We’re approaching the end of Black History Month, a month when we’re meant to reflect on our country’s legacy of oppression against people of color, and to reclaim and perhaps rewrite that history by highlighting the unsung accomplishments of black Americans.
The fact that Black History Month is even necessary shines a spotlight on an undeniable problem: What we consider history the other 11 months of the year is, rather, “White history dressed up as American history,” as described by Michael Eric Dyson in his new book, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America.
There’s no shortage of examples of how little us white people know about black history, and therefore American history. When an educated person charged with leading our country describes Frederick Douglass as, "an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more" it should make us really, really concerned about the general education of the average white American.
We’d like to believe that we are different. Our friends and our peers are more progressive, educated and socially aware than the average American. We think we’re on it because our kids have a brown doll and books on MLK and Rosa Parks in their personal libraries. White friends, we are dead wrong.
My nine year old daughter came home from school last week and said her class was talking about U.S. Presidents, discussing each of their various amazing accomplishments, when she felt the need to mention that many of our Presidents were racist in both their actions and their policies. She gave the example of Franklin D. Roosevelt extending a White House invitation to all of the American athletes returning from the 1936 Berlin Olympics... except for the black ones, including Jesse Owens who had just won four gold medals for our country. My kid’s well-intentioned white friend responded by saying, “That’s not true!” It was echoed by another classmate who called my daughter a liar. Another classmate put an end to the discussion, concluding that it wasn’t true because the teacher had never heard of it. Folks, we don’t even need white supremacists to lead the masses. They set the wheels in motion long ago by authoring our history lessons, so that each future generation of “educated” Americans could continuing doing the work for them.
“Because racism is so ingrained in the fabric of American institutions, it is easily self-perpetuating. All that is required to maintain it is business as usual.”
-Beverly Daniel Tatum
My daughter and I deconstructed the incident over an after school snack, where she pointed out, “It’s really not their fault. It’s their parents' fault. And actually it’s not even their parents' fault. It’s their parents' parents' fault.” Good point.
When will we break this cycle?
I say “we” because no one else is going to do it for us. Despite relentless efforts of organizations and groups like Ethnic Studies Now and Just Communities, the white-centric history books will still fill our classrooms and libraries long after we’re dead and gone. Our own tax dollars will continue to fund, and therefore perpetuate, an educational system that makes sure to cast white Americans in the most positive light and fails to properly place historical figures of color alongside and even in front of them (other than during a specially designated month or in the context of an elective course you can take in college).
White friends, I am not blaming you for writing these inaccurate history books, I’m not saying it’s your fault that the entire educational system has misguided our children and turned them into mouthpieces for white supremacy. But I agree with Dyson when he says, “Your knowledge of America often ends at the color line.”
Okay. So what do we do?
It’s our duty to ourselves, our children and future generations to take matters into our own hands by providing accurate, detailed and rigorous history lessons in our own homes and communities. I’m talking homeschooling, friends. I know you didn’t sign up for this. I know you’re dog tired because you already do a lot. But when I feel overwhelmed and exhausted by the enormity of this task I reflect on the words allies of color have recently shared, when they told me:
“We are tired.”
I heard it from Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of Black Lives Matters, just two weeks ago when she explained in exhaustion to us, her majority white audience, “Everybody thinks someone else is going to do this work.”
I heard it from Krystle Farmer, leader of our college campus’ Black Student Union, when she described the upward battle of focusing on her education while balancing the demands of single parenthood so that she can break the cycle everyone is expecting her to perpetuate.
I heard it from Simone Baker, from our local chapter of Black Lives Matter, when she expressed how tired she is of having white people doubt and question real, first-hand experiences of racism in our own community.
White mother, white dad, white single parent- I know you feel like a lot is already being asked of you. I know you think you’re tired. But I dare you to stand next to a parent of color and say you’re too tired to add a history course correction to your list of duties. Take all of the hard work required for your family to function, then add the institutionalized racism that causes your family to earn, on average, 75% of what your white peers earn; add to that the awareness that your hard earned tax dollars are subsidizing the racialized police brutality you see every time you log on to Facebook; combine that with the fact that your preschooler is 4x more likely to be expelled than white kids; now add daily microaggressions; finally, top it all off with deafening silence from the “good whites” who may not be telling racist jokes, but certainly aren’t taking any real action to make things different.
Now you’re freaking tired.
What I’m saying is, we have no excuse for not working harder. Our privilege is a cushion of daily comfort, an extra bolster of support, a fringe benefit others don’t have that makes our degree of exhaustion pale in comparison. To deny the existence of this advantage and to not use it for social change is to willfully perpetuate injustice.
“The time is at hand for reckoning with the past, recognizing the truth of the present and moving together to redeem the nation for our future,” says Dyson. To this I would add the words of Nelson Mandela, who advises, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
If you’re interested in doing more to advance the education of yourself, your loved ones and your community in order to make real social change, here are some ideas:
- Do your own research. Racist policy and behavior from past Presidents is just one of the many starting points from which you will enter a rabbit hole of informative facts, making you the kind of historian you can be proud of.
- Share. When chatting about politics, ask your friend if she’s ever heard of Shirley Chisholm. At dinner, ask your kids what they know about the U.S. Presidents. Every conversation is a window of opportunity.
White friends, this is your call to duty to disrupt “business as usual” and start doing more to counterbalance one-sided history with community homeschooling. You are the teacher, your white friends, family and peers are the classroom, and you have a job to do. Our future depends on you, because:
“The revolution begins at home.”
-Gloria Anzaldúa
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