Black History Month: The Great Debate Tour1

Having just returned from a highly entertaining and extremely thorough lecture at Goldsmiths, University of London it feels only appropriate that I share some of the nuggets of wisdom that I have acquired this evening by my interactions with a group of diverse and intelligent young students. This lecture was part of the Great Debate Tour, organised by Elevation Networks, supported by Young, Black and Successful in association with Deloitte. The Great Debate is the largest ever tour of UK universities targetted at black students, hence the launch in October (which is Black History Month in the UK, whereas it is celebrated in February in the United States). The topics covered included the economy and forthcoming cuts, politics, media representation, role models as well as a discussion of black history itself.

As so often happens with these events, there are often more questions than answers. Firstly, what is black history? What differentiates it from non-black history? What is black anyway? Am I black enough or am I too black? Why is no one listening to me? Why does the media represent black youth in a negative light? How do I get involved in making a difference? During the two hours of debate (which involved an extremely high level of audience participation), these were just a few of the issues discussed and there were some real, valid concerns raised about the opportunities that will be available to these students when they graduate. Equally, the distinguished panel of speakers were able to highlight a number of areas where there are massive public misunderstandings about young people in the UK, such as youth crime where the public perception is that some 49% of youths are involved in criminal activity, whereas in reality the figure is actually 0.7%!!

What was most interesting however, was the debate surrounding the need to have black history month at all. With such a large audience there was always going to be difference in opinion, but what resounded most clearly is that young black students feel that they are not taught enough about their history and heritage, certainly not in the classroom. Indeed, how can one even begin to do justice to any period of history in only a month!! There was a clear will amongst the participants that it is right to celebrate and understand history because as one audience member put it,”how can we know where we are going if we do not know where we have come from?”

However, why is there a need to celebrate ‘black history’? The argument being that we live in a global community and our histories are interlinked, after all you can not truly understand the events of the Second World War if you decide to ignore what was happening outside of Europe. Moreover, ‘black’ history is about far more than just slavery and the civil rights movement. It is actually fantastically diverse especially when you start comparing different African and Caribbean nations and their respective diasporas. This also threw up some interesting issues around identity and about what it means to be African or British or both. There are so many nuances that surround these issues that even within the in-depth two hour debate, it was inevitable that some points would receive more attention than others. However, the participants were clearly encouraged and inspired, so much so that the debate chair had to turn some people down who wished to voice an opinion! Young black students disengaged, disinterested and unwilling to participate? Well that is one stereotype that students at Goldsmiths are pro-actively working to disprove!