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Posted on July 13th 2020

In Support of Blackout Tuesday - Resources for Students

Over recent weeks we have seen systemic racial injustice manifest itself in some horrible incidents in America. In particular the tragic murders of George Floyd and Armaud Arbery.

Whilst this ongoing issue causes particular pain for many black members of our community; those who are white or from other BAME backgrounds are also deeply hurt. At Harris Academy Peckham, we are immensely proud of our beautifully diverse demographic and wish to offer some gestures of solidarity.

We have produced the following set of PSHE resources in context of this issue that you may wish to use with your families.

Please feel free to share your reflections with Mr Lane at j.lane@harrispeckham.org.uk. Mr Lane is also keen to see how we can provide Year 9 and 10 students with a platform to hear young people discuss this issue.

We have reached out to some of our talented poets, artists, musicians and politicians within our academy community who will be invited to create poetry, art and music in reflection of this issue.

Student Book Club - Noughts and Crosses

Our Harris Peckham Student Bookclub will explore Malorie Blackman’s book Noughts and Crosses, which looks at issues of racial injustice from an inverted perspective.

This book is available through Southwark Libraries or can be purchased through her website. If you are interested in your child/ward joining the book club to discuss this please contact u.kohnen-zuelzer@harrispeckham.org.uk.

Anti-racism resources for parents and students

Below are some anti-racist resources for any parents and students who may be keen to delve further into this issue while studying from home. This includes a series of renowned historians, philosophers and writers who have contributed to the discussion on racial injustice.

The British rapper and activist Akala shares with us some less-exposed features about black history in his talk at Oxford University.

To celebrate BAME authors, here is a list of winners of the Corretta King Scott Book Award that you can share with you child/ward. The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.

Listen to an excerpt from Zora Neale Hurston’s Audio book, Their Eye’s were Watching God.

The British Ghanaian philosopher Anthony Appiah explores how racial identities have been socially constructed in his Reith lectures talk.

We have some fascinating reflections on James Baldwin’s work about the complexity of black identity in this podcast from The Partially Examined Life, a philosophy podcast.

Poet Benjamin Zephaniah and MP David Lammy, amongst other intellects, debate the extent to which people are judged by the colour of their skin or the content of their character. Click here to listen.

Ava Du Vernay breaks down the history of racism in America in her film 13th, which is available on Netflix.

Peggy Macintosh explains with empathy and aplomb the meaning of “white privilege” .