Background
My name is Ayo Adedeji, I’m a Creative born and raised in Hackney. I’m the founder of The Plain Shop, a lifestyle brand with a focus on simplicity, sustainability and inclusivity. We produce sustainable streetwear and black gifts starring our 14 uniquely designed characters.
Starting out my business, one problem that had always bothered me was the lack of positive and varied representation in the black media landscape. I felt like the media we received often treated black people as a monolith, so I set out to create characters that represented different types of black people. This was actualised in our hero product, Plain™ Decks - bespoke playing cards starring 14 black characters known as The Plain™ Royals.
In order to get my brand out there in an intuitive way I started The Plain™ Tour - a tour aiming to hold a pop-up in every borough in London. After 2 years and over 200 pop-ups across 27 of London’s 33 boroughs, I have sold over 4000 playing cards to people of all demographics, but as you can imagine, my products really resonated with black people.
This tour has given me the unique experience of speaking with thousands of black people across London, understanding their perspectives on black media, black business and naturally Black History Month.
Why Black History Month is important.
During my travels, I often heard scepticism directed at Black History Month. Some people argue that one month isn’t enough to tackle our problems or spotlight our talents, meanwhile, others have become jaded with the lack of effort that is put into celebrating and supporting our various cultures. These opinions both have their own merit and I will touch on them later in this article, but I have personally always found value in Black History Month.
Learning about Black History is important but the month should also prompt you to actively support the black community around you right now. This could be done in a myriad of ways, from consciously choosing to buy from more black-owned businesses, platforming and supporting black creatives or even learning about how race and gender intersect. This month is a yearly opportunity to regain momentum and continue pushing decision-makers to implement real and sustainable change for black people.
Does Black History Month need a fresh perspective?
Okay so with that being said, we all know Black History Month is not perfect. There are many examples of superficial celebrations that can be used for symbolism without actually making a real difference to the material conditions of black people. Menu changes in your office canteen are a nice touch but if there is no intention to help the communities of the cultures that you’re enjoying - it can come across as shallow and tokenistic.
Black History Month needs a new perspective, and it’s that we deserve more. More effort, more sincerity, more understanding. The bar has been set too low and we should no longer accept the bare minimum. Although celebrating different cultures is an important part of Black History Month, I’ll take my ankara-plaided offices and jerk wings with a side of long-term systemic and behavioural changes that empower the black community, please.
What can we do?
Now I hate it when people offer problems without solutions so it’s important to discuss tangible ways to improve our material conditions.
Advocating for pro-black programmes in your business operations is a great way to open up opportunities. For example, The Plain Shop focuses on giving back to our community by holding workshops that teach inner-city children the importance of sustainable entrepreneurship and redistributing our profits to small businesses in Nigeria every year.
Black Pound Day is also an initiative that looks to change buying habits for consumers all year round. Encouraging people to change their usual shopping destinations to local and online Black-owned businesses every first Saturday of the month.
Offering mentorship is also an amazing way to have a long-term impact on young black people. Imparting your own professional wisdom, breaking down barriers and getting young black people in the right rooms with the right people will have an immeasurably positive influence on what they see as possible. This is something I have benefited from tremendously, through the Creative Mentor Network, One Month Mentors and the Black Business Residency.
Editors note: Did you know that we also run a mentoring programme? Express your interest now and get matched with a creative professional over a 6-month period.
In closing
Black History Month is essentially a tool, and like many tools, it can be used for both good and bad. We should use it as a platform to implement change that doesn’t only affect us in October, but all year round. A time to reevaluate the way we vote, the way we hire and/or where we spend our money.
But in the same breath, it is often easily hijacked and used for nefarious means. Unless we are vigilant, those in power can use it to halt progressive efforts and replace them with cookie-cutter celebrations and surface-level conversations about “how bad things used to be for black people”. “Things” are still bad and although we have made huge strides as a race, we must remember that those strides came about through uncomfortable conversations and holding decision-makers accountable.
Author Details
Name: Ayo Adedeji
Instagram: @ayoldn / @theplainshopuk
Website: theplainshop.co.uk
Email: management@plainco.co.uk