On Black History Month

Every year, I struggle with the concept of Black History Month.

Intellectually, I understand the need for it. It is true that in THIS country, a lot of the accomplishments of the descendants of slaves (my preferred term) have been underrepresented in some of the traditional oral and written histories of how the country came to be.

Functionally, I’m not sure that donating a month to a very poorly defined concept of ANY sort of history is the best way to get those accomplishments added to the tradition.

In theory, it would seem that the “point” of black history month should be to further the inclusion of those accomplishments into mainstream history.

But somehow, the month has come to be something entirely different.

In my experience, it’s always turned into a rehash of the same few stories as a detached alternate griot-styled retelling of a few key events. This has managed to turn into an exercise that has become both counterproductive, and unfortunately, in MY opinion, actually detrimental to any sort of improvement in the inevitable daily interaction between the descendants of slaves and “everybody else” who lives in America.

WHAT THE UNITED STATES NEEDS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE TO IMPROVE RACE RELATIONS IS A CONVERSATION.

There are some VERY legitimate questions, AND answers from BOTH SIDES that can only come from one of the knock-down, drag-out discussions where you leave bloody, but hugging.

The whole thing reminds me of those days in a relationship where you both know it’s close to being “over,” but nobody wants to put the issues on the table. There obviously ARE issues. That’s why you can’t sleep at night.

But facing an issue usually means that someone is going to lose face. And nobody wants to be the one. And one day, you get fed up enough to either propose marriage, or propose divorce.

Sadly, as two groups—people with black skins who live in America, and people with white skins who live in America ARE married, and have been fucking … in the sense that our futures are inextricably linked … for centuries now.

We are tied together culturally, economically, socially, religiously, linguistically, politically, psychologically, ecologically, nationally, legally, and increasingly internationally.

If that’s not a marriage, I don’t know what is.

At some point in my life, I became “the black guy.”

Even in a room with more than the usual quota of dark-skinned people, I seem to be the one that white people with race questions feel comfortable enough to ask. It’s a mantle that has never bothered me.

I grew up in the Midwest, and have always spent a significant part of my life in integrated environments, even if I was the element that earned them that definition.

I don’t have an individual chip on my shoulder about my ethnicity. I believe that I am associated with a collective of people that have virtually equal amounts of excellence and repulsiveness in our midst. Further, I believe that in America, most descendents of African slaves are pretty firmly planted in the middle.

I DO believe that ignorance, hate, racism, and discrimination exist. I believe that they sometimes live together, but can accept that often they are exclusive of each other.

I do NOT believe that every person who doesn’t like ME, dislikes me because of the color of my skin. Some do, and its ok … I don’t like everybody, either.

So here’s what I say to you, black AND white, as another “Black History Month” begins … ask your question. Get an answer. Meet. Talk. Decide. Find "the black guy/chic" or "the white guy/chic" in YOUR world, and engage them in a conversation that matters.

If there's no one in your universe that will field your question---bring it here. I believe EVERY question has SOME legitimate response.

I’ve quoted George Santayana in this space before. His comment is one of the most versatile and important sentences ever uttered…

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

I’m a history buff. I BELIEVE in looking at history for clues to tell me what will happen next.

Here’s what I see, from fairly RECENT history about the possibilities for US.

1. Shiites and Sunnis
2. Serbs and Croats
3. Hutus and Tutsis

All are/were “separate” groups that lived in the same space. In each case, their co-existence was something held together for long periods of time by external forces, sometimes national ones. And when that external force was removed, the VERY FIRST MATCH lit a fire that destroyed, or seriously incapacitated their societies.

I don’t want that for ANY of us.

We have a complicated past, and a potentially stellar future. One won’t change, the other … could.

Peace,
--Stew.