Sophia Brown

I think this is something new to society, seeing a group of black, I’m going to say women because that’s our group, but I mean black people, you know, in general, walking out in a large group. You know, you see black people in sports, and you see black people doing other things, but to see a group of black women walking in local areas where the locals have never seen that before, there [were] a lot of stares. It’s not all negative. You know, people are staring because they’ve never seen that before. We’ve been made to feel welcomed. [There have been] some not very nice times we’ve experienced as well. Yeah, we’ve had a few challenges. Me personally, because I grew up in the country, I’ve had that all my life, you know, because there [were] very few black people where I grew up. So, negative comments by locals, or the discrimination we’ve faced, it wasn’t new to me, but it was new, pretty much new, to most of the women, because they’ve grown up in central Bristol, where it’s more diverse, even though they grew up around institutional racism. It’s a whole different ballgame out there, with a group of black women walking in the countryside or coastal areas.
At the end of the day, you know, we’re going to face risk, but I look at it that we’re just a group of black women walking, you know, and we’re going to come across as intimidating to people. You know, we are, because that is how society has portrayed us for many, many years. You see a group of black people, you’re a gang, you’re out to cause trouble. So, my aim is to break down these barriers, you know. It is working, it’s kind of working, it is. And go back to these places where we have faced discrimination. I always go back. As a solo walker, I always go back. You know, because I know I’m out there passionately just walking, I’m not out there looking for trouble. So, they say what goes around comes around. You know, if I’m out there walking passionately, I’m expecting that back. So, it is hard, it is hard out there, but I can’t let something like that run my life. I can’t say, right, I’m not going out there anymore because I’ve been called the N word, because I have, you know. I go back out there because that’s not my problem – people’s reaction. Yes, it can be dangerous, but then if somebody is going to harm us in that way, they have to face the consequences. But I can’t allow that to stop me or the group going back, you know. You use the word brave and yeah, it is brave because, like, I don’t feel there’s anything wrong with what we’re doing.