I never heard about Black History Month at my incredibly dated school. While my school was definitely one of the more diverse in my area, it was one that blatantly denied my classmates to learn about their history that weren’t extremely gruesome or upsetting.
I remember being sat in a history lesson at school, watching an episode of Roots, a show about the American Slave Trade, that was, ironically, directed by a majority of white men. Even this small attempt made by my teachers to include some form of diversity in our history lessons was done in extremely poor taste. I remember thinking this as I sat watching this exceptionally insensitive depiction of American Slavery.
This was the only attempt at covering any history of Black people in the markedly westernised curriculum I received during my time at school.
Black History Month was first celebrated in the United Kingdom in October 1987, 17 years after America started the tradition. In the UK, the celebration of Black History Month was pioneered by Ghanian analyst, Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, who worked for the Greater London Council as the Coordinator of Special Projects within the Ethnic Minorities Unit.
Addai-Sebo designed the UK’s first celebration as a way to increase a sense of personal identity in young BAME people after seeing them reject their cultural backgrounds in favour of westernising themselves. Thirty-three years on from the first celebration and Black History Month is still not a compulsory topic on the National Curriculum. This begs the question: is the UK education system inherently racist?
The National Curriculum is a set of subjects and standards which are compulsory within primary and secondary schools. Given that this curriculum is a governmental structure, the lack of non-westernized topics speaks to institutional racism. This racism shows itself in our education system, but is bred within our leading force.
Private schools and academies find themselves exempt from this curriculum, but it is arguably private schools that need this education most. This exemption suggests a more calculated decision. Being that the majority of the general population go to state-run schools, this white-washing of our curriculum becomes a method of control, and this control breeds ignorance.
It is a fact that institutional racism and lack of diversity in the curriculum leads to ignorance. The Timpson Review of school exclusion finds that Black Caribbean children are nearly twice as likely as White British people to be excluded, this unfair treatment and the neglect to widen young people’s cultural knowledge fuels racism in a wider context.
This ignorance has wider social implications, most prominently in the rising level of racially motivated hate crimes in the UK. From 2018-19, the Home Office found there were 103,379 hate crimes in England and Wales, an increase of 10% from the previous year. 78,991 of these crimes were racially motivated. Hate crime levels are rising as a direct result of ignorance and the government is doing nothing about it.
Yet glimmers of hope emerge from the depth of these statistics. The Black Curriculum, founded by Lavinya Stennett, is a syllabus of 12 topics ranging from Art History to Migration that is designed to redress the white washing of our education system. On the website, Stennett explains the aim is to “re-imagine the future of education through black British history”.
As found by The Timpson Review, Black Caribbean pupils are generally 2.2 months behind their White classmates. Projects such as The Black Curriculum are integral in creating a sense of identity within young people and ensuring that they feel as though they are part of a community.
But isn’t it the responsibility of the government?
The government has a duty to put an end to institutional racism and therefore hinder both the disproportionate levels of exclusion and the rising number of race-related hate crimes. Racism is something that is learnt, it is up to the policymakers to re-evaluate the impact of a colonised curriculum on the experience of young BAME people.
The National Curriculum begs to be modernised. Enforcing diversity within school environments enforces a diverse mindset within society, and the government needs to listen.
Image Credit: Ben Abrau – Fxsion Photography
