Busy Being Black with Joshua Rivers

How do we have more nuanced conversations about being mixed race that account for more than an internal struggle with the binary Black and white? Chantelle Lewis is an activist, researcher, sociologist and podcaster based at Goldsmiths – and this her beat. Chantelle’s work is focused on structural racism, accountability, and class inequality and her doctoral research explores Black mixed race fami...

Liv Little is the founder and tour-de-force behind gal-dem, an online and print magazine written by women of colour and non-binary people of colour for all to explore. Today we’re in conversation to discuss the genesis of gal-dem and how she’s learned to separate herself from the business she’s built. We explore how gal-dem is helping women and non-binary people of colour navigate our fraught poli...

Today’s conversation with Rav Bansal is a beautiful exploration of the private and public considerations we make on our journeys of self-acceptance and self-love, and what it can mean for ourselves and the communities we represent if we decide to come out. Rav is a baker and broadcaster who rose to fame as a contestant on Great British Bake Off in 2016. In June of this year, he came out publicly,...

PJ Samuels is a poet, educator and LGBTQ human rights activist whose work interrogates issues of race, gender, patriarchy, identity and belonging. I first encountered her searing, moving and beautiful poetry in the Sista! Anthology, a collection of essays and poetry from women-loving-women of African and Caribbean descent. She is an emotional and intellectual force. Today, we discuss her relations...

Few people have touched my soul as tenderly as Jeffrey Williams. From late-night cross-continental FaceTimes to voice notes full of support and encouragement, the friendship Jeffrey and I have cultivated is a testament to the very real connections that can form across cyberspace. Jeffrey Williams is a designer, stylist and creative director whose visions of beauty are made manifest most regularly...

Hip-hop is a cultural touchstone both misunderstood and rightly held to task for misogyny, homophobia and sexism, but are the problems of hip-hop reflective of issues in society at large and what space is there for queerness in hip-hop? Today, I’m joined by Peter “PJ” Johnson, more widely known as the Repeat Beat Poet, for a discussion exploring hip-hop’s radical roots, the queering of the genre a...

In this conversation recorded at London Podcast Festival 2019, Busy Being Black's creator and host, Josh Rivers, is interviewed by celebrated filmmaker Campbell X. Together they explore nationhood, identity, diaspora, masculinity, Josh's short-lived role as the first Black editor of Gay Times, calling out and calling in, healing, love and joy. — — @_busybeingblack is the podcast exploring how we l...

It was my encounter with Hello Mr in 2016, the magazine about men who date men, that inspired me to throw my hat into the LGBTQ media ring; for the first time, I saw what was possible and I was hooked. I turned to the masthead, saw Fran Tirado’s name and emailed him. We connected, we bonded and he’s since become one of my friends and queeroes.  In this conversation, Fran and I discuss the ever-evo...

It was her love of blogging about Scandal that led my guest today into a rabbit hole of doctoral research in “Black women’s fandoms and the intersectionality of TV discourse.” Kadian Pow is a student, teacher, intellectual and entrepreneur born in Jamaica, raised in the US and transplanted to the UK, whose life has been one of seeking out and exploring community both online and off. Her research a...

From her beginnings in Ghana to coming of age in south London, Linda Devo’s life has been one of encountering, exploring and constantly creating who she is. Alongside being a mother, artist and an out and proud dyke (her word), she’s also the founder of Kiki, a club night and conversation for QTIPOC in Bristol. We explore the positive results of owning your intentions and desires, expressing her i...

I was on a bustling street in Soho, hugging my friend Liam as he cried with joy after hearing that Trinidad and Tobago’s highest court had just ruled that sections of the Sexual Offences Act were unconstitutional. For Liam, it was a moment that couldn’t come soon enough. Like many, his family encouraged him to move away from Trinidad so he could live as himself. Today, I’m in conversation with Jas...

Seyi Newell is the effervescent and dynamic founder of Tribe, an organisation dedicated to helping Black women explore, excel and thrive in everything they put their minds to. She founded Tribe because she was angry at the very visible lack of inclusion in the spaces she was invited to and after her mentor told her she should do something about it.  Seyi is a delight. We discuss imposter syndrome,...

This episode contains strong and suggestive language. — —  Sandy Pianim is the brand director of Recon, a platform for men and their fetishes, and he’s been on a journey over the past five years to help make Recon a more representative and inclusive platform for men of colour. We discuss the moment the ball-gag dropped and he realised the impact of his work, cleansing his sexual aura and fetish as...

Research conducted by the European Women’s Lobby to better understand online abuse uncovered some startling, if not entirely unsurprising, statistics:  In Europe, 9 million girls have experienced some kind of cyber violence by the time they are 15 years old; and despite the rapidly growing number of women experiencing online violence, only 26 percent of law enforcement agencies in the 86 countries...

Alexander Leon is a rising star in the community and his new YouTube channel is a Godsend. His searing yet bubbly takes on LGBTQ life are a welcome counter to the often toxic conversations we hear in the media and he is such a fabulous example of what happens when we lean into ourselves. Today, we explore how he navigates his mixed-race identity, what he feels is his role as a mediator between cul...

When the city of Philadelphia announced in 2017 that they'd adopted a rainbow flag that included black and brown stripes, they ignited a global debate. Many of us finally felt seen. Others felt the international symbol of pride had somehow been ruined. But the adoption of this flag is the result of what my guest today calls a 30 year conversation. Amber Hikes is the executive director of the Mayor...

Media Diversified was established in 2013 to help change the conversation in the media and foreground the voices of writers of colour. Media Diversified is a powerhouse: two books, Bare Lit Festival, the Jhalak Prize and a newly appointed editor-in-chief, Marcus Daniel. Marcus joins me in conversation today to discuss combating the overwhelming negativity of the British media, creating space to am...

Poet and singer Dylema says she became aware very early on that she would be unhappy trying to live up to the patriarchal expectations put upon her. She’s since been on a journey in pursuit of her freedom. From changing her name to coming out to her mother, Dylema says that finding herself, understanding who she is and what she wants has been the key to finding peace and living fully in her truth....

Today’s conversation will be triggering for some. What follows is a candid discussion which touches upon mental health, suicide, sexual violence and conversion therapy. Please listen with care. Included in this episode’s show notes are links to UK-based charities and services for each of the sensitive topics discussed.  Ben Ellis describes himself as a belligerent queer Black man. He's a poet who...

When it comes to British national treasures, Patrick Vernon OBE is high up on the list. An activist, historian, former politician and cultural curator whose work spans decades, he’s one of the Black Britons who has been instrumental in uncovering a Black British identity. From fighting against systemic and societal inequalities to his Afrofuturistic exploration aboard the SS Sankofa on his podcast...

Today, I’m in conversation with Alex Reads, host of the award-winning podcast Mostly Lit and of his own and new show, What Matters. In all of his work, Alex demonstrates his capacity for a deep and searching self-reflection, that most vital of exercises in living a good and fulsome life. What I perhaps love most about Alex is his ability to help us in holding up a mirror to ourselves, to understan...

We all have those voices in our head that hold us back. The voices that tell us our past precludes our future, that too much has happened or that we can’t make a difference. But we all have those voices that dream and imagine the impossible and that provoke and encourage us to create the world we want to live in.  Jean Lloyd, the communications provocateur, invites us to focus on and nurture those...

John Amaechi OBE is a respected organisational psychologist, best-selling New York Times author and CEO of Amaechi Performance Systems a consultancy that partners with organisations to help leaders move from being transactional to transformational — he’s also an openly gay Black man. Praise be! Today, we talk about his love of libraries, why the LGBTQ community isn’t really a community after all,...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again because I believe it, Otamere Guobadia is the James Baldwin of our generation. His writing is searing, prescient and beautiful, striking at the heart of issues we battle with everyday. He’s also a friend and confidant and I hold him in high esteem and so understand my estimations of him may sound grandiose. We discuss the taxonomies of magic, the violence...

Today, I’m in conversation with another of our queer Black icons, Campbell X. He’s an award-winning filmmaker whose work often explores queer masculinity and desire, and our conversation covers everything from understanding ourselves away from the white gaze (and gays) to the importance of exploring our own desires, the dominant lenses through which we see the world and ourselves, and the never-en...