I was going to let Black History Month
pass without contributing an article this year because
nothing particularly interesting sparked me to write.
Then a couple things happened.
First, the associate pastor of my predominantly
white church read Toure�s book, Who's
Afraid of Post-Blackness?. The book motivated
her - a white woman - to invite me to talk to the congregation
about what it means to be Black in 2012. Later that week,
during an unrelated call with an LGBT Liaison for the
City of Los Angeles Police Department, I had a brief discussion
on the benefits of having LGBT Heritage Month here in
L.A.
These talks sparked my desire to write,
once again, about Black History Month - an observance
I experience with mixed feelings.
On the one hand, I enjoy all the PBS specials
and other documentaries that get aired in February. But
on the other hand, I�ve always had this gnawing sense
that with the exception of official national holidays,
the only time our nation honors a group of people with
a special day or month is if that group has been historically
exploited and somehow needs to be appeased.
I�m sure I�ll get some feedback on this
but Secretaries� Day comes to mind. I�ve always felt that
Hallmark, FTD, and local eateries are the biggest beneficiaries
of that day. Every secretary I�ve ever known has preferred
to be acknowledged for their contributions and to receive
financial compensation commensurate with the duties and
responsibilities of their jobs. Instead, in addition to
continuing to be underpaid and overworked, they now get
an annual bouquet of flowers, a free lunch, and a card.
My goal in writing this piece is not to
minimize the importance of Black History Month by likening
it to Secretaries� Day but, in my opinion, it gets similar
treatment, which is that the honor does little to improve
the conditions that served as the impetus to create it
in the first place. Furthermore, it can serve to prolong
the conditions by appearing to be a remedy, especially
to those outside the group.
Black History Month - described by Wikipedia
as �an annual observance for remembrance of important
people and events in the history of the African Diaspora�
- was established in 1926 by the son of a slave, Carter
G. Woodson, who wanted to educate all people
about the contributions black men and women have made
throughout history. What began as a week of remembrance
grew to a month and for good reason. It was sorely needed.
Back in 1926, Blacks had virtually no presence in the
public sphere of American life in spite of the enormously
disproportion share of sacrifice made by Blacks to build
this country. Since its inception, February has come to
be identified as the time to applaud achievements
of Blacks. While these are noble endeavors, was this all
that Carter G. Woodson intended?
Did Woodson envision a time set aside by
the dominant culture that simply gratifies Blacks� need
to be acknowledged, while at the same time maintains the
Euro-centric American History tradition taught in the
vast majority of our nation�s public and private schools
where African-Americans are rarely mentioned anywhere
but the chapters that cover slavery, Brown v. Board of
Education, and desegregation?
Although Woodson wanted all
Americans to be educated about the tremendous contributions
made by African-Americans across all aspects of our history,
would he have been satisfied to know that the month is
generally recognized exclusively by African-Americans
and that it�s doubtful the rest of the country thinks
twice about it except maybe to ask, �Why do they get a
month?�
When this time of the year rolls around,
besides the PBS specials, there are a smattering of obligatory
programs at educational institutions and even at workplaces
such as NASA�s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where
I worked for more than 20 years. Each year, during Black
History Month, JPL puts on a big program with guest speakers
and entertainment for its 5,000-plus employees. And every
year, the elephant in the room is the lack of attendance
by anyone but the Black employees and a few senior managers
who are obliged by their positions to attend.
In fact, one thing that is made undeniably
clear during this program is the racial divide that exists
between the rank and file and management at NASA�s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. The front row of the auditorium
where the program is presented is reserved for the leadership,
which is almost entirely white. The rest of the seats,
the ones for the rank and file, are filled with the Lab�s
relatively few Black employees.
The founder of Black History Month, Carter
G. Woodson, passed away just a few years before the Brown
v. Board of Education decision was handed down by
the Supreme Court - a decision he undoubtedly would have
favored. Perhaps Woodson�s work impacted the 1954 decision
of the court. But how would Woodson assess the status
of Blacks in America
today where in all major indexes used gauge social and
economic wellness, Blacks consistently come out at the
bottom. Unemployment, incarceration, healthcare, education,
foreclosure rates, infancy mortality, success in business
or even the entertainment industry - we�re always at the
bottom.
Recently, Freakonomics - an online site
that uncovers the hidden side of lots of things - reported
on a research project conducted by a pair of economists
seeking to determine if race impacts the sale of products
online. The economists placed hundreds of ads selling
iPods in local online markets. The picture in each ad
simply showed someone�s hand holding an iPod. The model�s
body was not shown. The researchers randomly altered whether
the hand holding the iPod was black, white, or white with
a big tattoo. Here is what they found:
�Black
sellers do worse than white sellers on a variety of market
outcome measures: they receive 13% fewer responses and
17% fewer offers. These effects are strongest in the Northeast,
and are similar in magnitude to those associated with
the display of a wrist tattoo. Conditional on receiving
at least one offer, black sellers also receive 2-4% lower
offers, despite the self selected - and presumably less
biased - pool of buyers. In addition, buyers corresponding
with black sellers exhibit lower trust: they are 17% less
likely to include their name in e-mails, 44% less likely
to accept delivery by mail, and 56% more likely to express
concern about making a long-distance payment. We find
evidence that black sellers suffer particularly poor outcomes
in thin markets; it appears that discrimination may not
�survive� in the presence of significant competition among
buyers. Furthermore, black sellers do worst in the most
racially isolated markets and markets with high property
crime rates, suggesting a role for statistical discrimination
in explaining the disparity.�
This year, Red Tails, a major motion picture
about the Tuskegee Airman, was released around Black History
Month. In making the film, legendary executive producer
George Lucas confronted so much adversity that he eventually
had to spend his own money to get the movie made. Speaking
frankly about the opposition he confronted, Lucas told
Jon Stewart, Oprah Winfrey and others, that he spent $58
million of his own money to fund the project after being
denied financial support by major movie studios due to
the film�s all-black cast. �There�s no major white roles
in it at all...I showed it to all of them and they said
�No�, said Lucas.
In the 86 years since Carter G. Woodson
founded what has come to be known as Black History Month,
there have been some gains but not as many one would expect
if one were to believe the rhetoric espoused by those
who claim we live in a post-racial era.
For those who would ask, �Why do they get
a month?�, I�d respond that I don�t know that having a
month is serving us well. Of course, I�ll never know but
I just wonder, if we�d fully integrate American History
textbooks so that learning about the contributions of
all people would be required in all schools, would we
be closer to achieving Woodson�s objective? Are we perpetuating
racism by separately focusing on Black History month?
The injustice of racism wasn�t created
by the people who currently live in America and it isn�t just a Black problem or a
Latino problem or a people of color problem. It is an
American problem that has negative implications for all
Americans. It is part of the legacy we all inherited when
we came into this society.
In his book Privilege,
Power, and Difference
,
author and professor Allan G. Johnson asserts that we
cannot solve the problem of racism or sexism or any of
the other -isms unless people who have privilege - people
of the dominant group - feel obligated to make the problem
of privilege their problem and take steps to do something
about it.
Speaking of racism, Johnson, who is a white
male, goes on to say, �It means I have to do something
to create the possibility for my African American friend
and me to have a conversation about race, gender and us,
rather than leave it to her to take all the risks and
do all the work. The fact that it�s so easy for me and
other people in dominant groups not to do this is the
single most powerful barrier to change.� Do we make it
all the more easy by separating the celebration of Black
icons such that places like my former place of employment,
NASA�s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, have events that only
Blacks attend?
86 years ago, when Carter G. Woodson established
Negro History Week, the precursor to Black History Month,
he was living in the Jim Crow South. In 2012, we have
the New Jim Crow of the prison-industrial complex, educational
institutions that are more segregated than they were in
1954, and an internet where I�m having a heck of a time
selling my iPod. Malcolm X once said, �Racism is like
a Cadillac, they come out with a new model every year�.
Maybe it�s time for us to come out with a new model for
Black History Month.
BlackCommentator.com
Editorial Board Member and Columnist Sharon Kyle, JD,
is the Co-Founder and Publisher of the LA
Progressive an online social justice magazine. With
her husband Dick, she publishes several other print and
online newsletters on political and social justice issues.
In addition to her work with the LA Progressive, Ms. Kyle
holds a Juris Doctorate, is an adjunct professor at Peoples
College of Law in Los Angeles, and sits on the board of
the ACLU Pasadena/Foothills Chapter and the Progressive
Caucus of the California Democratic Party. Click here
to contact the LA Progressive and Ms. Kyle.
