Search in the website:
BlackLivesMatter
How Your White Tee Upholds White Supremacy
If fashion is a representative of who we are, what does wearing the product of exploitation say about us? The BlackLivesMatter movement that followed the murder of George Floyd was hailed as the biggest in history. Useful infographics and petitions, and less useful black squares, flooded social media feeds. Despite the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people took […]
For The Record: Schools, Scottish Labour & Shooting
It can be hard to keep up with the news. Even for those of us who do manage to pick our way through the endless headlines, it can be even harder to figure out what the important bits are. That’s why The Record is starting a new weekly initiative – For The Record. Each Sunday […]
This Not That: Whitewashing
Some of you may remember the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite that floated around on social media in 2015 and 2016 in response to all twenty of the acting related Oscars nominations going to white people. The hashtag was coined by activist April Reign and was used to call out the blatant lack of diversity within Hollywood and […]
Showing Racism The Red Card
We have recently seen the return of top-flight English football, where goals and quality play were expected to grab the headlines. Instead, the majority of the conversation has been of the work of the players and the league off the field. I am, of course, talking about the Premier League’s support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, […]
Rap and Race: BlackLivesMatter Music
Although viewed by some as mindless lyrics and 808 beats, rap becomes especially meaningful when listened to in its historical and social context. Rap serves as a way to highlight injustices, particularly those faced by black Americans. Rap first took a distinct form in the 1970s in New York City. As disco began its decline, […]
Petrified: White Supremacy Set In Stone
The past few months completely shook the unsuspecting year of 2020, and as countries across the globe went into lockdown it seemed as if the world had gone quiet. It was in the midst of this silence that the Black Lives Matter movement erupted following the murder – it was murder – of George Floyd […]
Scotland, Empire and George Floyd
The extrajudicial killing of George Floyd has served as a moment of reckoning for racial justice across the United States. It has spawned a wave of protests and riots across the nation and led to calls for an overhaul of policing. These protests have taken on an international angle with large scale protests reported across […]
Why Remove a Statue?
To hear the ‘moderate’ response to the removal of the statue of Edward Colston, such as the view recently given by Keir Starmer, is to hear what best resembles a commentary of a tennis match. A point is served before some sort of ‘but’ is attached to the end as a return shot, helping to […]
Why We Aren’t So Different To Edward Colston
On a sunny afternoon in Bristol the statue of Edward Colston, a former slave trader, was torn down by Black Lives Matter protestors amid cheers and jubilation. It was promptly dumped into the River Avon. Whilst many have praised this as a sign of progression and justice, it belies a worrying trend towards an absolute […]
Coming Out: Five Years On
I came out on the 11th of June 2015. On Instagram. Maybe not the platform I’d choose today, but I stand by it. It was a long time coming. I came out to a few friends the year before, in Year 10, when I was 14. Strangely I don’t actually remember who I told first, […]