During Black History Month, we celebrate the many contributions Black Americans have made to our country. But the news this year abounds with examples of sidelining Blacks — from voting rights and education to the literature our children read. CI steering committee member Diane Proctor reflects on this moment.
by Diane Proctor
Many have argued that we are living in an unprecedented time of great division. Perhaps.
I suggest, however, that the previously cloaked and rageful feelings of resentment have always been there; they are now simply being openly and freely expressed. What the ex-President has done is to make it fashionable to hate. The bold expressions—usually reserved for the privacy of living rooms, clubs, and barrooms—of racism, fascism, misogynism, and xenophobia have become, for too many, “acceptable.” The result is unconstrained assaults on the fundamental pillars of decency and order in our country, further exclusion of many Americans from their rightful place in our society, and emboldened efforts to undermine our democracy to preserve white supremacy.
The former president exploits racism to cover his misdeeds.
At a January 29 rally in Conroe, Texas, thousands of people cheered when Trump labeled President Biden’s first year “divisive” and insisted that he alone can “unite us.” He then proceeded to stoke division by poking our nation’s festering wound of racism, complaining that, “These prosecutors are vicious, horrible people…they’re racists and they’re very sick.”
Inciting violence and intimidation, he dangled the possibility of pardons for January 6 insurrectionists and said, “If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington, D.C, in New York, in Atlanta, and elsewhere. Because our country and our elections are corrupt.”
The following Friday, the Republican National Committee — gathering with the Federalist Society at Disney World, where fantasies clearly abound — officially described the January 6 event as “legitimate political discourse.”
HBCUs receive bomb threats.
As Black History Month began, dozens of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) received bomb threats, forcing them to cancel classes for thousands of students. While no explosives were discovered; the possibility of bombings alone is sufficiently frightening and affronting.
In a statement, Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called the bomb warnings “a fresh reminder of the ongoing threats to Black life and opportunity, and the continued presence of racist hate,…designed to undermine the mission of HBCUs and to strike at the heart of the sense of pride they instill in the Black community.”
Reactionaries seek to suppress inconvenient learning.
School committees have also now become hotbeds of racial discord. A systematic effort to ban texts and curricula that address racism and other issues is epidemic in our schools. As New York Times journalist Michael Powell reported in December, “Texas is afire with fierce battles over education, race, and gender. What began as a debate over social studies lessons and critical race studies — an academic theory about how systemic racism enters the pores of society — has become something broader and more profound.”
Meanwhile, the newly elected Governor of Virginia, Glen Youngkin, ran on a clearly racist platform when he insisted that Toni Morrison’s powerful and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Beloved, be banned from the required reading lists of high schools and removed from libraries — despite the fact that the Times Book Review named Morrison’s novel “the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years.” Also banned now from many school libraries are George Orwell’s 1984,Nicole Hannah-Jones’s 1619 Project, and Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus — works that warn against fascism and provide insight into America’s racist history. Teaching about slavery has even been banned in some school curricula under the pretext of “bias” or causing “discomfort.”
The cancer of racism is metastasizing.
While President Biden’s determination to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court represents a step forward, toward redressing historic discrimination, it has attracted derision from the right. For example, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who improbably still seems to harbor ambitions of riding Trump’s racist coattails, called the promise “offensive” and said, “Black women are, what, 6% of the U.S. population? He’s saying to 94% of Americans: ‘I don’t give a damn about you. You are ineligible’…It’s actually an insult to Black women.” Unfortunately, Cruz’s voice is not an isolated one.
We can’t ignore what the racists are saying.
The anti-democratic manifesto of the misnamed Patriot Front, a neo-Nazi organization that led the 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” debacle, claims, “The time of the Republic has passed in America as the system grows too weak to perform its duty. … An African, for example, may have lived, worked, and even been classed as a citizen in America for centuries, yet he is not American. He is, as he likely prefers to be labeled, an African in America. The same rule applies to others who are not of the founding stock of our people as well as to those who do not share the common unconscious that permeates throughout our greater civilization, and the European diaspora.” Decrying the failure of “our once great” democracy, Patriot Front challenges white citizens to “take back our country.”
We cannot dismiss this disgraceful rhetoric as merely the thoughts of a radical fringe. Remember, these are people that Trump refused to criticize, saying there were “fine people on both sides.” Republicans consort with these racists who are literally calling for the end of American democracy.
Further steps forward depend on all of us.
Maybe the anger, resentment, and hate that Trump and the GOP foment and exploit springs from a kernel of gut understanding. Perhaps we’re at an inflection point in our nation’s history when we’ve made enough progress — in facing our history and beginning to right its wrongs — that the only choices are forward with democracy and increasing equality, or backwards with fascism, white supremacy, and violence.
May we make the choice to do the honest self-reflection and hard work that will preserve our democracy.
Opportunities related to Black History Month
The Boston Globe’s Black History Month Film Festival will be presenting virtual screenings and discussions of classic and new films throughout the month. Once you register for a discussion, you will be able to access and view the movie on your own time prior to the event.
COAR’s Community Events Calendar is a great resource for discovering additional events that might not make it to the email. It’s always a good starting point if you are looking for more ways to engage with the local community and beyond.
Tuesday, Feb. 1, 4pm
Harvard Radcliffe Institute: Book Talk with Tomiko Brown-Nagin
Dean Brown-Nagin’s most recent book, Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality (Pantheon, 2022), will be released on January 25, 2022. Her reading will be followed by a discussion with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher, Jr., University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. More information and registration here.
Tuesday, Feb. 1, 7-8pm
Concord Museum: On Phillis Wheatley
Join historians Cornelia Dayton and Kerri Greenidge in a conversation about famed poet Phillis Wheatley Peters (1753 — 1784). Educated and enslaved in the household of prominent Boston commercialist John Wheatley, Phillis wrote poetry — styled after Milton and Pope — that brought her fame both in America and abroad. Her name was a household word among literate colonists and her achievements a catalyst for the fledgling antislavery movement. More information and registration here.
Thursday, Feb. 3, 7-9pm
First Parish in Lincoln: Undesign the Redline
This exhibit which will be presented on Zoom connects the deliberate and systematic racial housing segregation of the 1930s to political and social issues of today. We shall explore the ways in which redlining has shaped the current Greater Boston’s housing crisis. More information here.
Monday, Feb. 7, 3-3:45pm
Boston Globe Black History Month Film Festival: Moonlight
MOONLIGHT is the tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality. Join the discussion with Harold Steward, Gary Bailey, and Nick St. Fleur. More information and registration here.
Tuesday, Feb. 8, 9:30-11:15am
Concord Public Library: Tuesday Book Discussion: How the Word is Passed
Each month, join other readers to discuss a range of books, from classics to contemporary. For February, we will discuss How the Word is Passed, by Clint Smith, in celebration of Black History Month. Copies of the book will be made available at the Main Library circulation desk. More information and registration here.
Tuesday, Feb. 8, 7-8pm
Concord Museum: Say It Loud! On Race, Law, History, and Culture
Join Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy as he discusses his newest collection of provocative essays exploring the key social justice issues of our time—from George Floyd to antiracism to inequality and the Supreme Court. According to the New York Times reviewer, Professor Kennedy is “among the most incisive American commentators on race” and these essays reveal “the temperate discipline of his mind.” More information and registration here.
Wednesday, Feb. 9, 3-3:30pm
Harvard GSE: Education Now | Navigating Tensions Over Teaching Race and Racism
How can schools, educators, and families navigate the continued politicization and tensions around teaching and talking about race, racism, diversity, and equity? As laws banning critical race theory are passed, and the rhetoric grows intense, we’ll discuss what educators and families can do to make sure students are supported, learning, and prepared with the knowledge they need to understand their own histories and the diverse and global society they’ll enter. Speakers include: Daren Graves, Associate Professor of Education and Social Work, Simmons University and Co-Chair of Professional Education program “Schooling for Critical Consciousness of Racism and Racial Injustice,” HGSE Moderator: Uche Amaechi, Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education. More information and registration here.
Wednesday, Feb. 9, 4pm
ADL: Changing the World One Word at a Time: Conversation and Read Aloud with Jacqueline Woodson
Our Author Read Aloud and Conversation series features prominent children’s and young adult authors in engaging, insightful and lively discussion about their work and its relevance to the human experience. Jacqueline Woodson is the author of dozens of books for young readers and the recipient of a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship. Her New York Times bestselling memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming, won the National Book Award, as well as the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, and the NAACP Image Award. She has received many other literature awards and was the 2018–2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Moderators: Marsha Frith, Director of Education Programs, Southern Division and Jinnie Spiegler, ADL Education’s Director of Curriculum and Training. Q&A with the author will follow the presentation. More information and registration here.
Monday, Feb. 14, 3-3:45pm
Boston Globe Black History Month Film Festival: Love Jones
The passion between a struggling photographer and an unemployed writer is undeniable, but will it last? In this sweet, comic romance set against the jazz rhythms of Chicago, two educated, upscale urban artists discover modern courtship as they both experience a Love Jones. Join the discussion with Lisa Simmons, D. Ruff, and Jeneé Osterheldt. More information and registration here.
The use of the newly published book 1619 Project, by Nikole Hannah-Jones of the New York Times, is considered dangerous for students in some Republican-controlled states. Use of its content in the classroom is banned in Florida.
Why is it so dangerous? Because it details a compelling picture of the continuing effect of American slavery on our country. It covers in vivid detail what most books on American history somehow forget to include. For instance, learn how the South insisted on adding in the Second Amendment to our Constitution a provision for “a well regulated militia” to be controlled by the states in order to protect “slave patrols” against possible federal interference.
There are those that believe that the book’s impact on influenceable minds is too dangerous to share with our youth. Judge for yourself and buy this excellent, thought-provoking book.
Philippe Villers
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