Over the course of this month, I have been impressed with the coverage by the Daily Campus and variety of Black History Month events occurring on campus. The individuals and organizations behind all of this deserve the utmost recognition for their contributions to meaningful diversity at SMU.
But I find that the concept of a month devoted to black history, while well intended, has become grossly trivialized and perverted. Common criticisms by prominent black celebrities and thinkers include the questions, “Why the shortest month of the year?” and, “Why limit black history to one month?” It seems illogical to define a period of such limited time to devote to black history, when the struggles and achievements of blacks have been so important to the development of modern society.
Take, for example, the case of the Haitian Revolution, which one might call the first “modern revolution,” in the sense that an oppressed, enslaved people overthrew a centuries-old ruling class. As we look to the ground shaking changes occurring in Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan, Haiti’s principles of revolution ring true – a battle for general liberty, for the right to pursue a life of one’s own, and to walk free of some censuring, controlling, enslaving influence. I do not mean to diminish the fight of our founding fathers, but it must be admitted that the first Americans were educated British men fighting against other educated British men. The Haitian Revolution pitted an oppressive, rich, and educated white regime against uneducated, poor black slaves.
Consider these extremely genera-lized points: from Africa’s role as the true “birthplace of humanity” to the human revolution in Haiti; from the legendary work of slave emancipators across the world to the Pan-Africanist philosophical roots of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1920s and 1930s; from the battles against western imperialism and inequality across the world in the 1960s to the revolutions in North Africa, the Middle East and Sudan today, blacks have had an incredibly powerful hand in shaping our world. Simply stated, a Black History Month, without acknowledging the achievements of blacks worldwide, seems to deny the breadth of our human history.
Black History Month in the United States also seems to celebrate a limited number of favorite black celebrities alongside heroes of the Civil Rights Movement: an awkward juxtaposition of Kobe Bryant and Martin Luther King, Jr. Though both of their recognition is certainly merited, I think it is more important to recognize those, who like Dr. King, have shaped the fight for equality across the world. Aimé Césaire, Langston Hughes, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey and Toussaint L’Ouverture are amongst them – many who the general American public would fail to even recognize as revolutionaries. We also tend to forget the most heroic and also the most heroic blacks: those who fought in the wars of imperialism and the World Wars despite immense prejudice and exploitation, those who were rounded up like animals into slave ships destined for the New World, those meaninglessly sacrificed as a result of brutalities like the Tuskegee syphilis experiment or the Rwandan genocide, all of them left a deep impression on our world.
So, with not much time remaining in this year’s edition of Black History Month, I hope to encourage students, faculty and administration to commit to the well-intended goals of this month: truly reflect and consider the role of blacks in history. Reject commercialized interpretations, stand up against marginalization of our past, and admire the achievements of these oft-forgotten brave souls, who stood up to a prejudice so immense, it is almost unimaginable today. Hold that reflection with you past Feb. 28, and then realize: integration of race will only come with the integration of all races’ histories into a single, collective masterpiece.
Nicholas Burns is a junior French and biological sciences double major. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].
