Black history month provides the bare minimum
Mesa Legend
“If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world.” These were the words of Carter G. Woodson, a historian who thankfully was an early proponent of Black history awareness. It wouldn’t be until 1976, 50 years after Woodson and the ASALH (Association for the study of African American Life and History) first conceived the idea, that what we now know as Black history month was made official and recognized by the United States.
So it’s about time we ask ourselves: how has dedicating nearly 40 Februaries to the history of black people impacted our culture. First, let us consider that a month, the shortest month, has been made the only tolerable time for such remembrance.
Then, the history that gets served every time within this little window is as predictable as dinner on thanksgiving. We learn about the “black history month all-stars”. The handful of women and men who were significant during slavery or in the struggles that still existed after it. Not only is it now like that movie you’ve seen a hundred times already, but the narratives of main characters like Rosa Parks and MLK are narrow, and gives us only a cue card amount of knowledge about them.
This is why I praise and very much appreciate the film “Selma”. Its these kind of fresh historical perspectives that expose us to the crucial but valuable details that have long been blocked by the oversimplified retellings of much of black history. Today, we might forget the commemoration entirely if it wasn’t for the many corporations who use this time to appeal to black consumers. The NBA for instance, requires its players to sport “Celebrate Black history month” shooting shirts this month. It’s a cheap way to show that the NBA cares. The sentiments of two pitiful owners last year revealed that a “culture” exists within that prefer blacks be history and not around at all unless they’re available as commodities.
Black history month will only be truly valuable to us when it stretches beyond its current confinement to become more than just an ornament of integration and into a profound “factor in the thought of the world”.
