The Power of The Arts To Change Hearts & Minds Is So Important When It Comes To Changing Narratives & Making Progress
I’m Still Not Over LOLA!!!
For Now @theebillyporter @mrmatthenry @dariusharius @kenmos @yeukayiushe @walterlee85 THANK YOU For Your FABULOUS Example of How Lola Should Be Done. I Follow In Your Boot-Steps!
Cedric Neal, August 10 2022
This Song And Show Is So Close To My Personal LIFE/Relationship With My Father, That It’s Scary. Thank You @Thebbtas For Giving Me The Opportunity To Live Via Lola Again.
Cedric Neal
We’ve Said It Before And We’ll Say It Again, Sky Television Gifting The Sky Arts Channel – Sky TV Channel 130 – To The Nation Is One of The Best Things That Ever Happened To British Television. And of Course It Was Designed That Way, As It Was Gifted During One of The Worst Things That Ever Happened To The Nation And Indeed The World, Namely The Covid Pandemic of 2020. Gifted In The September, Sky Arts Was Meant To Provide A Cultural Entertainment Distraction For The Nation, During The Height of The Epidemic. And Indeed, For Some, It Did. And Sky Have Honoured Said Gift Ever Since.
Often Companies Find A Way To Take Back Seemingly Good Offers But Sky Haven’t In This Case. And TO.P Appreciate That, Because To Be Fair They Broadcast Some Great Documentaries Featuring Members of The Black Community, Including Opera, Theatre And Decent Television. Case In Point – We Love The Theatre And Shocking Though It Is, Up Untill Friday December 22 2023, We’d Never Seen Kinky Boots (Other Than The Brilliant Movie Version on Screen -Which Was So Good We Never Felt The Need To See It In The Theatre).
One of The Other (Few) Great Social Developments To Stem From Social Change Brought About By Adapting To Covid Is That Theatre Has Been Increasingly Broadcast Through Television. And That Appears To Be Here To Stay. So When We Saw Sky Arts Had Scheduled Kinky Boots Over The Festive Season We Decided To Embrace The Opportunity And Join The Kinky Boots Theatre Community.
Earlier This Year, Sunday October 29th 2023, We Attended The Black British Theatre Awards Where We Met Lots of Wonderful People Associated With The Wonderful World of Black Creatives Working In Theatreland, Including @MzzKimberley, An African-American Actress Living In London, Who Days Later Shared With Us That She Has Been Officially Selected As The New Ambassador For A Business Based Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Organization Called ‘Trans In The City’ For The Next 12 Months. We Subseqently Went Along To One of Her First Ambassadorial Events Which Was A Celebration To Mark The First Time A Trans Person Closed The London Stock Exchange (On Tuesday November 14th 2023). One of The Sponsors And Supporters of @TransInTheCity Is Sky Televsion .
As An Inclusion, Diversity, Equity And Accountability Magazine, We’ve Been Inspired By @MzzKimberley (Pictured At The London Stock Exchange ~ LSEG ~ Below) To Take A Closer Look At The LGBT+ Community From The Afro-Caribbean Perspective. Notwithstanding Constantly Having To Fight Racism, The African-Caribbean Community Can Somestimes Still Be Very Resistent To LGBT+ Inclusion, Diversity, Equity And Accountability, Thus Making The Life of A Black LGBT+ Community Member Even More Challenging And Dangerous Than It Already Is. And Indeed Even Those Who Support Them.
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 Which Legislates The Death Sentence For Consensual Same-Sex Acts In Some Circumstances Is A Case In Point. And Suella Braverman’s Recent Announcement That Being Gay Is Not An Automatic Right To Asylum In Britain Was A Particularly Cruel Piece of Political Posturing As She Knew Exactly What She Was Doing In Terms of The Political Message She Was Sending To The African LGBT+ Community – Namely You’re On Your Own! Stay Home! And Just Hope You Don’t Get Caught! And Beaten Up! Or Murdered! It Harshly Highlights How Black LGBT+ Community Members Can Suffer The Heartwrenching Agony of A Triple Whammy – Politically, Socially, And Culturally.
All The Actors Who Play Lola Are Thus Especially Outstanding, Courageous And Inspiring Heroes of Film, Theatre And Society Generally. And This Is A Very Important Example of Why The Arts Can Be So Important In Changing Narratives And Bringing Certain Issues To The Forefront And Out Into The Open. And Helping People Band Together And Make Important Changes And Shifts In Culture.
Even When He Got Lung Cancer He Refused To See Me. It’s Ironic. Fags Got Him In The End!
Lola In ‘Kinky Boots’ (One of The Best, Yet Most Tragic Lines In The Show)
TheOrator.Press ~ A New, Monthly, Online, Independent Magazine 