What Black History Month means to me

For me, Black History Month is an opportunity to celebrate my identity and all those of African descent, who have had to stand up for being Black and being respected as part of the community they live in.

I have always encouraged people to stand up for who they are if they have been made to feel they don’t belong, simply because they don’t conform with what is deemed as ‘socially acceptable’.

I can remember when I was at university, which was only 12 years ago, a white British student in my class said that Black people didn’t ‘talk proper’. We were in a sociology lecture and were reflecting on how different groups in society bring different fashion styles and slang when expressing themselves in music.

When I was younger, growing up in an affluent county near London in the nineties, I was lucky enough to have multiple cultures around me. However, through my exposure to British TV, Disney films and my predominantly white friends, I was left with the feeling that my ‘look’ was not acceptable and that only having straight hair and green eyes was beautiful. So, when I was a teenager, I chemically straightened my hair and I wore green, or sometimes purple, colour contact lenses to fit in with this dominant concept of beauty.

At primary school, I was put in a class for children who needed additional support – the reasons for which neither myself nor my parents were aware. When I got to secondary school, which had a larger population of students with parents from non-British countries, I was told I did not need additional help and I remained in the top classes throughout my time there. In fact, the teacher was baffled as to why I had been put into additional support classes in the first place.

It is through my relationships with people who believed in me, who looked past the colour of my skin, and who put their community first, that I have learnt to love parts of humanity. I now embrace my natural hair and have styles that are representative of my West Indian heritage.

I am British born and bred, but I am always up for positively challenging how people categorise or refer to different people, based on their skin colour, faith, sexuality, gender, disability, ability, and any other human characteristic.

It is this fundamental belief in equity that has brought me to my current role at West Sussex Mind. I know that people’s identities and experiences of exclusion and discrimination can adversely impact their mental health and prevent them from getting support. My role as communities and inclusion manager is about understanding the barriers different communities face when it comes to getting mental health support and working to reach out to those communities to ensure that our services are fully inclusive.

I am confident about who I am and I’m happy to talk up about what I need, while in the past, I didn't always feel credible enough to do so. Black History Month offers an opportunity to reflect on some of my own struggles and those of other Black women in the past, while celebrating how far I have come in my own personal journey and the amazing contributions Black women have made – and continue to make – across British society.

AJ is communities and inclusion manager at West Sussex Mind. Her role involves connecting with all groups within our local communities to facilitate them getting mental health support.

AJ’s 'saluting our sisters' heroines for Black History Month – women who have inspired her – are Harriet Tubman for her devotion to helping Black slaves escape their masters; Dame Elizabeth Anionwu for establishing the first sickle cell and thalassaemia screening and counselling centre in the UK; and Mary Seacole for doing what was right and not cowering down because she was mixed of African and white descent.