WW/BM production company called "Yoruba Saxon"

Actor David Oyelowo and his wife– actress Jessica Oyelowo, started a Film production company in 2014 called:
"Yoruba Saxon".

The name refers to their combined ethnic groups, David being an ethnic "Yoruba" from Nigeria and Jessica as an English woman with Anglo-"Saxon" roots.
They've produced several amazing films and tv series together. They're definitely a media power couple in the making.
And you'll notice a feature in most of their films, involving either David or/and an Interracial Relationship.


Article Link




Films:

A United Kingdom (Fox Searchlight Pathe) 2017; based on a True Story



Captive (Paramount) 2015






Nightingale (HBO) 2014





Five Nights in Maine (Filmrise) 2016



The Water Man (Film) 2021 coming out soon *Critically acclaimed w/ Rotten tomatoes rating: 91%*

 

An interview with both of them, they met in London while in College together and are slowly building their media empire.

 

I knew he was a producer as well. I didn't know that he and his wife had their own production company. This is good!

 

I can't find a film they've produced that doesn't have BM/WW scenarios LOL, they're literally creating content to watch for this website.

 

They are christians, i didn't know it. I see religions couples better overcoming the ups and downs of the marriage. Their faith makes them more resistant to the bad side of the marriage, at least in what i observe. David said that his father wasn't exactly excited with his partner, he said something like " Someday she will realize that she is dating a black man". Make sense that his father had concerne about their relationship because of the racism in UK. David and Jessica even spoke about a situation when people were disrespectful with them because they were a young BM/WW couple and Jessica apparently pointed the finger in the person's face, she was more irritated than David.
He probably faced this racism so many times before that he was "trained" to ignore while she wasn't used to experience that side of british society.

 

Also you cannot afford to get angry like that as a black person. Dont need to give the powers that be an excuse.

 

I understand there is some white privilege, like white people can afford to get more angry without people saying that they should go back to Africa because they don't belong there and others things that you can call very racist. I guess he probably was angry but he was handling the situation better and have to be the class person in the room. Like " when they go low we go high" kind of thing.

I remember this story with other BM/WW couple that i saw online where they experienced racism but this time with cops. The couple were stopped by the police and the guy was examined by the cops and the girl got angry and yelled at the cops while her boyfriend asked her to stop to avoid problems but she didn't listen him and they both ended up at the police station, the story is old, they aren't together anymore but she shared the story on social media and basically said that she realized that her privilege and ignorance didn't helped her relationship with him and during his whole life her ex avoided this situation with cops and she undid it all in few minutes with her reaction because she wasn't used to deal with the shit that he was forced to deal everyday just for being a BM.

 

Yep, racism was definitely rife back in the UK 70s-90s. I'm also Nigerian-British and I heard similar stories from my Parents.

I'd say the way 1st gen. Africans that lived in UK during the 60s-70s, treated racism differently. They acknowledged the inequalities but tolerated it to a degree, as they saw their presence in the West as more of a choice and a grind, than a fight. Their culture kept them mentally intact, because even back in their home countries, there's an equivalent construct, called 'tribalism". So European racism was just another tribal association.

Living in Europe exposed me to conflicts unrelated to my background. So when it comes to "White privilege", the dynamic I hear is a lot different.
I grew up on stories about the IRA, the marginalisation of irish travellers, South Asians, Poles and Romanians.

The UK is a mixed-bag of problems, but I wish David and Jessica touched on the more recent experience of life in the UK, I'd say the UK is better off for IR relationships today than even the last 20 years.

Glad they shared their faith in the interview, it seems it was the centre point of their career goals and you're right, it definitely strengthened their foundation.