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.
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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