We Can't Celebrate Black History Month ... Until We Protect Black History
Recent attacks on Black studies curriculum, along with the banning of books, is an ominous sign of something much more dangerous and sinister at play - so we all need to step up
Publisher’s Riff
The first day of Black History Month was by no means a day of celebration. In fact, saying “Happy Black History Month” felt weird … and, for a number of reasons, wrong. Nothing feels particularly happy about it these days. Many folks watched the funeral of Tyre Nichols, an unarmed Black man brutally beating by, primarily, a gang of brainwashed Black cops (channeling KRS for a second). On the same day, the College Board - that already shady organization which administers biased test sets like the SAT and ACT - announced that it was completely gutting its AP African American studies curriculum under pressure from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) full-blown assault on Black history curriculum. Meanwhile, DeSantis continues to not only destroy Black studies throughout all Florida schools (including colleges and, yes, the major HBCU, too), but he pushes forward with statewide book bans and pretty much the end of bookshelves and public libraries in the country’s third largest state. Other Republican/white nationalist dominated states like South Carolina and Texas have also pushed forward with similar anti-Blackness blueprints in the classrooms and public spaces, and other states where the politics allow it are already sending signals of their intentions, too.
Hence, the first day of Black History Month gave us a many things to think about and some potential counter-offensives to consider. It’s not a full list, just yet, but it’s a starting point for a larger conversation …
Black people, at this moment in time, should resist the urge to celebrate Black History Month. We need to activate the new movement to, first, actually protect Black History. Notice, we leave the “Month” out intentionally because Black history and the survival of Black people in America is truly at stake at the moment. So we need to pass on the parties and the expressions of gleaming teeth salutations until we’re sure the coast is clear.
It really is that serious. If Florida gets away with it, it will happen in your state, too. DeSantis recent moves are straight out of Hitler’s very smoothly orchestrated playbook of erasure and book-bannings in Germany during the 1930s. Students of history remember how that ended up with the annihilation of more than 100 million people world wide by 1945. So, yes, when you’re familiar with the history of surgically mastered knowledge bans carried out by fascist regimes, you get a bit nervous about what comes next.
That key organizations, institutions and professional groups are capitulating to DeSantis’ demands is extremely worrying and infuriating. There’s no real push back from teachers and librarians in Florida, no acts of civil disobedience. Parents aren’t even really organizing out loud. Bad enough he just got re-elected. The colleges and universities, even famed Black universities like Florida A&M University, are just falling over. We’re hearing nothing in terms of public campaigns from Black elected officials and organizations in Florida. There’s no sign of major lawsuits being filed over this, despite clear Constitutional violations.
Where exactly are the teachers unions? They’re capitulating to all this (but, then again, the majority of teachers are white at a time when the majority of K-12 students are Black, Brown, Asian and Indigenous).
The relative silence from other communities over this is quite telling. Jewish community groups and organizations should be quite alarmed and mobilized over this considering erasure and book-burnings, precursors to a horrific Holocaust, happened in a very real and ugly way to their people in Germany … just less than 100 years ago. The revival of what was once a strong Black-Jewish alliance in the United States is sorely needed.
And, so, what do we do?
Stop vacationing in Florida. Avoid layovers in Florida airports if you can help it.
Stop non-voting and voting for Republicans. The reason DeSantis feels emboldened to do this is because he won a second-term as Governor.
Legal actions to stop this should be mounting and non-stop. Actions should be filed furiously and the counter-assault should be relentless.
Not only should the governor of Florida and his state be sued - particularly when we consider the 1st Amendment and also 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment ramifications - but, the College Board and other institutions who are complying with DeSantis demands should be sued, too.
Even though Republicans run state governments in places like Florida, that shouldn’t stop consortiums like the Florida Legislative Black Caucus from engaging in a relentless and very public legislative push that creates noise and prompts awareness.
Meanwhile: despite a pitiful political performance in 2022 when they could have retaken the Governor’s seat and plucked up a U.S. Senate seat while at it, Democrats need to come up with a counter plan to this in 2024.
Communities should lobby for Black studies curriculums in their schools if they don’t already have them, or the expansion and strengthening of those programs if they already do.
Parents and young people should stop taking College Board issued tests like the SAT - which is a revenue-generator - and others, while only applying to colleges that offer students to opt-out of SATs. Colleges that require SATs should be publicly black-listed and avoided until they comply with demands to stop associating with the College Board.
While we’re at it, it’s time to force colleges to stop accepting AP courses as credits, anyway. Why not?
Meanwhile: we need a fresh new “PROTECT BLACK HISTORY” movement in the United States. Because if we can’t even protect the curation and storage of Black history, we can’t protect Black people.
Black studies curriculum being removed from schools and institutional shelves doesn’t mean Black communities can’t organize and now form their own strong networks to revive internal community Black studies programs.
Black community and neighborhood groups need to unify, especially in impacted states, and create their own programs for constant community-directed Black studies learning.
How do Black bookstores and Black book clubs, with an emphasis and focus on Black studies, make a comeback?
This means Black churches, all Black churches, need to step up with the creation or revival of unified Black studies or Black history ministries and “Black history Sunday schools” to fill the gap. These must be structured, formal and various requirements attached to them. They must be organized in a manner whereby congregations take them extremely seriously, and young church members are required to participate as a form of contributions, tithing or church service. This issue should not be, simply, confined to preachers complaining about these recent developments in the pulpit. They need to organize their members to do something about it.
Black media also needs to get serious and get mobilized. They must be constant, ongoing messengers of the latest and relentless commanders carrying out orders for communities to follow.
So, too, must the Black entertainment industrial complex of influencers, reality show stars and entertainers who create content, art, music and other distraction material that keeps Black consumers brainwashed. Black pop-culture icons and those who command large audiences really need to get into the business of embedding these conversations into their content and activating the masses into action … versus distracting them with content that’s otherwise unproductive and regressive at a time like this. Maybe that recently announced Beyonce tour, for example, needs to make a statement by completely avoiding Florida. People who don’t understand what’s happening should start getting the message.
Lastly: this is a solvable crisis. It simply takes a mix of ceaselss advocacy, media, political and policy activity. Everyone can play a role.