How The Black Education Movement Took On The Racist Schools System
The fight to end racial disparities that continue to blight the British education system has been energised by the Black Lives Matter movement, with a growing number of campaign groups joining the push to bring about real change in UK schools.
Grassroots organizations such as No More Exclusions (NME) are aiming to end exclusions that disproportionately impact Black boys, while the Black Curriculum is leading the fight to make Black history mandatory on the UK curriculum. And the fact it has already helped to do so in Wales suggests things may finally be changing.
But this is not a new fight. Decades before these groups were formed, the Black Education Movement (BEM) – a radical community collective of the 1960s and 1970s – took on the establishment and fought for equality in the schools system.