Group for Americans living in Newbury to share thoughts on Black Lives Matter protests

American woman living in Newbury sets up group for expats

AN American woman living in Newbury has set up a group for Americans in West Berkshire to share their feelings on the Black Lives Matter protests.

Valarie Jerome has created the Americans in Newbury Facebook group for Americans in the district.

“There’s a local group in Reading and Wokingham but it doesn’t really affect us in Newbury,” she said.

She said that ex-pats had been posting about the protests impacting their families and businesses back home.

“If it weren’t for coronavirus, a lot of us wanted to be a part of it and be involved but we are over here,” she said.

“It’s just so emotional you just feel there’s a sadness in you as an American right now and you just need to talk about it.”

Mrs Jerome, who runs Valarie Jerome Optometrists in Northbrook Street, grew up in Waycross Georgia and said that racism was “something that was in your face all the time”.

She said that on her first day of school in 1980 her principal had said ‘this is what will happen if you act up’ and “held a black boy up by his arm and whacked him with a paddle really hard”.

She said: “That’s when I realised life wasn’t like what Sesame Street or Mr Rogers told me it was.”

Another example included a party at the city pool.

She said: “I asked my mum why wasn’t this person and this person going and she said it’s because they are black.

“They can’t use the pool with other people.

“My husband, who’s from Newbury, thought that was bizarre.”

With people across the world taking to the streets for Black Lives Matter during the Covid-19 pandemic, Mrs Jerome said: “I just feel really helpless.

“I would love to go and protest now but I’m in healthcare field and I understand what has to be done and social distancing.

“I’m really torn. I want to make a difference and do something and raise your voice, but I want to protect my family and not spread this virus.

“It’s a real struggle of the heart.

“So much of me wanted to go on the train and meet up with Americans all over the country.

“I had to kneel at my doorstep at 6pm last Tuesday.

“It’s not what I wanted to have done but it’s what I could do.”

Mrs Jerome moved to the UK in 2009 but returned to the States in 2012 for two years to look after a family member, coming back to the UK in 2014.

She said the footage of George Floyd was “just horrible to watch”.

She said that there were good police officers but said the mentality in Britain was "so much different than the police in America”.

She said: “A lot of the police in America are very militarised in their mentality.”