As of this blog post from Matthew McKenzie, it is Black History Month 2023. Previously I had written my thoughts about what Black History month means to me. Black history is what defines me and what makes me work so hard to promote wellbeing and promote community. I want people to connect and I value community. I have seen what happens when distrust, discrimination, stigma and blame hits community groups.

Still, sitting around writing about things is not enough. You have to get out there and support the community. You have help promote the values of what brings us together and share ideals. So for this blog, I was delighted to help support Black History Month over in West Sussex. Crawley Musuem held an Exhibition of Black history month with community group “DIVERSE Crawley”.

As a reminder, Black History month has been celebrated in the UK since 1987. The celebration presents an opportunity for everyone to reflect on the past and think about how to improve things for the future. The month-long spotlight allows discussions to go past those of racism and slavery and look more to black leaders, many of who’s legacies touch daily lives.

I was there supporting Carers Support West Sussex who do so much for unpaid carers. With approximately 30,000 registered carers supported by Carers West Sussex. Their charity runs Support Groups and a Carer Response Line. They also assist carers in accessing necessary equipment and funding for their well-being. Additionally, Carers Support West Sussex offers counselling, call back services, and well-being support, with teams stationed in major hospitals. As soon as I arrived Adeelah Khan who is the Carer Engagement Co-ordinator greeted me. I also met their mental health carer engagement to Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation.

The Black History month event opened with African drumming session while the host Marilyn Le Feuvre who is the DIVERSE Crawley Co-Founder and Chair, made sure attendees where welcomed and looked after.

It was not long before crowds formed and the Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex Lady Emma Barnard arrived. She was also joined by High Sheriff of West Sussex – Andy Bliss and Crawley Mayor – Cllr Jilly Hart. We were then taken up to the exhibition on the first floor where we heard speeches from each of the attendees.

Their speeches struck an accord with me, I am not sure what Crawly does, but their community seems very close and connected. They all spoke about what Black History means to them and the importance of such an exhibition and event.

After the speeches it was not long before Lady Emma Barnard cut the ribbon to Launch the exibition

We were then given a tour of each exhibit including the impact black people have made to the NHS. The importance of Windrush and the struggles black people faced on arrival. We also heard about the positive things about Black History on what bring people together and sharing culture.

I was honoured to see my poem as part of the exhibition at the musuem and I even actually read the poem for the audience.

This was again thanks to Carers Support West Sussex who spoke about what they do for the community and how they feel unpaid carers are part of the community.

We learnt of African fashion and got to hear various African songs from the young and old. I took the time to place the audio below.

Ugandan National Anthem

Next we heard another poem about the impact of Windrush, which was wonderfully read out by Irma Stuart-Tei who is co-founder and Deputy Chair of DIVERSE Crawley.

Then we were given more details about black history including the case of Kris Karba, Stephan Lawrence and the importance of Black Lives Matter. The talk was supported by Crawley campaign against racism who spoke how together we can all contribute to tackling racism and discrimination.

There were talks about why Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related. The importance of diverse barbie dolls. There was so much presented, that I could not possibly cover them all. There were futher presentations downstairs followed by African and Carribean food.

All in all, I felt this day was the highlight of several weeks as I have been occupied by so many things. I was impressed on how much work and effort placed into the event. Again, I am not sure how Crawley community does it. They work together tirelessly to promote what community is all about. Please check out my video compliation of the event.

Looking forward to more things from Carers Support West Sussex and some other carer centres around the country. I also left my book with the carers centre regarding “Race, Caring and Mental Health”. The book promotes ideals of NHS England – Patient Carer Race Equality Framework.