Life As He Knew It

Growing up black in a predominately white town anywhere is hard enough, but growing up in Belfast as a black man, was even harder. Growing up in the Falls Road, Tim tried his hardest to ‘belong’ as much as he could. He had even said how he needed to just ‘laugh about some experiences’ that he went through growing up where he did. Tim enjoyed watching football games, and while in the pub people would say racist remarks about some of the players. Tim shares, “You hear someone going, ‘Shh, Tim’s behind us.’ Then they come over, buying me pints, saying that Bob Marley’s their favorite artist, telling me I’m a legend. I’m not a legend. I’m just an areshole like everyone else.”

July 13, 1985

Then one day, everything was going to change. Tim, his siblings, and his mom had all gone to his uncle’s house for a dinner party on night. Tim remembers the day well because it was the same day as Live Aid, the televised fundraiser seen around the world trying to raise funds for famine-struck Ethiopia. His mom was going to tell him something he could have never imagined or ever believed could be true. And it would be a day he would never forget. Tim shared, “Mum told me everything on July 13th, 1985. The drink was flowing, and my mum was sitting there with a glass in her hand. She started asking me what I wanted to do when I got my A levels. Suddenly she said, ‘Your father was a doctor’.”