BME individuals honoured by the Queen

Twice a year Her Majesty the Queen, via the Government honours some extraordinary men and women. Of course to many Black people whilst the Honours have the British Empire write large they will always be a source of controversy. Just last night I took part in a very heated debate during the Dotun Adebayo BBC radio London programme discussing this very subject.

All participants agreed that for Black people to accept such an honour would leave many with a terrible dilemma.  And whilst activists such Prof Gus John forcibly argued  that every Black person should boycott them, I argued that every individual has to decide for themselves, after all, whilst the title of the honour - Empire - was most unfortunate the reasons (citations) for the vast majority of BME individuals has been because of their energy, gift and often perseverance, against the odds, that  in many ways have helped change our world. They are being honoured and rewarded for that, and who are we to deny them.

So, congratulations to all those who have received Honours such as Cllr Samuels, who played a leading role in securing Wolverhampton’s first Heritage Centre for the African and Caribbean community in 2012.

And of course who could forget the two Brit actors Idris Elba and David Oyelowo who played the Black political Civil Rights icons-Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.

If I’ve missed any BME individuals out, I apologise, but please let us know and we’ll quickly include them.

Simon Woolley

Congratulations:

• Mr Samir DESAI
• Dr Raminder Singh RANGER
• Ms Yasmin SHEIKH
• Mr Idris ELBA
• Mr Gurmukh SINGH
• Mr Roy CROASDAILE
• Michael Pusey
• Gurdev Singh Rayat
• Clifford Price (Goldie)
• David Oyelowo
• Noushabeh Pakpour-Samari