b'THE REST OF US STORIEState after police officers let themselves into the home of a mother of an innocent suspect, Floyd Jarrett, to look for evidence, resulting in her death; in 2011 after the police shot Mark Duggan during an attempted arrest. I need not say all the victims named were black. The extremities of a riot only ever reflects the extremity of the living conditions of said rioters, says author Reni Eddo-Lodge. Britain is built on looting black lives, looting black resources, and looting black culture. Our wealth comes from an empire that colonised most of the world, stunting the growth of other countries, stealing and keeping their resources without present day acknowledgement or apology or compensation. Britain built an entire global empire, nourished in no small part by the assumption that white humans were superior to all others, says author Akala. More re-cently, weve seen charter planes full of Jamaican nationals, Kenyans, Nigerians, Ghanaians and others, from Commonwealth countriesmany of whom had spent decades in Britain, indeed most of their lives, had British children and British partnersbeing sent back to countries that some of them had not visited since childhood. There will be no planes full of Australians, Swedes or Germans, I can promise you that.The reason George Floyds death has resonated across the pond is because we share many cul-tural aspects with America, shared issues of systemic and institutionalised racism, and inherited wealth through slavery. America is a superpower and US and UK artists dominate global charts, US and UK actors dominate global cinema and television, US pop culture is world pop culture or youth culture. There is a dissonance between the black culture consumed and the indifference to black lives. Black (American) culture in fashion, music, art, dance, comedy etc. has an astronomical presence in white (UK) spaces, often appropriated and monetised for white profit.What is jarring is the country that is largely providing our cultural consumption through black culture is the same country displaying a flippancy to black lives inherited from the foundations of that country. That is why it should matter to us, as UK cultural consumers and collaborators.UK culture celebrates black artists similarly, rejecting black culture until it becomes pop cul-ture and suddenly accepted as if it was always recognised, and often appropriated. When Black artists share their experience, their truth, the truth of many black people in the west due to structural racism which has led to impoverished communities, they face demonisation. Yet white artists have the liberty to express themselves in any way they feel fit, even if it perpetu-ates violence, they are praised as unapologetic artists. One example of this is the congratulato-ry response to black rapper Daves superfan Alex. A white teenager was invited onto the stage during a Glastonbury performance to rap with Dave. Later, Alex was invited to rap on Good Morning Britain to perform Daves lyrics of a violent and impoverished experience, praised in the mouth of a white boy. No such attention was given to Dave who started rapping at a sim-ilar age, as many black men do about their experiences; it is hard to imagine this happening to a black fan or rapper who would be encouraged to rap about weapons on live television. (Someone in the crowd) He got a record deal!The UK shares the hypocrisy of celebrating black culture while perpetuating racism against black people. We need to recognise our privilege as white people or white-passing people to be able to walk freely without harassment, walk in large numbers without seeming threatening, not adjust our appearances to deflect a stereotype, not worry about being profiled, not worry about police violence towards us, not worry about being discriminated against, not worry about the limits to our future because of systemic or institutionalised privilege.We hold this vigil to remember and respect the lives lost, the abuse of police power, the oppression of our black brothers and sisters and to show that we have had enough. We dont want to see racism in the country that we collaborate with, we dont want to see racism in the UK and we dont want to see racismin Exeter. We hold this vigil to acknowledge that black lives matter.Written by Linxi Camellia Dol and recited by Simi Ojajuni33'