Black History Month 2016 occurs in the midst of a White supremacy, right-wing uprising against the African American community and people of color. This uprising is countrywide and includes the constant violence of the state including police killings of Black people and the poisoning of a Black majority city. It also includes the rise in vigilante attacks, the assault on voting rights and the disenfranchisement of Black communities through state takeovers of local governments. It is the erasure of the great atrocity of slavery from public education and countless other attempts to suppress the progress and power of Black people. Under the banner of “taking our country back” or “making America great again” and other coded phrases, this uprising is propagated by public officials, public personalities and private organizations. It is an attempt to stop the future in the same way the antebellum south sent hundreds of thousands to die in the Civil War to delay the end of slavery.
The African American local and national community response to this contemporary violent uprising has been the eruption of Black protests, organizing and struggle seen in cities and on college campuses across the United States. As a response came the emergence of Black Lives Matter and other movements and the reinvigoration of veteran organizations and activists. It is also stirred a new generation to take their place on the front lines of our long struggle for freedom.
Black history and culture have a legacy of resistance and assertion. We have always resisted our oppression and asserted our humanity. Not one generation of enslaved Black people in the United States believed slavery was their destiny. It was understood as a condition that would be ended one day. Each generation passed on the knowing, “If not me, my children. If not my children, their children. If not their children, then their children…but one day we will be free.” It sustained us, kept us alive and moving forward for three and a half centuries. Contrary to the lies that have been told, it was never a passive idea in our community. It was always understood that freedom had to be fought for and won. Oppression had to be resisted and our humanity had to be asserted by our own dignity, our own struggle and commitment to live as free human beings.
This is the legacy bequeathed by every generation that preceded us. It is from that legacy that we draw our strength, our resilience, our courage and commitment to fight. It is from that legacy that the great historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson led the establishment of Negro History Week in 1926 (officially becoming Black History Month in 1976) to resist the denial of Black contribution to the world and to assert our genius. Black history is a history of resistance and assertion.
“We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements.” Dr. Carter G. Woodson
–dr. michael simanga
Now is the time! is a column by Dr. Michael Simanga
