Black History Month is now here in the UK, and you can guarantee we’re gonna make a lot of NOISE about it for those who love to hate it like it’s their mission in life.
Given how Black History Month attracts:
- So many haters.
- So much propaganda.
- Detractors.
- Racists.
- Gaslighters.
- Slick talking points.
- Disingenuous arguments.
And sadly, negative attention all around despite the positive nature of the celebration, it’s only RIGHT that I lay out the real facts and put it in their faces.
The truth always matters regardless of the cause and no less can be tolerated.
When Black History Month UK Began
Before I was born and some of you reading, Black History Month in the UK wasn’t celebrated until 1987. That was the year the gears started moving and the train hasn’t stopped since.
London is the hub for where this started originally, which was and is also the place with the most black and Caribbeans in the UK.
An identity crisis among black children given their treatment played a role of influence.
Whereas the USA equivalent celebrates for similar but different reasons, our reason in the UK is about the Caribbean and African heritage. With the Caribbean playing a massive role as far as purpose.
You could say it really started in 1915 (USA) with the civil rights movement years later which is what lead to the UK equivalent being celebrated down the line.
Why create a black history month?
As a quick gander on Twitter will show you, or a quick scroll during black history month when tension is high, detractors like to remove black people from history as if we were never there.
- Inventions.
- Creations.
- Innovations.
- Surgical techniques.
- Products.
- Technology.
- Science.
- Maths.
- And so much more…
Black people worldwide are written out of the conversation despite unsurprisingly that we’ve played a big part in these elements throughout history.
That’s only natural when you were the first on the planet, scientifically.
Also, white people with political power and by extension some who follow them have rewritten history and will even have the audacity to preach this rewriting of history as a fact.
This is western media propaganda 101.
It’s this blatant and callous disrespect that drives and fuels black history month as a reminder to those who are quick to deny, turn away, and refuse black people culturally as being part of their history.
A very racist, barbaric, and demonically savage history (at our expense) depending on who is doing the gaslighting or masking the truth.
Black History Month Facts UK:
1. The presence of roman Africans
As a general rule, we’re all expected to believe and think of England or the United Kingdom as dominantly white and has always been that way.
That’s understandable but not at all true historically.
About 2000 years ago there were roman Africans roaming the country. Some of them had no visible signs of wealth in particular (maybe they were, no one knows).
In other cases, there are visible signs of wealth taken from the bones and skeletons analysed and discovered by researchers, archaeologists, etc.
For example – the “Ivory Bangle Lady” found in York in 1901was found with:
- Bracelets.
- Pendants.
- Earrings.
And other expensive items indicating she was high ranking, or wealthy if you like that term better.
She’s been dated back all the way to the second half of the 4th century AD.
2. Queen Elizabeth’s role in colonialism and mass castration
Reminder that Queen Elizabeth is not a remnant of colonial times. She was an active participant in colonialism. She actively tried to stop independence movements & she tried to keep newly independent colonies from leaving the commonwealth. The evil she did was enough https://t.co/SDGi0boCzx
— Nsafoa’s Feminist Duck ????️???? (@YaaAsantewaaBa) September 8, 2022
Last month in September (2022) there was an outrage across mainly Twitter after the Queen (according to some British) passed away.
Black people in particular of all backgrounds laid the smackdown as far as insults, comedic jokes, humor, tongue in cheek, memes, and everything you can think of.
This is relevant because during conversations about the Queen’s role in:
- Mass castrations.
- Hangings.
- Pillaging.
- Destruction.
And during her time since 1952, many refused to acknowledge or have a healthy, reasonable discussion about WHY people feel strongly about it. Or the wrongs of what she did.
There was a lot of kumbaya and disingenuous representation (western media mainly) to wash away the historic facts and delete them from the public eye.
Many Caribbeans are here in the UK because of this and it’s an undeniable fact that can’t be washed from Britain’s black history.
3. British black panthers
The black panther movement in the US where it originated is well known and documented. Well, what’s not as documented is the fact there were also British black panthers.
This was of course inspired by the US counterparts but the principles were the same. Martin Luther King plays an important role in inspiring the UK movement after he did a speech in London in the 60s.
The British Black Panthers was designed to fight against racial inequality/discrimination and lasted from 1968-1973.
It wasn’t just targeting the police who’ve historically always targeted black people disproportionately, but the BPP exposed schools, the education system, and more for their racism.
In fact, they went to trial and WON in 1970 against police harassment which was a pinnacle moment in Black British history.
4. Queen Sophie Charlotte had African ancestry
Literally the UK’s first black queen (no pun intended) as far as documentation goes in the UK’s history.
Queen Sophie Charlotte (1761 – 1818) is responsible for introducing the Christmas tree to the UK, a thing that’s now taken for granted across the world where this is celebrated.
Skin tone wise some could say she looks mixed race, but most drawings depict her with no black features at all which should surprise nobody given the time it was in history.
5. Black children sent to “special” schools during the late 60s/70s
With crimes today committed by pigs (police) involving strip searching a black girl for claims of “weed” in front of classmates, you can only imagine how much worse it was during the 60s and 70s.
One highlight is the mistreatment of black kids in schools during that time.
It can be broken down like this:
- Many teachers were overtly racist and prejudiced.
- As a result, they looked at black children as lesser.
- This leads them to mistreat and traumatize these kids.
- And they deliberately put many of these black kids into “special” schools for disingenuous reasons.
As pointed out by Guardian (relating to a documentary about it):
“I followed a group of children who had been referred from their local authority schools into ESN – educationally subnormal – schools. The justification for their removal was sometimes learning problems, but more often it was “behavioural”. The overt racism of the 1970s and ignorance on the part of many teachers and local authority administrators led to an overrepresentation of Black children in these institutions.”
And as pointed out by black writer Kuba Shand-Baptiste in the Independent:
“UK schools have targeted black children for generations – the education system is overdue for a reckoning. We’ve had books on racial biases and punishment for cultural practices since the 1970s. Instead of repeating the same facts, we need educators and the government to tackle these prejudices head-on.”
6. It’s ONLY been 46+ years since discrimination was banned by law
It started in 1976. The Race Relations Act BANNED discrimination from happening in public places.
Wikipedia puts it like this:
“The Race Relations Act 1976 was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race. The scope of the legislation included discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin in the fields of employment, the provision of goods and services, education and public functions.”
This law came into play as a result of both Race Relations Act 1965 and Race Relations Act 1968. All of which evolved into the Equality Act in 2010.
This goes to show you how laws can’t change the racism people feel regardless. This all started from the movements of various black people fighting for change.
7. The first British were BLACK
As evidenced by archaeology and scientists once again, it was found that the remains of a 10,000+ year old body is a black person of African heritage.
This finding is unanimous as it shows all of the first Britons were black or dark-skinned (same meaning).
Not only this, but the first black britons weren’t just black, they had blue eyes as well. Along with curly hair.
This particular individual is called “Cheddar Man” .
Direct quote:
“He was found to have had dark curly hair and either dark or Black skin, suggesting that the idea of Europeans as having fair skin is a recent phenomena. People of white British ancestry today are descendants of the Mesolithic hunters like Cheddar Man.”
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That’s just a little of the deep and long-running black history the UK has to offer. But it deserves to be mentioned and talked about.
[divider]Recommended reading (external sites):