Flags, fear and the question of identity

I walked to a birthday dinner through the streets of London on Saturday 13 September, and remembered that I am mortal.

This was the day that a rally, organised by anti-immigrant activist Tommy Robinson, saw up to 150,000 people march through central London. Held under the name “Unite the Kingdom," Robinson promoted it as a free speech event.

As a black woman, when I found myself surrounded by white men draped in English flags, feeling their eyes on me, I walked with my head held high, but internally I prayed, “Wow, Lord." I remembered my mortality in those moments. I felt, yet again, a stranger in a nation that I had called home for decades.