Britain's Millennium festivities are hailed by officials as "the biggest, most entertaining, thought-provoking experience anywhere on the planet in the year 2000". But whose Millennium is it anyway? That's the question many people of African Caribbean heritage are asking.

Will the celebrations reveal once again the British tendency to exclude black contributions, save, of course, in street styles, sports and music? How many know the African-British connection begins long before slavery, in AD50 Roman London? Who cares that 1998 is the fiftieth year since the first postwar contingent of Caribbean workers arrived aboard the SS Empire Windrush?

Caribbean-born Alex Pascall, a carnival arts educator, cares. His Caribbean Heritage Centre 2000 project is in the second stage of its bid for Millennium Commission funds. Stephen Padmore's team at the Greenwich Race Equality Council care enough to plan a Windrush anniversary conference in June.

Both projects are set in riverside Greenwich, London, along the meridian line, the heartland of millennial celebrations. But in this case the venue has little known, yet deep roots and meanings for black people. Famed for its trade in sugar, spices and human cargo, Greenwich was home to Black Britain's greatest 18th century African writers and anti-slavery campaigners, Ignatius Sancho and Olaudah Equiano. Blacks, in their riverside havens among London's working class poor, played a central role in the militant protests foreshadowing the end of slavery in Britain and her territories.

Racial concentration, though not yet as evident as in the USA, can be glimpsed in estates like Milton Court, in Deptford, south London. Deprivation, poor housing and high unemployment rates are endemic, according to recent studies. Many blacks have been thrown out of work because of budget cuts and job losses in their traditional job markets: rail and public transport, services and hospitals.

Centre for Caribbean Heritage
"The Caribbean Heritage Centre will offer a once-in-a-lifetime experience for visitors to the Dome", according to Alex Pascall, holder of a royal award for his outstanding community work. The £3.1m project will serve as a "focal point for the Caribbean community world wide", he says.

Pascall launched his project with the support of Sir Shridath Ramphal, the former secretary general of the Commonwealth. "There will be continuing programmes of business, cultural and educational activities and seminars," says Pascall, "and a variety of sights and sounds evoking the Caribbean heritage". Far from impoverishing Britain, he says, immigrants and their children brought needed manpower, fresh ideas, new skills and resourcefulness.

The Windrush Phenomenon
"Windrush 1948-1998" has also triggered initiatives by the race equality council and local authority to highlight African Caribbean achievement. The purpose, according to Stephen Padmore, the council's employment officer, is to showcase "progress in education, politics, creative industries, business enterprise, science and technology".

Speakers will emphasise economic development, equality, and partnership with corporate business and civic leaders. In addition, to a black history memorial, Padmore says there will be "an international educational foundation to promote communications media, artistic and social development".

Financing Black-Led Projects
Raising funds for these schemes poses a grave problem, however. Pressed for several million pounds to match Millennium grant funding to launch the heritage centre, Pascall is worried by the lack of positive response.

There is no end of speculation about the reasons. Is this lack of support deliberate? Informed sources in the Millennium Commission say, "It is not our fault. We respond to proposals submitted to us, and so far there have been few coming from ethnic minority communities". They do not mention that only well-heeled organisations and charities with business and local government backing do well. It costs thousands to produce detailed submissions and glossy self-promoting brochures. Few, if any, African Caribbean groups can raise that sort of money just to join the queue for funding.

"Britain as well as the Black community will gain," is Pascall's message to Government and Opposition leaders, and to the nineteen Black and Asian members of the Houses of Parliament. "Success is possible based on the political will and business support," he says. High on his list of sponsors are major companies with a Caribbean connection: travel and airline companies, bauxite, oil and sugar producers, rum distilleries, and the music industry that thrives on Caribbean rhythms.

Cynics say these are forlorn hopes. The investment prospects for black-led initiatives are bleak. Talk of celebrating a diverse, cohesive society by Chris Smith MP, Commission chairman, and Baroness Patricia Scotland QC, the lone black member, are all show and no substance.

A review of capital projects and awards schemes offered by the Millennium has uncovered some startling findings. Only two capital projects led by ethnic minorities have received millennium grants (£5m out of a total of £1.24billion). Both successful recipients were Hindu cultural centres in Lancashire and the West Midlands, chosen out of a total of 187 projects across the country. A further five capital projects worth £17.5m are under review. One of these is Alex Pascall's Caribbean Heritage Centre seeking £3.1m. The others are a Commonwealth war memorial, a multi-cultural centre, a youth facility, and a Bangladeshi centre.

There are still many hurdles to come, however. Attaining project review status is no guarantee any of these bids will be successful, according to official sources. Furthermore, millennium grants only cover up to 50 per cent of project costs; the remainder must be obtained from other sources. It is widely acknowledged that in the competition for resources bids from blacks are more likely to fail than those of other groups.

Black-led proposals fared no better in the Millennium award schemes. Of thirty-four schemes supported in a three-year allocation of £200million, only four are said to "specifically address issues relevant to ethnic minorities". They are small-scale self-help and leadership training projects in London and Birmingham and have received less than £4million between them.

Poverty of Vision
The major barrier to African Caribbean projects and schemes, say many critics, lies in the poverty of vision that afflicts Peter Mandelson. Minister without Portfolio. Mandelson is responsible for the Millennium Dome project housing tourist and cultural activities in a 320-metre structure, said to be the largest of its kind in the world. He has ranged far afield in search of ideas to salvage his heavily criticised pet project. In the USA early in the year, he flew from viewing Mickey Mouse at Disney World in Florida to talks with leading Congressional members in Washington. But has failed to take into account home-grown initiatives that merit support and include black people in a positive manner. This oversight is crucial, says Alex Pascall.

There is a growing feeling against the Millennium's "blind-to-blacks" scenario. Two remedies need to be addressed. Labour Government policy makers and patricians must mobilise the political will to support black-led heritage projects that enlighten the whole nation. Black labour, and the products of their toil, were part of the slave and colonial periods that brought Britain to prominence. The Windrush pioneers, and their partisans, were part of changing Britain from the "Swinging Sixties" to the "Cool Britannia" of today.

Secondly, bread and butter issues must be tackled. Well-planned, black-led projects must be brought forward to access the Millennium's resources, the thousands of jobs, and the prestige and world attention. Enquiries to the Commission reveal that "further funds for organisations to run schemes are available up to the year 2000". Targeting organisations now is essential, with training programmes to help them compete for funding. In the longer term, Britain gains when its citizens of African Caribbean heritage are involved, confident and valued equal to all others. Viewed from this perspective, the exclusion of the Black Presence in the Millennial celebrations is inexplicable and indefensible.