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Welcome to the Yog Nation, the Spirit of Gratitude Podcast on the OneTech Gration platform.
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Hello, friends.
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My name is Yogash Patel, and this podcast explores the themes of bullying, self-awareness, and the power of our inner spirit, including the silent battles we all face.
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Join me every week as I invite high-profile guests as we explore how adversity shapes us, how gratitude lifts us, and how we can all uncover the inner strength that we all have within ourselves.
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Join the conversation.
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I appreciate you listening in.
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Today, my next guest has a name that is literally a derivative of the word gratitude in the Hindi language.
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Cushi means blissful, happy.
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Today I am joined by Cushy Singh, who joins us from Manchester, United Kingdom.
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And as the podcast focuses on the self-awareness topic of bullying, today's episode explores an even more sensitive area, and that is racism.
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Cushy leads an organization called Comms, Color of My Skin, which aims to end racism, and that is a very tall order.
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The organization has tremendous backing from ex-Premier League stars such as Kevin Campbell, Rest in Peace, Howard Gale, the first black player from Liverpool, and Paul Canavie, the first black player from Chelsea.
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Today we'll focus on what fuels her passion behind comms and on her previous work supporting women's aid, the United Kingdom's leading charity for domestic abuse prevention and recovery, breaking the cycle for so many.
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With gratitude, welcome to the podcast, Cushy.
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Thank you so much, Jorges.
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It's um it's great to be able to speak on your platform.
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Thank you.
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Absolutely.
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My honor and my pleasure to have you.
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My my second international guest, so I'm really excited after Amy Truesdale, who happened to take uh the gold medal in the Paralympia in the Paralympics in Taekwondo.
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So nice to get uh the UK connection going here.
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No, I'm certainly no match for that, but um well, thank you for having me on.
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Well, I'm curious, uh Kushi, what is uh can you please describe comms?
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So comms, as you said um earlier on, stands for colour of my skin.
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And comms was initially a family concept, and from that family concept it's become a movement and it's now become a brand, and it's now become an organization, and an organization which wants to eradicate racism and hate and prejudice and discriminations from the world, and again, like you said, it's a tall order.
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But with comms, we wanted to kind of send a message out there to the world, a powerful message that regardless of our skin colour, whether you're black, brown, white, purple, pink, green, whatever colour you are born, whatever colour you are, we should all just have the ability to kind of accept and respect each other regardless of our skin colour.
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That is the key principle of comms.
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And we thought as a family, um, about how we could kind of spread this message because you know, being a brown person in the UK and having lots of friends and family, we've all had various various experiences.
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Um, so we thought about how we could kind of send this message that actually it doesn't matter what colour you're born, let's all just kind of accept each other.
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That's the that's the key.
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And then we came up with an idea that let's let's wear it.
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So comms became a clothing brand initially.
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Um, so we produced these high-quality t-shirts.
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We had, as you mentioned, Kevin Campbell, rest in peace.
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He's no longer with us, he was a dear family friend, and he was on board with the concept of comms, and he said, Look, of course, if you if you want to do this, let's do this.
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And he was behind us, he was our first ambassador.
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But he said, Please don't do it, a flimsy t-shirt.
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Please don't, please don't start selling crappy t-shirts and you know rubbish that no one's ever gonna wear a second time around.
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So he wanted us to go for a you know a high quality garment, something that people could be proud of wearing and want to wear, um, luxurious, even.
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So we we we kind of went with that.
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Um and the comms brand was born.
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So um the idea is that you know, we would get prominent people to wear the t-shirt with the hopes that you know people would follow, and through this, we could kind of create a domino effect where one person wears it and the next one and the next one, and they see it, see it, wear it, believe it, and we spread that message throughout the world.
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And even if you just spread it to a few people, in my opinion, who can think, oh, actually that makes sense, and everything I've been told by my parents who are racist and who are discriminatory to you know, the people that I go to school with and the people that work at the doctors and so on.
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So I I I do personally believe that if you can change the mindset of one person, then you know you are making a difference, and it's really important that we we at least attempt to try.
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Absolutely.
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I mean, you have to try and you have to see, you know, what and how things manifest itself.
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It's interesting, Cushy, in our pre-planning meeting, you had mentioned that uh your grandfather inspired comms.
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What happened tell me about that experience?
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So the idea, the actual phrase colour of my skin, comes from my granddad because um my granddad came to this country in the 40s from India.
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By the 70s, he was a you know 30-year-old successful businessman, he was doing really well for himself, and he had um he worked as a haulage contractor and he had contracts with the local council and he he he was doing well, and then one day the person that he worked with who who gave him the majority of contracts said, John, because that was my granddad's English name.
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Um I need to speak to you.
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And so John went to speak to you know, said important manager at the time, and he turned around and said, I'm really sorry, John, but you know, things are about to go downhill for you because I am leaving, and the next person coming to take over from me doesn't like you.
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My grandfather, whose real name is Jaginda, said, Oh, okay, how how you know how come he doesn't like me?
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But where's this come from?
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You know, I'm I'm a hard worker, I'm diligent, I do everything that I'm asked for, I'm professional, never had any complaints.
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And he was told, it's the colour of your skin, and that was the reason for the hate, the loss of contracts, my grandfather's business going downhill.
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That was the reason because of the colour of his skin, and it happened, and the family faced you know financial difficulties and he lost everything, he had to work his way back up and rebuild.
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And over the years, that story's kind of been passed down to my dad, and then to us.
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My granddad's told you it was himself, and and we think, and we you know, as a family, or me, myself, I've sat there thinking, wow god, that he's just based on someone's skin color that you you know you can you can you can do this, and it's crazy, it's it's unjustified.
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I mean, yeah, I I happen to look back at the civil rights movement here in the US.
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Dr.
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Martin Luther King, his famous words were, you know, don't don't judge me by the content or don't judge me by the color of my skin, but judge me by the content of my character.
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And I know that in the UK in the US especially, the racism was probably, I'm not quite sure to what degree it was bad here compared to the UK.
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But here we had the rights on uh Selma led by civil rights leader John Lewis.
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Again, we talked about Dr.
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King, um, the Jim Crow laws.
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But I know I'm curious, studying a little about the racism in the UK, I know that um from my understanding, it was widespread, it was systemic, sometimes violent, you know, fueled by these anti-discrimination laws uh in the UK at the time that allowed for discrimination in housing, employment and public services.
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So curious, what was racism like in the UK compared to what it was like here in the US during during the set during that era?
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I think it was probably the same.
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I mean it's it's when people are ignorant and they haven't had that education yet.
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And from what from what I know, I mean, I wasn't I wasn't born around the 70s when racism was rife, but there was groups, you know, with skin heads that would go around targeting any brown person or any black person that they would come across.
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There'd be vandalizations of shops that were owned by brown people or black people.
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Um and as you said, it was systemic, it was you know, from the police forces to the different institutions, it's it's kind of it's it's there, isn't it?
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And you'd like to think that we've moved forward and we've developed as a society.
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And I believe we have made small steps, but we still have plenty to go.
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So, how is comms combating racism?
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So, at the minute, comms is again, as I said, with the t-shirt brand, we are hoping to spread that nationally and then potentially globally, where you know people can recognise the logo, which is quite prominent, and then the person who you know sees you wearing that will know that okay, I know what that's that that person stands for, I know that person's belief.
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That is a good person.
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So that is one way by kind of spreading that message in a in a very visual way, and then I hope to in you know, in in the future, we hope to kind of um use our funds to provide support programs for young people and get them to experience uh opportunities that they would never have been able to access before.
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So, for example, we might use um our links with the footballing world or the cricket world or the boxing world to bring a prominent figure from that arena and access, you know, 20 vulnerable young people from a certain deprived area, all of different skin colours, so that they can access, you know, a program that would benefit them, one that they might never ever have hoped to kind of come across before.
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So that's the aim, that's the aim with comms to kind of do some good work as well and give young people opportunities.
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Absolutely.
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And you know, hopefully in the US you may find an ambassador or two that can carry on uh your grandfather's legacy on comms here in the US as you look to expand and grow in the UK.
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You know, the the name color of my skin is so powerful, Cushy.
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And if a child asked you what does that mean, how would you explain it in a way that gives them hope instead of fear?
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Okay, I would explain to them that comms is a celebration.
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It's a celebration that we are all different, we are all unique, we are all look different, we all sound different, but ultimately, with all these differences, we are still the same because we are part of the same race, we are part of the human race, so it's about celebrating the diversity within each and each and every one of us.
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That's what I would say.
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That comms is a celebration.
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It's it's so eloquent, so simple.
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I think you know, a lot of people when they think of racism, they kind of maybe have this standoffish type of uh wall about I'm not racist, right?
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Um, as is, I mean, we can go into so many different and dimensions to this, but uh bringing it back though to your family, uh what would your grandfather, if he was sitting with us today, what would he say about the movement uh that you helped fuel and start?
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He would be very proud.
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He would probably say, he would probably give me a list of a hundred things that I still need to do yet.
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Um he would probably make a joke about it in some way because he was a very um good humoured guy, but he was also very intense.
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So um he would probably have lots to say, but overall he would be proud.
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But he would probably say, you know, enough's enough, like this stuff was happening hundreds of years ago, and you know, it's still happening now.
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Maybe not to the levels of violence that we've experienced in the past, ethnic minorities, but you know, there's still microaggression racism about, there's still lower level right racism about, and um it's about combating that.
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Um one of the reasons why I'm really passionate about comms and racism is you know, in our I'm part of the Sikh community, and within the Sikh community in Manchester in 1997, one of our Sikh members, a um a boy named VJ Singh, who is actually my second cousin, he was bullied, violently bullied, horrifically bullied, bullied for his skin colour, bullied for his appearance, and ultimately it led to him at the age of 13 years old wanting to take his own life.
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So when I look back at that time and I was only young myself, I must have been about five or six, and I reflect on that happened here, and more work still needs to be done because there's still children in schools today that I know of that I have in their head shoved down the toilet still because of their skin colour, and it's just not good enough.
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We do, you know, we do need to do more.
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Everyone has a responsibility as a member of the human race to you know to to do something.
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And if you don't like people, that is fine because we're not able to like everyone.
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It's not possible, it's not possible for everyone on the planet to like everyone.
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We're not asking for that.
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We're asking accept people, accept people for the skin colour that they are born.
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We don't get the choice of what skin colour we're born.
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You know, we don't we're not born, and then we're asked to tick a box which one would you like to be?
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So what does racism actually look like though?
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I mean, is it basically just saying hateful words?
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Is it outright ignoring you?
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Is it not giving you the things that you ask?
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What exactly how do you define racism today in terms of your experience, Cushy?
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Sometimes it might be not being served in the shop first.
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And the priority that still happens?
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And the priority sometimes, and the priority goes to the white person.
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So you know that that still happens.
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So sometimes it's your children being overlooked in the assembly because you know, yeah, your children being overlooked in the important uh, you know, assembly roles because of their skin color sometimes.
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Let me play a devil's advocate question.
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I mean, I guess it just depends on how you view the world, right?
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Um again, not not to be so naive, right, in this, but perhaps, and you know, perhaps the way that I grew up, I don't know if I was a target for racism.
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I may have been ignored, right, about certain things.
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I kind of let it slide.
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I didn't let it bother me, affect me.
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So where in when does that actually turn into something where I can identify and say, Yes, you racist pig, right?
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You've just harmed me.
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Um so again, for for those that happen to you know see the world as good, and again, it the world is we like to think it's good, but we have to live in reality, right?
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That there it's the world is sometimes full of hate, uh full of a lot of unfairness, right?
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Um, but help me explore that so at least a person can identify whether they are a victim of racism, or is it just that uh, you know, you just ignore it.
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I think it's a really difficult one to kind of unless someone's been, you know, actually verbally abusive to you or physically violent to you.
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But sometimes I feel that, you know, as a brown person myself, and you're a brown person as well, sometimes it's a feeling you might get from these interactions that you have with people.
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So sometimes sometimes I don't know.
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You trust your gut, it's your gut sometimes, yeah.
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But does this person not like me because I am giving a different opinion to them?
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So that's fine because we're all entitled to different opinions, opinions.
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Is this person coming across off with me because of my skin colour?
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It's sometimes it's about gut instinct and your feelings and your interactions with an individual or a person, and and that can lead you to develop a belief that maybe it is because of my skin colour.
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But then I guess that's up to you to explore that yourself with your with the people the people around you, your network, um, and and then come to a decision about whether whether it is or not, because unless, like you said, it's you know, in your face racism, which you know that there is that there is some of that still going around.
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Um, I mean it's the you know the the the issue of the flags here in the UK at the minute, where I don't know if you're aware, but due to the um the small boats arriving and the issue that immigrants arrive are arriving on UK shores and a lot of people are not happy about it because they believe that they're illegal and they should be sent back, when most of the time they're just searching for a better life.
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And you know, if I was in a war-torn country dreaming, hoping, praying for a better life for myself and my children, I would probably do the same and try and make that happen.
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Yeah, I mean, there's so many dimensions to what you just said.
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Um, you know, it leads to socioeconomic and just all around.
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Uh we don't have enough time to explore that particular topic here today.
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But uh again, if racism was a silly, and this is kind of a kind of a an awkward kind of fun question, uh or lighthearted question, I should say.
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If racism were a silly character in a cartoon, how would you defeat it?
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Pie in the face, uh dance off, send into detention.
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Um, I would how would we do that?
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Okay, so we would find the maybe knuckles, knuckles in the face.
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I don't know.
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I don't like violence, so we won't do that.
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But what we would do is we would put them in the biggest, most colorful rocket we could find and launch them into space from Kennedy Space Center.
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There you go.
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Elon Musk, Tesla or SpaceX.
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A thousand million light years away from here, so that it may never ever return.
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There you go.
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There you go.
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Well, I think part of it too is uh is education and awareness, right?
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I do happen to believe that uh, and again, this is where I may be naive.
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I think that um people can change uh based on the heart that you show them and the empathy.
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So perhaps they may not have experience in their own life, but you being a change agent can hopefully influence them to see it, what it would what it is really like for you to experience racism.
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So I think a lot of it also has to do with education as well, which I believe comms is central to that.
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Absolutely, yeah.
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I think I mean further down the line, we would like to start workshops in schools and and doing that kind of early intervention as well within school.
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But a lot of the time children aren't born racist, and most of the children don't see colour.
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It's only when you know they either their parents or the people they associate with, or they might have a family friend that's you know has racist ideologies, and that's where it's that's where it starts.
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Children aren't born racist, so and they don't often see colour at all.
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So um, yeah, but it'd be great to kind of do some key work with children at the age of maybe seven plus when they become aware of when they become aware that oh of colour.
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Well, and and hopefully with social media and technology, I mean, yes, there's always ill effects to these two platforms, but at the same time, putting in some good messaging out there, like what you're sharing on social media, for that person to listen to it in the quiet corner of the room or just unwinding, it's that moment where you know the right message hits the right person at the right time.
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So hopefully this uh yeah, this episode has inspired someone uh in the world to reflect and to see upon themselves are they being a good person, right?
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Are they being kind?
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Are they being empathetic?
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Are they helping another person and not cave in to you know some of the things that uh they were taught early on?
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Again, as you mentioned, no one is born a racist, they're a product of their own environment.
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But if perhaps that person can escape the velocity of that negativity growing up and see that, you know, the opposite of racism, I believe, is love.
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And if they can see that for themselves, and that person can change.
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Absolutely.
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I've had people who have spoken to me and said, I used to be racist, I'm no longer racist because I've seen the goodness in people.
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Um and it's changed, yeah, and it's changed mindsets.
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So where they thought that you know, all black people or brown people were bad or that they were yellow, right?
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Let's let's let's get all the spectrum of humanity.
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Absolutely purple, pink, whatever colour.
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Um and they've kind of you know grown up with this ideology that them kind of people are bad, or stay away from them, and then they've had their own individual interactions, and it's changed their mindset, it's changed their beliefs that oh, this type of people is wrong, and or this people, this type of person is bad.
00:22:47.759 --> 00:23:00.319
And and so I've had quite you know, there's been multiple people that I've spoken to that have openly said, you know, I used to be racist, or I was born in a very racist family, and this is who I am now.
00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:01.759
So perfect.
00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:02.400
That's beautiful.
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:06.559
I mean, that is exactly um the theme of the podcast.
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:10.880
Again, it is that self-awareness and that inner spirit that we all have, right?
00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:14.160
That makes us be the best version of ourselves.
00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:16.079
So this is great.
00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:18.319
I I'm loving hearing this, Cushy.
00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:24.799
I mean, it's certainly bringing uh a little joy and peace in my heart just listening, uh listening to you.
00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:30.960
And you know, speaking of kids, again, you're uh you know, shifting gears now a little bit.
00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:38.079
Uh being a social worker, you've worked with women and teens and families facing unthinkable struggles.
00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:42.960
I mean, the the loss uh of your family member at such a young age.
00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:49.920
Um, how do you carry hope in the toolkit along with all the serious work that you're involved in?
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:55.839
I mean, I I can't imagine that it's always, you know, a beautiful day in the park working.
00:23:55.920 --> 00:24:00.720
And so tell me about that and tell me what you actually are currently doing.
00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:20.400
So I think when you speak about hope and when you come across some of the trauma that I've seen within children and women when I worked at women's aid, uh, and some of the kind of difficulties that some people face in life.
00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:28.160
I think the important thing for me is how I keep hoping my toolkit would be gratitude.
00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:31.359
So, gratitude for me is everything, it is massive.
00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.640
It's it's a way for us to self-reflect, it's a way for us to be.
00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:36.960
You don't have to say that because that's a theme of the podcast, aren't you?
00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:38.400
No, no, no, no, no.
00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:40.079
This is no, this is real.
00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:55.680
It's it's a way to kind of self-reflect, and it's a way to give thanks, whether you're religious or not, whether you believe in God or not, it's a way to kind of be grateful for all the blessings that you have in life.
00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:07.039
So for the woman that's been abused and escaped uh, you know, a horrific marriage, she's grateful for her child that she has in front of her now.
00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:19.359
And it's about allowing everyone to be, you know, to we we don't all have the same experiences in life, but it's about showing the gratitude and being able to see, you know, the things that we do have.
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:24.000
And I believe that in life, life is a roller coaster.
00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:47.839
And I I genuinely believe that no matter who you are, whether you're you know the president or whether you're a homeless man, we all go through good times and bad times within our lives, and it's about that when you get the good times, you grab onto them with both hands and enjoy every little bit because none of us knows when then when the next tide of bad is coming, and that's for all of us.
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:49.599
That's what life is.
00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:51.759
I agree.
00:25:51.839 --> 00:26:03.200
I mean, no matter if you're a celebrity, you're famous, you're a sports athlete, or just a person that's trying to make ends meet, and then this is where I mean life is unfair for many people.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:08.000
But at the end of the day, it just speaks to the humanity that we have in all of us.
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:19.200
Whether that is combating racism, whether that's leading with compassion, leading with our heart, you know, it's all about how to leave society in a better place than when we first found it.
00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:20.079
Absolutely.
00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:20.559
Yeah.
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:21.200
Yeah.
00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:29.599
And, you know, I can't imagine that uh, you know, it's hard on you as well coming home from work, listening to these stories and being involved.
00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:34.799
But what's one thing that that helps you reset and not lose your spirit?
00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:39.039
I mean, you talked about gratitude, but could you elaborate a little bit more?
00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:46.400
Uh for me personally, and what's always got me through my dark days um has to be my religion.
00:26:46.640 --> 00:27:02.400
And as I mentioned before, I'm Sikh, and we have our Jubji Seb prayer, and whenever I listen to that, it calms me down, it gives me a sense of peace and it resets me.
00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:06.960
And it just brings me an inner calmness.
00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:19.920
So, actually, for the citizens of Yog Nation that are listening, uh Kushi, um, again, this may sound like a very basic question, but I think it's something that uh is worth exploring because I know that uh Sikhs, especially, were targeted after 9-11.
00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:24.319
Uh, but what is the significance of wearing a turban in the in the Sikh religion?
00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:27.519
The Sikh turban in the Sikh religion is identity.
00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:56.720
So our Gurus, um our last guru, um, our tenth guru, Guru Gobin Singji, it was about creating an identity, and that identity was the turban, the uncut hair, the beard, and that was so that you look different, you purposefully look different, so that if someone was in trouble or in harm or needed help, you will they will be able to recognize you because of your appearance, and they could come to you.
00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:09.359
And your job as a Sikh is to do Seva, and Seva means to help others, and that is what the importance of wearing a Sikh turban is, for me, in my understanding, anyway.
00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:28.720
You know, I thought it was something different, where I think you know, what I heard and obviously misunderstood, was the fact that it actually had to do with the warrior class, and that uh the turban would be something to protect a person from you know having a knife or sword wielded at them.
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:33.039
Yeah, no, that's absolutely one of the um one of the reasons as well.
00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:53.359
But again, it goes as you said, it's the warrior race, and it goes back to Guru Gob Guru Gorbin Singji and his appearance and that you know that visual look that you know a person could go to any Sikh, hopefully, and you know, ask for help because that's what wearing the turban means.
00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:55.519
You know, it's a it's how it's a powerful thing.
00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:57.519
So that means you're a good person.
00:28:57.839 --> 00:28:58.480
Boom.
00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:04.160
I don't unfortunately wear a turban, but um You can.
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:09.920
There's a lot of Sikh women, there's a lot of Sikh women out there that do, and you never know.
00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:13.839
Well, Cushy, this was an amazing, an amazing segment.
