Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
It’s February and you know what that means: It’s Black History Month.
For one month each year, America engages in a performative monthlong holiday that celebrates Black people’s contributions to this country. And since 2024 is a leap year, we get an extra day to be Black!
While Black History Month is necessary, for some people, dealing with white people’s questions, microaggressions or Caucasian curiosity causes some consternation. If you find this 29-day respite from white history to be a harrowing experience, we have compiled a list of dos and don’ts that can help you survive every Black History Month. Feel free to print it out and post it on your refrigerator or save it as a morning mantra.
In any case, here are the 10 Black History Month commandments.
1. Don’t: Get over the past
If you dare bring up slavery, racial terrorism or past discrimination that Black people endured, someone will unfailingly ask: “Why can’t you just get over it?”
While this question may seem offensive, it is very relevant during Black History Month. Why can’t white people get over the fact that white supremacy has to die? Why did they have to replace slavery with mass incarceration? Why couldn’t Reconstruction-era racial terrorists get over the fact that their slaves were free? Why couldn’t the segregationists who spat on Black kids integrating schools get over Jim Crow? Why can’t cities move past redlining? Why couldn’t the Daughters of the Confederacy’s “Lost Cause” advocates get over the fact that the South got its ass kicked? Why can’t Moms for Liberty overcome the whitewashed history that they learned in social studies books?
Perhaps it’s because history is not something that should be forgotten or ignored. We’re not supposed to get over the past; we’re supposed to…
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