FebruaryBlack History Month Series

Why Do this

This is my second year of Sawari’s Black History Month series. The series includes daily articles, poetry and other forms of writing recognizing important figures and themes surrounding Black history. I like to take advantage of these few weeks of the year as a time for education and reflection. Within the series I’m intentional in learning about different elements of Black history worldwide, but particularly in the United States. In addition, I’m also being intentional in thinking about how our history has played in a role in Black life and community today. It’s no wonder that February, being the shortest month of the year, is littered with other themes that draw away from the focus on Black History: Valentines Day, President’s Day, Lincoln’s birthday, to name a few. These ‘holidays’ I address underneath the umbrella of Black History on their assigned dates. But through these deflections from our month of celebration we can see how the lens of Black History has been distorted for centuries. Many historical ‘achievements’ of the black community beginning with the shipment of Africans to North America in 1619, is that really the extent to which our achievements are measured?

Surely Not

A few weeks ago I was shocked to read about the battles that occurred in Africa in an attempt to stop the kidnapping of slaves. These battles are the collective beginning of the African Resistance, “Africans started to fight the transatlantic slave trade as soon as it began. Their struggles were multifaceted and covered four continents over four centuries. Still, they have often been underestimated, overlooked, or forgotten” (Diouf). I’d never known that there were battles in an attempt to stop the slave ships, but why wouldn’t there be? Those people who were taken were apart of families: they were sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, husbands and wives. We’ve been told that we are decedents of the criminals that sold by their own, and it’s a manipulative lie that has been used to make Blacks in America feel abandoned, and even rejected, from their homeland. This estranged feeling continues to be a persistent part of the Black experience in the United States. When I learned about the battles of the African Resistance I was filled with pride, my ancestors were fought for! That’s a fact that I’ve been mislead to think otherwise for decades, imagine if black children were taught this in school. This signifies the great need for us to learn and recognize our history, it instills us with a sense of identity, belonging, pride and awareness that can’t be replaced by any other type of knowledge.

As we begin this month of discovery I’ll include this piece by Al-fatah Stewart (also known as Dr. Bomb) this piece was sent to me fall of last year with his permission to publish.