Catalogue Number
NMLH.1991.89.23
Object Name
Badge
Title
'Fight Racism in Schools. Support NUSS'
Place
Brixton
People
National Union of School Students (NUSS), Brockwell Three, Schools Action Union (SAU)
Events
Brockwell Three arrests
Description
A white badge divided in two. The top half has red writing which says 'Fight Racism In Schools'. The bottom half has black writing which says 'Support NUSS'.
This badge was created by the National Union of School Students, a student campaign group founded in 1972 in England. They campaigned alongside the radical Communist organisation Schools Action Union (SAU) on a range of issues including banning physical punishment in schools, supporting teachers strikes for better pay, the abolition of compulsory school uniform and single sex schools, and student governance of schools. Both groups also campaigned on racial justice causes, including freeing the 'Brockwell Three' - three Black teenage schoolboys from Brixton who were violently beaten by police in Brixton, and sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly assaulting the officers who beat them. The NUSS and SAU campaigned successfully for two of the three to be released. This is considered one of the first successful direct action protests by students in the UK.
Racism still impacts students in schools in the UK today, though the scale of the problem is difficult to quantify as the Conservative government ruled in 2012 that schools had no legal duty to report racist incidents, and in 2017 further ruled that schools in England did not need to record any forms of bullying. Despite this, research in 2021 revealed 60,177 racist incidents which had been recorded by schools in the UK between 2016-2021. As there is no legal duty to record or report, and relies on school staff being aware of the bullying and recognising it as racist in nature, this number is very likely an underestimate.
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