Luther Odame is a 20-year-old journalism student in his third year at the University of Lincoln. As part of a university project, he created a documentary, interviewing young Black people in Lincoln about their experiences of racism in the city.

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On social media, he said: “The documentary was originally a 15 minute university project but I made an extended version as 15 minutes didn’t do the interviewees justice.”

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The documentary speaks to a mixture of Black people, from students at the university to those who have lived in Lincoln for most of their lives. Luther said: “I was inspired to tackle this issue based on the experiences I’ve had whilst at the University of Lincoln. I wanted to find out if I was the only one experiencing such racism, why these issues exist and what’s being done to stop it in the future.”

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The Lincoln Tab spoke to Luther Odame, whose passion lies in radio and content creation. He also interviews Lincoln’s Conservative MP, Karl McCartney.

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Luther said: “In my 18 years in Cheltenham I didn’t experience as much racism as I have in the three years I have been in Lincoln. It made me curious. Some people are going through the things I am going through, why do they think they are going through them, what is being done to sort it?”

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He explained more needs to be done in regards to representation in Lincoln, “In places with low diversity, they need more representation for people of ethnic backgrounds.”

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Luther recalled his own experiences of racism in Lincoln. “There are instances where I am genuinely like wow, I’m going through this, I need to get home right now as I am fearing for my safety.

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“Some instances are just like there is no need. I am going through my day to day life walking through the streets, why do you need to shout things at me?”

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Luther hopes people will begin to realise life is not okay for everyone and there needs to be more changes in Lincoln.

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