Further search turned up interesting profiles and quotes.
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feoma Nnenna Dieke, celebrated athlete
Profile Brief
International Scottish football (soccer) defender, currently playing for Apollon Ladies F.C. of the Cypriot First Division, born of Nigerian parents born in Amherst, Massachusetts (USA); age three, relocated with her parents to Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire (near Glasgow), Scotland.
One interview captured her saying
“It’s all about what you want to do with your heart, I followed mine and it led me to Scotland. I’ve never regretted it.”
“I grew up in Scotland. I feel everything about me is Scottish.”
Representing Great Britain at the London Olympics in 2012, qualifying for the Euros, earning her 100th cap…, one in particular exchange resonates.
“Being the first female black player to captain Scotland…, I remember getting the armband; and, after the game, Gemma Fay [former Scotland goalkeeper and captain] saying ‘You’re the first black player to captain Scotland’”
“…Even now just thinking about it [Gemma Fay’s words], I’m lost for words — because I never thought about my skin colour, or things like that.”
“Captaining any team is fine. But [of significance is] Scotland, your country; and leading out all these players, and having that privilege.
“Then you add in the part where people who are out there, who are black, can see Ife captain Scotland, Ife playing for Scotland over 100 times …. Maybe then their younger selves can [say] ‘I can do it,’ and no one can tell them anything differently.”
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odfrey Henry Oliver Palmer OBE (Order of the British Empire, addressed “Sir”), scientist, author, university professor
Profile Brief
Born to Jamaican parents in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, grew up with extended family in Kingston, at age 15, he joined his mother, a dressmaker, in England; and, in his first school, he was assessed as “educationally subnormal.”
Nevertheless he obtained six O-levels and two A-levels in botany and zoology, found a job as a junior lab technician at Queen Elizabeth College, London University; gained further qualifications studying one day a week at a local polytechnic; studied at the University of Leicester earning a degree in botany; studied for an MSc at the University of Nottingham; he studied for a PhD in grain science and technology jointly with Heriot-Watt College and the University of Edinburgh; completed his doctorate of science; and obtained a position at Heriot-Watt College (his alma maters University of Leicester, University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University).
One interview captured him saying
“My ancestors had to face the slavers and fight. I think I can face the evil face of a statue and fight”
On a City of Edinburgh proposal to amend the plaque on a “controversial monument”
The new plaque would give the public the opportunity to see and ‘actually read the evil that this man has done.”
“If we take the statue down, this will not be known.”
“We don’t want to leave this so that people looking back in 50 years will say: you know, they took the statues down, why didn't they do something about racism?”
Palmer illustrated with a personal story
“I went to give a lecture, recently.
When I arrived, I was asked why I was there
I said I’d come to give a lecture.
The young lady said, ‘Well, what time?’
I said, ‘two o’clock’
She said, ‘you can’t be giving a lecture two o’clock, because that lecture is being given by Professor Sir Geoff Palmer.’”
In other words, he concludes “the woman could not fathom that he, the black man standing in front of her, was the professor in question.
This is where we are with our racism today.
We have to do something to change that.
We are one humanity; nothing less.
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atherine Ross, author, teacher, lecturer, organizer, activist
Profile Brief
Born on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts; at age seven, relocated with her family to Nottingham; and obtained teaching credentials from City and Guilds at a Nottingham College; became founding director of Museumand: The National Caribbean Heritage Museum, Editor of Black History Month 2020
One interview captured her declaring that
Black History Month is a time to shine a light on shared British history; and to tell the whole story honestly and truthfully
To decolonise and reclaim history
To tell stories from the perspective of all people
To re-imagine how ‘our’ shared history will be told in the future.”
Alex Salmond Show “Black History Matters” October 29, 2020 https://www.rt.com/shows/alex-salmond-show/504803-black-history-matters-football/
One hundred and thirty years after Andrew Watson became the world’s first black international footballer, Ifeoma Dieke led an increasingly successful Scotland women’s team. She tells Alex Salmond why she chose to represent Scotland rather than team USA and is joined by England great John Barnes, Black History Month 2020 editor Catherine Ross and Professor Sir Geoff Palmer to discuss why black history matters in life beyond football.
BBC Sport “Black History Month: Ifeoma Dieke on her footballing journey” October 4, 2020 https://www.bbc.com/sport/scotland/54401792
Euro News “Sir Geoff Palmer: ‘Don’t take down statues – take down racism’ by Natalie Huet and Rosie Wright Professor Sir Geoff Palmer speaking June 11, 2020, to Euronews https://www.euronews.com/2020/06/11/sir-geoff-palmer-don-t-take-down-statues-take-down-racism
B: M 2020 "Why Black History Month is more important than ever this year?" Catherine Ross https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/bhm-intros/why-black-history-month-is-more-important-than-ever-this-year/
Wikipedia
Geoff Palmer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Palmer_(scientist)
Ifeoma Dieke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ifeoma_Dieke
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