LUCIAN Msamati
At the very best of times conversations around race are prickly, uncomfortable and triggering. More so at this moment and in this time. As I try to navigate my own way through my own pain, grief, burning rage and unspoken traumas, I feel more and more the need for Safe Spaces.
I speak not of policy-driven, campaign-ridden initiatives or box-ticking exercises; I speak of spaces in which we can express, unburden, debate and talk and share and commune without fear of reprisal and judgement. Spaces where we can breathe both literally and metaphorically. Are these spaces digital/ virtual; are they - eventually -communal? I do not have all the answers - who does really? - but I do believe that now is the time to make a way forward, the way out of this. Because truly and honestly? The way to a better world is us. At a time when it seems various forces are hell-bent on ripping us off or ripping us apart, the rebuild is in our hands.
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Lucian Msamati is a writer, director and BAFTA nominated actor whose work spans across theatre, film and TV. Notable roles include Game of Thrones, His Dark Materials, Kiri and more recently Gangs of London.
