'It's like breathing air' - Ben opens up on racist abuse in Shropshire
Just days ago, Ben Butler was taking a gentle stroll with his 20-month-old daughter, making the most of the sunshine.
But, out of nowhere and quite casually, the dark cloud of racism was thrust on them. It came a matter of days after the killing of black man George Floyd, who died after being knelt on by a white police officer in the US.
Ben said he was with his daughter in Ellesmere when they heard a family with children use a racial slur.
“I had to walk off with my daughter. She’s only young, but my daughter had to go through that. Racism is something I endure four or five times a year,” he says.
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It wasn’t the first time, will unlikely be the last, and it will always hurt. It was this kind of mindless cruelty from peers and strangers alike that sent Ben into a life of violence and drug deals in his teens and early 20s, before turning his life around.
“Racism is like breathing air. It’s something that is in the world and isn’t going to go. It’s like putting your clothes on. It’s just normal for people.
“It’s hard to watch because I’m witnessing the same racism that was done to me. It’s hard to feel it’s ever going to change. People are so desensitised to it, it’s unreal,” he explains.
The killing of Mr Floyd in Minneapolis, which has sparked protests across both sides of the Atlantic including incidents that have turned violent, was something that struck a chilling chord with Ben, who told of his own run-ins with the police where he says he was singled out.
“I got arrested once for racially aggravated ABH in Shrewsbury,” he says. “I was with a group of 10 lads. I was the only black lad and I was the one that got picked out.”
He described another arrest after an occasion where he took revenge on a bully who had tormented him for years.
“He told his parents that I was being racist to him,” says Ben. “They knew I was getting abused at home.
“They were shouting racist stuff at me as I was getting in the back of the van and the police did nothing.”
Much of the world was horrified by Mr Floyd’s death, and threw support behind the Black Lives Matter movement, but there are still those who hold racist views.
Ben believes education is the key, and admits it wasn’t until a stint in prison in his teens when he really learned of his own heritage.
“I remember my auntie saying ‘you’re probably the only black boy in Shrewsbury’. My mum and auntie had a lot of racist abuse,” he says.
“When I was a kid I didn’t know anything about my colour or black history. I was born into a white family. I didn’t have a sense of identity.
“I’ve got afro hair and there were no Afro-Caribbean shops in Shrewsbury. It was little things like that.
“I was going to school from a background with no money. I was a young black boy with no money, and I used to get bullied and abused. I used to get milk chucked over me and stones thrown at me.
“A lot of people can’t relate because they haven’t been faced with that kind of abuse. When I was at school we didn’t do anything to learn about black history.
“It needs to be taught to open people’s eyes.
Emotional
“I didn’t know what I was. When I was in prison I learned about my colour and I embraced it.”
Later in his 20s, a stint in the military gave Ben the discipline and tools to move forward positively and leave criminality behind, although he feels the army was a “breeding ground” for racism.
Now he mentors disengaged youngsters with his business New Generation Coaching, and believes the topic of racism will take on an even more significant role in his talks: “I already spoke about racism and how it affected my life when I did talks about knife crime.
“Now I think I’ll do more. It’s important to educate people about it. I’ve done no talks in Shrewsbury so far. I want to and hope people will reach out.”
While there have been protests that descended into violence, the vast majority have been peaceful. They have included gatherings in Shrewsbury’s Quarry Park and Southwater, Telford.
Ben attended an event in Birmingham, adding: “This was the first time I’ve gone to anything like it. I felt like I needed to go to it.
“When I got there it was emotional. You’re seeing thousands of people joining together for something. It was lovely.
“It was peaceful. It was relevant. It was amazing. I’m hoping to go to a couple more.
“It was overwhelming. It hit home on so many levels.
“To see so many people of different colours, religions and sexual orientations, it makes me feel there is hope out there.”
