Black History Month: Acknowledging Historic Harm to Humanize Our Future
America’s history is riddled with a history of dehumanization. Yet the story of America has sanitized all of these struggles: genocide, slavery, and racism that inform its founding. Several people groups including (but not limited to) Native American tribes, Irish Americans, and interned Japanese citizens have experienced dehumanization throughout American history, but it is individual and systemic racism faced by Black Americans that have shaped our urban areas, foundationally directed investment inequitably, and remain some of most pervasive threats on our society today.
The Genesis of Black History Month
With this understanding, Carter G. Woodson first proposed a black history week in 1927 that encompassed the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The effort was sought to engage elementary schools to get a more accurate and expansive view of history after the 50th anniversary of the passage of the thirteenth amendment. After recognition and action across the country with the emergence of the civil rights movement, President Gerald Ford first recognized Black History Month in 1976, the year of the bicentennial.
Why Black History Month
Black History Month itself is an act of resistance. It is a fight for historical truth. It is a fight to inform the public of the challenges we face today. It is a light that calls attention to the American consciousness as we struggle to recognize and address our own dehumanizing past.
The Importance of Black History Month in 2023
Today, several states are passing laws that ban ‘Critical Race Theory’ from being taught in schools. CRT is the framework that racism is part of everyday life, that impacts outcomes of the criminal justice system, investment in public services, and the behavior of all people—white or nonwhite—who don’t intend to be racist but can perpetuate systemic racism by their choices. The banning of Critical Race Theory in schools is the most recent attempt in a long struggle to silence the present-day impact our history has on our American society.
Where Do We Begin?
There is good news. Across the country, many Confederate monuments erected during the civil rights movement have been removed in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. There is a desire to address the deeply pervasive and elusive problem of racism. There is a push to incorporate DEI into our workplaces, even if many of us are not even sure what that means. But where do we begin?
Our Foundational Path Forward
As a foundational practice, the country as a whole needs to acknowledge its dehumanizing past, and its impacts on the present, in order to move forward toward a more equitable, loving and healthy future. Without a shared and honest understanding, we resist addressing the original sin of dehumanization that persists today.
This reality begs for each of us to ask ourselves a series of questions: Do we fully understand the impact of genocide, slavery, and racism on American society? If not, what should we do to address this gap in knowledge? Do we close ourselves off from this challenge because we have not directly experienced the degree of racism and violence that we see in the media? If so, what mindsets need to shift so that we can be more open and empathetic to those who do directly experience racisim and violence?
How Will You Honor Black History Month?
This Black History Month, we need to open our hearts and minds to embrace our full history. We need to learn and take responsibility for how we perpetuate historical harm, even if it is not intended. When the default is dehumanization, we actively need to rehumanize ourselves in all of our community spaces; our families, social circles, and workplaces.
