Ink on Inc. Newsletter - Issue 2

JULY 2021

Vol 1 Issue 2

NEWSLETTER

INK ON INC. inc. society

BY THE INC TEAM

This is officially the second issue of Ink on Inc. We are so excited to be able to release the second edition of our newsletter! We hope that through this newsletter you will be inspired to educate yourself even further Trigger Warning: Some topics discussed in this edition may be seen as a bit 'sensitive', so please bear in mind that we have tried to tackle each topic with care.

CONTENTS

1

HALL OF FAME

2- 4

IMPORTANT TOPICS

5 -12

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

13-14

FUTURE PROJECTS

15-16

Disclaimer: This isn't us telling you, "Do this!" and, "Don't do that!" because that's annoying and not why we created this society. It's just spreading awareness about topics; giving advice on how to handle situations and being more aware about differences in culture etc. You don't have to agree with everything we say!

HALL OF FAME: MASAKO KATSURA

HALL OF FAME: ANGELA DAVIS

HALL OF FAME: MILKHA SINGH

JULY 2021

Vol 1 Issue 2

BLACK INVENTIONS YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT

We don't often hear of black inventors. In fact, before making a conscious effort to find out more about them, I was rather oblivious to the number of things made by black inventors.

Without them, though, our lives would be very different.

Theme: Household appliances: Lewis Latimer was an American Inventor who lived from 1848 to 1928. His parents were runaway slaves who migrated to Massachusetts from Virginia. He served in the US Navy during the US Civil War and received an honourable discharge in 1865. In 1876, Latimer was asked to design the necessary drawing to patent an invention by a teacher for deaf children, who just so happened to be Alexander Graham Bell. We have all heard of Thomas Edison and how he created the lightbulb, but there were many faults with the lightbulb, one being that it had a very short life-span. Latimer devised a way of allowing the bulb to have a long life span by encasing the filament within an cardboard envelope which prevented the carbon from breaking, which also made the bulbs less expensive and more efficient. This enabled electric lighting to be installed within homes and throughout streets. Later on in life, Latimer was even hired by Thomas Edison, working as the chief draftsman and and patent expert.

Alice. H. Parker was born in 1895 and is most well known for her patented invention of central heating using natural gas. Very little is known about her life, although we do know that she attended classes at Howard University Academy (connected to Howard University) and received a certificate with honours. Her design allowed for cool air to be drawn into a furnace, which then heated the air through a heat exchanger, and was released through ducts to individual parts of the house. Although the idea of central heating was around before her invention, Parker's invention was particularly special because instead of coal or wood which had been used before, it used natural gas. Her initial designs were never used, but her ideas that natural gas and ducts could be used to distribute warm air to different parts of the house were a major step towards the central heating that we know today.

John Standard was born in 1868 and was from Newark, New Jersey. Much like Alice Parker, there is not much known about his life. However, Standard made considerable improvements to kitchen appliances that would enable a change in the way people cooked and stored their food. According to AAREG, in his patent for the refrigerator, Standard declared, "this invention relates to improvements in refrigerators, and it consisted of certain novel arrangements and combinations of parts." At the time, fridges were non-electrical and unpowered. Standard's refrigerator (1891) used a manually filled ice chamber for chilling and was granted a patent on June 14 1891. He also went on to receive a patent for improvements made to the standard stove cooker.

- Beth Akinkoye 4RAW

JULY 2021

Vol 1 Issue 2

SARAH EVERARD: THE DEATH THAT PROMPTED A WORLDWIDE DEBATE OVER WOMEN’S SAFETY

On the evening of the 3rd of March, 33-year old Sarah Everard left a friend’s house in the Clapham neighbourhood of London to make her way to her nearby flat.

She didn’t make it home.

Over the next few days, her family and friends desperately attempted to search for her - missing posters were pinned up, photos released over social media, and news articles written- all of them united in trying to find her. Sadly, this was not to be.

On the 9th March, Wayne Couzens, a Metropolitan police officer, was arrested in Kent on suspicion of Everard’s kidnapping. A day later, her remains were discovered in woodlands near Ashford, Kent. Swiftly after this, Couzens was again arrested, but this time on suspicion for murder. On the 12th March, he was officially charged with her kidnapping and murder. I will reiterate: a police officer, who was supposed to protect members of the public, maintain the law, and prevent crime, was charged for murder.

Everard’s death was the spark that lit the fire. Immediately, all over the globe, debates began to flame concerning women’s safety. Personal experiences were shared, stories were written, and discussions were held on one topic - why can’t women feel safe to walk on our streets without fear of harassment or violence? Thousands of women came forward to share the extensive precautions they make on a daily basis to avoid risks: avoiding dark streets, not wearing headphones when out alone, downloading safety apps on their phones, crossing the road to distance themselves from individual or groups of men... the list goes on.

The Femicide Census found that over a 10 year period between 2009-2018, a woman was murdered by a man every 3 days in unwarranted and horrific attacks. Women around the world are trading their freedom for safety; frankly, they shouldn’t have to compromise anything to simply be safe. This systemic violence needs to be eliminated - urgently. Additionally, society has conditioned women to feel partially responsible, that if victims of assault and sexual harassment had stayed at home, or wore clothing that was less ‘provocative’ they wouldn’t have been targeted. This is a biased, sexist, and unjust attitude to have. We need to educate people, not blame the victims. After her disappearance Baroness Jones' suggestion of a 'curfew for men' caused a massive uproar. It's a shame that her words were taken so literally, and that people did not realise the real meaning behind them. In fact, the Baroness herself said that she mainly said it in response to the advice from the Met, that women (in south London) should not go out alone.

Things need to change. For this to happen, a dramatic culture shift is needed. The widespread prevalence of violence and harassment needs to be acknowledged without putting the responsibility on victims. We don’t need more safety advice, nor do we need to tell people that ‘the risk is low’. What we need is for people to change their potentially dangerous behaviour and for society to hold them accountable.

- Rhea Cherrington, 4RAW

JULY 2021

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RAPE CULTURE

Rape culture. It's a term that was brought to light after the horrific murder of Sarah Everard. It sparked a national conversation and got many people thinking about rape and its prevalence in the UK and the effect it has on our society.

,

The term gained a lot of traction on social media- but how many of us actually know what it means?

Rape culture is commonly defined as a “social environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalised and excused in the media and popular culture. Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorisation of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety.”

The concept of rape culture, however makes it hard for male victims to speak out because of the stigma that surrounds

this topic and their fear of appearing 'weak'. Ignoring the fact that women can also be perpetrators of sexual assault highlights the hostile environment in which rape culture has been allowed to thrive.

This spurred the creation of "Everyone's Invited" in June 2020. It aims to eradicate ‘rape culture’, by providing survivors of sexual abuse a platform where they can anonymously share their experiences. More than 8,000 allegations have now been made by school pupils, gathering testimonies of sexual violence and abuse from girls as young as nine. A number of academic institutions were named where students reported experiencing forms of sexual harassment or abuse. These include: Dulwich College, Eton College, St Paul's and Latymer Upper School – all private schools. Another popular movement that went global was "The Rapist is You" chant, in which several countries adopted the phrase in their own language.

The response that the report received was overwhelmingly positive with many people asking for an "inquiry" into the matter. On Twitter, the Education Secretary for England, said: "No school whether an independent school or state school - should ever be an environment where young people feel unsafe, let alone somewhere that sexual abuse can take place." However, it is important to note that the report did receive some backlash. People were claiming that some of the statistics must have been faked and referring to the convenient way that people were able to report abuse. But the reality is, only 4% of cases of sexual violence reported to the UK police are found or suspected to be false. That’s about the same rate as false reports of robbery or stolen cars. To put this into perspective, we are more likely to disbelieve someone if they say they were sexually harassed/ raped than if they say they were robbed.

This cycle of rape culture is only ever going to continue if sexual violence is trivialised; rape accusations are not taken seriously; victims are blamed and education is not implemented where it is needed. The normalised nature of rape culture is making it harder for victims to speak out and for others to speak out when people are making 'jokes' about rape and sexual violence. If fewer people begin to stop being passive about the language and rhetoric of rape culture, we can start to dismantle rape culture in our society.

- Daniella Freeman 4RAW

JULY 2021

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ASIAN HATE

The coronavirus pandemic has seen a huge surge in hate crimes against Asian people, which is why #stopasianhate has been circulating in social media. Insolent comments such as "Kung flu" and "Chinese virus" have used in hate and anger against those of Asian descent. People in power, with high influence and status, have used these terms in the public eye and a study suggests that former President, Donald Trump's inflammatory rhetoric around the coronavirus helped spark anti-Asian Twitter content and "likely perpetuated racist attitudes."

A report released by Stop AAPI Hate - an organisation set up to tackle discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States - showed that more than 68% of the abuse was verbal harassment or name-calling, while 11.1% was physical. The report also contains first-person accounts. “I was at the mall with a friend. I was wearing a plumeria clip and was speaking Chamorro when a woman coughed and said, ‘You and your people are the reason why we have corona’,” read one testimonial from Dallas, Texas. “She then said, ‘Go sail a boat back to your island’.”

However, snide comments are just a small extent of the hate that has been occurring over the last few months. On the 16th March 2021, eight people were killed, six of whom were women of Asian descent. This was a devastating loss in a community already grieving from a spike in hate crimes. It resulted in numerous responses, one of them being from the police department in Seattle. They pledged to increase patrols and outreach to support its Asian-American community.

To many, it may seem as if Asian hate is becoming prevalent in the US, which it is, although the UK has not been exempt from such deplorable attitudes. In March 2020, the UK was placed under its first lockdown as coronavirus was rampant across the country. Since then, Britain’s East and Southeast Asian communities have seen a 300% increase in hate crimes, according to End the Virus of Racism, a UK-based advocacy group. People who once felt safe in Britain, who used to call it home, no longer felt welcome.

Peng Wang is a lecturer in financial management in the University of Southampton. One day, he was simply going for a jog when a group of white men in a car hurled racist abuse, calling him the "Chinese virus."

After calming himself down, the same people approached him and Wang challenged their actions. The driver and the other men then got out of the car and physically attacked him.

He sustained some injuries and needed treatment for facial and elbow injuries after they punched and kicked him to the ground.

These reports are all striking and outrageous. The fact that hate is being exhibited to people of Asian descent because of the pandemic is shocking. Even after the peak of the pandemic, the number of hate crimes that have accumulated are still on the rise.

-Daniella Freeman, 4RAW

JULY 2021

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THE DESTRUCTIVE TRUTH BEHIND THE PALESTINE-ISRAEL WAR

As many of you will have heard and read about, the violence in Israel and Palestine has shocked the world. The massacre, the obliteration, the loss; it’s incredibly devastating to see a community deteriorate in front of your very eyes. It’s hard to see the lives of so many of the innocent being wrongfully stolen away from them. To see a landscape of buildings collapse and fall to the ground saddens me and breaks all of our hearts. 11 days. 255 dead.

The conflict ceased on the 21st May but the fight continues for the justice and the rights of the voiceless - giving those who cannot speak the platform to stand up for what they believe in. Many of you can join the fight for the civil liberties and the autonomy of the people. Sadly, this conflict hasn’t been simply a recent matter. It has been a prolonged issue. It all started around 100 years ago and tensions have arisen ever since.

All of those years ago, Britain was responsible for controlling the area that we know of today as Palestine after its rulers were defeated during the First World War. The land was occupied by predominantly Arab communities, with some Jewish communities, mainly in Jerusalem.

During the 1920s and 1930s, restlessness arose about who would make the land their homeland because both sides claimed that Palestine was theirs land tension developed between the opposing sides. However, during the period that spanned WWII, the population of Jewish individuals rose as they were seeking shelter from the horrific realities of the Holocaust. The growing numbers of Jews caused violence to occur between the Arabs and the Jewish communities. In the year of 1947, it was declared by the United Nations that Palestine was to be separated into Jewish and Arab states to alleviate the tension, with Jerusalem being named as an international city. However, the Arab leaders rejected the idea and the plan to create the state of Palestine and the state of Israel was never implemented.

Things began to worsen, as during 1948 the British rulers left and the Jewish leaders captured more land and declared more of the area as Israel. Many Palestinians felt attacked and betrayed and the war resulted in ‘Al Nabka’, literally translated as the ‘Catastrophe’. By the point the war ended Israel had the predominant territory. The result of the 1948 war, is that Jordan occupied the West Bank, and many Palestinian refugees fled there. As well as this, Egypt took control of the main city of Gaza and the Gaza Strip. There was never a peaceful agreement that contributed to this and so the Israeli and the opposing forces were in constant conflict and battles with one another; more wars and violent attacks ensued.

In 1967, Israeli forces took control of the West Bank, Gaza, the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. Most of the Palestinian refugees who lived in these areas remained there under Israeli rule. They have not been allowed to return to their previous homes. Israel claims that it would threaten their community and their overall existence as a Jewish state. Israel still controls all the territory previously mentioned except Gaza, which they pulled out of in 2005.

JULY 2021

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THE DESTRUCTIVE TRUTH BEHIND THE PALESTINE-ISRAEL WAR

So, after the multitude of events that have occurred over the past 100 years the violence continues. It’s caused by the fact that Israel has closed Gaza’s borders and tightly controlled them. This has subsequently resulted in the eviction of many Palestinian families.

Israelis and Palestinians cannot agree on settlement prospects, the future of West Bank or (the biggest debate) whether a Palestinian state should be created to help the growing problem.

What is the moral to learn here? I know that this is a political and sociological issue that is out of our control but we can do something to stop the violence. Around the world there are massacres occurring at the same level and those individuals are silenced with oppression. My message is to stand up! Educate those around you and fight for the freedom of those who cannot do so themselves. Through galvanising one another and rising up we can make our voices heard and have an impact. Remember to spread kindness with any endeavour that you participate in and let’s come together, united as one community to stop history repeating itself once more.

-Avneet Hayer, 4GSH

JULY 2021

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LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW AFRICA AND ASIA ARE VIEWED

When people think of corruption, they countries, particularly in the continents ignorance of the corruption that goes on not be as widely publicised. Not only this,

automatically tend to think of the developing of Africa and Asia. This has paved the way for in developed countries, as though it exists it may but it also allows for the "white saviour trope."

The "white saviour trope" is when white people are pictured as saviours and heroes for going to places such as Africa and Asia and publicising the charity work that they do there.

Of course, it may be hard to distinguish whether people genuinely have good intentions, or whether they are doing it to be painted as a (white) saviour. However, it can be damaging to people and developing countries in particular.

In late October 2020, Comic Relief announced that they were to stop sending celebrities to Africa. This decision came after there were complaints that their "promotional videos" perpetrated white saviour stereotypes. Typically, charities like Comic Relief would use images of starving children in hot, dry conditions, living in shacks. Though this is the reality for many living in Africa, it is also the reality for many in developed countries, such as England itself (except for the weather though, hot and dry are not words we associate with the British weather). Labour MP David Lammy had previously criticised Stacey Dooley when she was pictured holding a young, Ugandan boy, and though he had "No doubt she had good intentions", the world did not need any more "white saviours."

Sir Lenny Henry also addressed a similar situation, as he said that “Diversity and inclusion is important both in front and behind the camera. Times have changed and society has evolved, and we must evolve too. African people don’t want us to tell their stories for them, what they need is more agency, a platform and partnership."

I think the whole aim of recognising this white saviour trope, is to recognise that there are people starving ALL over the world, not just in Africa and Asia. Moreover, picturing these countries in such a bad light most definitely has greater economic consequences, as people are less likely to go to the country for new experiences or holiday, reducing the amount of income the economy receives from the travel sector. There are many beautiful places in Africa and Asia, as well as many people who live extremely comfortably, however we rarely see this portrayed in the media. Social problems in Britain (and other European countries) are not as well publicised, and so citizens and inhabitants are allowed to live in their own happy little bubble, knowing less about the people struggling, in the very place they inhabit. This is not only harmful to the people suffering, as they may not receive as much help, but also to the people in this bubble, as they become ignorant, and ignorant makes way for hate.

More importantly however, the aim isn't to stop spreading awareness about social issues around the world, but more to reflect it more fairly. For example, instead of sending celebrities to these countries, Comic Relief decided that its fundraising appeals would be filmed by local film-makers with a "more authentic perspective".

-Beth Akinkoye 4RAW

JULY 2021

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TALKING TO KARE ADENEGAN

Kare Adenagan is a Gold Medal champion, who also just happens to be a former Bablake pupil.

She has many other accomplishments such as winning the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2018. Whilst we were in quarantine, the Inc. Society had the pleasure of talking to Kare Adenagan about the pressure she may feel as a black Paralympian, and experiences she had growing up in regards to representation and more. Below is an insight into how it went: , Do you think that being a black athlete had any impact on your career? Positive or negative?

'It's been okay, I guess the only thing that's been difficult, like para-sport, is there aren't many Black and Asian athletes, so it's quite a white sport in many ways. I can't say exactly why hat is, I think part of it is you don't see a lot of black disabled people on TV and other Black and Asian disabled people probably don't see themselves represented, so that could be a bit of barrier.

Being one of the only black people that represents GB in parasports is, I guess, the challenge that I faced in terms of not being represented in the GB team in that sense, although I'm fortunate that our coach for the British athletics para team is actually a black female who was an Olympic athlete called Paula Dunn, so that was really helpful. She's quite keen on increasing diversity and inclusion in the team, but besides that, it hasn't really impacted my career or me that much.'

What do you think we as a society can do to tackle oppression?

That's quite a big question! I guess talking about things really helps, and if you look at social media over the last couple of years, people have really become more vocal about this stuff and people talk about inclusion, they talk about injustices, and also just being educated about issues, before you start commenting things, you know, reading around subjects is always really helpful and there are lots of great resources. For example, articles from places like The Guardian, there's a historian called David Olusoga (I recommend 'Black and British' by him; it is a very good book, you learn a lot about the history of Black British people). When we're tackling issues and talking about injustices, its important to have that knowledge ad context.

What's your view on athletes taking the knee?

'Its good, definitely. The only problem I have is obviously all of this is happening all of a sudden, you know following last year, and a lot of the issues raised last year are not really anything new.

Sadly, things like police brutality have been going on for a long long time, in Britain as well as in America. So in that sense, I think is great that we're doing these things, but having these things all of a sudden, let's be aware that its nothing new. I think if an athlete feels like they want to do that for sure it should carry on happening, but I think it's just an individual thing, and I know for sports for example, with the Olympics and Paralympics there are actually policies in place about protests and stuff and I think that that right needs to be open. Athletes should have a right to protests and support any kind of cause.'

How did it feel when you were learning about History but not about anyone who represented you? How much of an effect do you think it would've made if you learnt about it earlier?

I think it would've been really good, I've always enjoyed History but I guess I would've enjoyed it more. History is such a broad discipline, so I know it's really difficult to cover everything and represent everyone, but I guess if there was a broader choice of modules in history, that would help in terms of people being represented. I think at the time, I probably didn't think about it as much as I think about it now. I think now that I'm at university, and I'm able to study all sorts of types of history, now when I look back on secondary school I realise that there's so much more we could've looked at, but again, it's so broad, it's not something that's easy to adress. It is frustrating however that British Black history and British Asian history isn't really something we learn about, especially compared to American history.

-Beth Akinkoye 4RAW

FEBRUARY 2021

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DISCUSSIONS WE'VE HAD

Over the last few months, we have enjoyed having a range of discussions. From topics like double standards to different perceptions of feminism, we have certainly had a lot to talk about! We thought it would be great to to share some of it with you.

Cancel Culture: Discussing cancel culture was really insightful, especially as the idea of ‘cancelling’ someone is becoming more predominant in our modern 21st century society. So, when discussing this topic, we all had one universal opinion: for the most part cancel culture is toxic. People can often think that by cancelling someone they are achieving social justice. However when it involves unlawful threats and invasion of peoples' privacy, that is when cancel culture can take a turn for the worst. Cancel culture can include people who benefit most in our society getting verbally attacked for controversial statements, to ordinary people facing major repercussions like losing their job. But for the most part, we witness cancel culture taking place among the more privileged of societymost of the time it doesn’t last long. With a quick apology addressing the statement, with no sense of remorse, only the incentive to regain their lost followers, all is forgiven. From this, many of us said that these ‘influencers’ should take accountability for their actions and show genuine remorse. Being in the spotlight, comes with a certain responsibility so when these influencers use their power in a way that is not befitting it should not be ignored.

We agreed that many of these people who are called influencers are not even a good example for the next generation and sometimes do not use their platform for good.

Matters Until They Affect You: I’m sure we’ve all fallen guilty when it comes to this subject- that is why we felt that is was really important to talk about this. Many people said that they find that a lot of things that are reported in the media aren’t as insightful when it comes to educating people. There are many things that people wouldn’t be aware of unless they go and actively search for it. Take what happened with George Floyd for example. This was, of course, broadcasted across all forms of media. It was amazing to see many people coming to the realisation of systematic racism in the world. Sales of books about racism and white supremacy increased by up to 6,800% in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. However, it seemed as if people had been blissfully ignorant that institutional racism was so prevalent until it appeared right on their doorstep. This is just one of many examples that was discussed, but the point was that we all felt that a lot of people tend to be ignorant until a matter directly affects them or is publicised by the media. That’s why it is more important than ever to educate ourselves instead of waiting for the news to come to us. Fortunately, we are all in a position, to educate ourselves with the internet and books at our disposal. There are a number of resources located at the end of the end of the newsletter where you can do some further research. There are many other articles that you can read online and books that you could purchase. We can all make sure that we aren’t just simply being passive and waiting for the news to come to us but instead actually finding the means to educate ourselves.

JULY 2021

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DISCUSSIONS WE'VE HAD

Institutional Racism: This discussion stemmed from a very interesting RPE lesson, in which we were watching a documentary on the murder of Stephen Lawrence. In this lesson, the topic of institutionalised racism was brought up, as Doreen Lawrence, the mum of Stephen Lawrence, brought up the incompetence and utter neglect of the police.

One student brought up THUG ('The Hate U Give' by Angie Thomas) and how it portrays a great example of institutionalised racism. One common theme in these types of incidents, when a BIPOC is murdered, is that there tends to be someone/some people who want to justify the person's death. There are many institutions who have historically been accused of being racist, one such being the Met. However the general consensus is that it's deeper than this. In the medical field, a textbook definition for many diseases is related to the skin colour, like a red flush. This is ignorant, because for black people and other people of colour, you may not notice the colour change in the skin. Furthermore, many people tend to associate institutional racism with smaller institutions, and think that bigger institutions, like the government, can't be institutionally racist because of the sheer number of people. There is obviously a lack of black people in government institutions and bigger institutions. The size has nothing to do with the ability to be institutionally racist or not. The thing is, that a lot of our internalised bias is just that. . . .internalised, whether it's sexism, racism or any other kind of prejudice.

People always try and make excuses as to why they cannot be institutionally racist, rather than making conscious efforts to change their attitudes. No one is blaming anyone for having internalised prejudice, because everybody has it. It is a byproduct of the society that we live in. However, in order to combat that, it's important to recognise how biases affect peoples' everyday lives and in the most extreme cases can be life-threatening. When prejudice is institutionalised, we not only have to introduce measures in the system to combat this and protect the necessary people; we must also reflect on ourselves and how we can actively make sure we don't fall into the trap of internal bias.

Perceptions of Feminism: The reason we had a discussion about this is partly due to the discussion we had on toxic masculinity, but also as a result of one of the Life Choices sessions we had. In this conversation, we picked up on terms such as "feminazi" and what we think modern feminism now represents. One point that came up was that some people think that modern feminism is rather extreme, and that it has to do with women always being independent and not relying on anybody else and not submitting to men as such. This was echoed in an episode of 'Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over' when she stays at a "Trad Wife's" house, which is essentially a woman that does all the cooking/cleaning. The episode was particularly interesting as this particular wife was in fact extremely educated and would've described herself as a feminist before. Whilst we said that we think this is what feminism is often perceived as now, it was interesting to find that most of us would've described feminism as simply women having the right to choose what they want to do, and whereas many of us would neve consider being a traditional wife, we would never take someone else's right to that away. As I said, we also discussed terms such as "feminazis". The general consensus around terms like this, were that they were honestly unacceptable.

JULY 2021

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Current and Future Projects

Mural:

This term, there was a lot of progress with the mural. To start off with, we asked forms and pupils to send in designs that they wished to feature in the mural. Special mentions go to 2JMG who made a detailed powerpoint, Paige Bachra and 6ISK, both of whom produced amazing drawings.

We had several meetings with Andy Clare from Spray Station to discuss how we wanted to proceed with the mural, and what messages we wished to be portrayed. Since we knew there were going to be 3 boards, we thought that we should have a word for each board.

Eager to include as many people as possible, we took the decision to provide pupils with the options: 'Equality, Inclusivity, Opportunity'; 'Included, Inclusive, Inclusion' and more.

We also gave pupils the opportunity to come up with their own three words.

After that, it was time to work on the actual mural itself! We had decided that we would have the words in the middle, in bold, and have doodles surrounding it (inspiration from Mr Doodle and the Tom Gates books). Everyone found the process of creating the mural extremely fun, and even other students were able to get involved in their art lessons. Here is the final product, ready to be put up in the library.

Special thanks to Andy from SprayStation to coming in to work with us, check out his work in FarGosford.

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Current and Future Projects

Progress with Curriculums After several meetings with different members of staff, we are pleased to say that we have made some progress in terms of suggestions to diversify the curriculum.

We started with the English Department where we discussed the curriculum with Miss McClean. The English Department have been working on making the reading list more diverse. We also talked to Mrs Rees in the History Department; new lessons and topics, for example on Windrush and black and Asian suffragettes are being included from next year.

We can also announce that girls' rugby will be making an entrance next year and there is lots of positive excitement overall. Girls' cricket has been more prominent than ever this term and has involved teams from all years.

This term has seen huge progress in all spectrums of the curriculum. We understand, of course, that there are certain topics that have to be taught although we are happy to see all these positive changes being made to the curriculum.

JULY 2021

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LINKS TO PETITIONS & REFERENCE MATERIALS/ARTICLES

Relevant Articles: https://aaregistry.org/story/john-standard-inventor-born/- John Standard https://wjla.com/sponsored/history/little-known-history-facts-alice-h-parker - Alice H Parker https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54716750 - Let's talk about how Africa and Asia is viewed https://www.easterneye.biz/institutional-racism-in-met-is-worse-now-claims-ex-chiefsuperintendent-parm-sandhu/ Institutional racism in the Met Police https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56218684 - Asian hate https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44124396 - Israel&Palestine https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-palestine-war-history-gazab1850628.html - Israel&Palestine https://theconversation.com/schools-urgently-need-to-tackle-rape-culture-by-educatingpupils-about-online-world-158159 - Rape Culture https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56566442 - Rape Culture https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/01/inquiry-condemns-policing-of-saraheverard-vigil-and-bristol-protests - Sarah Everard https://theconversation.com/baroness-jones-why-did-so-many-people-take-her-6pm-curfewfor-men-proposal-at-face-value-157183 - Sarah Everard

Relevant Petitions: https://www.change.org/p/all-of-us-free-palestine-e8784c52-3213-4a9e-884c-428aabda8107 Petition for Palestine

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THANKS FOR READING! IF YOU WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ANY OF OUR PROJECTS, FEEL FREE TO GET IN TOUCH.

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