I grew up in Sweden I am Swedish but as
soon as I was old enough to leave when I
was 20 actually I left Sweden I moved to
England where in my pursuit of education
I found something much more magical I
found my voice as a black woman I found
representation in society now I stayed
in England for about 10 years studying
and working and I decided to return to
Sweden ten years later in 2013 and when
I came back to Sweden I found the same
situation that caused me to leave to
begin with the silencing of my voice as
a black woman and the lack of
representation what was different this
time however was that I was old enough
and confident enough to say no I will
exercise my basic right as a human being
of any color which is freedom of speech
and a platform to be heard and since
there was nowhere in society to find it
I took the initiative to create what is
now Scandinavia’s larger separatist
group for black women men and non gender
binaries now this forum is a forum of
Afro Swedes but it’s also a forum of
Afro Scandinavians
it’s a family we uplift each other
we give each other a platform to share
our experiences in a world that denies
us that it also led to me writing
Europe’s first makeup book for black
but I noticed there was an issue when
this forum was the only place we could
share our views I needed to build a
bridge into a white world where people
could hear and listen to our thoughts
and that led me to obviously creating an
Instagram profile which is the largest
social social media site in present time
so that people who were not black
because the forum’s closed could also
understand what we were thinking what we
were feeling now I also travel in whole
lectures all around Sweden especially
with the young people the youth because
I have realized that change is not
something we can force upon anybody is
something the person must be open to
from the inside and that initiative that
forum that platform is what led me to be
standing here today now when you look at
Sweden from the outside and this is for
Swedes and non Swedes as well you would
think Sweden only had black people
a white people actually I wish it was
you know somewhere in between but you
would think Sweden is absolutely 100
percent or 99 percent or white now it
might be very surprising to many people
to know that out of the 10 million
people in Sweden twenty point one
percent of them have foreign origins
that’s twenty point one percent that
stand outside of this white norm that we
see everywhere and an ironic fact is
that the Sami people who are the native
indigenous Swedes are included in that
figure imagine that I wonder how that
conversation would have worked if there
was a Sami voice doing that percentage
count would they allow themselves to be
classed as foreigners in a country they
are natives to or not
out of that two million you have 200,000
afro suites that are people directly
descending from the continent of Africa
and that is stated in the report written
by Victoria Carissa Tobias who banette
and Sampson Beshear released 2014 called
the afro phobia report strange name
afro phobia yak media representation TV
magazines editors photographers
everywhere you turn
what do you see white and the magazine
covers are also blindingly white even
though we have 12 months of the year
every single month it’s white but the
demographic and reality is very
different we know that and again when
you look at any frontrunner of any
activism in Sweden whether it’s black
lives what is feminism they’re all
frantic by white voices the beauty
industry makes out that 99.9% of their
clients are all white is gone so far
that the word nude and normal skin tone
is synonymous with having white skin but
a gang the demographics of Sweden do not
look like that what is the effect of
that and let’s divide that into two
parts the effect for the individuals but
they’re also the effect for society have
you ever been in a room and looked
around and thought ways somebody that
looks like me or maybe you are in that
room and somebody said there’s nobody
that looks like me and do you listen
carefully once they say that how many
voices come up with all these excuses
nobody applied they don’t work in this
industry all excuses from people who
have taken for granted that they are
always represented and their voices are
always heard and
one thing that’s very worrying is the
fact that the lack of voice the
silencing of people is very normalized
is so normalized we never notice it
anymore and even when we get a chance at
being represented we get represented via
racial stereotypes everybody is used to
them by now we know the lazy immigrant
we know the black criminal and we know
the angry black woman but I am NOT an
angry black woman I’m a happy one there
is a danger living in a society where on
surface level what seems to be the
majority control the minority views and
what is being portrayed outwards in in
fact in 2011 in the US
Indiana University did a study where
they looked at society and looking
looked at the impact of how negative
negative perceptions of minorities
actually affects the entire society and
you may be surprised to know that it
affects every single child every single
youth except one group and that group
was young white males and it makes you
think of course it would affect them
very least because superheroes generally
white scientists generally white happy
people generally white it’s not because
they have superhuman strength strength
to actually withstand negativity from
society is because they have positive
affirmations of themselves young white
boys can be anything because they can
look anywhere and see themselves
represented which is great but everybody
would like that chance too now let’s
talk about effect on society by
silencing certain voices some people may
think it’s not a big deal but society
loses out we lose out on valuable
insight that could improve Society
because the same people that are being
silenced are the same people that
contribute day in and day out to the
same society either via their workplace
paying taxes which we love in Sweden
very very much very very high but we do
it because we live in this country and
we love it and we want to contribute in
the best way possible now another effect
is if you contribute and you’re being
silenced society may take a direction
that nobody wants whether they’re white
black or brown let’s take an example of
USA there’s a really big guy kind of
enjoy ting in power we can call him
trumpets and during election 94% of
black women voted against him no one
listened no one gave them a platform to
explain and talk about what fears they
had and why they saw this being such a
bad decision now I ask myself what would
have happened if we listened to them got
their views would society be better now
in present day I believe so but because
they lacked and we’re silenced we are
where we are with rising sales of
self-tanner the same happens here in
Sweden I know we love to think it
doesn’t but black people whether it’s in
politics or art or music are constantly
being silenced let’s take black
politicians for examples black women
politicians are always silenced pushed
out of rooms that their voice would have
made a great impact black male
politicians are found burnt to death in
their cars and we call it suicide
because against me media decides what we
know and what we should think by denying
them their voices and not being
susceptible to it the Biggest Loser is
not really the individual always is
society as a whole
now as AG as reality is I’m a positive
person and a happy one and I like to
pose you solutions I like to think we’re
a team no matter what our skin color is
so I’m going to take the last part of
this and say how can we work together to
tackle the invisibility of the most
vulnerable and the marginalized how do
you question your daily life to see
whose voices you’re allowing into your
home and into your mind
my grandmother may she rest in peace
once said to me when I was eleven
Levac no human being is born hating
another simply because of the color of
their skin or where they come from and
it didn’t make sense at the time because
I hadn’t moved to Sweden yet she was
right
hatred nutria rats in neutrality are all
things that are taught to us either by
society or in our homes and for change
to happen every individual has to
understand that the structures that
silence certain voices are based on
white supremacy and this systemic
silencing of voices is just that a
system and we all know if we build
systems we can also break them down and
I know it’s uncomfortable to say the
next part because well it’s elephant in
the room that everybody sees we know we
see it but nobody wants to accept it
white privilege because it’s never
pleasant to hear or feel shame for one’s
own participation in oppression but to
acknowledge that privilege I feel is
that magical key you’re being given a
key to finding places in your daily life
where you can shed light on voices being
silenced we can only make change if we
challenge our own problematic ideas and
there’s still a chance for us to live up
to this magnificent dream an image that
Sweden is a place a country where we
accept people of all cultures
ethnicities gender identifications that
amazing Sweden there’s still a chance
for us to create that together instead
of using our differences on surface
level to create a further divide and
polarization in our communities our
schools and our workplaces we can start
to look beyond even the empty rhetoric
of our politicians who use that
polarization and division to gain votes
but at the end of the day they do not
care as much about the regular Swedish
person whether you’re white black or
brown so let me just finish off by
giving you five areas in your life that
you can leave here today and take with
you and make a difference in society the
first one is obviously politics are you
voting in your local elections your
municipality elections are you
questioning the candidates you’re voting
for whether what their views are on
human rights are you reading the
mandates of the political parties you
support do they believe in human rights
for all or just for some in schools are
you reading the textbooks that your
children bring home do they teach black
history do they bring up names of Latin
Asian African people that have made a
difference in the society we now live in
today or are they being silenced in the
workplace does your company employ with
diversity in mind what are they policies
in place and here I must give you a
caveat do not leave it up to the few
minorities in your workplace to make the
complaint or to bring up these points
because we already know your voice holds
so much more power than theirs so rally
up your call
and pose the important questions your
money where are you spending your money
do you support minority-owned companies
do you support companies that exclude a
huge amount of society from their
product range do you boycott companies
that have shown time and time again that
they have racist ideologies do you buy
with companies that have proven to be
discriminatory against their clients and
their employees those are questions
where do you buy your art do you buy art
from black artists from minority artists
from marginalized people art that you
love or do you buy art from white
artists simply because you identify with
them even when they appropriate art from
black people at home this is very
important do you talk about ethnicity at
the dinner table do you talk about white
privilege if your children are white do
you talk about situations in society
where you may witness or be
discriminated against because these
conversations are conversations that
minorities such as even myself cannot
avoid to not have with their children
because we know what’s awaiting out
there so I believe everybody should have
those conversations at home even on
social media who are you following is
your timeline very much people that look
like you or diversify so that you may
glimpse into the world of other people
who might change your perspective on
things I just want to leave you with one
thing the change starts with you and
everywhere you go there after in your
home in your workplace at the gym where
I’m never at if we won’t change we need
to start at the root by dismantling
structures that perhaps even our
ancestors have put in place because if
you can influence your world your own
inner world and the people closest to
you
what we call NAR Millia in Sweden you
might even influence the world so the
next time you turn on your television
and you see five white men in suits
discussing the issues with immigration
ask yourself whose voice is being left
out where is that immigrant that came to
Sweden that actually works all their
life lives for their children for the
country where is that voice the voice of
people like my mother question it and thank you for giving me a voice today
soon as I was old enough to leave when I
was 20 actually I left Sweden I moved to
England where in my pursuit of education
I found something much more magical I
found my voice as a black woman I found
representation in society now I stayed
in England for about 10 years studying
and working and I decided to return to
Sweden ten years later in 2013 and when
I came back to Sweden I found the same
situation that caused me to leave to
begin with the silencing of my voice as
a black woman and the lack of
representation what was different this
time however was that I was old enough
and confident enough to say no I will
exercise my basic right as a human being
of any color which is freedom of speech
and a platform to be heard and since
there was nowhere in society to find it
I took the initiative to create what is
now Scandinavia’s larger separatist
group for black women men and non gender
binaries now this forum is a forum of
Afro Swedes but it’s also a forum of
Afro Scandinavians
it’s a family we uplift each other
we give each other a platform to share
our experiences in a world that denies
us that it also led to me writing
Europe’s first makeup book for black
but I noticed there was an issue when
this forum was the only place we could
share our views I needed to build a
bridge into a white world where people
could hear and listen to our thoughts
and that led me to obviously creating an
Instagram profile which is the largest
social social media site in present time
so that people who were not black
because the forum’s closed could also
understand what we were thinking what we
were feeling now I also travel in whole
lectures all around Sweden especially
with the young people the youth because
I have realized that change is not
something we can force upon anybody is
something the person must be open to
from the inside and that initiative that
forum that platform is what led me to be
standing here today now when you look at
Sweden from the outside and this is for
Swedes and non Swedes as well you would
think Sweden only had black people
a white people actually I wish it was
you know somewhere in between but you
would think Sweden is absolutely 100
percent or 99 percent or white now it
might be very surprising to many people
to know that out of the 10 million
people in Sweden twenty point one
percent of them have foreign origins
that’s twenty point one percent that
stand outside of this white norm that we
see everywhere and an ironic fact is
that the Sami people who are the native
indigenous Swedes are included in that
figure imagine that I wonder how that
conversation would have worked if there
was a Sami voice doing that percentage
count would they allow themselves to be
classed as foreigners in a country they
are natives to or not
out of that two million you have 200,000
afro suites that are people directly
descending from the continent of Africa
and that is stated in the report written
by Victoria Carissa Tobias who banette
and Sampson Beshear released 2014 called
the afro phobia report strange name
afro phobia yak media representation TV
magazines editors photographers
everywhere you turn
what do you see white and the magazine
covers are also blindingly white even
though we have 12 months of the year
every single month it’s white but the
demographic and reality is very
different we know that and again when
you look at any frontrunner of any
activism in Sweden whether it’s black
lives what is feminism they’re all
frantic by white voices the beauty
industry makes out that 99.9% of their
clients are all white is gone so far
that the word nude and normal skin tone
is synonymous with having white skin but
a gang the demographics of Sweden do not
look like that what is the effect of
that and let’s divide that into two
parts the effect for the individuals but
they’re also the effect for society have
you ever been in a room and looked
around and thought ways somebody that
looks like me or maybe you are in that
room and somebody said there’s nobody
that looks like me and do you listen
carefully once they say that how many
voices come up with all these excuses
nobody applied they don’t work in this
industry all excuses from people who
have taken for granted that they are
always represented and their voices are
always heard and
one thing that’s very worrying is the
fact that the lack of voice the
silencing of people is very normalized
is so normalized we never notice it
anymore and even when we get a chance at
being represented we get represented via
racial stereotypes everybody is used to
them by now we know the lazy immigrant
we know the black criminal and we know
the angry black woman but I am NOT an
angry black woman I’m a happy one there
is a danger living in a society where on
surface level what seems to be the
majority control the minority views and
what is being portrayed outwards in in
fact in 2011 in the US
Indiana University did a study where
they looked at society and looking
looked at the impact of how negative
negative perceptions of minorities
actually affects the entire society and
you may be surprised to know that it
affects every single child every single
youth except one group and that group
was young white males and it makes you
think of course it would affect them
very least because superheroes generally
white scientists generally white happy
people generally white it’s not because
they have superhuman strength strength
to actually withstand negativity from
society is because they have positive
affirmations of themselves young white
boys can be anything because they can
look anywhere and see themselves
represented which is great but everybody
would like that chance too now let’s
talk about effect on society by
silencing certain voices some people may
think it’s not a big deal but society
loses out we lose out on valuable
insight that could improve Society
because the same people that are being
silenced are the same people that
contribute day in and day out to the
same society either via their workplace
paying taxes which we love in Sweden
very very much very very high but we do
it because we live in this country and
we love it and we want to contribute in
the best way possible now another effect
is if you contribute and you’re being
silenced society may take a direction
that nobody wants whether they’re white
black or brown let’s take an example of
USA there’s a really big guy kind of
enjoy ting in power we can call him
trumpets and during election 94% of
black women voted against him no one
listened no one gave them a platform to
explain and talk about what fears they
had and why they saw this being such a
bad decision now I ask myself what would
have happened if we listened to them got
their views would society be better now
in present day I believe so but because
they lacked and we’re silenced we are
where we are with rising sales of
self-tanner the same happens here in
Sweden I know we love to think it
doesn’t but black people whether it’s in
politics or art or music are constantly
being silenced let’s take black
politicians for examples black women
politicians are always silenced pushed
out of rooms that their voice would have
made a great impact black male
politicians are found burnt to death in
their cars and we call it suicide
because against me media decides what we
know and what we should think by denying
them their voices and not being
susceptible to it the Biggest Loser is
not really the individual always is
society as a whole
now as AG as reality is I’m a positive
person and a happy one and I like to
pose you solutions I like to think we’re
a team no matter what our skin color is
so I’m going to take the last part of
this and say how can we work together to
tackle the invisibility of the most
vulnerable and the marginalized how do
you question your daily life to see
whose voices you’re allowing into your
home and into your mind
my grandmother may she rest in peace
once said to me when I was eleven
Levac no human being is born hating
another simply because of the color of
their skin or where they come from and
it didn’t make sense at the time because
I hadn’t moved to Sweden yet she was
right
hatred nutria rats in neutrality are all
things that are taught to us either by
society or in our homes and for change
to happen every individual has to
understand that the structures that
silence certain voices are based on
white supremacy and this systemic
silencing of voices is just that a
system and we all know if we build
systems we can also break them down and
I know it’s uncomfortable to say the
next part because well it’s elephant in
the room that everybody sees we know we
see it but nobody wants to accept it
white privilege because it’s never
pleasant to hear or feel shame for one’s
own participation in oppression but to
acknowledge that privilege I feel is
that magical key you’re being given a
key to finding places in your daily life
where you can shed light on voices being
silenced we can only make change if we
challenge our own problematic ideas and
there’s still a chance for us to live up
to this magnificent dream an image that
Sweden is a place a country where we
accept people of all cultures
ethnicities gender identifications that
amazing Sweden there’s still a chance
for us to create that together instead
of using our differences on surface
level to create a further divide and
polarization in our communities our
schools and our workplaces we can start
to look beyond even the empty rhetoric
of our politicians who use that
polarization and division to gain votes
but at the end of the day they do not
care as much about the regular Swedish
person whether you’re white black or
brown so let me just finish off by
giving you five areas in your life that
you can leave here today and take with
you and make a difference in society the
first one is obviously politics are you
voting in your local elections your
municipality elections are you
questioning the candidates you’re voting
for whether what their views are on
human rights are you reading the
mandates of the political parties you
support do they believe in human rights
for all or just for some in schools are
you reading the textbooks that your
children bring home do they teach black
history do they bring up names of Latin
Asian African people that have made a
difference in the society we now live in
today or are they being silenced in the
workplace does your company employ with
diversity in mind what are they policies
in place and here I must give you a
caveat do not leave it up to the few
minorities in your workplace to make the
complaint or to bring up these points
because we already know your voice holds
so much more power than theirs so rally
up your call
and pose the important questions your
money where are you spending your money
do you support minority-owned companies
do you support companies that exclude a
huge amount of society from their
product range do you boycott companies
that have shown time and time again that
they have racist ideologies do you buy
with companies that have proven to be
discriminatory against their clients and
their employees those are questions
where do you buy your art do you buy art
from black artists from minority artists
from marginalized people art that you
love or do you buy art from white
artists simply because you identify with
them even when they appropriate art from
black people at home this is very
important do you talk about ethnicity at
the dinner table do you talk about white
privilege if your children are white do
you talk about situations in society
where you may witness or be
discriminated against because these
conversations are conversations that
minorities such as even myself cannot
avoid to not have with their children
because we know what’s awaiting out
there so I believe everybody should have
those conversations at home even on
social media who are you following is
your timeline very much people that look
like you or diversify so that you may
glimpse into the world of other people
who might change your perspective on
things I just want to leave you with one
thing the change starts with you and
everywhere you go there after in your
home in your workplace at the gym where
I’m never at if we won’t change we need
to start at the root by dismantling
structures that perhaps even our
ancestors have put in place because if
you can influence your world your own
inner world and the people closest to
you
what we call NAR Millia in Sweden you
might even influence the world so the
next time you turn on your television
and you see five white men in suits
discussing the issues with immigration
ask yourself whose voice is being left
out where is that immigrant that came to
Sweden that actually works all their
life lives for their children for the
country where is that voice the voice of
people like my mother question it and thank you for giving me a voice today
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