{"id":179,"date":"2021-10-01T17:07:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T16:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=179"},"modified":"2023-04-20T09:54:14","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T08:54:14","slug":"sense-is-about-inclusion-heres-what-were-doing-this-black-history-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/sense-is-about-inclusion-heres-what-were-doing-this-black-history-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Sense is about inclusion. Here’s what we’re doing this Black History Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christopher Joell-Deshields leads on embedding equality, diversity and inclusion at Sense. In this blog, Chris tells us what Black History Month means to him and how we can all get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the murder of George Floyd, we\u2019ve seen a global spotlight put on Black lives and the inequities that exist. This has led to many of us wanting to learn more about Black history and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Black History Month provides that starting point. Maybe you want to learn about yourself as a black person or maybe you\u2019re an ally looking for a deeper understanding of racism or inspiring historical events such as the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So much Black History to celebrate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is much to be celebrated in arts and culture, TV and radio, politics, businesses, and education. In fact, in every part of society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the heroes from history are household names such as Dr Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. But you might not know of black inventors like Lewis Latimer<\/a> and the nineteenth-century composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is it important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Black History Month is a time to recognise the past, evaluate the present, and plan for the future.  While we celebrate and remember Black History, we cannot forget the mountain we need to climb to eradicate social injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Sense doing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At Sense, we\u2019re all about inclusion. We\u2019re currently campaigning to make sure disabled people are included in\u00a0next year\u2019s Covid-19 inquiry<\/a>. And our ongoing\u00a0Left Out of Life campaign<\/a>\u00a0is all about breaking down the barriers faced by disabled people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean we can rest on our laurels. In 2020, we committed to becoming an anti-racist organisation. Back in May, I was proud to launch Sense\u2019s first equality, diversity and inclusion strategy. As an employer, we value all elements of cultural diversity. We\u2019re striving for a culture where everyone at Sense can bring their whole self to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re also really proud to have a staff network for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues. This is group is led by staff and it\u2019s a space to share ideas and worries through open dialogue. And everyone is welcome! It\u2019s an open group and we welcome everyone to join as allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to be an ally in Black History Month<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like I say, we always welcome allies! And I\u2019ve got three tips for anyone who wants to be better ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Number one: don\u2019t be afraid to confront your own biases. Number two: take the time to educate yourself. And number three: support Black charitable organisations in your community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you\u2019re not sure where to start, I recommend reading Haben Girma\u2019s book: Haben: The Deafblind Woman who conquered Harvard Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or you could check out the Black History Month website<\/a> \u2013 they have a wealth of stories and resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And remember: get involved and you\u2019ll be making a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Joell-Deshields leads on embedding equality, diversity and inclusion at Sense. In this blog, Chris tells us what Black History Month means to him and how we can all get involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[103],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-chris-joell-deshields"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}