What it Takes to Truly Honor Black History Month.
As a student of Law and Society, I’ve learned a thing or two about the ways in which seemingly benign laws and social norms are actually quite harmful to populations who live oppressed.
As a student of Communication and Rhetoric, I’ve learned to pay attention to the words people choose to speak — and those they choose to leave unspoken.
The wide-open spaces between our words and the actions we choose to take in reaction to them are often the places where harm is allowed to flourish.
In the silence of those in-between spaces lies our complicity with society’s institutions and practices.
And in our complicity lies our choice.
Can You Hear What They’re Saying?
Organizations devoted to teaching us about Black History Month often use language that erroneously relegates racism and all of its manifestations to relics of the past, as if they aren’t something Black people still contend with in America on a daily basis:
“[We pay] tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society,” says blackhistorymonth.gov.
Let’s take a moment to unpack this statement.
Struggled. Choosing to phrase this word in past tense suggests the Black struggle is over, that all struggles mysteriously disappeared in a benevolent fashion during some undisclosed timeframe (I’m guessing they mean in the aftermath of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X’s untimely demises when the Civil Rights Movement ostensibly erased all of our stubbornly ingrained racist beliefs and practices).
Adversity. This word implies simple misfortune. Bad luck. The wrong place at the wrong time. All of these attributes are fundamentally flawed when it comes to telling the truth about being Black in America (and as a white woman I’m certainly not going to pretend to be the one who has a right to tell that story).
Relegating how we’ve chosen — over and over again — various iterations of slavery as a means of economic gain, and prison as a favored form of spatial control, to a type of adversity implies these are things Black people just need to work harder to overcome.
But the hardest work in the world will never beat a system functioning exactly as it was intended: To keep one segment of the population at the top of the economic ladder, and others at the bottom. And to make the choice of who gets to belong to which segment based almost entirely on the color of someone’s skin.
Full Citizenship?
“Citizenship is the common thread that connects all Americans. We are a nation bound not by race or religion, but by the shared values of freedom, liberty, and equality.”
~ U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Full citizenship consists of the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness1. Some of us believe every U.S. citizen does, in fact, have this right, and that not pursuing it is a personal choice.
Others of us have learned — through our own life experiences or by listening to the lived experiences of others — that an outsized percentage of Black and brown people in America are not allowed to pursue this right: They are not always allowed the freedom to express themselves. Those awaiting trials are not allowed a speedy and fair one. Many are not allowed the means that secure their right to vote.
Has full citizenship, with its promise of freedom, liberty, and equality, truly been achieved when Black boys and girls are gunned down in the street and in their homes by both police and their fellow citizens? How can the claim of full citizenship attained be true when, in America, 1 out of every 3 Black men and 1 out of every 18 Black women2 will spend some portion of their life caged behind bars?
These things are happening, right now, on our watch.
This is why we need to pay attention to Black History Month. And this is why it needs to be much more than just changing our profile pics to a raised fist of solidarity or using a hashtag for a few weeks.
It’s Not Just a Month. It’s a Movement.
This is where what I call The Work comes into play.
Our Work, all of us, is to constantly question the thoughts we have — the ideas and beliefs we “know” to be true — and seek to find the answers we haven’t yet been told.
When it comes to Black History Month, we can ask:
- What don’t I know about why this movement came into existence? Who were its founders? Who is creating the narratives about it today?
- How do different groups of citizens talk about Black History Month? What are the words they’re using? Are they supportive or dismissive? Why might that be?
- What are my beliefs surrounding ideas of racism? When did these beliefs first begin?
- What was my first encounter with the idea of “race?” Was that experience something I labeled as negative, positive, or neutral? How has that experience shaped my relationship with race today?
Our nation is in a state of fragility. Certain factions seek to exploit fear and division to cement their hold on power. Our job as responsible citizens and thoughtful humans is to ask these questions of ourselves and others to ensure that doesn’t happen.
By asking genuinely curious questions, we forge connections over the chasms that divide us.
Genuinely curious questions just might save us all.
Let’s commit right now to spending Black History Month remembering that “history” is often told through the voices of the powerful. Let’s commit to seeking out the voices of all those who identify as Black to hear the perspectives, struggles, celebrations, and stories that make up these human lives.
Let’s foster connection rather than furthering our self-created divisions. Let’s uplift and unite.
How will you celebrate Black History Month?
How will you continue this celebration long after February has ended?
1 “Should I Consider U.S. Citizenship?” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, n.d.
2 “Criminal Justice Facts.” Sentencing Project, 2022.