“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” Maya Angelou

October is a month that welcomes Black History and aims to promote and celebrate the history, achievements and contributions of Black people. It’s also a month that helps to develop an understanding of Black History in general.

Although Black History Month is often filled with well-known figures such as Martin Luther King Jr, Harriet Tubman, Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks and Muhammad Ali there are numerous other figures that have made a huge impact in history.

Let’s come together this month as a community to educate one another and hold up the heroes who’s sacrifices allow us to celebrate Black History freely.

Black History Month should matter to everyone and it should be a celebration that goes beyond October.

Let’s us unite as one to make sure we celebrate Black History as much as we can, not only in October.

Black History Month gives us the opportunity to become more aware of the struggles of the past and these struggles teach us about the present and impact our future.

I challenge us all to find different ways to acknowledge Black History Month, whether it be just reading a book by a Black author or learning a song by a Black musician. As a community let’s emphasise stories of Black achievement and resilience, and continue to do so regardless of the month.

Let us focus our attention to the positive parts of Black History and include those outside of the Black community in our celebrations.

So we can make sure Black History still matters for the current and future generations, creating the society that Carter G. Woodson envisaged 90 years ago.

Have a look at this video! It talks about the origins of Black History Month.

*Also, keep an eye out for the Hackney Youth Parliament members as they visit youth clubs around Hackney very soon…they are coming to inspect how eco-friendly your youth clubs are! And a reward might be in order for the youth club that the Parliament members find as the ‘most eco-friendly’ youth club!

So if you want your youth club to win that reward, make sure you are ensuring that your club is eco-friendly!