Benefiting From Black History by JaNay Wooten of Houston, Texas

Benefiting From Black History

by JaNay Wooten of Houston, Texas

Racism can be defined as discrimination, the history of oppression and the institutionalization of that oppression based on skin color. The lack of knowledge of Black history and the appropriation of black culture has created a loss of identity in many black individuals. White people in power have undermined the importance of Black history, altering certain historical events or skewing them completely. The loss of cultural identity has severely altered the way black people are depicted in society. The systemic racism in many areas of life continues to favor people who are not of color. The importance of learning Black history is not only to benefit people of color, but also to benefit all by helping everybody understand the history of the world so we can all better ourselves by learning from our past.

Many of us were educated in schools in which the perspectives, experiences, and discoveries of Black Americans were not an integral part of our learning. Too few of us have read the novels of Octavia Butler, the essays of James Baldwin, the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, or the plays of August Wilson. Too few of us know of the mathematical genius of Majorie Lee Browne and Katherine Johnson or the scientific contributions of Joseph Graves and George Carruthers. Instead, the narratives most of us have about Black Americans has led to inaccurate stereotypes, biases and prejudices. All the benefits of Black History is overloaded in one month as we try to make up for all of the information we lost in primary school. Editors in power have used their white privilege to water down the Black story and try to cancel out the power in our voices. They depict pictures of the segregation era in black in white to create the illusion that injustice against the Black community was father in the past. Black inventors and entrepreneurs continue to go unknown because textbook editors choose only what they want people to know about the past, and do not highlight how this country was built on the backs of Black people.

And then February 1st rolls around again, and I open twitter to see an overload of content regarding Black History. It's Black history month, and here I am being educated by random twitter feeds. A thread I find during Black history month introduces me to 25 Black inventors/ entrepreneurs and their accomplishments. That’s 25 historical figures that I was not aware existed. All throughout February I am feeling powerful, I am feeling strong because everywhere I look I see support for the Black community. My brothers and sisters are speaking their truth and people are listening (or at least claim to be). Then February ends, and the twitter threads that once educated me, are no longer overflowing my twitter feed. There are no more #icantbreathe hashtags or #blacklivesmatter hashtags. As quickly as it came, Black history month disappears and the hype succeeds. It's as if we are only allowed to educate ourselves in the month of February. Its as if only in February can we truly advocate for the Black body. One month cannot replace the important work of making our curriculum and culture relevant year round. My ancestors were trafficked, torn from their culture, murdered, hung, spit on, and beat to death and I’m supposed to keep all that inside of me until February rolls around? What is wrong with depicting the Black body? Privileged individuals have continued to silence us and try to rewrite our story because they know there is justice to be served. Editors in power refuse to educate our younger generations and in doing so are refusing to benefit from the knowledge of Black history. In this society, to learn Black history through a twitter feed is unacceptable. No matter how gruesome or hostile the past may be, we must learn it, and own it so that our future is rid of the mistakes of the past. So why are we being denied this information? Who deemed this information unimportant or insignificant? We learn about Christopher Columbus and how they have sugar coated colonization with the art exploring a brand new world. Yet we don’t learn that Abraham Lincoln’s signing the Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves. We cannot learn from a past that we continue to run from. A past that we continue to pretend is resolved-that we made amends.

Systemic racism continues to overrule our government. It creates a toxic society where Black people are constantly being killed by police officers, immigrants receive hate simply because someone does not like their skin color. By not educating our kids we are continuing to live out our past. It is why we continue raise children who are incompetent and clueless about the Black story. It is how we spread asain hate and discrimination. It shows the amount of privilege that white people have to think that “watering down” the true effects and consequences of racism would be a solution. White people continue to undermine the importance of Black voices and Black culture. Their privilege blinds them from the truth that this country was built on the backs of Black people.

Police brutality against Black communities has continued to modernize itself in our present society. As the pandemic hit the world in 2020 and all were forced inside, you would think at least the systemic killings of Black males and females would be at a standstill. Yet we had a government in place from 2016 to 2020 that actively pursued to tamp down the Black story- signifying the holes that have always been present in our government. The abuse and torture of the Black body can be dated back to our ancestors who were beaten by police, seized by police dogs, and waterboarded. Most recently the Black community mourns the death of Daute Wright. The 20 year old Black male was shot and killed at close range during a traffic stop and attempted arrest. Wright was “a freshman at Thomas Edison High School...voted class clown” (New York Times). His “bright smile and outgoing demeanor” will be missed by his 2 year old toddler (New York Times). Officials identified the officer who murdered Wright as Kim Potter, a 26 year veteran who has resigned from her position since the murder. The officer claims that she mistook her gun for her taser. This then begs the question:

How does a 26 year veteran confuse her all black gun with a blucky bright yellow taser? 

Officer Potter announced her resignation and is charged with second-degree manslaughter. Will she be truly tried and convicted? Only recently through the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd did we get a sliver of justice that we have been waiting for for far to long. No one should be resting because there is still work to be done. So many beautiful Black bodies that have yet to receive justice: Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling, and Stephon Clark. We might be “beating covid” but 2020 and 2021 has proven we still have a lot of work to do in America. 

So when will we see it? When will we get to see the unapologetic Black body? Will we see it in our history books 50 years from now? Or will the whitewashing of our past continue to dominate the level of knowledge and truth future generations will receive? What we choose to remember now- what we choose to educate our kids and their kids will attest to their personal knowledge and awareness of the contributions of Black Americans so that they can teach the diverse students and their kids.

Works Cited

Tate, Don. “Black History Is American History: WHY WE SHOULD CELEBRATE YEAR ROUND.” Knowledge Quest, vol. 49, no. 4, Mar. 2021, pp. 46–48. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=148833887&site=ehost-live.

The New York Times. “What to Know About the Death of Daunte Wright.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Apr. 2021, www.nytimes.com/article/daunte-wright-death-minnesota.html. 

Ward, Crystal Palmero. “Innovating for Equity: Schools Designed and Co-Created to Disrupt Institutionalized and Systemic Racism.” Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 82, no. 5–A, ProQuest Information & Learning, 2021. EBSCOhost,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2020-97490-281&site=ehost-live.