It's Black History Month, otherwise known as African-American History Month: a time when we learn, recognise and appreciate the achievements and experiences of people of African and Caribbean descent. The recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and protests have been a poignant reminder to society of the challenges that BAME groups still face today. That's why we thought we would take the time, as a platform that celebrates and values diversity, to reflect on recent events. 

Reflecting on the BLM movement this Black History Month:

The Black Lives Matter movement was started back in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. This year, in 2020, BLM are promoting a new campaign, #WhatMatters2020, focusing on issues concerning racial injustice, police brutality, criminal justice reform, Black immigration, economic injustice, LGBTQIA+ and human rights, environmental injustice, access to healthcare and quality education, voting rights and suppression. This campaign comes after the recent events of police brutality against George Floyd, Jacob Blake and Breonna Taylor. The protests that followed these atrocities have meant justice for these people and sparked some change in society. For example:

• Officer Derek Chauvin who killed George Floyd was arrested and charged with second degree murder and manslaughter. The other officers involve have also been charged with aiding and abetting murder.
• Changes are beginning to appear amongst the American police force. One of the most significant being that the Minneapolis Police Department has ended its police union negotiations to instead make a “transformational” reform.
• Statues representing slave traders in the UK and confederate monuments in the USA have been torn down as part of the protests. The Edward Colston statue in Bristol in the UK has now been replaced with a statue of Black Lives Matter protestor Jen Reid.
• Big companies like Nike have been recognising and promoting the importance of BLM. They filmed and launched a video titled ‘You Can’t Stop Us’ which acknowledged the challenges faced by BAME groups within sports and the recent challenges of coronavirus on the industry. This video has now been viewed over 58 million times on YouTube.
• After the shooting of Jacob Blake, many sports professionals and athletes across the industry, joined together in protest. They held a strike, refusing to play and compete.

For us here at Challenge Social, we have been thrilled to see this awareness and the change the protests have sparked amongst the sports industry. For example, we really loved seeing the Premier League players kneeling down in respect to BLM and replacing their names on the back of their shirts with ‘Black Lives Matter’. We hope this kind of positivity, inclusivity and awareness continues and helps to stamp out racism within the sports industry. The sports community should be a place filled with diversity, not discrimination and prejudice. 

Valuing diversity on Challenge Social:

After the events of this year, we feel it is especially important to address the discrimination present in our society. Not just against BAME groups but against all minorities. Here at Challenge Social, we want to celebrate diversity and ensure everybody's voice is valued and heard.

Challenge Social is an app where you can be yourself. It’s about showing off your talents and celebrating others. It’s about diversity. Our mission when starting this company was, and still is, to bring people together on a positive platform which encourages trying new things, getting active and socialising with one another across different communities. We want everyone to feel accepted and welcome on our app. 

Challenge Social hasn’t been designed with a specific demographic or person in mind. It is for anyone and everyone. It is a place to let loose and have fun. We have a set of community guidelines to ensure our platform is a safe, supportive and welcoming space for everybody. The way we have designed the ‘Create a challenge’ process means you can create whatever kind of challenge you want. You can create a truly unique and individual challenge that shows who you really are. We hope that our users will create and partake in challenges which open them up to new things they haven’t tried before. We encourage all our users to get involved with new activities, skills and communities. You never know you might discover a new hobby or skill and make friends for life with people you never would have met otherwise. 

Our community guidelines:

To get involved on Challenge Social, you have to respect and agree to our community guidelines. One of which is a zero tolerance policy with regard to Hate Speech. We will not condone any post or challenge which promotes violence or discrimination against ethnicity, national origin, race, sexual orientation, age, disability or gender identity. Similarly, we will not tolerate promotion of violent activity including threats of any kind, any physical or mental abuse, as well as self harm or animal cruelty. Our other guidelines state that we will not permit any of the following:

• Bullying - Using Challenge Social to harass any other user. This could include uploading content of people without their permission. 
• Sexually explicit content - Sharing pornographic content of any kind. 
• Illegal content - Using Challenge Social to promote any illegal activity. 
• Dangerous content - Uploading any content that could be seen as promoting any dangerous activity which could result in another user attempting this and causing themselves, or others, harm. 
• Gambling - Using Challenge Social to facilitate gambling of any kind. Any content found to be doing this will be removed. 

We want Challenge Social to be a place where everyone can enjoy themselves and have fun, where people feel confident to share fun, creative content and participate with others in challenges. Therefore, we have these guidelines to ensure that everybody is treated equally and with respect. 

We can’t wait to see all of you engaging, connecting and sharing fun challenges with one another. See you on the app!