Black History Month and beyond
As Black History Month comes to an end, we can reflect on what we have done to learn about the contribution and achievements of those with African or Caribbean heritage and moving forward, how we can challenge racism and negative stereotypes.
26 October, 2021
Our Diverse staff network provided a list of recommended films, books, and music for us to watch, read or listen to. If you haven’t done this yet, have a look to see what interests you.
Back in 2018, a list of 100 ‘Black, Brilliant and Welsh’ people was compiled. Have a look at this to see the great contributions these people have made to Welsh society and culture. They include:
- Abby Farah MBE (no. 64), a community leader in Barry, father of Abdulrahman Abby Farah (no.65), the ‘Barry boy that helped free Mandela’, and grandfather of Abdirahman Abby Farah MBE (no. 66) who held top cabinet posts in the Somali government.
- The Hinds family from Barry – Leonard Hinds (no.88) whose legacy of six generations of Welsh children included John Darwin Hinds, (no.89) the first Black Caribbean and Muslim Mayor in the UK and Wales first Black Councillor and one of only three who spoke Welsh when he joined Barry Council and Gwenllian Hinds Wales’ first black woman councillor.
- A young woman, Mercy Ngulube (no.2), born with HIV, who pursues equality for young people living with HIV.
- Roy Grant (no.14), who lost the sight in one eye in a childhood accident and years later temporarily lost sight in the other becoming totally blind for 11 months. He turned to writing as a therapy to coping with blindness and went on to publish many books.
It is important that we all play a part in making sure that Black, Asian and minority ethnic people have a fair and equitable opportunity to fulfil their potential. That means being anti-racist - actively identifying and opposing racism.
As a Council, we will be looking at ways we can take action and will be working on this in the coming months.