Singer Jorja Smith has used her new music video to amplify British open water swimmer Alice Dearing’s work around diversity.
It features Smith’s friends and family, as well as 23-year-old Dearing, who has competed at three World Championships and is on course to become the first black woman to represent Great Britain in swimming at the delayed Tokyo Olympics next year.
Last year, Dearing became the lead ambassador for the Black Swimming Association, a charity launched to encourage more black people to swim.
And Smith, who was named best British female solo artist at the 2019 Brit Awards, has spoken publicly to champion Dearing’s work to “increase diversity in aquatic areas and break down the barriers”…
According to governing body Swim England, 95% of black adults and 80% of black children in England do not swim, while the last recorded data from 2018 shows that less than 1% of registered competitive swimmers with Swim England identify as black or mixed race.
Dearing previously told the BBC: “I am a big believer in representation. I don’t think you can be something that you can’t see. People won’t naturally take up swimming if they can’t see someone who naturally looks like them – especially for little black girls and boys.”
She describes not seeing other people of colour at open swimming meets and even having to deal with racism – overhearing, as a 17-year-old, one coach using racist language about her.
Dearing is just the second black swimmer to represent Britain at international level, after Achieng Ajulu-Bushell.
The By Any Means video also features members of Football Beyond Borders, an organisation aimed at helping youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds who are disengaged at school.
