Over these past two weeks, we have celebrated Black contributions to countless aspects of our lives, such as the arts, science, music, literature and so much more. From teachers, we’ve seen the Daily BHM Mailouts and Year 12 students have organised an assembly, form time session and Theme Days - ending in our Celebration Day today. These past two weeks have been a great success and we hope everyone has enjoyed learning about these lesser known - but immensely significant - Black stories as much as we have enjoyed discovering and sharing them. Despite how insightful these two weeks have been, they are just the start.
These issues and realities don't go away once October has ended, and we hope to see a sustained effort from everyone. Reeducating yourself and taking action is vital; so is recognizing the impact these issues have on our day-to-day lives, and acting on the privileges we have through being at City. Not being racist isn’t enough - you have to take steps against racism and be anti-racist. Widening your views of the world and learning about different perspectives is of the utmost importance right now.
We urge you take some time over half term to learn more yourselves and look into the information that has been shared in the mailouts and student Theme Days powerpoint, which have lots of resources and information for you on Black history, culture, and pressing issues such as cultural appropriation and performance activism. Black History Month should be more than a month and if we all keep learning and changing our mindsets, we can work to make Black stories a prominent part of every aspect of our lives.
Additionally, at the beginning of Black History Month, the English department celebrated National Poetry Day by exploring poetry from Black writers across the globe. Students from Years 7-13 recorded themselves passing on their favourite lines of poetry. You can watch a selection here.
View gallery
