After exactly four decades of race and community relations work, I decided to hand in the ‘baton’ so that new blood might take over and carry on the work. This however was not to be the case. Shortly after my self-imposed retirement from the above, I was approached by Richard Sergeant, who informed me of the work of BE-ME and who also encouraged me to become a member. After a calm and sober assessment of the entire BE-ME project I decided to be a participant member. With the unanimous agreement of the Management Committee I was later asked to take on the position of Chairperson, which I happily accepted.

BE-ME, I discovered, came about as a result of a series of events in Wolverhampton marking the anniversary of the arrival of the passenger ship Windrush from the Caribbean in 1948. This led to the BE-ME looking at the history of those who migrated here after the second world war in order to ensure that these experiences were concretised in the curriculum of our schools from the cradle to all levels of education and training. The information gained from the various interview enabled the BE-ME archive to be established. The archive was created to make an intervention in the educational and community development arenas. The primary purpose of BE-ME therefore is to respond to the needs of ethnic minorities in a multicultural/multiracial and democratic society, and especially some of the concerns voiced about the national curriculum by the McPherson report. BE-ME strongly believe that the existing curriculum does not reflect the experiences of people from ethnic minority communities in any substantive way and that the material it produced could be utilised to produce a more inclusive curricula that would appeal to a wider audience and also be a catalyst for the development and design of new curriculum.

Mariko Sherwood, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Black and Asian Studies Association, at a conference at the Lighthouse in Wolverhampton on 9th February 2001, spoke of her anger over the way in which schools were being damaged by the notion of white supremacy that was being taught at all levels and the racist indifference and damaging attitude of teachers, especially to primary pupils newly arrived from the Caribbean. She was also critical of OFSTED. OFSTED incidentally has only an infinitesimal representation of minorities and in their assessment of the Black child a tunnel vision is the possible outcome. A new approach to the education of ethnic minorities is urgently needed and BE-ME should be in the vanguard.

The first phase of BE-ME was concerned with collecting research outcomes. My vision for the next phase is a robust approach in producing a wide range of products that can be made available for references by individuals and groups whenever needed. In order to counter racism and discrimination the BE-ME material can be useful as part o anti-racist education to support and develop understanding of the cultural diversity within the specificity of certain subject areas. The opportunities for development within the framework of BE-ME can be wide-ranging and rewarding.

Some of the structural developments in BE-ME this year have been the construction of a constitution which is the mechanism/framework by which BE-ME will be guided, the formulation of a management structure, the setting up of a bank account specifically in the name of BE-ME. Activities were concerned with a General Meeting where all members could participate and also a cultural presentation entitled “Under One Roof” which was highly received.

The future for BE-ME can be a bright one if we all pull together. The Swahili word ‘Ujima’ is very pertinent in this direction. But for the future to be bright we must all be proactive in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. We must also recognise that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and in education especially we must develop a curriculum that reflects the need of our racially mixed society.

We hope in the next year to develop a planned programme of work and activities in which all members can truly participate. We need your support, please help us.

In concluding I wish to thank all member of BE-ME, members of staff and others for their sterling support over the past year.