Black History

Dear fellow white people:

It is that time of year again when Black people gained visibility through the outdated and tired diversity month initiatives.  As a result, slews of well-meaning white people will trot out historical facts and Black accomplishments.  Well-meaning white people will circulate “woke” hashtags and smile that they too know the names of more obscure Black people.

PLEASE STOP

Representation does not equal equity, a pithy fact or cute meme does not erase white supremacy.  Think!  In a society that is rooted with spectacular capitalist systems, the celebration of Black “History” tends to be harmful, superficial and attention-seeking.  White people see themselves as allies, promoting Blacks in low stakes arenas like social media or through appropriation of Black culture.  Thus, white people are satisfied with themselves for not being racists yet the relegation of Black history and culture to the shortest month of the year is, in fact, racist.

Everyone should celebrate Black history amazing and at all times, not once a year (maybe twice if you like the pacifist version of MLK).  These practices are particularly egregious in academia, which the notion of diversity months has really taken off over the years.  The lack of substantive Black history in US education is ridiculous and racist.  Everyone should be working on learning more about the US’s racist foundations and thinking of ways to end white supremacy daily, not a few times a year.

Many white people see the appropriation of Black culture (this applies to Native Americans and other groups) as a celebration and a sign of acceptance.  They wrap themselves in Kente cloth expecting love and rewards for their bravery of celebrating Black culture.  Of course, the US House speaker and others in 2020 missed a big point when they kneeled over the violence and death Black people experience because they are Black in “solidarity”.  First, Kente cloth is Ghanian; it is not a US phenomenon.  Second, wearing a BLM pin or other symbols of white wokeness does nothing to solve systemic racism and white supremacy.  Third, culture is not really something to be shared.

White people think they have full rights and access to everyone else’s cultural history, and demand it should be shared and used by white people.  This idea is colonial shite supremacy incarnate.  Cultures are not things to be shared and used by the out-group.  Cultures are societies that have shared histories and locations and have developed practices to keep their society together.  Culture is what societies enact to preserve their stability and longevity.  If you are not part of a culture, you do not get to use someone else’s culture for your own vanity or monetary gain.

Paula Deen Cooks Up $75 Million Deal With Investor

The answer to the question “can Paula Deen recover” from the uproar over her past use of the “n-word” is apparent yes.

Paula Deen is part of a growing company of open derogation of persons deemed “other” or “unacceptable” in the media recently.    Many should be aware of the debacle over Duck Dynasty.  Phil Robertson, a star of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty,” has been suspended indefinitely after slamming gays in a magazine interview. 

I want to believe that society is good enough not to reward hate, but the truth is these people make millions of dollars a year and so are granted the opportunity to propagate hatred served with a smile and a money making a product of some sort.

I don’t think these people deserve the amount of money they earn and would not participate in consuming their products willingly.  But I am not their target audience anyway.  I don’t even have cable television.  I rely on places like redit for lots of news and the BBC.

I do not think these people should be censored.  I do believe they need a lot of education, and I think people need to take the opportunity to talk about race and white privilege especially in the southern regions of the United States.

I teach at a small university in southeastern Virginia, and I can say for sure that my less educated white students who come from majority white small southern communities are not always comfortable with my discussions on race.  One student told me her grandfather was in the KKK and had a dog named “Sambo”.  There is a growing body of black students that take my class and I enjoy the opportunity to share some of their histories with them that others have forgotten to provide along their way.  I want all my students to know that while enslavement shaped the majority of the black American experience in serious ways (psychological, emotionally, ideologically, economically) there are great black intellectuals that everyone should read and that had incredible dreams.  One reason I enjoy my work is that it enables me to do much-needed work to break down radicalized discourse and thought processes.  Along with fluid of identity categories.

I do not think it is ethical to pay hateful “celebrities” millions of dollars, but if a firm chooses to do so, I can choose not to pay them money.  It might be time to use your dollars to vote, a tactic in line with events like the Montgomery Bus Boycott.