It's Black History Month by Richard, self advocate

Black history month started off in the USA in 1970 . It was started by Black United Students at Kent State University. Black history month was first celebrated in the UK in 1987 and this was organised by a Ghanaian who served as special projects lead at the Greater London Council.


Black history month means different things to everyone but I like to remember the brave woman named Rosa Parks. She was a member of the civil rights movement and is best known for starting the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for a year. It began with Rosa refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person. She was sitting in the 'white only' part of the bus. People of all other ethnicities had to sit separately. It was in the state of Alabama, where they practiced segregation. She won a pivoting court case where segregation was declared 'unconstitutional'.

I also like to think of Malcolm X. He was a human rights activist and a Muslim minister. In his early days he thought things need to change instantly but after some years he started to think that change takes some time in a society.


Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1822 in Maryland, USA. She escaped and made lots of dangerous but heroic missions to free other slaves, friends and family. Once escaped she placed them in safe houses, known as the Underground Railroad. A lot of these missions involved rescuing slaves from dock ports in the USA and Canada. She was given the nickname of 'Moses' because her act of heroism.

My family came from Jamaica to south London in 1966. We lived in a part of Thamesmead which got known as 'concrete jungle'. My parents have told me that they have great experiences since being in the UK and have many friends of all races. But some people report it differently and have spoken about seeing some places that had the following instructions:

'No Irish, no dogs, no blacks'

In 1964 in our very own country called the UK the Tories in the West Midlands fought an election campaign based on racism. They often used this sentence:

'If you want a black neighbour, vote liberal or labour'  

Its funny how so much has changed in 50 years. I'm so glad that we as a country have come so far. But in the USA there is still a lot of racial tension. You just look at their state of politics in 2018. In 1991 a man named Rodney King was violently beaten by Los Angeles Police whilst pulled over for an arrest of speeding.  Little did those police officers know that this attack was secretly being filmed and was sent to a local news station. Within a day this was news all over the world. In 1992 the police officers were in court faced with charges of excessive force. Three out of four were found not guilty. There was outrage and the LA riots started straight after the verdict and lasted for 6 days. A year later the police officers were tried in a federal court and were found guilty.


I'm black and I'm British. But also the black community has to change. Some people's attitude about disability and mental health need to change and to understand that it is nothing to be ashamed of.


As a society we have come so far but change is slow. Hopefully some people across the UK can catch up with Thamesmead in south east London!