Okay. So half of britons can't name a black british historical figure? So what? That means HALF of britons CAN name a black british historical figure.

Personally I cannot name a single black british historical figure off the top of my head. But I also kind of find it offensive that people want to separate historical figures into "black" and "white" (and maybe others.. who knows?). Do we need to have a catagory for every type and mix? Like ffs.

[–] rgb3x3@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It's important because whitewashing history is cultural erasure. Whether or not it's intentional, the education system is failing to properly educate students on the contributions of all types of people.

It matters to British children of color to see their cultures represented in positive ways and as great contributors to the world they live in.

Being "colorblind" ignores the fact that history was very much not and ignores that racism of the past still impacts so many people today.

[–] Zellith@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago

It matters to British children of color to see their cultures represented in positive ways and as great contributors to the world they live in.

I might agree with this if I wasnt a British child of colour at one point in time. Anecdotally, I never cared about the colour of anyones skin. If you were a British historical figure then you were a British historical figure. As a kid I never cared to put people into different boxes based on race. I'm all for teaching kids about history from people of all walks of life, but I dont feel the need to say "this was a black british person" or "this was a white british person". They are British people.

[–] Wanderer@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

It's not whitewashing if your entire country was white for almost all its history.

Most non whites came over after ww2. It's not racist to say their just really wasn't that many historical black people. Forcing a narrative is stupid. This is why so many people have issues with wokeness.

Our kids don't know enough about history anyway. That could be solved. But it doesn't mean they should know about some random black guy that did almost nothing of note just because he is black. Plenty of people did almost nothing of note and we don't know about them.

[–] poopkins@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This bothers me as well. The headline might as well be based on some other survey about sexual orientation or height or hair color. What a strange thing, to further propagate association by race.