Luckily, we’re on the cusp of transformation. Young people are using social media to demand change, moving it past a microcosm of selfies, OOTDs and #ads to become a portal for spotlighting important conversations about race. Now, social media is encouraging people to contemplate and unlearn the biases that have come to embed their lives, and to decolonise education through reform.
This is where alternative online outliers of education rise up and step in where traditional institutions are lacking. Accounts like @uniundergrd, @officialmillennialblack, @theconsciouskid, @theslowfactory, @lit_c.i.r.c.l.e , @attnwhitepeople and influencers like @aaron__philip have all become key points of reference.
These accounts are supported by student collectives and platforms such as The Black Curriculum, which are demanding British schools teach the role black Britons played in building the empire from pre-colonial enslavement to the modern day. In January, Fill in the Blanks stoked public awareness by printing 5,000 fake issues of the free newspaper Metro and filling it with stories arguing for a balanced teaching of imperial history. The Free Black University is gaining momentum via a GoFundMe campaign, so far raising more than £100,000 ($129,745, €110,300) to fund its redistribution of black knowledge.
As a lecturer and woman of colour, I’m optimistic about the future of education. This is not a time for established institutions or brands to be passive bystanders. Clearly, Gen Z are taking control, calling out misgivings and setting up alternative spaces that encourage decolonised discourse and critical thinking.
As brands, you have the power to support them through funding and mentoring. Decolonising education is not just about national or local curriculums – it’s about hiring black, indigenous and people of colour too. If we truly want our future to be anti-racist, then it has to start with dismantling systems and prioritising education. In the words of Malcolm X: education is the passport to our future.
Shanu Walpita is a trend consultant and lecturer of fashion communication and innovation at the London College of Fashion.
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