Feature
Linda Bellos On Black History Month And Reparations
About this feature
In this Community Chest interview, Dominik speaks with Linda Bellos about the purpose of Black History Month and the goal of achieving inclusive history. Bellos discusses structural barriers in UK politics and the critique of role models, while also addressing the necessity of reparations and the lack of an apology from the UK head of state regarding the middle passage.
In this interview from the programme Community Chest, Dominik speaks with Linda Bellos regarding the purpose of Black History Month, which Bellos suggests should eventually become unnecessary once history is inclusive by default. Bellos discusses structural barriers in UK politics, criticizing the concept of role models and the Labour Party's historical lack of official recognition for black sections. The conversation covers the 1919 Cardiff race riots and the necessity of reparations, defined as 'repair'. Bellos argues that reparations should not be solely about money to avoid treating people as commodities and notes the lack of an apology from the UK head of state for the middle passage, contrasting this with an apology from Pope Jean Paul.
Topics
- The purpose and future of Black History Month
- Representation and structural barriers in UK politics
- Intersectionality and the competition of oppressed groups
- Apologies and reparations for the enslavement of African people
- The role and purpose of Black History Month
- Identity, race, and cultural diversity within the African diaspora
Participants
- Dominik
- Linda Bellos
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Linda Bellos: An Inclusive History
Community Chest · Spoken extract
Linda Bellos says she wants an inclusive history in which children in school learn about everyone's achievements, including miners' wives and women who made communities work, giving an accurate picture of the real world and not a rose-tinted one.
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Passages from the recording
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The future of the world look like. Would we did not need a Black History Month? I think it would look like one in which all parts of the United Kingdom celebrated. I guess all of its people and.
By the idea that we yet again make African people commodities, so that you know that that's an argument. Those who argue that the arguments about reparations are solely about money, I think, are completely missing the point.
This country wrongly confuses culture with race, and I personally am not convinced there's anything other than a human race. But there are many cultures. Okay, all right. Well, thank you so much, Linda Bellas, for speaking to us about the the history and.