Editor’s Letter: Black History Month

by Dylan Jones

2016 has, to put it mildly, been a volatile year for civil rights and race issues. Firstly, unignorably, has been the spate of killings in the US, sparking the Black Lives Matter movement. We need to call out the police’s behaviour in the US for what it is: murder. Innocent people are being killed, the police are escaping justice, and nothing’s being done. While it is allowed to continue, America simply cannot profess to be a progessive, equal society. The events that have unfolded, while atrocious, have been important because they’ve taught us that racism is much more insidious than perhaps some of us realise.

The issue of race is coming to the fore in the UK too. The beauty of our country, and even more so London, is that it has long been known for encouraging and facilitating diversity. Sadly, in the wake of Brexit, this has been thrown into question. The number of racist and xenophobic attacks in our country have risen by 41% in the months since the British public voted out of the European Union. And of all hate crimes in 2015/2016, 79% were race related.

We need to be aware that race is still very much an issue in 2016, and that’s part of why Black History Month is so important. I’m not going to say any more, because I’m a white hipster from Devon, and this isn’t about me. Instead, I’m going to leave it to the many beautiful, talented, wonderful black people I know and love. This issue represents their views, their voices and their rights. It’s all yours guys, take it away!