Black History

It is strange that as a black person I struggled a bit writing about black history month. Yes, I said it and please do not come for my head before you read this through and really understand my point of view.

You see, I did not grow up with black history month. It was not even a concept to me. I learned of it when I moved here in the USA. Then, I became puzzled by the need to have a month for black history. I mean what does it really entail?

Furthermore, I had found it quite misleading and frankly extremely reductive. How can the history of such a diverse group of people be reduced in one single month? And the shortest one at that! There is so much to learn, so much to talk about.

A neglected history

For example, shouldn’t we talk about Toussaint Louverture, the political and strategist genius behind the Haitian independence in the late 1700’s.

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What about Alexander Pushkin, a black Russian, known as the father of Russian literature.

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Alessandro de medici whose mother was black, became the ruler of Florence in the 1500’s.

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What of Anton Whilhelm Amo, a black German philosopher in the 1700’s. Charles Ignatus Sancho who was a black abolitionist, writer and composer in 1700 England. What of Chevalier de saint George, famous black French composer in the 1700’s. Benjamin Banneker, an African American scientist in the 1700. Malik Ambar, who is a Siddis -African people who settled in India- and who was a military leader and prime minister of the Deccan region in India.

What of the great Mansa Musa, credited with establishing library and University in Timbuktu, Mali. He also initiated extensive building projects in Mali from palaces, Mosques and urban developments. To this day, he is recognized as the wealthiest man of all time.

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What of the achievement of blacks in Africa , like the wall of Benin referred to as the single largest archeological phenomena on the planet. In medieval Africa, mosquitoes were already identified as the cause of malaria, cataract surgery was common and they knew of the danger of tobacco smoking. In 1285, the largest hospital of the Middle Ages and pre-modern era was built in Cairo, Egypt, by Sultan Qalaun al-Mansur. Treatment was given for free to patients of all backgrounds, regardless of gender, ethnicity or income. Tetracycline was being used by Nubians, based on bone remains between 350 AD and 550 AD. What of  the Africans in ancient Greek and Roman time and their contribution and the black samurai Yasuke, in Japan. What of the blacks in South America? Really, blacks have been all over the planet and have achieved great things! And a mere month is all we get?

The reason for the month

But, I started to understand the reason for the month. I was perplexed and quite offended when I first moved in the U.S and as I was introducing myself to an American student, she confessed she had no idea where Haiti was, and even more distressing,  she did not know Haiti, the first black republic, even existed. Haiti is about one hour and half away from Florida, about the same flight time to Tallahassee but that student was not aware of its existence.

I grew confused when a fellow coworker who has a bachelor’s degree did not know that Egypt was located in Africa and that Ancient Egyptians were blacks. And I was upset when an official, on tv, suggested that blacks did not contribute much to world history.

But, I really understood the reason for a black history month last year, where I got a glimpse of the American educational system in which African American history was a selective and not mandatory. It means that the story of a whole section of Americans were being erased in the memory of its people. White Americans did not know of their fellow black American history, but even Black Americans did not know of their history as well. Talking about feeling inferior and not having a sense of self-worth!

A worldwide phenomena

However, it is not only America that has no knowledge of its black citizen, it is a worldwide phenomena. I was lucky to have learned of the Haitian history. I was also exposed to world history but I remembered growing up the only thing that I learned from black people in Africa was that of their misfortunes. My education was very Eurocentric. Still, it just did not make sense to me that misery was the only faith that black people could ever know. If blacks in Haiti did not accept their conditions and broke the chain of slavery to live freely, there is no way that blacks always lived this way. I wanted to know what had happened prior to the transatlantic slave trade. It occurred to me that the way in which  slavery was practiced this time in history interrupted black history and its evolution. And What of Black romance? Black joy? Black dreams and achievement? And, look at me, I cannot be possibly anyone’s slave. Therefore, I research black history, but it was difficult to find information. A lot of manuscripts, edifices, artifacts have been destroyed or falsified. Black people have been taken out of the history books for so long. It was a deliberate and meticulous endeavor because this horrible injustice toward black people needed to be justified.

Black people’s plight is nothing new on the face of the earth. Throughout history, human beings have done the most horrendous acts toward fellow humans. Our need for power and dominance are the most vile aspect of ourselves and will lead to our demise. But what is unique to the black tragedy is that we have been successfully dehumanized throughout the world. To be quasi- accepted, a black person needs to be perfect at all times. Any flaw is viewed as a black trait but not as a human trait. We may not see images of apes being associated with blacks anymore, but blacks are not regarded as fully human in most places in the world. Black people are viewed as an homogenous group. It does not occur to many that a black person may have independent thoughts or may behave differently. In any given situation when One black person speaks, he or she has an unsolicited  responsibility to speak for some millions of blacks around the world. Even, some black people believe that a black person needs to be perfect at all times in order to avoid trouble and that a black person needs to know their place. The darker you are, the harsher the mistreatment will be at all level of society and even from fellow blacks. Colorism is a big issue in the black community that deserves a blog post of its own.  So many times, I have been told here in the U.S by black people to not go in certain fields of study because they are white people’s job.  Or to stop acting “white” because traveling, having a taste for classical music or be just plain vulnerable are not a black people thing.

 The dehumanization is so deep that even black people speak the harshest of fellow black people. And when something bad happens to a black person, it is assumed that he/she probably did something to deserve it.

 It is a constant assault on blacks humanity. Black women are hypersexualized, black men are overly criminalized. Yes, black people sold other black people into slavery but so did white people. White people sold white people into slavery too. Asian people sold Asian into slavery. These are human behaviors. The bad deeds committed by a black person is not inherent to a black person, they are inherent to human beings. And I wept when I learned about all of these horrible acts. I wept when I read about the Jewish genocide and the many atrocities they had endured. I wept when I read of the Joseon people  (now Korean people) genocide by  the Japanese. I wept when I read of the Irish people, Polish, Native Americans and Arab people being ostracized and brutalized. I wept for all the ills that we do to each other. Because I recognized myself in every human beings. But, who weeps for blacks when the Namibia and Bostwana genocide occurred as an experiment before the Jewish genocide? It is not even really known to many. Who weeps for blacks when black immigrants bodies washed up the shore of European beaches. It did not dominate the news.  Who weeps for the black students in Nigeria after terrorist attacks that killed a few hundreds of them. It did not make the news either.

It seems that even in pain, black people are forgotten. A vulnerable black body does not stir any compassion on certain people. Shall I dare say, a dog is more valuable than a black body to certain people.

But change is coming

It is not all gloomy though.  I mean, not too long ago, it would have been impossible for me to get an education as a woman and a black one at that. Last year, did not only expose the ugliness of a system that subjugate black bodies, but it also revealed that our White and Asian brothers and sisters have been listening. No matter how you feel about the Black Lives Matter movement, it was a beautiful sight to see, White, Asian, Latino and Indian brothers and sisters walking together alongside Black people, speaking against injustice.

Now, it is the time for us, Black people to write our history and rewrite our destiny. It is a long road ahead, because we have demons from the colonialism mentality, we need to wrestle with, but we will be making that stride. It is essential that we do for our own sake and for posterity.

Black history month is so painfully needed but I am hoping every day for it to be cancelled.  For the day we no longer speak of a black history month is the day we will truly be seen as equal. Because when that day comes, there will be no race in the center just the human race. We will no longer be in need of a fleeting month to celebrate black history, it will be celebrated and taught every day. Because black history is American history. Black history is humanity’s history.

Until that day comes, lets keep on discovering the truth of our history.

Xoxo, JP