Hi members,
Happy Black History Month!
I recently went to a Black History Month event at my local church that was highlighting Black LGBTQ+ folks and their contributions. The event was lovely and it was accompanied by engaging conversations. We were presented with Black queer icons such as James Baldwin, Billy Holiday, Bayard Rustin and Josephine Baker to name a few. As the conversation grew and took momentum, I could not help but think of ordinary Black people in general and their everyday contributions.
I am not the first nor the last to trouble the inevitable trap during Black History Month to highlight iconic Black folks and/or defer to ‘Black excellence’ as deserving sites of celebration. The issue that I find in this approach is that it robs the humanity of Black people in general. When every time we defer to celebrating Black historical figures instead of our fellow community members, friends or family, we miss the chance of actually producing a robust and critical celebration of Blackness. I am not advocating that we do not celebrate legends like Malcom X, Assata Shakur and Harriet Tubman. It is the opposite, I am advocating that we celebrate more than that! I am suggesting that Black people need not be heroes or martyrs to be celebrated. Ordinary Black life in an anti-Black world is worth celebrating and tending to.
I leave you with a question that I do not have an answer to: How would understanding the ordinary happenings of Black life as a site of resistance and inspiration challenge and broaden our collective understanding of Black History?
