Who knew? - marking Black History Month
Guest Blog from Sandra Morland and First Step, Newcastle
Who Knew?
Black Lives Matter has been a worldwide response triggered by the murder of George Lloyd and has become a struggle for truth, humanity and justice, an open and inclusive platform for the voices of ethnic minorities to be heard. Recent events have focussed on the Slave Trade – statues, buildings, squares, streets, art that commemorates those who may have been philanthropists, but gained their wealth through the ownership and trading of slaves. Some of these ‘memorials’ have been publicly removed but the promises of contextualisation so that we all know why these people received public recognition has not been followed up on and the black slaves whose brutalisation helped to make Britain the global power it ‘was’ remain invisible, erased and unseen, confined to the ‘dustbin of her/history.’ The message seems to be that this is where the memory and history of the black contribution to Britain’s past belongs.
Who Knew? That Nelson’s column includes the figure of a black sailor, cast in bronze in the Bas-relief probably one of thousands of slaves promised their freedom if they fought for the British military, only to be later left destitute, begging and homeless on London streets when the war was over.
Who Knew? about Mary Seacole a British/Jamaican nurse best known for her work in helping the sick and wounded during the Crimean War?
A contemporary of Florence Nightingale yet no statue until 2016! Seven Nightingale Hospitals have been opened during the pandemic why not one named Seacole?
Who Knew? about the Asian Suffragettes, Sophia Duleep Singh and Bhikaiji Cama who played vital roles, demonstrating great strength and determination in helping to achieve the vote for all women {1928)? What is the difference between these two women and the Pankhurst family? What could it possibly be?
Who Knew? That our imperialist history is so disturbing and horrific that we are not allowed in? That our education system focuses our minds on Kings, Queens and elites not on the history of us, the people? That her/his stories are written by people who have their own ideology and agendas and are determined to maintain the status quo? Can you see where I am going with this? George Orwell once wrote in one of those brilliant double thinks, ‘He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.’ - Who Knew?
The tough conversations on race are just getting started the pandemic has shone a spotlight on the austerity agenda and is bringing the unkind realities of longstanding racial, gender, class inequalities in health, education, housing, justice and welfare into sharp focus. Over the last few years we have witnessed the ‘Hostile Environment’ actively pursued by politicians and a complicit mainstream media, escalated racial profiling, bullying and racism, Go Home Vans on our streets, the dehumanising of the Windrush generation, increased deportation flights, detention centres, the ‘othering’ of human beings fleeing war and trauma that we have been instrumental in causing, the murder of George Floyd and the rise of the far right and fascism. When it comes is our only response going to be well - Who Knew?
On September 4 1957, 15 year old Elizabeth Eckford walked through screaming white students and parents to try to enter High School in Arkansas, USA, one of the ‘Little Rock Nine.’ Is this a ‘herstory’ that we want to repeat?
In 2008, the bi-centenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, First Step produced a small booklet of reflections on the slave trade called ‘black gold.’ The women who contributed were all first time writers. These are two of the contributions one set in the past and the other reflecting on the slave trade of today.
Caged - Zubaideh
I cannot breath,
Trapped in an endless, sleepless night.
We are caged,
Hot air cracking our throats.
A dull eyed child weeps
Hungry and sick,
Salt waves lash
The wind sings her sad songs.
Rusted chains clank,
Resisting our escape.
Resisting all movement.
All hope is gone now
We pray for the comfort of death.
Factory at Karkhuneh - Kamrun & Sultana
The factory bursts with noise
A prison of modern slaves
Their sweating bodies slouched
Over the mosquito buzz of manic machines
Their freedom gone, their future defined
By the bosses threats and angry words.
Ranks of sad eyes and silent tongues
All hope emptied from their hearts.
Thirst cracks their lips, fear cracks resolve,
Sweet dreams dissolved;
Lost in a misty tangle of oil and musky neglect.
David Graeber, who sadly died a few weeks ago, once wrote, ‘The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.’ Perhaps this is a truth that we need to reflect on not only in ‘the designated’ Black History Month but as an ongoing project. So many grassroots movements have their moment in the sun then are crushed by the liberal status quo. Black History started as one ‘day’ in 1920’s America now almost 100 years later it is a month. For some of us black lives have always mattered - Who Knew?
