Black MP calls Kemi 'Black face of white supremacy', Britain's oldest nurse wins award and more stories from Black, Asian and Arab communities you shouldn't have missed curated by Melissa Sigodo

Kemi Badenoch - History has been made but how will it be remembered.

Good morning,

Thank you for subscribing to The Source.

First things first, I have launched a YouTube series called The Space with Melissa Sigodo and I can’t wait for you to see what I have been up to. It will be out very soon so subscribe to get a notification when the first episode goes live. It will feature some of the people you know and love telling the story behind the stories you’ve read.

This week, I hosted a panel at London City Hall where the Mayor of London held his annual Black History Month celebration. I had the honour of interviewing historian David Olusoga, Shani Akilah and Emmanuel Wallace aka Big Manny. Violinist Kemi Omoniyi also performed some wonderful renditions of some of my personal favourite songs.

And that was it. Black History Month was wrapped up in a bow and put on a shelf till next year which left me frustrated and angry to tell the truth. Am I the only person who finds its utterly ridiculous that in the year 2024, Black history is still being omitted from the national curriculum? People want to claim that Britain is progressive but yet, students aren’t being taught about the parts of British history that are Black. It’s absolutely disgusting that this is allowed to continue and Black people are expected to accept the scraps and confine themselves to one month of the year. That one month of the year that Black people came together and decided of their own backs to create.

I’ve done my best to share all the resources I have of bookshops in the UK that you can visit and continue to learn about Black history but fundamentally, change is needed on a bigger scale. I’m working on something but waiting for it to be approved so I’ll share that with you all in due course.

Anyway, moving on to the history that’s been made this weekend. Kemi Badenoch was announced as leader of the Tories making her the first Black person to lead the party and I have plenty of thoughts on this.