Two Things I’m Not Entertaining During Black History Month
Yes, I sure did just click baited you in with a sexy blog title. 😜 Now let’s get to the meat and potatoes. We are only two weeks into Black History Month and once again people in America have been acting a fool. These two weeks I have observed incompetence from our political leaders, poor marketing campaigns and the erasure of the celebration of Black History itself. Before I dive into this I want to disclose that for those of you who are unaware that I self-identify as Black and I will be speaking from my own lived experience. So let’s get into it.
Blackface
This goes without saying. Do we really need a history lesson on why blackface is not appropriate in 2019? YouTube personality AdrianXpressions made an interesting point about Gucci’s blackface controversy this month. He called it sloppy marketing using more colorful language than I intend on using on this blog post. It does indeed seem to be a trend to come out with something shocking and offensive to a group that does not appear to your target audience for media coverage, issue out a apology and then announce a plan on how you intend on being more inclusive in the future. I am not saying that this is absolutely true, but Dove has made many marketing missteps towards women and people of color. In the words of Miss Jay Pendarvis (Dove, Gucci and H&M) “Your late, your performance shows it.” The gag is I am not posting the images, ads or commercials here but they are all easily accessible via a google search if you need additional context.
Blackface also seems to be a popular pastime of our politicians. That is beyond gross and this makes wonder if there are any standards for our (well compensated) servants in public office. We have two known accounts of members of our Supreme Court who have been accused of causing sexual trauma to Women. For Women of color they have the burden of dealing with racism and sexism. I don’t blame people for opting out of the optional survey of gender and race when filling out job applications. Can we afford to be honest on an optional pre-employment survey when Black Women are statistically paid less than Black Men and White Women? If your unfamiliar with this concept, I suggest watching Law Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Ted Talk on intersectionality.
Multicultural Month
The Principal at Blackman Elementary school opted for Multicultural Month instead of Black History Month this year. This of course stirred major controversy between the school and the parents. The Principal, Cynthia Ford is a Black Women herself and I don’t think she was malicious in her intent so I am not opting for us to cancel her in 2019. Instead I think this is a great learning experience on how we can address these issues moving forward. Race does not exist but racism does, which is why it is so complicated. To cancel Black History Month is to cancel the conversations we need to have about the challenges that Black people continue to face in America. Black Women’s issues continue to take a backseat when it comes to media coverage. Did you know that #BlackLivesMatter was started by Black Women? Now think about the names of Black Women you know who have been victims of police violence that don’t receive the same media coverage as Black Men. If you can’t say their names, then my point has been proven. Celebrating Multicultural Month in February is the erasure of Black History Month. To Swap Black History Month for Multicultural Month is to participate in color blind racism as this is a month that was dedicated to bringing awareness to black issues. Yes, we do need to highlight the oppression of other cultures as well and I think this can be best done by giving them their own platform and not lumping everyone in one group. I would like to see more non-Black people celebrating Black History Month and Black people stepping out of their boxes to celebrate cultures that are different than theirs as well.
Let’s preserve the dream of Martin Luther King and also take time to learn about the many others that history forgets.
If you would like to continue the conversation please do e-mail me via the contact tab. I would love to hear your thoughts.