Let's Start Somewhere

By Jamel McFarlane  Where were you when they murdered George Floyd?     By the time this article is released, it will probably be around 3 years since he was murdered. Even thinking about this - brings back bad memories.    I remember scrolling through Twitter and seeing the video. The first time I watched the murder I was mortified. How could a man be treated like that? No matter what he had done, no human being should ever be treated like this.     After everything went down and the world reacted to the video, more and more people started advocating for the rights of black people. People started marching and rioting about it.     Moyin was SU President at the time, and I was Vice President-Elect. We discus sed the riots. Three years ago, my opinion was that there should not be riots as it could make black people look bad. I think what happened was frustrations had been building for so long and people had had enough. George Floyd w...

By Jamel  McFarlane  Do you have a white parent and a black parent?  How do you class yourself as black when your skin tone is brown?  Your family heritage is from Jamaica so you must love Bob Marley and smoke weed, right? What’s your favourite rapper? - You like black music, Right?  And probably the most famous one that most people of colour have unfortunately faced.  Where are you from? I mean where are you really from?  Here is a few statements/questions that I used/still to face as far back as I can remember.  Being a young black man growing up in a predominate white town was a challenge. I moved from London to Ashford around the age of 6 and while I was in primary school I don’t remember having any close black friends. Although were people of colour (POC) in my class.  Obviously, I had the incident in year 5 (see one of my articles). https://letstartsomewhere.blogspot.com/2022/08/at-what-point-do-you-tell-your.html  ...

   By Jamel  McFarlane  Throughout black history month back in October, I looked at how many different organisations, charities and individuals that celebrated black history. It was really good to see the wide range of different ways people used social media to educate their followers and hopefully themselves.  One thing that bothers me is the fact now it's over, what are these organisations, charities and individuals doing next?  It so easy to celebrate black history month for the 31 days in the October then forget it for the next 334 days of the year.  In my opinion black history is only the tip of the iceberg. For real change to happen, you need to assess everything and sometimes even start all over again. Or change the way you do things.  Each of these organisations, charities and individuals are like a house. You know you need to improve the whole house but every year you just keep just replacing everything in bathroom. Yeah it makes the hous...

By Louise Hall So… Where do I begin! Hello all, and welcome to the first term of my PGCE. It has been a whirlwind autumn term; though I must admit I've been plagued with illness throughout. So much so, a fellow student teacher gifted me vitamins, I guess that is what friends are for. I had an eventful first term, I started at university with 3 two-hour lectures, Monday to Friday, then moved on to SE1A and SE1B which are the first and second instalments of School Experience 1 placement. It has taken me a while to readjust to the amount of reading, the reading list sometimes feels endless, but worthwhile in the end.    I wanted this blog to be honest, and with that in mind, the course has tested my confidence; it reminded me of a time when I had none. No belief in my academic ability, and was told to ‘learn to spell’, but throughout all of that I had the work ethic to keep going. Once again, I feel my own worth reflected on my own academic ability. I need to remind myself that I...

By Jamel  McFarlane  Here is a little bit about me.  Contrary to popular belief I was not born in Jamaica (I do sometimes tell people that I was born Jamaica). I was born in Lewisham, London. My family and I moved from London to Ashford in Kent in about 2002.  Back in 2002, Ashford was a predominantly caucasian populated town. If any of our family saw another black person in an area, we would say hello or give the infamous black nod. I believe that this interaction is an act of recognition and respect for their presence. It’s something that happens mostly in places with a lower population of black people - it happens where I live Chichester now.  Spending most of my childhood growing up in schools that were predominantly white had its challenges. One of the challenges I faced growing up was racism from uneducated people that I crossed as well as being bullied.   One situation I faced was back when I was in about year 5. Growing up I played rugby for the loc...