Melody Adomakoh in Year 13 has chosen to study the Black Lives Matter movement for her Extended Project Qualification. Here she summarises the key questions she’s asking in her research:
"The Black Lives matter movement is a civil, non-violent movement originally started to protest police brutality and was prompted by state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism particularly within the US. The movement is prompted by the overarching idea of systemic racism, which refers to the role of social institutions perpetuating racial injustice, within social, political and economic aspects of society.
The BLM movement seems to be concentrated within Black communities in largely white countries despite the movement's global appeal. This is apparent as the inequalities within Black lives in African countries do not typically lie within systematic racism or oppression from the white race due to having black dominated populations reflected in Black dominated governments. However, this dismisses how the movement neglects the similarities between some of the issues of Black lives in Africa and those in white populated countries in the present day. For instance, parallels may be drawn to the anti-SARS movement in Nigeria which included mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria and attempted to disband the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of police with a long record of abuse. The movement is significant as the UK government was quick to criticize the actions of the Nigerian government and deny any relation but failed to mention that the UK government provided training, equipment and funding to the police unit, as revealed by James Duddridge. This is a prime example of how white populated countries in the present day contribute to the hardships of Black lives in Africa.
This perhaps raises the question whether there is an area for the Black lives in Africa to be included in the BLM movement? In addition if they were to be included in the BLM movement what would this mean for the movement? Would the inclusion of Black lives in Africa slow down momentum and lead to ridicule by the media and press? Or would it be a trigger in addressing how ALL Black lives matter, further advancing the movement?"
Melody Adomakoh, Year 13
Melody looks forward to posting future updates on the EPQ project.
