Maybe I Don't Belong Here: A Memoir of Race, Identity, Breakdown and Recovery

Product Information

This is a story about a young man who, despite his talent and ambition, was eaten alive by white supremacy. David Harewood OBE is an actor and presenter best known for starring roles in Homeland , Supergirl , The Night Manager , Blood Diamond , Criminal Justice and Ten Per Cent . As a black, working-class man with British and Caribbean heritage, Harewood often feels he doesn’t have a place. The portrait's unveiling was accompanied by a temporary exhibition at the house focussing on Harewood's life and career.

Maybe I Don't Belong Here is a groundbreaking account of the impact of everyday racism on Black mental health and a rallying cry to examine the biases that shape our society.It shocks to the core and his ensuing mental health issues, so honestly depicted, are an indictment of what society was then and still is today. Incredibly sad to read of the double bind he found trying to define his identity between being black and British. He appeared in the BBC film adaptation of the Philip Pullman novels The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, both of which are titles from the Sally Lockhart Mysteries.

He traces it to the cracks caused by experiences as a British Black man, the split in psyche as he struggled to deal with the daily impact of that. And it's brave for Harewood to bare all now, especially as he'd struggled with doing so along the way. So the first of those is, you spoke about how, in your younger years, as you were starting out, the reviews would refer to you as a black actor. One of the best memoirs I have read about race, identity, mental illness, psychosis, resilience and recovery. I would like to thank David Harewood for providing such an honest, open, and raw account of his mental health struggles in his early 20's and the journey it taken him on.They stand as a poignant, frank, enlightening and yet hopeful work that elucidates perfectly many of the implicit and insidious British cultural norms of discrimination and exclusion, shaming, denial, minimisation and institutionalised hatred and harm, and its traumatising consequences. It's been formally recognised as a Borough of Sanctuary and is teeming with creative individuals and communities. David speaks honestly about racism, mental health and how the two can connect and give people a fractured identity as it makes them feel like they do not belong in their own country. Touched on so many different aspects including race, mental health and the difficulties of trying to operate in the white space as a black British person in Britain. But in this book, Mr Harewood is able to articulate this experience in a way that I never thought it possible or even permissible to do.

PRESENTED DOCUMENTARIES FOR THE BBC 'WILL BRITAIN EVER HAVE A BLACK PRIME MINISTER, WHY IS COVID KILLING PEOPLE OF COLOUR. David's compelling story poses the question: Is it possible to be Black and British and feel welcome and whole? I'm amazed the amount of young kids who say to me, "Oh, I watched you when I was at school, and now I'm an actor, and thank you. Thank you, David, for being vulnerable and helping me as a student mental health nurse to develop my understanding of experiencing psychosis.

And there are issues within my journey to America that haven't quite been straightforward and simple.

Maybe I Don't Belong Here is a deeply personal exploration of the duality of growing up both Black and British, recovery from crisis and a rallying cry to examine the systems and biases that continue to shape our society. Nowadays social services would be involved for far less than being shoved on top of the wardrobe in the dark for the sake of hide and seek (me) or hurling yourself down the stairs (Harewood). Still, this book is key in getting the conversation going and in showing that identity and mental health are deeply intertwined.Though Harewood recovered and never saw the crusty walls and parquet floors of a mental institution again, he’s aware that the environment that contributed to his psychosis is unchanged. And many people aren't, but I think I've done probably more work than most in being happy in whatever space you are. His fortitude and the courage to revisit that period and all it entailed are quietly heroic; hearing him tell his own story with such generosity makes this a memorable listen. I didn’t know the word racism till later when I had to work out how the Specials are skinheads and yet they have Black people in the band.