Dudley-born Sir Lenny Henry made an open letter about the racist bullying he went through as a child.
Comedian Lenny Henry detailed how he used humour as his ‘sword and shield’ against the racist bullies in his childhood. The 66-year-old was born in Dudley in August 1958 to parents Winston and Winifred. His full name is Lenworth George Henry, and he was named after the doctor who delivered him at Burton Road Hospital.
In the past, Sir Lenny has revealed the abominable racist abuse that, in particular, he has experienced as a member of a Jamaican family in the West Midlands, in the 1970s. He had claimed that residents of the area where he lived frequently painted “Keep Britain white” on walls and that they would frighten his mother by asking where her tail was.
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The comedian claimed that Winifred, his late mother, was a key source of his support for racism in a recent interview. After moving to England from Jamaica as a member of the Windrush Generation, she was yelled at with “horrible things” in the street.
Due to the racist abuse they experienced, Black children in the area where he was raised were advised to go outside in pairs at the time.
He explained to The Sunday Times’ Culture Magazine, “We were in the midst of this tumult, but you don’t realize that when you’re young. You simply gravitate toward those who want to snog you or like you.
“My humour became my shield and sword.” With a joke, I could deflect something. When I began to discuss how ridiculous it was for one child to roll around on the floor like they were married, I was being verbally abused.
“Suddenly, people started laughing and assumed I was valuable.” Although I was still being punched, I would be protected by others. By the time I was 12 years old, Greg, Mac, and Tom were my only white friends. They really saved my life, and I still think about them today. I was encouraged to be funny.
He previously claimed that the National Front smeared “N. F.” in excrement on his and ex-wife Dawn French’s door, and that this racism persisted throughout his entire career.
Even abusive letters and rags that had been burned through the door were threatened to be sent to them. We had words strewn into every panel of every car, according to Dawnn, who used derogatory, racist language.
Lenny’s career began when he first appeared on New Faces at the age of 15, and he eventually won with his portrayal of Stevie Wonder. He began a stand-up routine on The Black and White Minstrel Show, where actors dressed as minstrels sang minstrel songs two years later.
However, Lenny received “creeping dread” from the fact that she was the only black performer in this fundamentally racist show.
He said, “I would know when I arrived at the theater that I would be the only actual black person in the building, perhaps the only one within a 50-mile radius.”
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Source: Mirror
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