Born Into Birmingham,1985

Born Into Birmingham, 1985

I was born in April 1985, at Dudley Road Hospital in Birmingham. My dad was half English, half Jamaican — a man whose very existence was proof of Britain’s shifting identity in the decades after Windrush. By the time I came into the world, Birmingham was a city of two sides: a place of warmth, music, and multicultural energy, but also a city under strain, where racial tension and economic hardship hung heavy in the air.

Just a few months after my birth, in September 1985, the Handsworth riots erupted. For two nights, the streets filled with fire and fury. Shops were looted, cars burned, and clashes with police turned deadly. The world’s cameras turned to Birmingham, painting a picture of chaos, anger, and a community on the edge. And while I was too young to understand, that moment in history would always be a part of the backdrop to my life.

This was what I was born into:

• A city where cultures collided and mixed — English traditions alongside Caribbean rhythms, Jamaican food stalls alongside old British pubs.

• A time when unemployment was high, poverty was biting, and people felt their voices weren’t being heard.

• A climate where the colour of your skin could still dictate how you were treated, by strangers, by employers, by the police.

  
  

But Birmingham was never just about struggle. It was also about resilience. Communities like Handsworth and Lozells carried pride and creativity. Sound systems rumbled through the night, reggae and soul spilled from speakers, and steel drums echoed at carnivals. Food, music, and faith became unshakable pillars, giving people joy when the world outside tried to strip it away.

For my dad, being half English and half Jamaican meant he embodied both sides of this story. He carried the history of migration, the pride of heritage, but also the weight of being mixed-race in a country still learning how to accept difference. For me, being his child, it meant I was born into a struggle and a strength I didn’t choose, but one that shaped me all the same.

When I think back now, I realise I wasn’t just born into Birmingham in 1985. I was born into a crossroads — a city wrestling with its identity, a country wrestling with its conscience, and a family navigating what it meant to belong.

And maybe that’s the legacy of my birth year: to always carry both sides. The struggle and the resilience. The pain and the pride. The English and the Jamaican.

By Richard Lee Crowton - Author - Crowtons Cosmogenic Field Theory