White farmer "kills & feeds Black women to pigs", anti-Muslim attacks record high & stories from Black, Asian & Arab communities you shouldn't have missed curated by Melissa Sigodo

Happy Black History Month

Good morning everyone and welcome new subscribers.

I am coming to you today instead of a Friday as I finished putting together the newsletter at 11pm last night. I thought, why not let this be the first thing subscribers read on a crisp Saturday morning under the duvet covers before the weekend officially starts.

With that being said, the newsletter will now arrive in your inboxes every Saturday moving forward. I hope that works for you and if anything changes, you will get an update.

This week is the start of Black History Month!

I have to admit, I’m normally filled with dread this time of year as one of the few Black people working in the media.

Mainly as a result of the internal pressure I place on myself to carry the whole month on my back, but also because of the disappointment I feel over broken pledges made back in 2020 by different brands, organisations, politicians and people across the country that have fallen by the wayside or just outright disappeared. In the year 2024, a lot of them are well and truly done pretending they care about Black History, Black business and let alone bridging the racial equality gap.

But this year, I’ve decided to put all that aside and focus on personally enjoying and learning about Black history. Over the last week, I’ve been sharing the stories of iconic women who have shaped Black British History over on Twitter and it’s been great to impart that knowledge.

Many people weren’t aware of Connie Mark who served in the British army and fought for equal pay and the recognition of Caribbean servicewomen, or Olive Morris who campaigned for the rights of Black people, as well as Claudia Jones who founded the Notting Hill Carnival and launched the West Indian Gazette newspaper. They are just a few of the many Black people who were shamefully omitted from our history lessons in school. But rather than burning much needed energy by getting frustrated by it all, I am taking pleasure in paying a well-deserved tribute to those whose shoulders many stand on. I hope you all find a few minutes to look up the phenomenal women I’ve mentioned.

Ok, this is not an opinion piece, so I’ll leave it there.

Without further ado, here’s the news you shouldn’t have missed this week. Don’t forget to upgrade to paid so I can commission writers of colour and share the post to help The Thread grow.

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