Roger Griffith MBE is a Writer, Social Activist, Creative Producer and former Executive Chair and Broadcaster of Ujima Radio an award-winning community radio station. After leaving school without qualifications he became a positive action trainee, rising through the ranks to become Senior Manager during his 18-year career with Bristol City Council. In 2015 Roger published his book ‘My American Odyssey: From the Windrush to the White House Volume One.’
The story begins with Roger uncovering spiritual and cultural ties with the USA as he stood in the crowd for the inauguration of the first Black president Barack Obama. Roger uncovers his identity through his family’s migration from the Caribbean as part of the Windrush Generation. He deepens these connections through the journey of his ancestors out of Africa in bondage. Roger traces these tortuous routes to the Deep South to the Caribbean and how he faced modern-day racism growing up being the first in his family to be born Black and British. The book has been instrumental in developing his passion for sharing cultural stories, global observations and insights on race, politics and social inequality.
He has been delivering diversity training for over 30 years and is an advocate of life-long learning. Roger is the CEO of his social enterprise and consultancy Creative Connex CIC and a lecturer at UWE Bristol.
In 2018 he was awarded the Bristol Lord Mayor’s Medal for his community and voluntary work in race equality and an MBE in 2020.
In 2022 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Arts and became a Ted X Speaker in 2024.