‘Gentrification agenda in Malcolm X crisis?’

The management team at the Malcolm X Centre have been served notice to leave by the council. Local music promoter Laila McKenzie explains why institutions like this needs support, or we risk losing them.

My children have attended activities in St Paul’s area of Bristol run by Full Circle Youth and Family Project and Malcolm X Community Centre. In my view Malcom X Community Centre is very important not only to the St Paul’s area. but to the wider community of Bristol.

Not only does the centre promote BME culture, which is part of the heritage and legacy of Bristol, but the centre is a huge part of Bristol’s musical hub and has nurtured home grown talent like Celestine, K*Ners and Buggsy and over the years have support Bristol promoters who have brought international artists such as Chronic, Etana & Kabaka Pyramid and legends such as Dennis Brown, John Holt & Gregory Isaac.

The centre hosted this year’s grassroots event put on by St Pauls Carnival and in previous years have hosted events from comedy shows to Zimbabwe musical artist Black Umfolosi.

The centre has played and still does play a major role in promoting community cohesion though social engagement through push music out to people as music brings people together regardless of class colour or background. Music is a massive part of Bristol’s fabric and it will be such a shame to see this centre or the organisation as staff and volunteers has such passion.

The centre serves the most vulnerable, hard to reach members of the community and is always reaching out. I loved what it did on Christmas Day to help reduce isolation in the city particularly at this time of year, opening their doors and providing a hot meal to the homeless and members of the community on a grant of only £35,000.

The people at the Malcolm X Centre work hard to keep it running, the majority of them are volunteers that give up their time for free. There may be a lack of skill sets at present within the organisation, but this is usual for most organisations that are volunteer-led – and the council knows this. The council needs to take a different approach and provide meaningful support like they should have done with St Paul’s Carnival.

I think a wider agenda is at play here I think that we are going to see a massive swift change to St Paul’s and the Stokes Croft area of Bristol due to gentrification. This will impact adversely on the BME and working-class community as property prices rise so high but eventually the recent middle class that are now moving into the area will also get pushed out. This is a very serious matter and no one will be left unscathed from this unless they are very rich.

We need to take a stand against gentrification – it is wrong, it is discriminatory, it wipes out a rich tapestry of cultures from areas and it needs to stop. It will effect generations after generations the same generations whose previous generations fought so hard for equality – through race riots, through strikes, through boycotts even through war.

This effects us all and we all need to make our voices heard as residents of Bristol and let Bristol City Council know we will not stand for this and this is not acceptable.

The message the mayor is putting out regarding the decision to terminate the Malcolm X Community Centre tenancy agreement is very contradictory and confusing.

A notice was served by the local authority in August 2015 on Malcolm X Community Centre Ltd on the face of it some serious allegations of breaches to the lease have been made. Then how and why has the centre been able to continue to operate if this is the case?

The mayor has now said that Bristol City Council will work with the centre’s management team and they have not been asked to leave the building and talks of another group coming in to the centre to run the building. But no one knows who this group is? What is the criteria or the selection process?

I hope that we don’t see the closure or privatisation of such a valuable piece of Bristol. And I urge members of the public to get involved in any way they can to stop this.

There are online petitions, council meetings that the public can attend and ask questions, and also the centre is always looking for volunteers – especially ones with centre management skills. Check out their facebook page for more info. 

Laila Mckenzie is the director of Parallel Dimensions events company and artist booking agency who has worked with St Paul’s Carnival during the crisis that led to the withdrawal of funding from the Arts Council and Bristol City Council.

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