Lawrence Hoo's 'CARGO': Changing the Narrative on Slavery

Bristol has been in a very public tussle with its slave-trading past in recent years. Debates have raged about renaming monuments and buildings, and public awareness of the foundations of the city's wealth is slowly growing. Joining this conversation is local poet and artist Lawrence Hoo with his latest collection 'CARGO', soon to be paired with an immersive multi-media experience on College Green in Spring/Summer 2020 before touring the country and the world. The launch of his book on 14th October 2019 highlighted several issues around how we deal with this past, and the importance of the humanities in helping us do this.

Rightly or wrongly, the first thing that struck me on arriving at the event was that, as a white person, I was in the minority in the room. This is an unusual experience for me, but I think it raised a couple of interesting points. The first is that this event and Hoo's work have united a community around their shared experiences. Frustration was expressed with the negative portrayal of their ancestors in history books, as well as with a system and a police force which even today don't seem to care for black people, which discriminate against them even. The second is that the humanities have the power to open our eyes to different perspectives such as these. The issues raised are things that I have not directly experienced as a white person, and works of art such as CARGO and events such as this are crucial in breaking down barriers and helping us truly understand others' experiences of the world. However, perhaps the loudest cheer of the night came for Hoo's statement that race is a construct and that 'we are all just human beings'. In that sense, I wasn't in a minority at all.

This is one example of how we can use the humanities to change the narrative on slavery and other issues. Hoo raised the point in his interview to start the event that lessons about the trans-Atlantic slave trade in school had always depicted his ancestors as oppressed and weak, almost giving in and being victimised. He expressed frustration with the lack of depictions of resistance, of his ancestors as 'warriors' as well as people who had made great contributions to Bristol and the wider world.

This sentiment was backed up by several audience members who thanked him for what he is doing during the Q+A, including one woman who asked what can be done when the government continually fails to change the curriculum and what it teaches about the slave trade. The answer? Reclaim and rewrite the narrative yourself, with CARGO being an example of this (Hoo's strap-line for the book is 'African resilience generating opportunities'). At the same time as changing the narrative, change the language we use too. For Hoo and others in the room, 'slave' is a word which dehumanises. They prefer to use 'enslaved person'. Another simple yet powerful example of the power of the arts and humanities to reshape our dealings with the past.