I Was Born in London

21 years ago, in advance of the arrive of our daughter we moved from West London to Walthamstow. To be honest I felt a bit lost – didn’t know the area, didn’t know anyone, felt far from home.

But little by little I found my way. I helped start a girl’s football club, joined a boxing gyn, helped at a local music venue, even eventually gave Salsa a go. I felt included but it was never really home.

Then last night with the threat of the far right coming again Walthamstow mobilised. I went down, but so did a group from the Trades Hall venue. So did some boxers. So did young parents, whole families, groups of teenagers. I even got a message on the salsa group what’s app “we are coming”.

Every walk of life was there from every part of the Borough. It was calm but determined. The local MP Stella Creasy set the tone perfectly – defiant but measured. I saw young lads chatting with police, I saw people hugging, old friends reunited.

When I moved here 21 years ago, I was an outsider. Last night the tone of proud defiance made me feel at last that this was my place.

Our place, From the streets of Notting Hill in the 70s to the London of today so much has changed. Not all for the better.

But this thing stays the same. When we are threatened by racists, we stand up. When people try to divide us, we come together. Yesterday when something real was at stake everybody came.

New York has its buildings and its iconography. Paris has its’ style and beauty. You can keep them.

London has its people. Our monuments are the faces of the crowd last night, our tolerance, our diversity, our ability to stand up to evil and face it down.

I was born in London, and I will die in London.

I am home.