Black Farmer to Put Black British Heroes on Supermarket Shelves

Wilfred Emmanuel Jones

[Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones\The Black Farmer]
Emmanuel-Jones: “With the Black Lives Matter movement, I felt I had a responsibility. “I’m the only person of colour around that is in a position to challenge all the big retailers in the food industry.”
Photo: Twitter

Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, owner of the Black Farmer brand, says he will be putting Black British heroes and sheroes on supermarket shelves for England’s Black History Month, in October.

From Robertson’s marmalade to Uncle Ben’s rice, the history of images of Black people on British products is long and inglorious.

That is set to change next month when Mary Seacole, the British-Jamaican nurse who cared for soldiers during the Crimean war, will become one of three Black heroes from British history to be featured on supermarket shelves.

The Black Farmer brand – created by Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, who believes he is Britain’s only Black farmer – will launch a range of sausages featuring the faces of Seacole as well as George Arthur Roberts, a first world war veteran and civil rights campaigner, and Lincoln Orville Lynch, an RAF air gunner decorated for his distinguished service in the second world war.

In what Emmanuel-Jones says is another first, every major supermarket will devote end-of-aisle promotional space to the brands in support of England’s Black History Month, with all proceeds going to support two Black charities, the Black Cultural Archives and the Mary Seacole Trust.

“With the Black Lives Matter movement, I felt I had a responsibility,” he told the Observer. “I’m the only person of colour around that is in a position to challenge all the big retailers in the food industry. When I go into a head office, I can guarantee you that I’m going to be the only person of colour. That is unacceptable. People in my industry need to be made accountable, not just about profits for shareholders but also the people of colour who are buying their products.”

Emmanuel-Jones, 63, arrived in Britain aged three from Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation and grew up in Birmingham. After a career in food marketing, he bought a small farm – “it’s not until you own land that you really belong,” he said – and launched the Black Farmer brand.

Read rest of the story here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/13/why-im-putting-the-faces-of-black-british-heroes-on-grocery-shelves

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