Greetings White People!
Welcome to February, known colloquially as, Black History Month (BHM). In most cases, when you read articles about "don’ts", it’s usually accompanied with one focusing on "Do's". Problem is, right now there is no sense of boundaries between our communities so today we're just going to cover What Not to Do. Does that make sense? This Black History Month I'm asking you to NOT inject yourself into Black folks’ business even if you believe you have a point.
This Black History Month, I'm asking you to give up your entitlement complex. It's time for you to sit down, be silent, and LISTEN! In the spirit of that, I’ve been dispatched by the powers that be at 6ZEROS to provide you with a small guide on how NOT to inadvertently or deliberately offend Black people as you celebrate Black History Month. So, shall we begin, class?
White People, why must you consistently find ways to water down, or eliminate entirely, the history of our leaders and heroes; both sung and unsung? Why can't you leave Black history alone? Every year you inundate your timelines, feeds and talking points with the most benign and recycled takes from the speeches of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
But year after year you all somehow conveniently skip over quotes like: "we are coming to get our check" or “…the price that America must pay for the continued oppression of the Negro and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction.” Hard to virtue signal when the quote actually demands change, right?
But you don't stop there, White women love to grab the baton and attempt to reframe Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on the bus, as a “girl-power” women’s rights thing (negating its primary importance in the civil rights movement). But you know what, you never wax poetic about Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, Medger Evers, Lamar Smith, Rev. George Lee, Jimmie Lee Jackson, Fred Hampton, and SO many others, why? Is it because it's much harder to sanitize their message?
Is that why they were killed SENSELESSLY by YOUR people in order to preserve White supremacy? That’s in addition to, and to say nothing of, the wrongful conviction of Assata Shakur. Forcing her to seek asylum in a foreign land, likely never to return to HER. OWN. COUNTRY!
This Black History Month honor Black culture and the Black community at large by leaving our history alone. A Martin Luther King Jr. speech is not an opportunity for you to virtue signal to other White people.
THIS isn’t the flex you THINK it is, TRUST ME. “Better Than It Used To Be” is trick-bag-language for “at least no one is lighting crucifixes on fire on your front lawn and fire-bombing your homes and churches” or “at least there aren’t any more ‘for colored only’ or ‘no colored allowed’ signs in store windows, bathrooms, pools, and water fountains”. Because in the end you just evolved the crucifixes and anti-Black terrorism into a paperwork process at a municipal, state and federal level.
I mean think about it, why go through the trouble of constructing a crucifix, dousing it with kerosene and setting it on fire in the hopes it’ll burn the lawn and then the house, when you can just set ablaze our political capital and leverage with the stroke of a pen? While it LOOKS better for Black Americans, it's not, and your incessant need to bring up President Barack Obama does not change that fact.
Your attempts at social justice, racial justice, or whatever term you are using today are all rigged to ensure all the resources stay in your community and that racism is never truly punished. And as for those ‘for colored only’ and ‘no colored allowed’ signs…? Well now they say “All Lives Matter”, “Blue Lives Matter”, and “I Support The <fill-in-the-blank> Police Department”. So as I mentioned before, THIS isn’t the flex you think it is….
Do not beguile us with the literal HANDFUL of White people who were on the Freedom Rides and Marches all across the South. Yes, yes...your Great Great Grandpa fought in the Civil War, well so did mine. Yes, I'm aware that your Uncle was on the Edmund Pettis bridge but so was mine. THOSE few who did stand up are NOT you and are NOT representative of the ENTIRETY hence why they were called words such as "n****r lover" by your community.
As a matter of fact, other than Bernie Sanders, YOU probably didn’t even know who those White people were in the first place. We all know that you randomly Google searched “whites in civil rights movement” in an attempt to undermine Black History Month or find some way to make White people the protagonists during the Civil Rights Era. Shout out to Brad Pitt in 12 Years a Slave.
As I’ve said and/or insinuated in my previous articles “The Liberals Who Cried Black Lives Matter” and “No One Tests Your Gangsta Like A Workplace Karen pts. 1 and 2” WE. HAVE. NO. FRIENDS! WE HAVE NO ALLIES. WE ARE ALL WE GOT!
Do you think that your Black spouse or Black friend is a hood pass that grants you access to speak on Black history? Spoiler Alert...it doesn’t work like that! Having proximity to Black people does not make you a Black person or mean that you have an understanding our culture. Your daughter's "mixed hair" doesn't suddenly make you eligible to speak on Black issues or the Black experience.
Your Black friend doesn't make you eligible to speak on George Floyd and how Black Americans need to move in our own skin in this nation. If we're being honest, your proximity to our brother and sister isn't credibility, it actually fills us with a jumble of worry and anger.
First of all, you don’t even talk to those people like that anymore, if you ever even did outside of one or two outings! Second of all, the ones you do, probably aren’t even Black American, they're Emmanuel Acho types. So Black History Month is as foreign to them, as it is to YOU! The jig is up!
Seriously, did you know that we would actually respect you a whole helluva lot more, if you were just open and honest about your racism. I’m being serious. We would respect your honesty because AT LEAST we’d know where you stood in regards to us. Instead, you do all this “performing” in the name of “allyship” or whatever the hell it is you call yourself doing, while simultaneously proving everything we ever thought about you from the get go.
It HAS to be tiring to keep up the charade even if it is for one day (like on MLK Day or Juneteenth), or in this case, 28 consecutive days of Black History Month. Considering how tiring and draining it is for Black People who often have to spend EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY, code switching, I’d imagine the few days in the year you do it has got to be at least just as tiring. So you should do ALL of us a favor, and stand in your truth. Now, as we wrap up our class time, I hope these tips help you plan and execute more effectively heading into this year’s Black History Month.
If you're looking to celebrate Black History Month you should make it a year round endeavor. But with that said, here's some things you can do this month:
DO NOTHING.
As always, I leave you with a quote:
“I want to be remembered as someone who was sincere. Even if I made mistakes, they were made in sincerity.” ~ Malcolm X
Black History Month's roots began in 1926 when Black American historian Carter G Woodson established Negro History Week. Woodson believed it was important to teach Black history because "If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated."
Woods chose the second week of February for Negro History Week as it was the birth week of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln who are both pivotal figures in Black American history. A little more than 40 years later, Black educators and students proposed the creation of Black History Month which was officially recognized by the US government in 1976.
Welcome to February, known colloquially as, Black History Month (BHM). In most cases, when you read articles about "don’ts", it’s usually accompanied with one focusing on "Do's". Problem is, right now there is no sense of boundaries between our communities so today we're just going to cover What Not to Do. Does that make sense? This Black History Month I'm asking you to NOT inject yourself into Black folks’ business even if you believe you have a point.
This Black History Month, I'm asking you to give up your entitlement complex. It's time for you to sit down, be silent, and LISTEN! In the spirit of that, I’ve been dispatched by the powers that be at 6ZEROS to provide you with a small guide on how NOT to inadvertently or deliberately offend Black people as you celebrate Black History Month. So, shall we begin, class?
DO NOT Whitewash African American History, our Ancestors, or our Heroes!
But year after year you all somehow conveniently skip over quotes like: "we are coming to get our check" or “…the price that America must pay for the continued oppression of the Negro and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction.” Hard to virtue signal when the quote actually demands change, right?
But you don't stop there, White women love to grab the baton and attempt to reframe Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on the bus, as a “girl-power” women’s rights thing (negating its primary importance in the civil rights movement). But you know what, you never wax poetic about Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, Medger Evers, Lamar Smith, Rev. George Lee, Jimmie Lee Jackson, Fred Hampton, and SO many others, why? Is it because it's much harder to sanitize their message?
Is that why they were killed SENSELESSLY by YOUR people in order to preserve White supremacy? That’s in addition to, and to say nothing of, the wrongful conviction of Assata Shakur. Forcing her to seek asylum in a foreign land, likely never to return to HER. OWN. COUNTRY!
This Black History Month honor Black culture and the Black community at large by leaving our history alone. A Martin Luther King Jr. speech is not an opportunity for you to virtue signal to other White people.
DO NOT Say “It’s Better Than It Used To Be”
I mean think about it, why go through the trouble of constructing a crucifix, dousing it with kerosene and setting it on fire in the hopes it’ll burn the lawn and then the house, when you can just set ablaze our political capital and leverage with the stroke of a pen? While it LOOKS better for Black Americans, it's not, and your incessant need to bring up President Barack Obama does not change that fact.
Your attempts at social justice, racial justice, or whatever term you are using today are all rigged to ensure all the resources stay in your community and that racism is never truly punished. And as for those ‘for colored only’ and ‘no colored allowed’ signs…? Well now they say “All Lives Matter”, “Blue Lives Matter”, and “I Support The <fill-in-the-blank> Police Department”. So as I mentioned before, THIS isn’t the flex you think it is….
DO NOT Use REAL White Allies to Disguise YOURSELF as One
As a matter of fact, other than Bernie Sanders, YOU probably didn’t even know who those White people were in the first place. We all know that you randomly Google searched “whites in civil rights movement” in an attempt to undermine Black History Month or find some way to make White people the protagonists during the Civil Rights Era. Shout out to Brad Pitt in 12 Years a Slave.
As I’ve said and/or insinuated in my previous articles “The Liberals Who Cried Black Lives Matter” and “No One Tests Your Gangsta Like A Workplace Karen pts. 1 and 2” WE. HAVE. NO. FRIENDS! WE HAVE NO ALLIES. WE ARE ALL WE GOT!
DO NOT Use Photos of Your Black "Friend" as a Hood Pass to Speak on Our Issues
Your Black friend doesn't make you eligible to speak on George Floyd and how Black Americans need to move in our own skin in this nation. If we're being honest, your proximity to our brother and sister isn't credibility, it actually fills us with a jumble of worry and anger.
- Worry, because all it takes is a phone call from a frightened Becky, and the cops will use Rayshawn for target practice or a punching bag.
- Worry, because Brad just has to feign innocence and suddenly, Chantel goes from “not being like the other ones” to “a loud-mouth, ghetto, hood rat” who couldn’t “adjust to a different lifestyle than what she’s used to”.
- Anger, because Rayshawn and Chantel should have known better. Instead, she thought Brad’s ice was colder, and he thought Becky was more “submissive”.
First of all, you don’t even talk to those people like that anymore, if you ever even did outside of one or two outings! Second of all, the ones you do, probably aren’t even Black American, they're Emmanuel Acho types. So Black History Month is as foreign to them, as it is to YOU! The jig is up!
DO NOT Make a Grand Gesture To Prove You Aren’t Racist
It HAS to be tiring to keep up the charade even if it is for one day (like on MLK Day or Juneteenth), or in this case, 28 consecutive days of Black History Month. Considering how tiring and draining it is for Black People who often have to spend EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY, code switching, I’d imagine the few days in the year you do it has got to be at least just as tiring. So you should do ALL of us a favor, and stand in your truth. Now, as we wrap up our class time, I hope these tips help you plan and execute more effectively heading into this year’s Black History Month.
Parting Thoughts
If you're looking to celebrate Black History Month you should make it a year round endeavor. But with that said, here's some things you can do this month:- Make a percentage of your monthly purchases at Black Owned Businesses
- Teach your children about Black achievement and our often unacknowledged contributions to the USA
- Don't pressure your Black employees or coworkers at the companies you work for to participate in any work celebrations
- Dig deeper and learn the country's history through the lens of Black culture and Black lives
DO NOTHING.
As always, I leave you with a quote:
“I want to be remembered as someone who was sincere. Even if I made mistakes, they were made in sincerity.” ~ Malcolm X
How Black History Month Sprouted From Negro History Week
Black History Month's roots began in 1926 when Black American historian Carter G Woodson established Negro History Week. Woodson believed it was important to teach Black history because "If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated."Woods chose the second week of February for Negro History Week as it was the birth week of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln who are both pivotal figures in Black American history. A little more than 40 years later, Black educators and students proposed the creation of Black History Month which was officially recognized by the US government in 1976.
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