February is Black History Month. It is an annual celebration of the achievements of black Americans, as well as a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in the history of the United States. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford officially recognized Black History Month by calling upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
This year, Black History Month is more important than ever.
Donald Trump, our newly inaugurated president, has a strong history of racism. His top advisers and members of his cabinet have a history of racial prejudice. He downplayed and half-heartedly denounced the increasing number of racist violence incidences that escalated after his win in November 2016.
The Justice Department has sued his company twice for not renting to blacks. In February of 2016 (Black History Month), Trump sidestepped opportunities to renounce white nationalist and former KKK leader David Duke three times in a row. Durke had recently told his radio audience that voting for any candidate other than Trump would be “treason to your heritage.” Trump went on to say he couldn’t condemn a group he hadn’t yet researched. Trump was also a leading proponent of “birtherism,” the racist conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and was therefore an illegitimate president.
At a November 2015 campaign rally in Alabama, Trump supporters physically attacked an African-American protester after the man began chanting “Black lives matter.” The following day, Trump implied that the attackers were justified: “Maybe [the protester] should have been roughed up,” he mused. “It was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.”
This year is a year that Black History Month is more important than ever.
It’s a year in which America celebrated MLK Day and inaugurated a racist all in the same week.
The recent events in politics has made it feel like America is moving backwards instead of forward. Black History Month serves as a time of empowerment for the American people. Celebrating Black History Month allows African Americans to be better stewards of the privileges they have never stopped fighting to gain, privileges they should have had all along. It creates awareness of the importance of black history and culture. It reminds us that black history is everyone’s history, because the impact that African Americans have made on this country is a part of America’s collective consciousness. It serves as an acknowledgement for triumph over adversity, particularly over the adversity which has benefitted white Americans for all of America’s history. We need to look forward to celebrating the continuing contributions of the diversity of our country which highlight the triumph over institutionalized inequality.
Given our current national leadership, it may make some feel discouraged about the future, but Americans need to take this as an opportunity to empower themselves and fight the fight even harder. Black History Month serves as a reminder that we need to rise above racial prejudice and celebrate how far we have come and to remind us never to stop fighting.