All call for change

Bellavia Ribeiro, Black Student’s Officer for the NUS, urges us to unite by looking back and learning from our downfalls and victories in history

For me, each year Black History Month comes with a lesson. This year it is undoubtedly the need for unity amongst Black people. September 21st marked the Birthday of Kwame Nkrumah, the 1st president of the first country in Africa to gain independence from colonial rule, Ghana. What he is also well known for was his attempts to unite all of Africa as one nation, the United States of Africa. Nkrumah said that if they did not do it, then it would be so much more difficult to do this in the future. This is certainly true, however, the history of Black people teaches me that we can achieve anything.

Internationally, Black civil rights movements have come a long way, from de-segregation the United States to the end of apartheid in South Africa and from the independence of Black countries to the national recognition of Black History in the UK. In the time of Nkrumah African, South Americans, Caribbeans, Indians and African Americans all supported each other’s liberation struggles. They didn’t have iPhones, blackberries or facebook and twitter but their solidarity spanned the globe and they accomplished so much.

The unity of the African, Arab, Asian and Caribbean communities in this country as politically Black people brought about the more privileged position we find ourselves in. These groups worked together and fought hard for the rights we have and we need to respect this not just by celebrating them but also utilising them. For example the right to vote is something that Black people have shed blood for all around the world. Despite this the Black community, along with student community in this country, are the two groups with the lowest voter turnout. The politicians know this and we will never gain their full respect and co-operation unless we use our democratic rights. Things need to change.

Celebrating the achievement and contribution of Black communities came from Dr Carter George Woodson. He recognised that ‘those who have no record of what their forbearers have accomplished lose the inspiration for change that comes with the teaching of history’. No price can be put on the impact it makes to learn where you are coming from.

Looking over the achievements of our ancestors should remind us that Black people have always been at the forefront of human development. Also, that we have, and can do anything. They said we would never bring an end to slavery and through our resistance we did; they said we could never be educated and we have produced some of the greatest scholars and inventions in history; they said a Black person would never run a western nation and that we would never be equal. If we are to move forward with conviction and pride we need to look back and learn about the unity that created our victories, as well as the divisions that lead to our downfalls. n

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