by Ayomide Alli, reporter

There was blood on the streets of Notting Hill exactly 60 years ago when the racially motivated “Teddy Boys “attacked five black men.  

 It was barbaric, both sides were armed leading to the violent riots in the later months of 1958.  

 A couple months later, the first ever Notting Hill carnival took place in order to ease racial tensions between the two communities.

Fast forward to the 80s, just as British courts first acknowledged racial hatred in the metropolitan police, the black British community was granted its own history month in 1987.  

After its thirtieth anniversary, Black history month has now been called diversity month in attempts to recognize other ethnic minority contributions to the UK.  This isn’t anything new however, Hillingdon council in West London stopped Black history month in 2007- rebranding it as Culture Bite.  

 What really got tempers flaring on twitter was when Wandsworth, a Conservative borough in South London called October Diversity month and despite backlash, it intends to keep the name. 

 Wandsworth council may be right in doing so because other ethnic minorities share similar experiences to the black community and argue that they should have their own month.  

As well as this, the Wandsworth borough has the has same amount of Black and Asian people and it seemed only fair include both groups and focus on multiculturalism.  

Earlier on in the week parents in a Lewisham primary school in proposed the month being changed to ‘my history month’ so no child felt left out in history celebrations.  

Narjice Basaran, an activist, speaker and founder of her own modest fashion/blogger marketplace, agrees with the idea of a month dedicated to afro-Caribbean history.  

However, she believes her experiences as British-Arab should allow her community to get recognition as well. 

“I am as London as they come, but my hijab is the only thing people see. 

“Each needs its own limelight because there are things that happened to the black community that I didn’t suffer.” 

 To her black history month wasn’t just about recognising great old heroes but it was about recognition and representation.   

“We are looking for recognition because we are the odd ones out too. 

 “Black history needs its own month because it is its own history.  

 “On the one hand I like the idea of a diversity month, but I think that will take away from giving each group their own kind of moment.”  

 Civil rights movements in Post-war Britain were admittedly more ethnically diverse that of the USA. Black, Asian and Arab Brits alike were on the frontlines of protests, yet many outspoken members from the afro-Caribbean communities in the UK feel as though the month is being diluted. 

 Kelechi Okafor, an activist and presenter on her ‘Say Your Mind’ podcast brought the diversity month debacle into the public eye after calling out Wandsworth council to her thirty-three thousand followers. 

 Actor Femi Oyeniran and David Olusoga, famous for his “Black and British” documentary series, were among those advocating online for the month to remain the same. 

 The black history taught in schools begin at slavery, with more focus on African-American history rather than the appreciation of black British achievements throughout the years.   

 Elizabeth Joyce from the charity “Black Lives and More” which focuses on teaching children of African descent their history, recognizes that black history month is especially important after the Windrush scandal earlier on this year.  

 “It is important to learn about blackness because our history hasn’t been wiped.” 

 Elizabeth had to actively find out about black history for herself and says that the curriculum doesn’t do enough justice to the Africans and West Indians in this country.  

  “You don’t learn about Olive Morris or the fact that we had our own British Black panther Party. 

 “We are not just comedians, dancers, actors or rappers, we are more than that and we need our own narrative.” 

 Looking at Kent there is also a lot of black history projects going on. 

 In 2016, The University of Kent’s Union was slammed for making Zayn Malik and Sadiq Khan, both British Pakistanis, as the faces of black history month. 

 Two years on the union seems more committed to enhancing student experience. The Kent School of Law is also launching their ‘Decolonise the Curriculum’ project following in the footsteps of 2017’s ‘Diversify the Curriculum’ campaign. 

 This is also followed on by the Black History Month showcase on the 18th of October in order to give black creatives a platform. 

 Alongside this, student newspaper The Inquire will be producing a special Black History Month edition.  

 Medway Council is also sponsoring an exhibition called “Untold Stories: The Afro-Caribbean’s” in Kent at Chatham Dockyard. 

 The passion for Black History Month is alive and well in Britain, but the question is still open if it will need to diversify to survive. 

 

Infographic of Notable dates from Black British History.