After a summer of lockdowns and heated protests against racial injustice, the contribution to British society made by these seven trailblazers, is especially welcome.
Lavinya Stennett is the founder of The Black Curriculum which launched earlier this year to combat unconscious racial bias within the teaching of history in schools. The Black Curriculum initiated the #TBH365 (Teach Black History all year round) campaign to make representative black history lessons mandatory throughout the year and not just in the month of October. As part of the campaign, Stennett and her colleagues met with the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson.
Faron Alex Paul created a one-man amnesty to combat knife crime in London. Faron urges young people to make better decisions by handing over their weapons in exchange for vouchers. More recently Faron stood out as a powerfully peaceful influence during the Black Lives Matter protests in London. His calming influence was particularly notable when there were fears of a clash between BLM and English Defence League supporters. Faron used his social media presence to push for peace.
Akala wrote the Sunday Times bestseller Natives. He makes your hair stand on end with his charismatic and relentless efforts to educate a nation concerning the long-lasting effects of British colonial history.
Joshua Beckford is a child prodigy from Tottenham. Now 13, when he was just six years old he was admitted to the specialist programme created by Oxford University for gifted children between the ages of eight and 18. Despite the fact that he was two years too young, Joshua’s father, Knox Daniel, wrote to the university in the hope of gaining admission for his son. Luckily, they accepted Joshua, making him their youngest ever student.
Ore Ogunbiyi and Chelsea Quake are Cambridge graduates who wrote the book Taking Up Space as a manifesto for change. They tackle issues of access, unrepresentative curricula, discrimination in the classroom, the problems of activism, and life before and after university.
Patrick Hutchinson made the front page this summer after lifting a counter-protestor to safety during the BLM protests. The iconic image above captured the essence of our common humanity, forgiveness and love, even in the heat of racial confrontation. Patrick and four others have now formed a new collective called United to Change and Inspire (UTCAI) to fight racial inequality on a national scale.
