Now, That’s Some B.S.

If you just found out about Juneteenth, I have good news… okay, well sort of good news… it’s not your fault! It’s actually due to how all of our education systems reduce our knowledge of Black people’s history to slavery, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King (and if time allows you might even learn about Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges too). In most spaces, you only dive into additional historical information about Black people when you take a specialized course like African American Literature or you stumble upon an educator who takes the time to intertwine the history of Black people within their curriculum (s/o to my fellow authentic & devoted educators). Other than that, you are left to be an independent learner and you have to find out about the history of Black people on your own while European history is continuously poured into us through our formal education systems. This elitism is also often reinforced in the literary canons which are flooded with dead white men like Charles Dickens and Mark Twain who come with their own privileges and biases.

“Until the Lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the Hunter.”

Proverb

An easy solution to this would be to urge everyone to simply go pick up a book and educate themselves or at a minimum us a google search; however, this solution assumes that you have both the mental space and lagniappe time to devote to unlearning and/or adding to what schools have intentionally forgotten to mention about the history of Black people. We are given parts of the story when we are introduced to people like Christopher Columbus and Abraham Lincoln which positions them as heroes to some. There’s a proverb which frames this type of illustration perfectly and it states, “Until the Lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the Hunter.” So of course numerous narratives paint hunters as heroic rather than as the villains that they truly are. All of this then causes us to leave primary and secondary schools as well as college with little to no new knowledge about the history of Black people.

So what can we do? We can become agents of change in the spheres that we frequent so that the generations that come after us are more knowledgeable about our history outside of that one Black History project in the 5th grade. We have to also reach back to our peers, friends, families, and colleagues who have been miseducated rather than turning our noses up to them. This does not mean simply sending lists of books or articles to read but to lean more on the oral tradition of simply talking to one another and sharing stories amongst each other in order to propel a better and fuller idea about the history of Black people.

So, the next time someone boasts at the dinner table about how great of a president Lincoln was you might want to add that in 1861 (just 159 years ago) during his first inaugural address, he basically swore that he would not interrupt slave holding when he stated, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” And while people are sipping tea to hide their discomfort you can also add that it wasn’t until 4 years later during his second inaugural address that he referred to slavery as a sin and formed the claim that it was to blame for the war between the North and the South since it was a punishment from God (yes, he sprinkled some religion on it). Some might even say that he was more concerned with an unified country than the freedom of slaves.

All in all, as the United States slowly shifts and people finally wake up; I believe that it is our duty to educate one another so the next Juneteenth can be more purposeful and even more lit.

HAPPY JUNETEENTH!