Black History Month is almost over. Why did I wait to post? Well, this blog is NOT about concentrating all of our recognition of black history, culture, notable people and accomplishments into a single month; it's about the other 11 months of the year. But I didn't want to let BHM pass without comment. Maybe more people will read what I have to say because "'Tis the season" and all that. So, okay.
It's not that I have nothing to say on the topic of a month set aside for recognizing African American history, culture, and great figures during-and-post-slavery, in music, art, science, medicine, engineering, architecture, sports, etc. But what I have to say here is not celebratory. Black History Month, I believe, can have unintended consequences for White people: it gives Black people their Fair Dues, but then let's move on to the next flavor of the month. And isn't that what happened with the Civil Rights Movement?
In both cases, we put a bookend on it, and "move' on" in name only. In truth, we really just reset. What came out of the Civil Rights Movement? Some good, no doubt. Legislation helps. Less outright discimination for sure helps!
There have been MAJOR milestones, no doubt: The six (arguably) most powerful/influential government or international organizations' offices in the world have been or are being held by people of Black African descent, and yet our institutions, policies and minds are still not free of racism. It has come time to see and understand this disparity clearly before we take on the tasks involved in getting crazy-smart about changing it.
We do need to get beyond changing just enough so that too many White people start complaining about "reverse discrimination," on increasing rates of higher education admission and racially balanced hiring and promotion practices. Why is it so easy to forget that this was/is a well-meaning-but-naïve, inconsistent, and shallow attempt to unfuck 400 years of horrendous abuse and terror? But REVERSE DISCRIMINATION??? SERIOUSLY?
(Begin sarcasm here)
I must have missed the part where white slaves were shipped to African countries where their culture and language was taken away and they were shackled in leg irons, beaten, killed, kept uneducated, then eventually freed through war, only to be subject to Jim Crow laws and thousands of lynchings and other terror. Somehow, I missed hearing about White people being cheated or intimidated out of their voting rights, with their voting districts gerrymandered to disempower the ones who couldn't be stopped from voting. I hadn't realized their real estate property was being systematically devalued to prevent them from prospering; that they were deliberately and implicitly being discriminated against in hiring, promotion, loans, business start-ups and the like. And what's worse, I totally ignored how even now they are more likely to be mistreated and overlooked in education, beaten, killed or arrested by police, more frequently charged and found guilty and more harshly sentenced than Blacks for the same offenses committed. All I can say, is "Hey, we better reverse that reverse discrimination back to where it was so White people don't have to keep going through all that shit African Americans families and neighborhoods did (and still do).
(End Sarcasm here).
Sadly, I will venture to say that most people want change that won't inconvenience. This tends to be true in psychotherapy, true in education, true in government, and true in business. It is rare that there is a real appetite for change when you are not only not the immediate beneficiary, but it comes out of your hide. Think of how things work out when a president appoints representatives of industries in dire need of regulation to administer those regulatory bodies: "Good news! I think we can make it seem like we're doing this without really doing anything. In fact, we can probably do just the opposite!" I am not a fan of the idea of a whole sum game theory in life, but with some things, it applies. White privilege is one. It is hard to want to give privilege away, but basically impossible to do it ad hoc or on an individual basis. You have to change Society.
White privilege relies on discrimination and implicit bias. It relies on institutional/structural/systemic racism. THAT is what Black History Month has become. In principle it is a time to honor the contribution of Black Americans' contribution to our American history and present-day culture. In praxis, it looks more like an acknowledgment crowded into the shortest month of the year that is used (unsuccessfully) to absolve the United States of America of multiple crimes against humanity throughout its history. Sorry folks, but that is how I see it when the news of yet another atrocity goes viral.
There is waaay to much social psychology research showing the pervasive and profound nature of implicit anti-Black bias (even among Blacks!) for us to keep pretending we can "good-intention" this situation into oblivion. It will stick like glue to our society until we start manipulating the same levers of public perception that were used to create this mess, but in a way that influences perception toward diversity, equality and inclusion.
You cannot truly honor "Blacks in History" without taking smart steps to rectify the discriminatory conditions for "Blacks in THISTORY." Otherwise, this two-way mirror through which Black Americans watch White America will never stay smashed so that we are seen properly; this same two-way mirror most White Americans have been seeing their own reflection in and calling it "the standard" will continue to exclude us in important ways invisible to them unless they suffer the discomfort of hard conversations.
So let's do this. We'll know we're getting warmer when somebody starts yelling "reverse discrimination!"
This will clearly take longer than a month. Can we get past lip service and skillfully target the implicit prejudice and injustice and policies on the other side of the mirror? Are you in this for the long haul (i.e. March-January this year and every other)? I hope so. Thank you, and stay tuned for HOW...
Apart from all that, yeah: Happy Black History Month!
P.S. I like Black History Month, but I like it as a reminder FOR US BLACK FOLK to celebrate that we as a cultural and physical category of humans have all of the same potentials --realized and unrealized-- of genius, talent, courage, and compassion that exist throughout humanity. And of course we appreciate when however many Caucasian North Americans snap out of it for those 28 days. But I'll save my real gratitude for the 347 x ∞ to go...
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