Fear of a Black Narrative

Typically, I post an acknowledgement of Black History Month at the end of February, but this year, circumstances dictate that I write about this topic now, as Alabama school officials receive complaints about Black History Month:

People in Alabama are calling the superintendent of schools and complaining that Black History Month is Critical Race Theory pic.twitter.com/46q7RGP324

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 3, 2022

The mere fact that a Black History Month is necessary is monstrous... Black History is American History, the nation was built using unremunerated labor performed by enslaved persons of African descent.  From the 1600s to the 1900s, unpaid Black workers toiled to build the infrastructure of the continent, and to line the pockets of wealthy White men, quite a few of whom professed lofty ideals about individual liberties.  Slavery was ubiquitous in the colonies and the states, and while the economics of slavery in the North were different than the economics of Southern slavery, fortunes were made throughout North America using unpaid Black workers.

Even after the abolition of slavery, Black labor was exploited through sharecropping, debt peonage, and other exploitative economic chicanery.  When Black communities became successful, they were often obliterated... such towns as Wilmington, NC, the Greenwood district of Tulsa, OK, and yes, Seneca Village on the island of Manhattan were destroyed by hostile whites.  Any lack of generational wealth is the Black community has been caused by White pathologies, not Black pathologies.

I would also posit that Black Americans are more authentically 'American' than White Americans- they had to create a culture on American soil because their original cultural identity was destroyed, and numerous African ethnic groups had to piece together a syncretic Black culture in a New World.  Black American Culture has a particular genius- producing Jazz, Blues, R&B, Rock-and/or-Roll, and Hip-Hop.  Predictably, White people also appropriated these cultural achievements.

Throughout American history, the dominant White culture has sought to erase or denigrate the achievements of Black Americans.  Successful Black individuals were often targeted by violent mobs, as were successful Black neighborhoods.  Black cultural forms were ridiculed by White pundits, then appropriated by White performers.   Black History Month, the shortest month of the year, was formed as a corrective to this erasure and devaluation... it's really not enough, Black History is American history and should be integrated into the national narrative.  There's nothing that mediocre White people fear more than an acknowledgment of Black excellence.

Post title is a riff on the classic Public Enemy album title.