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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Entertainment
Lauren Harte

New BBC documentary shines a spotlight on the lives and achievements of NI's black people

The experiences and achievements of black people living in Northern Ireland will take centre-stage in a new documentary airing this week.

Belfast producer Lindsay Dube has produced Black, Northern Irish and Proud, focusing on what it is like to be black and Northern Irish.

The 30-minute programme, made for BBC Northern Ireland, offers frank and honest opinions on topics such as identity, diversity, politics, racism and cultural identity.

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From recent immigrants to second generation citizens, it tells the stories and experiences of black people in an increasingly diverse Northern Ireland.

Behind the documentary is community worker and music producer Lindsay, who has been living in Northern Ireland for over 20 years.

He believes the quality of life for everyone living here can be improved by people of all races and nationalities making a positive contribution.

Lindsay personally interviewed each contributor in Black, Northern Irish and Proud and captured their different experiences – the good, the bad, the funny and the poignant. The result is a powerful and occasionally unflinching account of what it means to black in Northern Ireland today.

"I started working on this because I realised there were a lot of different stories that needed to be told, especially for black and mixed race people in Northern Ireland, and that it would be worth highlighting this to the public," Lindsay previously told Belfast Live.

Shade Fairley, one of the contributors to Black, Northern Irish and Proud (BBC NI)

"My goal from the start was to look for other black people within the film production industry, who were not specifically getting opportunities, to give them a chance to do work on this project.

"The reason I did that was because I wanted to show the talent in Northern Ireland and the diversity of the talent here, and explore different stories of people here in Northern Ireland."

Exploring what it means to be black in Northern Ireland through first-hand accounts of some of those who live here, the programme offers frank and honest opinions on topics such as identity, diversity, green and orange politics, racism, black pride and a shared future.

He added: "It was important for me to put these people out there, to shine a light on what they're doing. When this gets shown to the public, people won't be able to say, 'There aren't people of colour in Northern Ireland'. They are there in every industry - filming, modelling, legal roles - all the examples we're showing here.

"So I would say that what we're doing isn't necessarily highlighting issues with race in Northern Ireland, but highlighting solutions and achievements. It's a local production with local people, but it also offers local solutions to how we can understand race."

Black, Northern Irish and Proud airs on Wednesday, September 21 on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10:40pm and will also be available on BBC iPlayer.

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