User:Rabbitprooffence/Jacob Whittingham

Jacob Simon Whittingham, BA, MSc, PGC is a mixed-parentage writer. To date he has two publications.

Whittingham was born in North London to a Jamaican father and an English mother and was educated at Christ’s Hospital in West Sussex, England.

Whittingham’s first publication was the short story in collaboration with Biscuit, ‘Loveless ’, in 2007 which is a centred around an urban clubbing experience. It is a depiction of the superficiality that exists in much clubs in inner London. The piece earned Whittingham the ‘writer of the month’ award with the website, Unheard Words.

Whittingham’s first book was again in collaboration with Biscuit and was the non-fiction publication, ‘What Being Black Is And What Being Black Isn’t’ (2009). It is a critique on the negative and taboo attitudes that exist inside a minority of the Black community, which, as he sees it, is partly responsible for the highly publicised spate of Black teenage murders that have occurred in Britain over the last 6 years. It also looks at the origins of these attitudes, and ways in which these attitudes can be reversed.

The work is based on his experiences working within the communities of Harlesden, Tottenham, Acton and particularly south London. He dedicated the book to the memory of Sunday Essiet, a 15 year old boy whom was friends with young people that work with him, who was stabbed to death on February 19, 2008.

The book came under criticism by elements of the Black community, who felt that the book was insensitive in its approach. However, it received critical acclaim from a number of youth and community groups, and indeed members of the Black community who felt that it was refreshing for such topics to be brought out into the open, where they could be discussed and debated. Many also pointed out that the book offered solutions to all points made.

The book was released in tandem with a YouTube series called, ‘No N*ggativity – Pure Positivity’, which was a spoken word version of the book, but in much shorter segments.

Jacob Whittingham has appeared a number of times on BBC television (News24, BBC1) and BBC Radio (Five Live, Asian Network, World Service) to speak on issues relating to youth-on-youth crime, gang violence and his book.

He works for the youth forum, SE1 United based in Waterloo which works with young people in Southwark.