The official newspaper of Leeds University
Decolonising education: In conversation with Melz The Founder of the Free Black University speaks to Ruby Fatimilehin about the Free Black University; decolonising education, and Black activism. Image: The Guardian
How can we recentre, what I believe the purpose of education should be, which is to transform self and through that transform the world?
www.thegryphon.co.uk Twitter: @TheGryphonLeeds Instagram: @thegr yphon Issue 1 14/10/20
Rethinking Black History Month Perry Blankson calls for a new interpretation of Black History Month, one that acknowledges the ongoing presence of racism this side of the Atlantic (Page 10)
What do you think are the advantages of creating the Free Black University instead of attempting to decolonise and restructure established universities?
Ruby Fatimilehin Leeds alumni Melz Owusu has raised over £126,000 in their campaign to create the Free Black University. They aim to create an educational space which serves as a hub for radical and transformative knowledge production, and which centres the wellbeing and healing of the Black community. Melz, who is a former sabbatical officer at the Leeds University Union, firmly believes that education should be free, anti-colonial, and accessible to all. Once established, the Free Black University will provide radical Black books to the community, deliver open-access online lectures, create a transformational publication and establish a mental health service for Black students. Our Equality and Diversity Associate Ruby Fatimilehin spoke to Melz about their vision for the Free Black University and the educational possibilities this space will generate.
What led to the creation of the Free Black University? Were there any particular experiences that compelled you to create this space? I started doing decolonial work when I was at Leeds. The time spent fighting with the institution was difficult for my mental health in terms of being able to do my degree peacefully. We continually put Black students, students of colour, queer students into positions where we have to lobby the institution against something that the institution is founded on. The extent to which you can decolonise a colonial institution is minimal. After doing that for the past six years in Leeds, across the UK, and in different countries, I recognised that there needs to be a different approach to understanding how the decolonial movement can move forward. That’s how the Free Black University came about. How can we create an anticolonial, queer, radical space outside of the institution?
It takes away from all the free labour that marginalised students do for the university. It stops that power imbalance. It gives the people the power. There are not that many Black-led organisations across the UK, let alone a radical, queer organisation that is using a Black queer feminist lens that aims to exist within the higher education space. It’s unheard of, but with that comes the potential to imagine, to create. In the process of creating a Free Black University, we are continually imagining new possibilities, how we can learn, how we can grow, how we can change the world.
Faith societies collab with BLM Leeds Society editor Martha Sanders speaks to Marvina Newton, the founder of Black Lives Matter Leeds, about finding allies within university societies (Page 12)
Nicola Adams and QTIPOC visibility As the Leeds-born athlete is set to be part of the first same-sex couple on Strictly Come Dancing, Views editor Elena Sotelo discusses the importance of having Black, queer figures in the mainstream media (Page 16)
What do you want to achieve with the Free Black University? What is your vision for this educational space? The vision is to change the world. The vision is to create a space, which first and foremost, is for Black people. For Black students, for Black activists, for Black people who want to learn, who want to engage with other people. Creating a space for the community; that’s first and foremost. It’s also a space that is meant to incubate radical knowledge production. To create a foundation from which people feel empowered, impassioned, creative. Within the current institutions, so many of us dim our voices. Continued on page 8.
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