Black, Asian & Arab communities you shouldn't have missed this week - curated by Melissa Sigodo

The Source meet up celebration soon

Good morning, evening or afternoon,

Happy Mother’s Day and thank you for subscribing to The Source. I hope you are all doing well.

It is coming up to the one-year anniversary of the newsletter and I am so grateful to you all for subscribing and keeping up with what is going on in the rapidly changing world.

I am thinking of hosting a little celebration, so if you would be interested in attending, please send me a message so I can get an idea of headcount. It would be great to meet you all in person in London if possible. For those outside of London, I will keep you posted and maybe we could do a meet up if you are interested.

Black Health Inequality Summit

This week, I had the pleasure of co-hosting the Black Health Inequalities Summit hosted by the Caribbean and African Health Network (CAHN) and Inspire London, alongside Health Service Journal journalist Nick Kituno. It was a great event where we discussed the importance of keeping Black health at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

I had the pleasure of co-hosting the event in London

One speaker, Professor Bola Owolabi brought the crowed to tears as she shared how her five cousins tragically died due to sickle cell. You’ll also see in this week’s newsletter that I wrote a story about sickle cell and how campaigners say it isn’t treated equally to other genetic blood disorders despite being the most common blood illness not only in the UK but in the world.

Although the event highlighted health inequality, it was also great to hear from Reggae Reggae Sauce founder, Levi Roots who spoke about his own health journey in a very entertaining way. He shared how he battled high blood pressure but managed to get off medication after changing his diet and lifestyle.

Why I do this newsletter

When I put together this newsletter, I think it is important to discern what is quality journalism and what is dog-whistle journalism. Therefore, there are some stories that may not feature for this reason. As well as this, I try to highlight the stories that go under the radar but are equally, if not more important at times, than the ones that get the spotlight.

I’ve lowered the paywall in celebration of Mother’s Day so, without further ado, here are the stories you shouldn’t have missed this week.

News

Netflix’s hit series Supacell about a group of Black South Londoners who develop superpowers has been nominated for two BAFTA awards for best drama and best scripted casting. Read the full story by Georg Szalai and Lily Ford at The Hollywood Reporter.

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MOBO (Music of Black Origin) Awards founder Kanya King has been honoured a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Diversity Awards ceremony. Read the full story by The Voice.

Health

A sickle cell suffer was forced to wait 21 hours to get a bed while feeling like his organs were being pulled out, as nurses ‘didn’t think he was in as much pain’. Campaigners say sickle cell- the UK’s biggest genetic blood disorder isn’t treated equally due to race. Read the full story by me for The Mirror.

Education

Black schoolgirls feel ignored, misjudged and only seen through stereotypes by educators, a groundbreaking report found. The See Us, Hear Us report by community organisation Milk Honey Bees warned that their findings could potentially give “a stark picture” of how Black girls are treated across the country. Read the full story by me for The Mirror.

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Children who are moved around in temporary housing are more likely to fail GCSE exams due to the number of times they are forced to move, research shows. Kids interviewed by Sky News have been forced to live in unsuitable homes riddled with bedbugs and cockroaches, as well as having limited living space. Read the full story by Joely Santa Cruz at Sky News.

Entertainment

Award-winning actor and star of Neflix’s Adolescence series Stephen Graham says he suffered racist abuse as a child due to being mixed race. Stephen whose grandfather is Jamaican told The Sun: “I’m mixed race. As a kid, I was called horrible words that I don’t even want to say, and little monkey boy.” Read the full story by Emma Rowbottom at The Sun.

Windrush Scandal

A man who was denied re-entry to the UK and deported after returning from a trip to Jamaica in 1999, was wrongly denied Windrush compensation as the then-Home Secretary “wrongly misunderstood how immigration law, including the immigration rules in force in 1999, would have applied to the claimant”. Windrush scandal victims could have their compensation cases reconsidered after the landmark ruling. Read the full story by Chris Osuh at The Guardian.

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A man who has lived in the UK since the age of 13 who feared he could be deported after the Home Office failed to resolve his immigration status going back to the 1980s, has now been granted the right to remain in the UK. Samuel Jarrett-Coker previously said he lost weight due to the stress which left him weighin a mere 10 stone. Read the full story by Diane Taylor at The Guardian.

Policing

Two Metropolitan Police officers who repeatedly Tasered Oladeji Omishore before he ‘jumped’ off Chelsea Bridge and died should not face disciplinary proceedings, the police watchdog says. Members of the public had called 999 expressing concern for his mental health but the info was not passed on to officers who attended. Read the full story Sonja Jessup at BBC.

Crime

Police have released a CCTV image of a man after a mum and her three kids were physically assaulted and racially abused at East Acton Tube station on Sunday 9, March. The man repeatedly punched the woman's teenage son in the face leaving his nose and mouth bleeding. He also punched the mum before leaving. Read the full story by Emma Fradgley at MyLondon.