Leroy Lucas in the first Tafel van Utrecht: “Als we het niet samen doen, dan wordt het heel moeilijk”

The very first episode of De Tafel van Utrecht went beyond talk. Leroy Lucas spoke about Zwarte Piet, Keti Koti, the city's slavery past and four pillars to make the community stronger.

“You are the one you was waiting for.” That line sits above the very first episode of De Tafel van Utrecht Podcast, recorded on Saturday 21 March. The guest was Leroy Lucas: at the time a candidate councillor for GroenLinks-PvdA, director of the Anansi Instituut and one of the people behind Keti Koti and Black Achievement Month in Utrecht. Napoléon Mugabe led the conversation.

Lucas talked about growing up in the north and about how a flyer on the Stadhuisbrug drew him into politics. For years he stood every November with a sign against Zwarte Piet, until he decided it had to be done differently. That led to the Pietenpact with the municipality.

Keti Koti and the city's past

He spoke about how Keti Koti came to Utrecht and about the city's slavery past, which long remained in the shadows. He also explained why, in his view, the summer carnival started in Utrecht and not in Rotterdam.

His drive, he explained, comes from the feeling that the community has nothing: no institutions of its own, no banks of its own, nothing to pass on to the children. His answer rests on four pillars: politics, economy, education and wellbeing. And above all on how the community organises itself as a group. In his words: if we don't do it together, it will be very hard.

The conversation also touched on a disrupted relationship with money, on why vocational education (mbo) deserves more respect than it gets, and on what you give back once you have made it.

De Tafel van Utrecht Podcast comes out monthly, can be watched on YouTube and heard on Spotify. The full first episode can be watched again on the Omroep AfroNet channel.

Bronnen

• Omroep AfroNet op YouTube: de volledige live-uitzending