The Black Lives Matter movement has been at its most prominent for the past few weeks following the death of George Floyd on the 25th of May. George Floyd was a 46-year- old black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, due to the officer refusing to remove his knee from George Floyds neck. This story is sadly not the first, but created an uproar of anger for the unjust done to him, his family and many other black lives that have been unlawfully taken by white police officers.
This case has fuelled the drive for protests in all the different States of America, along with other countries in cities such as, Paris, London and Budapest. It is imagined that without the role of social media and the unity of people world wide that justice may not have been served. The strength of the movement has also brought awareness to the discrimination of POC to business's and companies who are now stepping forward to make a change and voice their concern.
In light of the attention on the Black Lives Matter movement and prominence of racial discrimination against black people, The London Metropolitan University announced that there will be a renaming of The Sir John Cass Art, Architecture and design school. Sir John Cass was a primary character in the early development of the slave trade (1600's to 1700's). It is said that he directly dealt with slave agents in the Caribbean and African forts... And only now these discussions of removing statues and changing institution names are happening?
Yes. It is sad, and unbelievable that the country has celebrated these types of names for several decades, it is a mockery of the pain that was caused during the slave trade. It is however great that these things are now changing. The new name of the Cass Art School is yet to be established, but this is a great step in the right direction. The school wishes to show that they do not support racism and understand the inequity of using such a name.
留言