UN International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination

On March 19th, 2021, Dr Valda Harris Montgomery from Alabama was the special guest for an event opened by Lord Charles Shuttleworth, Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire (below) to mark the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The event was staged by Heartstone in partnership with the Preston & West Lancashire Racial Equality and Diversity Council with special guests associated with the Rosa Parks Museum, Alabama.

The event was also the STAR (Stand Together Against Racism) event for PWLREDC and Lord Shuttleworth spoke of his similarly opening that programme when it took shape three years earlier:

‘It showed just how much this County’s diverse population has in common – multiracial but with shared heritage, both cultural and historical…’

He welcomed the special guests, and particularly Dr Valda Harris Montgomery, from Alabama, and introduced The Heartstone Odyssey and its role in Story Circles, running in Preston and Burnley, He announced the first Heartstone Odyssey Book Festival to take shape at the end of the year, and the support of UCLan digital animation department and initial development towards big/small screen. He also acknowledged the support of Michael Conlon, Catherine Penny – former High Sheriff, Edwin Booth – current High Sheriff, Deputy Lieutenants Ishwer Tailor, Dennis Mendoros, Robert Webb, David Sanderson, Carl Hankinsson, Suzana Edwards, and the Trustees of the Fort Foundation, and the Shepherd Street Trust, all of whom have helped to bring the funding necessary.

Veronica Afrin, Chair of PWLREDC, highlighted the value the organisation places on educating the next generation about the need to challenge prejudice and intolerance and therefore the reason why they supported the development of Heartstone Story Circles in the County.

Cllr. Matthew Brown, Leader of Preston City Council (below) explained how the STAR events were started by Veronica Afrin, Faruk Desai and several others in 2014 with the purpose of challenging racism and changing hearts and minds.

It started with a concert involving Muslim artists followed by a Jewish artist and then others, including schools. He highlighted the importance of reaching young minds to inspire them and help them to challenge racism, other forms of discrimination and inequality, the value Preston places on having a ‘live and let live’ feel and the need for everyone to come together to stand against hate and learn from each other and thus the reason for supporting the Heartstone programme in Preston.

Sitakumari (right) then followed with an introduction to The Heartstone Odyssey, the story at the centre of Heartstone Story Circles, which would provide the linking thread to all the contributors for this event. The story of Chandra, the heroine of the story, and her facing the loss of her performance, due to racist threats, provided an appropriate start for what was to follow.

Ann Clemons (left) who is one of Rosa Parks Museum’s eminent presenters, then gave an introduction to Dr Valda Harris Montgomery, someone she knows well, and the role she played in the Civil Rights Movement of the southern United States. She explained Dr Montgomery’s father was a pharmacist, one of the oldest black pharmacies in Alabama, He was also a Tuskegee Airman, the young men who fought intense racial prejudice in 1940’s America who win their right to fly aircraft and went on to excel in this role in the Second World War against Nazi Germany. .The family opened their home as a ‘safe haven’ for many of the civil rights meetings with the most prominent leaders, and they therefore played a significant role in the Movement.

So, what was to follow from Valda (left) was a unique personal recollection of growing up and being part of a historic period of time and being close to Martin Luther King. Her family were next door neighbours to the King family. She lived through what others have seen in the movies, heard and read about, and she spoke about this and how at the time, none of them knew they were making history! It was an inspirational presentation, events which shaped her life.

Now, it was time to go further back into history and back to Lancashire. Sitakumari presented the story of Sailvoyage Stonekeeper from The Heartstone Odyssey and his arrival in Preston and Lancashire in 1819, which provided the foundation for James Arnold (right), historian and curator with The Harris Museum, to select and present several objects that Sailoyage would have seen. This allowed him to present a different, less well known, side to history – history told from Sailvoyage’s perspective, a mouse arriving from India when it was under British rule, the period of European colonial expansion but also the period of the Industrial Revolution and the development of the first cotton mills in Lancashire and thus the connection with slavery.

One of the objects presented by James was the painting above, of an aristocratic Lancashire gentleman, his pose in front of a slain tiger at his feet, with Indian servants on either side and standing in front of an elephant. How would Sailvoyage have felt when he saw this was the question James raised, providing an insight into the attitudes of the time.

Having opened with the present, recent past and then distant past, the last part of the event was all about the future, and focused on the work of the children in Story Circles in Preston and Burnley. This was presented by Performing Arts students at Liverpool Hope Uni led by Dr Rachel Sweeney. The University has been a longterm partner with Heartstone with successive generations of students training with Sitakumari and delivering workshops for Story Circles.

We haven’t got enough space to present all the work that was sent in for this event, but here are just a few examples of what has been produced and presented at the event, the feelings and hopes of all the children who have been part of Story Circles in Lancashire. There are 6 Story Circle schools participating in Preston, artwork sent in from Fishwick Primary and Deepdale Primary below, and 10 Story Circles in Burnley, work below from Shuttleworth College.

Rebecca Roach, leading the Story Circle at Shuttleworth College in Burnley who had contributed the work for the event said:

At Shuttleworth College eighty-five students in Year 7 are reading “The Heartstone Odyssey” in three different classes. Both staff and students alike have thoroughly enjoyed the narrative so far, both in terms of reading for pleasure but also through discussing Chandra’s story and the relevant issues it raises. Students have said, “Our attention was hooked at the start when Chandra’s dance was cancelled,” and, “We think Hugbundle is Chandra’s spirit animal who reflects her emotions.” We can’t wait to read more!

The event was closed by Cllr Nweeda Khan, pictured below, Cabinet Member for Communities and Social Justice, Preston City Council, who provided the initial introduction to the City and PWLREDC, helped recruit the initial groups, bring the funding needed and from which everything has since followed, making the County now a major national centre for this project with involvement of schools, communities, University of Central Lancashire and The Harris Museum.

All are looking forward to further collaboration with Rosa Parks Museum in Alabama and all those associated with them.