RARE  RISINGSTARS 2015 The UK’s Top 10 Black Students
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Because

 
photo of Naomi Kellman
In this powerful piece, Sanchez Moseley, a 21 year old from New Cross, London, illustrates how Rare Rising Stars can inoculate against the harmful effects of institutional racism.

A few weeks ago, my cousin Lianne told me she was going to be editing Rare Rising Stars this year and she�d like me to write something. She told me she wanted me to write about why Rare Rising Stars is important. About why it matters.

I can�t say why Rare Rising Stars matters to other people, but I can tell you why it matters to me.

Rare Rising Stars matters to me because I am a black man growing up in New Cross and I live in a three bedroom house with four of my five siblings. I�m autistic. My dad isn�t around.

It matters to me because it�s the 21st century and sometimes we don�t have electricity, or food in the fridge, or hot water.

Sometimes I can�t wash. It matters to me because sometimes I forget that the mad characters I see hanging around outside the bookies in Deptford High Street aren�t normal. It matters because, in spite of all of this, I went to university and got a degree.

It matters because, in 2010, I started my own clothing label, Raw Arm, with my friend Jack and our snap backs were in Flava Magazine�s Top Five Independent Clothing Brands of the Year. It matters because, as we developed, the clothing brand became our personal diary. Each design tells a story about our personal struggles. A hungry dog. Fagin. A doctor inserting a chip into someone�s brain. It matters because we lost momentum whilst I was doing my degree and we�ve decided that we are going to try, one more time, to come back really strong. Because, even though we�re broke and don�t have the money to make it happen, we love it and we�re going to give it one more go.

Rare Rising Stars matters to me because, although I�ve never been charged with any crime and I am trying to make something of myself, I am stopped by the police at least once a month. Every single month. Sometimes, they pull me over and jump out of the van screaming and shining their torches in my face like they�re in the army. Once I was pulled over because � and this is genuinely the reason the police officer gave me � my friend had his hood up and I was wearing a hat when we were driving in my car. I didn�t know that was a crime and if I was white it probably wouldn�t have been. It matters because more than once a police officer has said to me �see, we�re not all bad� when they�ve treated me fairly. As if I should be grateful. What does that tell you, when they�re saying that about themselves?

photo of Naomi Kellman
It matters because constantly being stopped and searched by the police is tiring. Because I hate that feeling, I really do. Because I wish it would stop, but I know it never will. And because every time it happens, I have to bite my tongue and be polite, because they would love it if I wasn�t. It matters because I can recognise the undercover police cars in my area on sight. It matters because I�ve started to feel like the police want to keep us down. Because I can tell they�re disappointed when yet again they don�t find evidence of any crime. When I tell them I have a clothing brand and show them the clothes in the boot of my car, they don�t care. I can feel that they don�t like my ambition.

Rare Rising Stars matters because, just the other day, me and Jack went to the Pepys Estate, just around the corner from my house. We wanted to go somewhere with an inspiring view because we were having a deep talk about Raw Arm and whether we thought we should try again. As we sat on the bench looking out over the water, trying to find the inspiration to change our lives, the police approached us and asked what we were doing there. We told them we were looking at the view. They told us we couldn�t. They stopped and searched us because we were sat, in the middle of the day, looking at the view and trying to fix our lives. And then they told us to go home.

It matters because we�re going to try again anyway. And because I dream of going into property and setting up an upscale Caribbean restaurant. With waiter service. Because if I ever made a lot of money, I would fix up the whole of Deptford � every shop would look new. Because one day, when I�ve made it, I�d like the police to stop me and I would like to tell them that I come from New Cross, and look at what I�ve achieved.

Rare Rising Stars matters because when my mum saw a black man driving a Bentley the other day, she came home and told me. It matters because, one day, I hope she won�t feel the need. Most of all, it matters because Rare Rising Stars is a book full of black men driving Bentleys, and I want everybody to see that book. And because, next time I�m stopped by the police, I can show them this article, and I will be more than just a black face in a hood. I will be a black man, and I�ll be driving a Bentley.