The War on Black History
It is being waged across the US by the usual suspects.
Any celebration of Black History Month is muted by a concerted effort to prevent the dissemination of our history in our school systems.
The state of Florida is waging an aggressive effort to erase Black history from classrooms and libraries. Governor Ron DeSantis, an avowed enemy of anything he considers to be “woke”, prevented the original incarnation of a brand-new AP Black History course created by the College Board.
The College Board, to its shame, caved to pressure from DeSantis and the state, and reconfigured the course.
If this wasn’t bad enough, Florida parents are outraged at discovering that children’s books that benignly highlight racism and bigotry are routinely disappearing from school libraries.
Examples of books that have been removed library shelves include:
· “Henry Aaron’s Dream”
· “Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates”
· Books about Rosa Parks, Hurricane Katrina, and World War II Japanese internment camps
The only common denominator among these books is that they reference racism and bigotry.
But this behavior is not confined to the Sunshine State.
In Alabama, 200 students recently walked out of their school in protest because school officials disapproved of their student-run Black History Month program. The students were told that they couldn’t reference anything that happened before the 1970s, including slavery, the civil rights movement, and the Black Panthers.
School administrators deny these allegations but are not forthcoming with meeting with NAACP officials who want to meet and discuss the situation.
Frankly, there is no reason not to believe the students. It has been clear from sometime that many conservative Republicans, particularly supporters and former supporters of the former president, are literally and figuratively whitewashing history.
Previously, many books were banned because of their sexual content or misguided attempts to shield literature that contained racial slurs.
Today’s book banning, Black History course emasculation, and any attempts to prevent the honest discussion of racial prejudice is due to…surprise, racial prejudice.
Black History is merely one aspect of History. History is what happened, what is happening, and indicative of what will happen in the future.
History is inalterable. It cannot be changed or rearranged to suit racist agendas and political agendas. There will always be aspects that are open to debate and interpretation, but the facts of history, including slavery, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights, aren’t debatable.
If history isn’t being discussed, dissected, and interpreted, lessons will be unlearned, and mistakes will be repeated.
But the facts won’t change because they’re hidden.
Hiding racism and prejudice only accomplishes the opposite of its goal.
It illuminates the individuals and groups who are engaged in hiding the truth.
It exposes their motives and identifies them as racists.
KKK hoods and Nazi swastikas become visible, even when their adherents aren’t wearing them.