By: Dave Devereaux
With the white man’s penchant for fabricating and withholding accurate information about Black history, what if we discovered that all stories narrated by them have been embellished to make them the heroes? What if they have been so crafty in manipulating history to include themselves while diminishing the critical involvement of blacks? Can we no longer even look at history as accurate or factual?
These are hypothetical questions of course, yet it could be more true than not. A prime example is the continued effort of white American leaders like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to take away any effort to educate young people about their true place in history, as well as the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the workplace and schools.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, and Gov. Glen Youngkin of Virginia, have all signed legislation that prohibits public schools in their perspective states from teaching Critical Race Theory.
As is also in the actions of the states of Texas, Arkansas, North Dakota, Mississippi and Virginia which have disallowed the teaching of certain parts of black history or as they claim, CRT, having passed anti-CRT laws. These states have restricted lessons about race and racism as they feel it makes students feel guilt or anguish for the past actions of their forefathers. I’ve always emphasized that there is no place for racism in this society, yet it exists without challenge, especially in state government.
Black students are now questioning these assumed facts and disputing how it has been presented to them. The one thing they seem to not be interested in doing is to point any finger of blame for the past. There remains a clear belief that knowledge is power and they will seek answers outside of the classroom by way of their research.
To counter that, these states have taken to banning books and information that will lead to the answers these students continue to seek in libraries also. What these state governments fail to realize is the fact that the internet will not be censored, and these kids simply log on and research from there. The thirst for understanding and truth remains clear and focused. Students are embracing their past and beginning to represent it in their own way. These kids make it clear that the goal is knowledge and pride, not retaliation or hate.
Older black folk have every reason to hate whites as they were blatantly discriminated against and denigrated as was the norm. To be called names back in the day was simply a common daily occurrence that most black folks endured and learned to ignore. Mistreatment and physical abuse were rampant, with no recourse for safety for black people.
Today, if a white person uses race to attempt to embarrass and degrade, they find themselves at the receiving end of a tirade of response from people no longer willing to accept this type of behavior from anyone. Sadly, we endured this from not just whites, but all other races as well. We were placed at the bottom of the ladder of society just because of the color of our skin. It would almost be justified if we all hated as a response.
Society has still not reckoned with its past and still attempts to dish out injustices as in corrupt police departments that still kill innocent black men and women over simple infractions, communities that still don’t want our presence, professions that refuse to value our expertise and neighbors that continue to want to remind us that we are less than and don’t belong.
It could be said that we are tired and will no longer accept these behaviors. I have friends who have expressed they no longer interact with white people unless they have to. They always state they don’t dislike them, but rather don’t trust them because of some incident that led them to wonder if that occurred as a result of race or prejudice of some sort.
Many blacks feel that after Donald Trump was elected the increase in racial incidents led to poor interactions with people of other races. Whites were not alone as a culprit. Asians, though they experienced their racial incidents, seemed to have ignored when blacks were discriminated against, and they wanted similar attention. Hispanic race relations seem to be similarly playing out, and not always on a positive note as in the incident that occurred with three Los Angeles City Council members in 2022. Trump’s unwillingness to acknowledge racial disparities seemed to bolster negative behaviors of other races toward black people. He single-handedly normalized racial tensions.
Overall, where are we now? I surmise that we are back in the early 70’s with our race relations. We must impress upon black people to work on ourselves and start to support each other more respectfully. We have to focus on our community and our needs to offer positive results to other cultures and communities. This cycle that was created back in 2016 has already spent too much time existing in our zeitgeist and needs to be put to rest so that we can move forward in positivity and success.
Electing Trump back to the presidency would be the biggest mistake in American history next to Hitler’s ascension in Germany. He has proven that he will not be good for this country and his anger will only lead to further retaliatory behaviors. His followers will persist in taking up racial disruptions and tearing society into disaster. Race will always be an issue in America, as long as there continue to be efforts to cover up truths and hide facts.
Black Americans remain the one demographic that has made the least progress over history as reported in textbooks. Mainly because we are not writing our narratives. And much of that is because whites refuse to allow us our narrative. They assign us some benign reason that attempts to describe our place in history and pacify what they want us to know.
Truth be told, blacks are the most resilient group on this planet.
