2. Statement by the First Minister: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 11:15 am on 10 June 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 11:15, 10 June 2020

I thank Adam Price again. He's right to point to the wide range of museums that we have in Wales, including a new football museum as a result of an agreement between his party and the Government earlier in this Senedd term. I'm very happy to look at a museum of the sort he describes. I'd really want it to be a living museum. I've had the privilege on a number of occasions in recent times of helping award recognition to young people from the black community as part of Black History Month, and the message I try and convey to them in that event is that they are creating their history today. The history doesn't belong to the past; history is something we are all engaged in producing ourselves and that they have agency themselves as hugely talented and valued young black people here in Wales. So, I'm very happy to commit to looking at it, but I do very much want it to be a part of celebrating contemporary Wales, the contribution that black communities make, the way that they shape Wales into the future, as well as looking at their experience in shaping Wales in the past.

And as far as teaching in schools is concerned, Adam Price will be very aware of how recent events have shone a spotlight on this whole subject. I know that my colleague Kirsty Williams will be wanting to work again with those who have been advising us on the new curriculum, on the way that it is to be developed and delivered to make sure that we are capturing the lessons of the past few weeks. I think this is a matter for every school in Wales. Whatever the local make-up of a population might be, it is just as important for children, where black communities have been less present, to understand that history as it is for young people who are part of that community themselves.