The shortest month of the year is Black History Month. One official explanation offered is February was chosen because of the birthdays of two men who were influential in Black History: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Yet Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman were born in January. They were certainly as notable as those born in February and both were black. I think we could make the case that January is a deserving as February. It also gives us three more days.
The freeing of the slaves did not occur with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation or the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. They were not free from prejudice, discrimination or afforded a real opportunity for gainful employment. It was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which really set the standard for equal rights. It took decades of organized action to achieve the goal of passing the Act and there was tremendous resistance to it just as there was to the prior legislation. As Lyndon Johnson lamented, Democrats will lose the South for 60 years once this is signed. Well here we are, it looks like he was right. Politicians took the opportunity to fan the flames of racial fear and hatred gaining a powerful seemingly intractable voting bloc. Ideology does not change easily. Grudges can go on for centuries. The longing for a return to the “glory days” is a potent force. “Take America Back” or “Make America Great Again” comes with racial undertones.
Declaring MLK Jr. Day a holiday met with resistance. For a brief history on the last five states to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday take a look at: https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/01/for-shame-the-last-5-states-to-recognize-martin-luther-king-jr-day/1. With the present state of politics in the U.S. I am anticipating that some states may try and repeal the holiday especially if the present administration is re-elected. John McCain, the deceased Senator from Arizona, often extolled for his heroism during wartime and cited as “maverick” in the political world voted against declaring the day a holiday. He also voted against the 1990 Civil Rights Act sustaining a veto by George Bush. Arizona also created controversy as it became known as the “show me your papers state”. McCain was not very heroic or rebellious when it came to the rights of minorities in these instances.
The election of an African American President has led to the complete polarization of Congress. Some still hold Barack Obama is a “Birther”, not an American citizen, the most prominent being the present President of the U.S. Being a “Birther” is a rather transparent way of saying that because you are “black” you are not one of us. The fear that “we” are losing our country to foreigners is a concern a significant amount of Americans have and it played a big role in our last presidential election. And of course media outlets that support the status quo had a large part in supporting fear based narratives about “the other”, whether they were African Americans, Immigrants, or Muslims. The tried and true methods of casting some group as one we should fear continues to work consolidating voting blocks around trigger issues like building a wall or “America First”.
Indeed it is projected that whites will be a minority in the U.S. by 2045. But what is there to fear? Perhaps that the new majority will treat whites as poorly as the whites treated non-whites throughout the world. Anglo-Saxon white superiority, colonialism, manifest destiny all led to terrible abuses some of which continue to occur. Racism and discrimination still exist and haunt the lives of so many both minorities and also those in the majority. It is a stain upon the soul of our country and also we as individuals.
Martin Luther King Jr., reportedly paraphrasing 19th-century Unitarian minister and abolitionist Theodore Parker of Massachusetts, stating: “the arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Well there are a lot of people working to bend it away from justice. Dr. King also said: “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.” The lessons to be learned are that many do not support equal rights and in fact are actively working to undermine the gains that have been achieved. It was a long struggle to gain equal rights and a constant struggle to keep those rights. We have to be vigilant, prepared, and relentless in supporting equal rights for all. A good place to start is with the Poor People’s Campaign or any other group you find appealing. Make every day Martin Luther King Jr Day, every month Black History Month and understand that it is about far more than the man himself. It is about all of us living in a more just, equitable, and peaceful world.