Steve Watson – modernity.news Oct 12, 2026
The National Trust in the UK has decided that five-year-olds need lessons in the Black Power salute before they can bake cookies at one of its properties.
At Morden Hall Park in South London, a Black History Month workshop for children aged five to 12 will teach the “inspiring story” of American Olympic athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos and their 1968 Mexico City podium gesture, then have the kids make “Olympic Gold Cookies.”
Critics have charged that this is pure political theatre inserted into a children’s baking session at a heritage charity whose actual job is preserving Britain’s historic places. The only tenuous link between Morden Hall Park and the subject is that a former owner’s business processed snuff. Campaigners call the connection highly contrived.
Fury over National Trust’s ‘ultra-woke’ plans to teach children aged 5 about Black Power… in cookie baking workshops https://t.co/mtGT6CXGgc
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) October 12, 2026
Cornelia van der Poll of the campaign group Restore Trust put it plainly: “Teaching children about a Black Power salute is not relevant to this particular property and it’s not relevant to what the National Trust does.”
She added that emphasising the political “short-changes children on the actual relevant history” and that the Trust is “telling people of African descent that this is particularly relevant to them, assigning them victim status. It is treating black people as a group rather than as individuals who might be interested in the historic properties.”
Historian Andrew Roberts was blunter still, calling it “sad, pathetic but wholly predictable” that the charity “won’t even let five-year-olds bake cakes on their premises without taking the opportunity to force Left-wing propaganda down their throats.”
An unnamed National Trust member simply observed that the organisation should let the kids bake and teach them about the property instead of Black Power.
THE National Trust has sparked renewed uproar by announcing ‘ultra-woke’ plans to teach children as young as five about the controversial Black Power salute – during a baking workshop. We are nothing more than an international embarrassment in this country Who’s playing for this
— JP-ExileinDerry (@UkandNIbackup) October 11, 2026
A National Trust spokesman responded that the charity provides “opportunities for people of all ages to explore the people, events and ideas that have shaped history and the world we live in today,” noting that Black History Month activities cover 18th- to 20th-century history and that visitors can hear about the 1968 Olympics.
This fits a wider pattern at the National Trust itself. Its director-general, Hilary McGrady, has claimed ethnic minorities do not feel comfortable in Britain’s countryside because they “don’t know what to wear” or the countryside code, and that it is not culturally part of their experience.
Defra-commissioned reports have described national parks as an “exclusive, mainly white, mainly middle-class club” and a “white space.”
https://modernity.news/2026/03/24/the-countryside-is-still-racist/
The Wildlife and Countryside Link, which includes the National Trust, has called the countryside a “racist colonial” white space “governed by white British cultural values.”
Meanwhile, the Trust has hosted Muslim-only Ramadan walks and retreats in the Peak District, and groups such as Peaks of Colour organise people-of-colour-only hikes framed as reclaiming space. A ‘whites-only’ equivalent would trigger police inquiries and hate-incident reports.
https://modernity.news/2026/08/26/imagine-a-whites-only-hike-through-the-countryside/
The pattern is familiar. British institutions have spent years inserting contested political frameworks into childhood spaces while claiming it is merely education.
Schools have taught pupils as young as seven that black people cannot be racist toward white people because “racism is racial prejudice plus power” and “in the UK, white people hold the cultural power.” White children are told they are likely privileged by skin colour and must monitor their language and report incidents.
Universities have required students to complete race equity training that asks them about their awareness of white privilege and how it affects others.
https://modernity.news/2026/09/17/students-in-uk-ordered-to-undertake-white-privilege-training/
Cambridge colleges have mandated inclusivity sessions whose materials state that free speech should be restricted by other duties and obligations.
https://modernity.news/2026/10/02/cambridge-university-declares-free-speech-should-be-restricted/
Other universities have moved to replace the term “ethnic minority” with “racialised minority” and “global majority,” treating longstanding descriptive language as offensive.
https://modernity.news/2026/10/04/universities-declare-the-term-ethnic-minority-is-offensive/
Taxpayers have been directed to fund an Islamic primary school that requires girls from the age of seven to wear the hijab.
https://modernity.news/2026/09/01/uk-government-to-fund-school-forcing-seven-year-olds-into-hijabs/
Government guidance has encouraged schools to monitor and report “anti-Muslim hostility.”
At a residential summer camp in the Peak District, British youth were led in chants including “our country is an Arab country.”
These are not isolated incidents. They form a consistent approach in which institutions treat childhood as a vehicle for political messaging while academic standards and historical accuracy take secondary place.
The same pattern appears in American schools, where teachers have repeatedly warned that large numbers of children leave classrooms without basic proficiency in reading and maths, passed along year after year while curriculum time is spent on identity frameworks instead of core skills. Parents on both sides of the Atlantic watch institutions capture the time and attention of their children and then act surprised when outcomes deteriorate.
https://modernity.news/2026/10/12/its-the-parents-2/
When heritage bodies, schools, and universities repeatedly insert contested political narratives into activities aimed at young children, the decision of whether to participate, fund, or ignore falls on parents.
Restore Trust has argued for years that the National Trust should return to its core purpose of looking after historic places rather than pursuing political campaigns.
Childhood is short. Institutions that treat it as an opportunity for ideological instruction rather than for teaching skills, history, or simple enjoyment are making a choice. Parents who continue to send children into those environments without objection are making one too.
The National Trust’s baking workshop is a small, clear example of a larger habit. Reversing it begins with people refusing to treat the capture of children’s activities as normal.
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