Maidstone Celebrates Black History Month

KentOnline / KMTV

With Black History Month coming to a close, we came to the Jubilee Square to see how the community in Maidstone are celebrating and learning about different cultures. Azaria Gayle reports.

Transcript

00:00Black History Month is coming to a close, but the celebrations are not done yet as Maidstone

00:06Borough Council held an event with masks, storytelling and history.

00:12There was a workshop teaching everyone how to play the African djembe drum.

00:21But what does this mean for the community?

00:24We have a voice.

00:25So bringing people from different backgrounds, you know, playing together, same beat, same

00:33rhythm is very important.

00:35And I think it should, this is something that should be done in schools, should be done

00:39in the community, in the businesses and everywhere.

00:42Because this is the only way we can bring the community together through the drum, that

00:47they come to my drumming workshop and they go, wow, I'm feeling much better than I was

00:52before.

00:53Seeing people having fun, I thought I'd get involved.

00:59Great, so I've just finished my African drumming and I came into this room to learn a little

01:02bit more about black history.

01:05And I found Margaret, who was the first and youngest black publisher and campaigned for

01:12diversity in publishing, and Phyllis, who is a political activist known for her work

01:18in racial and gender equality.

01:21This event was held in the Maidstone Council building, a historic part of the town, and

01:26now black history is a part of that.

01:28The teaching of different cultures can bring the community together.

01:32But is enough being done?

01:33I grew up in a country where we didn't think of anybody else's history but our own.

01:39Now I think schools do obviously expand, but I think we could do more actually in schools.

01:45And I think teaching children to recognise different cultures, different communities

01:51within their community, because we're all part of the same community, but we should

01:55always respect other countries' cultures, like today for instance.

02:00I loved trying to play the drums, I made an absolute mess of it I'm sure, but it was brilliant.

02:06With feathers and music filling the streets, people came together to dance and learn more

02:11about Black History Month.

02:15♪♪

02:27Azaria Gayle, 4KMTB

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