BLACK HISTORY MONTH
proud to BE UNITY.
Date: 01.10.2021
welcome to bhm.
Black History Month has its origins in America where it was instituted to make all citizens aware of the struggle for freedom and equality and has been officially celebrated in the UK since the late 80’s in the Month of October. The focus of the month is to engage all people with Black history and enable us to reshape our future by understanding and acknowledging the past. It provides a platform to discuss and understand issues around racial inequality. But it’s also about celebrating the achievements and contributions of black and brown people not only in the past but in our very present as well.
You can watch Black History Month UK launch it's 2021 intro.
The mission statement? Dig Deeper. Look Closer. Think Bigger
proud to be unity.
The theme for this year for BHM UK is Proud to Be. We’ve taken that on and want to use this month to express that we are Proud to Be: Unity. As a newly created employee network group we are really excited about what this group stands for and want to increase awareness of it around the company.
Over the next month we’ll look to share stories and contributions from members all over the business to articulate our 3 objectives of Connect, Champion & Celebrate.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: CONNECT.
PROUD TO CONNECT.
Connect week is all about learning more about each other, about ethnic diversity and the challenges that still come with it, and hopefully continuing to create a safe space for members to start honest convesations.
In the spirit of connecting, and linking into the 'Proud to Be' theme of BHM this year, we are going to kick the month off with a Proud to Be feature. Here we have a mixture of short bios and full articles from employees across the business as we take a moment to connect and celerbate who they are Proud to Be.
PRAISE PASIMUPINDU
Meet Praise - a Developer who has been working at Next for x years. Praise is Zimbabwean and is proud to celebrate her traditional garment. "This, among many patterns, is used to create tops, dresses and 2 pieces to represent who we are!"
JAMES NYAMUDA
Meet James - a Total Platform Manager who has been working at Next for 15 years. James is proud to be Black African. You can read his 'A Moment With' piece here.
ALHAGIE JALLOW
Meet Alhagie - a Warehouse Operative, Health and Safety Rep and a Union Rep who has been working at Next for 7 years. Alhagie is proud to be Black African.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: CHAMPION.
PROUD TO CHAMPION.
Champion week is focused on the future for Unity. We hear from network members on what change or progress they want Unity to champion within the business and we look to share what has been going on in the background so far.
We start this week off by launching a new "CommUnity Let's Talk" feature on the first topic that network members have raised - Representation in the Workplace. To see the full feature click here.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: CELEBRATE.
PROUD TO CELEBRATE.
Celebrate week is focused on celebrating and truly appreciating the cultural diversity that we have around the business, including diverse cuisine & drinks, traditional garments, music and more all to celebrate you!
Although the BHM month is finished, we still want to take the time to celebrate you and your culture. We've split them out into three themes below for you to share your photos, videos or suggestions.
SHARE YOUR RECIPES
Whether its one you can remember from your childhood or is still popular in your family today, sharing is caring at Unity so we want to get together and share all our favourite cultural cuisine recipes for each other to try out! Send us an email or a message on yapster with a picture, video or a link to your favourite cultural recipe.
SHARE YOUR OUTFITS
This week it's all about celebrations and we want to share as many as possible! As part of this feature, we want you to share your favourite outfits that are part of your culture. Send us an email or a messgae on yapster with a picture/video of yourself, your name, and why you love what you wear.
SHARE YOUR MUSIC.
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Stevie Wonder.
What music did you grow up on or love?
Send us an email or a messgae on yapster with a picture/video of yourself, your name, and what is your favourite genre or artist.