Opposing the celebration of BHM was:
- Disun Vera-Cruz (1st Year, Philosophy, Politics and Economics)
- Toch Enu (Masters, Engineering)
Supporting the celebration of BHM:
- Sarah Akinsola (Me, 1st Year, Drama)
- Sam Adebiyi - (4th Year, student)
To start off the action, there was a guest speaker, a former student at the University of Exeter. He gave a brief insight
into his opinion on the topic and with that, the
proceedings started.
Each side was given 5 minutes to make their
point, argue against statements put forward by the opposing team and still
answer questions presented by the audience in each round. What a heated debate
it was! Contrasting opinions regarding the pros and cons of celebrating BHM
were brought to light, however being on the supporting side of celebrating BHM
I was determined to win - and did I mention that there were TOPSHOP vouchers up for
grabs?!?!?!?!? *Takes a deep breath*, so obviously, I fought with everything that I had!
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| February is US BHM (click for more info) |
The opposition expressed that they saw BHM as
something which segregated 'people of colour' from others and suggested that it
lacked significance in this era, they further suggested that the story of slavery
was outdated. They also made the point that there were White slaves as well as
Black, why were they not given a time to celebrate their past experiences?
On the other hand, the supporting side expressed
that BHM is a time to inspire and unite as opposed to segregate. We listed the
importance of 'people of colour' needing inspirational figures of the same race
to aspire and look up to. What good is it when a young Black girl grows up
in a world where she sees no strong, Black, successful women in the media? Or a baby boy sees no powerful male figures? What does this tell them? That they cannot
be successful. Hence why we need BHM to educate and teach us about these encouraging
people.
Despite the death glares and banter, which
raised a few laughs from the audience, I believe that we all left the debate
with more of an open mind, whether we were in support of or against celebrating
BHM. The debate was very refreshing and forced to me look at a subject which I
once thought was one-sided, in the sense that I didn't see a reason why anyone
of 'colour' would be against BHM, in a different light.
The opposing team gave a very hard fight; they
packed punches and punchlines to convince the audience to agree with them, although,
at the end of the day, the best side won =D - with that being said I’m so glad
I didn’t miss the Topshop jewellery sale. It was simply divine if I might say
so myself ;).
Sarah Akinsola
Publicity Secretary
