It’s February and that means my son-in-law, who is African American and a spoken word poet, is booked solid with school appearances. He’ll share Black History through his poetry and hope these words will alter attitudes of mind, heart and spirit. By the end of February he will be exhausted, but he’ll have a year to recuperate.
Dr. Carl G. Woodson single handedly started “Negro History Week” in 1926. He chose a week in mid February because it was the birth month of two individuals significant to the change of life conditions for African Americans: Abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln. It began as a week and expanded to a month because there is so much to tell. Woodson was a historian and inaugurated it because it's important for people to know their contribution to humanity. He hoped it would outlive its usefulness. Woodson was an optimist. But then he would have to be to have been born of slave parents and end up with a doctorate from Harvard.
Eighty-six years later it is still needed because it’s never been taken seriously by everyone and by that I refer mostly to white people who believe it is not our history.
When whites discuss American slavery someone will point to the barbarism of other cultures including African and that Africans sold Africans. All true. But what was unique and devastating about American slavery is rarely considered. In America ill conceived science and the Bible were used to not only justify it but to prove Blacks were not fully human. Slavery ended but those ideas were not retracted and continued to be taught and assumed for generations. It's why when I was in college there were girls from small rural towns who believed Blacks grew tails at midnight. They heard that all their lives and never questioned it.
We know what happens in a family when horrific abuse is committed and no one acknowledges it or gets counseling. Refusing to talk about it or minimizing the damage doesn't make it disappear. It effects every family member...the abused and the abuser and the ones on the perimeter. Some escape and find their own way to heal. But not everyone has that fortitude or even understands how sick they are.
I think whites are still ashamed and believe if we were black we'd hate us for what was done. That's something we need to get over. It is time to take that unflinching look at what happened, understand the impact, and begin the process of reconciliation.
I hoped we were coming to the point Dr. Woodson envisioned and could eliminate Black History Month because we were ready to be truthful. But last year a conservative group in Texas forced through changes in textbooks to portray slavery in a more positive light and this year the Tennessee Tea Party renewed an effort to remove slavery references and mention of the country's forefathers being slave owners.
We need to fight ignorance with knowledge. That is why it is important for whites embrace Black History. Whites need to call other whites on the lies.
That anyone survived the horrors of slavery is amazing. If whites can thrill at the accomplishments of black athletes and share in their victory and wear the T shirts, why can't we feel proud of Black Americans who survived slavery? And cheer those who have became successful despite institutionalized racism?
Fellow white folks, it’s February. Check your TV guide and watch a reality show that will restore your faith in the human spirit.
And then tell everyone.
***********************************************************
This link will most likely upset you (I hope):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/tea-party-tennessee-textbooks-slavery_n_1224157.html
This one, "Be the healing", will inspire:
Photo: Getty Images
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
jlsathre
Survivant
Ted Zeppelin
V.Corso
jmac1949
PatienceP
Salon.com
Comments
▄▀▄▀▄
▀▄─▄▀
──▀ ♡❀Լ♡Ɣخ❀Լ♡Ɣخ❀Լ♡Ɣخ❀
What a load of crap. Let me remind you that no a single white or black person has any personal experience with slavery. Sure it is a part of the Country’s ugly past but so are a lot of ugly crimes in our past. Furthermore, I don’t “accept” black anger towards whites any more than I accept white anger towards blacks.
If anything, your treatment of black history month as some kind of pay-off of “karmic debt” perpetuates the racism you claim to abhor. It’s the reason a lot of white and black people refer to Martin Luther King Day as not a day of remembrance but as "annual hate white people day" and February as "annual hate white people month".
But we also need to move on too. We must celebrate the progress that was made. It can become a copout to get stuck in the victim role. A victim is never responsible for anything and can always blame his problems on someone else. I see a constant obsession with this in some areas, and an unwillingnesss to grow and change.
The new reality is that this is a multiracial society now, and that no one group will dominate. Being a traditional minority at the moment also has its benefits. Whites can and are now victims of discrimination. A true progressive vision will include all people as victims and victimizers.
Lezlie
Black history has to be integrated into US history. It's actually a useful lesson about how majority rule and compromise can perpetuate a gross wrong. About the forces that preserve the status quo and try to justify it as right. I think there are plenty of parallels in the modern day.
We all have blind spots with regard to racial misunderstanding, stereotype, and bias. Blind spots don’t equal a racist, but they can bring about a painful experience for someone else. For me, the original sin concept doesn’t mean I must accept a racist identity. It means I have a lifelong responsibility to cultivate actions and views committed to equal experience. It means acknowledgment of the reality of my white privilege. It means listening. It means practicing and maintaining awareness. It means being of service to those who got an unfair deal. Teaching is a good place for that, so I'm lucky.
Greenheron never mentioned the word segregation, his comments were about slavery. But just the same, if you want Black History Month to be about making white people feel “ashamed”, then you are also perpetuating racism in this country.
Also perpetuating racism in this country is quoting a presidential candidate but failing to finish the rest of his sentence; “…by giving them somebody else's money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn money”. To be sure, it’s a statement Santorum regrets, but your shameless effort to play the race card is more evidence that you are the racist in the room. Or take L in the Southeast, she thinks whites are handing down their racist predisposition towards blacks. Its people like you, Greenheron and Southeast that belittle black history month, souring what would otherwise be an educational month and turning it into “annual hate white people month”.
2. Lezlie is a woman of mixed race.
3. Desnee, whose smart thoughtful voice is a new one to me, is apparently a woman of color, and an activist.
4. I am honored and delighted that you linked my name with theirs. Thank you, Johnny!
I commented on this blog because I took offense to Greenheron stating that I should feel “ashamed”, have “karmic debt”, and “accept” black anger by virtue of being white. Sure some white people are taught to be racist, just like some black people are taught to be racist. What you call “persistent” racism I see as a white population far different than the white population of the past. Have you noticed the skin color of the President?
Desnee:
Santorum speaks for a very small part of the Republican electorate. Having said that, what he said is factually correct. As a percent of total population, blacks are far more likely to be dependent on welfare as well as other Government programs intended for poor Americans. Santorum is right to want to give them the opportunity to provide for themselves. Or did you conveniently choose to forget about the second half of his sentence? One final question, do you agree with Greenheron or not?
I read the Huffington Post article and it seemed the focus of that conservative party was about the reputation of that county's founding fathers, not slavery. The removal of info on slave owners was secondary, along with separation of church and state and the definition change of the US as a republic vs. democracy. The slavery bit didn't seem to be their objective.
There were great feelings and heart in your blog, Sharon, it's obvious this topic is important to you, great job!
But while emotions and feelings are a good thing, it's also a good thing to be objective and unified...with unity we can move forward.
I'm presently engrossed in the book 'The Help,' which astutely covers the history of race. It took me a long time to realise history is important in helping us understand ourselves and others and a necessary part of moving forward for the better.
Equality and racism are continuous battles, which need addressing by everyone.
Thank you, Sharon, for this post and for the links. Both evoked the effect you hoped for.
R♥
I rest my case. Enjoy hate white people month.
When I was a teacher in LA's South Central, every home room period public announcement had a segment about Black History Month. I didn't mind too much, but it annoyed me a little. Finally, I told a black teacher that they should have a White History Month to honor great white people like Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin, Al Capone, and John Wayne Gacy.
Because when you want a sociopathic serial killer or genocide commiter, nothing beats a white man.
"But last year a conservative group in Texas forced through changes in textbooks to portray slavery in a more positive light and this year the Tennessee Tea Party renewed an effort to remove slavery references and mention of the country's forefathers being slave owners."
Isn't there some famous quote that says to forget history is to have it repeat itself. Do you think that's what the Tea Partyers are hoping for in the long run?
Why dont you research where you are all from, and take a good look at where YOU are from. Because we all come from somewhere, and If you think you are born american blood, then you are claiming to be native american then you can hang youselves, and put the fire water to the flames. How would you feel if you child was murdered for his race? Its the hate you bred into the innocent.. and there will be a repercussion of that. It called God.
We need to work hard to overcome that ugly inertia of white fear and dishonesty. How do we gain some kind of appreciation of what the true toll of three centuries of systemic torture might be, over three centuries of the cumulative psychological pain of not being allowed the privileges and joys of full humanity in the eyes of society, and over three centuries of the cumulative opportunity costs of systemic denial of economic rights and educational rights?
Even when a black man becomes President of the United States, he doesn't receive the respect he deserves for his extraordinary accomplishments, he doesn't receive the same respect that white Presidents have been accorded in the past, even by their political rivals.
Too many whites want to pretend it's all over, that we've severed ourselves from the past and we can pretend it never happened. That seems totally wrong to me.