Black History Month 2023 begins today (October 1). Here Echo community reporter Patrick Graham discusses why it's important.
Carter G Woodson is commonly known as the father of Black History; born in the 1870s in the USA to former enslaved parents. He was the founder of what was Negro History Week in 1926 which later expanded and was recognised as Black History Month in the 1970s.
In the UK the first formal celebrations of Black History Month were around 1987 and unlike the USA, who hold theirs in February, in the UK it's held in October. The USA chose February as it’s said it coincides with the births of former president Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, who escaped enslavement and became a key activist in the fight against it.
READ MORE: Dad screamed 'I'm on the bonnet' after argument with taxi driver
In the UK it's said October was chosen as it’s the beginning of the academic year. Although the when maybe different, the why is the same: it was recognised that there was a need due to the lack of teaching of Black History in schools.
I ask myself, and anyone interested, why is Black History Month important to Black people? For me, in my whole school life to the age of 18 I never once learned a single thing about Black positive contributions to the history of the UK or indeed the world.
The only knowledge I had of Black History was the enslavement of Black people and how their brutally forced free labour was used. This I did not even learn in school, but from Roots, a TV drama in the 1970s, which left me confused thinking that was all there is to know about my history and heritage.
As far as my education (or miseducation) up to this point seemed to suggest Black people had made no contributions to the development of the world in any way shape or form. It seemed to be suggested that Black people were savages in nature and any signs of so-called "civilisation" was given to them or taught by European (white) intervention or contact.
This could not be further from the truth as Black people throughout history have played significant roles in the cultural, scientific, intellectual, architectural, mathematical, biological development of the world and much more, and this is why it’s important that we have Black History Month. I ask why were I and Black people of my generation, before and after, or indeed White people were not told about any of these contributions?
My answer, is it that it is due to the legacies of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, European colonialism, the British Empire and American Imperialism. All these together, in various forms, have systematically suppressed the idea that Black people have contributed anything of relevance to the development of the world.
The reason for doing so, was to justify the slave trade and their colonial and imperial pursuits by saying they’re bringing enlightenment and civilisation to savages who know no better. Looking at people, especially Blacks as subhuman, even akin to animals in nature.
By doing so it became easy to justify their mistreatment, their enslavement both physically and mentally. Many so-called scholars and educators at the time, and after, cited Black people as being inferior and in turn white people as superior in intelligence and perpetuated myths and falsehoods about Black people having animal-like nature in sexuality and/or strength.
They would argue Black people had no history of writing, mathematics, the sciences and more. One only needs to visit any museum around the Western world and you will find them packed to the brim of evidence to the contrary, as they’re filled with artefacts of Black contributions going back thousands of years.
Equally in any museum you will see evidence of people living in less developed societies and communities from all cultures. Evidence is the key in all of this, and racist ideology and hate is not evidence, but drives a desire to create evidence to falsely justify the White superiority complex that is used to deny Black people equality and equitable opportunity in world economics, education, employment, housing, political life and more.
Racist stereotypes that Blacks are inferior and the falsehood and delusion that Whites are superior can only be dispelled through education and abandon the teaching we have seen for centuries. When you educate someone, this allows them to have critical thinking, to analyse and question, to deduce and make rational factual based decisions and conclusions.
We live in a multicultural world and always have done as the world is filled with many cultures, so do we live in a society of multiculturalism, and what is that? According to our Home Secretary Suella Braverman, in a recent talk given while in the USA, multiculturalism does not work and is "toxic"
How can someone from a multicultural background living in a multicultural UK say this and more importantly why would they say this? According to the United Nations (UN) 89% of all current conflicts in the world occur in countries with low intercultural dialogue.
This does not mean there is no mix of cultures in these countries, but the UN goes on to state: "To forge effective cooperation and sustain peace, strengthening intercultural dialogue must be a priority". I would say our Home Secretary wants the opposite of this and plays into the hands of the Far Right.
The UN in September 2022 adopted, by unanimous decision, a historic Declaration for Culture and said it's a "global public good", and called for it to be integrated "as a specific goal in its own right” in their development agenda beyond 2030.
I say, for us all to know about each other's cultures brings understanding, acceptance and appreciation and not tolerance, as tolerance has a cut off point. People only tolerate something for a given period, whereas acceptance and appreciation are not normally timed.
The UN further stated in 2022 that out of the major conflicts in the world one third of them "have a cultural dimension to them". This should be worrying for us all when you have a government minister stating on a world stage that multiculturalism is "toxic" and does not work.
According to the Oxford Learner's Dictionary and the Oxford Reference, multiculturalism means the following; The practice of giving importance to all cultures in a society, and as a descriptive term, multiculturalism refers to the coexistence of people with many cultural identities in a common state, society, or community.
Can any right minded person believe that this is "toxic" when we have seen how politicians have made negative statements how this feeds Far Right and other racist groups' way of thinking and acting? With racist attacks on the increase, comments of this nature are extremely dangerous.
The UN speaks about how belief in genetic mismatches was once widespread within the scientific community and cited specifically to rationalise various racially oppressive policies. They said: "While there has been absolutely no evidence that racial interbreeding can produce a disharmony of any kind, warnings of some kind of genetic discord are still far from entirely extinct.
"Only a few years ago, Glayde Whitney, a prominent geneticist and former President of the Behavior Genetics Association, claimed the intermarriage of "distant races" could produce a harmful genetic mixture in offspring. Unsurprisingly, he was also a regular speaker before neo-Nazi groups".
It's a warning and a reminder that this type of false science is still around. It is important for us all to understand each other's history, to embrace each other and to appreciate each other. That can undo years of mis-education and falsehoods, especially about Black people.
Our schools need to teach the long history of Black History not just about the slave trade, which is common amongst schools during October. There's a saying: "If Black History were a book of 1,000 pages, the part about the slave trade would start on page 999.
Adding positive historical facts about Black History to the curriculum would be good for us all. It does not undermine British culture and heritage in any way, but clarifies aspects of it in showing it all did not develop independently of other cultures.
The UK is multicultural and has always been due to the fact it's made up of four different nations; England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. They’re all different countries with different customs, dialects, music, and even languages.
In reply to Suella Braverman I say there are many benefits to multiculturalism. It encourages open-mindedness between different groups of people and it mainly dispels and eradicates negative stereotypes.
These stereotypes are born out of ignorance, but also perpetuated by arrogance, and racism. Suella Braverman's statements can clearly cause racial disharmony and promote negative stereotypes and must be discouraged in the strongest terms.
Black History must be protected or the UK, Europe and the world will descend into the conflicts of the past, that is, people claiming to be superior for various reasons over another which has led to millions of deaths.
Say no to those who think learning about each other is "toxic". Say no to division and racist language.
Say yes to respect and cooperation between different cultures and "races". Say yes to the teaching of Black History all year round and not just for a month.
Don't miss the biggest and breaking stories by signing up to the Echo Daily newsletter here
Win £100 worth of groceries at Aldi in celebration of 1,000th store opening 15/10/23 ends