Black and Irish founder and podcaster Leon Diop chats with Sínann Fetherston about the 2022 BIG (Black and Irish Gala) Awards.
Just a few short years ago, the Black and Irish Instagram page was started as a way to highlight and celebrate the identity of Black and mixed-race people in Ireland.
Soon after, in 2020, RTÉ's The Black and Irish Podcast was born, introducing listeners to members of the thriving community and spreading awareness of their experiences, struggles, and successes.
Two years on and the team has found itself rapidly expanding, with 15 people currently juggling a range of upcoming campaigns, events, and initiatives including the second annual BIG (Black and Irish Gala) Awards which is set to take place tomorrow night at the Radisson Blu hotel in Dublin.
"We wanted to do something big to get the community together, to celebrate people, and to recognise the achievements within our community," says Leon Diop.
Unfortunately, last year's inaugural event was slightly dampened by rising COVID numbers, with Leon himself having to sit it out, but it seems that this year's event will be a night to remember.
The sold-out gala will see close to 300 guests in attendance including the many educators, activists, athletes, and entertainers that have been nominated by the public. From activist Deborah Somorin to Love Island star Dami Hope, the awards aim to celebrate a widespread selection of Ireland's Black and mixed-race community.
"It's definitely a night that people like to celebrate," says Leon. "The feedback is, like.... 99.999% of the time it's positive. People are delighted to be here, delighted to have an opportunity to celebrate, various things like that. You have the odd person who is like, 'why are Black people celebrating themselves?', which is nonsense."
"The reason we started these awards was because members of our community were talking about how their work was never really recognised, never in the mainstream, etc. We wanted to create a space where Black people could be recognised for their work, the community could come together and celebrate each other, and also there is representation so that future Black and Irish generations can look up and see that there is a space for them."
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Listen: Leon Diop and Amanda Ade joined Jennifer Zamparelli on RTÉ2FM earlier this morning.
As well as hosting the awards and kicking off a brand new season of The Black and Irish Podcast, Leon says he has big plans for the future.
"We have a major partnership with Guinness at the moment, which is great, so we're running three different media projects with them and a number of other events. We've started a YouTube channel which they're helping us curate and basically document the up-and-coming Black and Irish identity and scene. You'll see other projects in the new year as well.
"We have our politics coordinator really focusing in on a large, I'm going to call it a Black and Irish political conference, which is going to really explore Black and Irish political themes and issues that are arising in society that we need to challenge on a political level."
"The other thing with Black and Irish is that we recognise that we can be very Dublin-centric, so we want to make sure that we're reaching young Black people in Cork, in Tipperary, in Limerick, in Donegal. We are an all-island organisation."
Even over the phone, the passion and energy that Leon speaks with is palpable. It's clear that he believes that the work of Black and Irish can not only be used to celebrate his community but to put Ireland on the map as an example of a country that not only celebrates its diversity but thrives because of it.
"I've always said this: Ireland could be a global leader for equality and inclusion. We can be. We don't have the history of the US and the UK. We are still in the infancy of our journey."
To find out more about the Black and Irish Gala (BIG) Awards, click here. To listen to the new series of The Black and Irish Podcast, click here.
