October 2022

This pattern is long overdue, I’ve been wanting to make a BHM themed project for a while and was excited when Hobby Craft reached out inviting me to create an amigurumi character for this year’s Black History Month theme. the pattern is available for FREE Here 

Growing up in Nigeria and subsequently moving to the UK as a young adult, BHM was not something I initially knew about or understood because to me Black history was just history. 

However, living as a person of colour in the UK I’ve come to understand just how import it is to celebrate Black History Month.

Black history month is not just a celebration of the contributions of those with African and Caribbean heritage to British society. It is also a time to educate and shine the light on the issues POC face everyday living in the Uk. With most schools teaching a history curriculum focused mainly on traditional events and achievement of white figures, BHM serves to share, celebrate, and understand the impact of black culture and heritage.

For this year’s theme - ‘Time for Change’ I’ve chosen to focus on a topic that hits close to home: Name-based discrimination.

Research shows that in the UK “people from ethnic minorities were less likely to be successful with their applications, even discounting differences such as age and education’’ British citizens from ethnic minority backgrounds must send on average 74% more job applications to get a positive response from employers compared to their white counterparts (1).

With a first name of ‘Michelle’ I know how many times I turned up for job interviews to confused looks ‘interviewers thinking I’m British and not expecting to see a black woman walking through the door’.

A study conducted by researchers at Nuffield college centre for social investigation revealed the high levels of name-based discrimination in the UK job market; From Nov 2016- December 2017, about 3,200 fake job applications were sent out in response to adverts on a popular recruitment site. All the fictitious candidates were British citizens or had moved to the UK by the age of six, and had identical CVs, covering letters and years of experience. The only thing that they changed was the applicant's name, which they based on their ethnic background. While 24% of white British applicants received a call back from UK employers, only 15% of ethnic minority applicants did (2).

Compared to White British applicants, people of:

• Pakistani heritage had to make 70% more applications.
• Nigerian and South Asian heritage 80% more applications
• Middle Eastern and north African heritage 90% more applications (2).

To even the playing field, people from ethnic minorities are changing or ‘westernising’ their names to get a job. Upon entering the workplace, we see that most colleagues when coming across a non-western name opt to shorten it rather than learning to properly pronounce it.

My challenge for you all today is this- think of a colleague or friend with a non-western name and ask yourself – do you know their full name or the meaning behind it (yes, surprise! most names have meanings) and if you call them by something else, is this pseudonym something they chose or one thrust upon them by a society unwilling to fully embrace their full name.

Cricket xx