"Quite frankly, I think Black History Month is pointless. I don’t think that having a month in the year dedicated to people from Afro-Caribbean descent is beneficial. No one ever talks about 'White History Month', it’s just history. Black heritage is not something to tune in and out of - it is not a radio. The main focus of today's Assembly will be a timeline dating from the 1500s to the present day, showing how African heritage and culture has shaped the United Kingdom as a whole.

Colonialism and forced occupation distorted the economic development of African countries. This happened because Colonial powers took over much of Africa’s land and resources for their own use. Belgium and Britain were mostly responsible for taking the land. 

After the barbaric era of slavery came to an end, another era of exploitation called 'The Scramble for Africa' began, where European powers came together and split Africa apart between themselves with no singular input from an African person. What followed was more than 30 years of violent war across the continent, where tens of millions of Africans were killed. It culminated in the almost total colonisation of Africa. This was all done under the guise of 'spreading civilisation', yet it left many countries and societies worse off than they were before the start of The Scramble. European colonial powers had no plans or considerations to improve Africa, it was nothing more than a business venture. Africans were solely used to produce raw materials, export them to Europe, and then re-export them. Whatever was left was sold to the Africans at high prices, which they could not afford. 

Without the proceeds from Colonialism, countries such as Britain would not be where they are today." 

Liz-Mabel Njumbe, Lower 6th Form