BY MULUGETA GUDETA
The entire experience of African Americans in the United States is a history of resistance against white racial oppression under various forms and conditions starting from the begging of slavery down to the present. The methods and manifestations of racial oppression in America might have evolved but the truth remains that black oppression has gone from bad to worse as more innocent black youths are killed in the streets and the biggest numbers of black prisoners are still languishing in American prisons under awful circumstances.
Less than a month ago, a young black man was killed as a result of violent police action in the hands of, not the usual white policemen, but under the brutal arrest and beating of black policemen who could not be suspect of nurturing anti-black racial prejudices. Yet, police violence has assumed absurd dimensions in the US so much so that black policemen are involved in it irrespective of their color or racial origin. This is a clear proof that police violence or “police terrorism” as it is increasingly known these days has increasingly become systemic, color-blind and irrational as well as inhuman.
This year’s African History Month is being observed under the theme of “Resistance” which, more than any other concept properly summarizes the existence of the black race in America and its condition. Blacks have been living for centuries in America under the condition of oppression and resistance to oppression, that has always been brutal and inhumane although some distinguished American presidents had tried to tone down the intensity of the violence and oppression under which blacks were forced to live and suffer and despite the US constitution that guarantees equal opportunities for all races.
In fact, the history of African-American struggle against slavery was a long and brutal one as depicted by numerous artistic works and books and films in particular. The resistance of Black American against American white and racist establishment is a long saga of success and failure as capture by the motion pictures. Black resistance leaders from The Black Panther party to individuals like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King have been honored, glorified turned into legends by black arts and culture. One of the works of arts is the classic movie entitled “Malcolm X” win which the legendary film actor Denzel Washington accords mythical dimension to a black leaders who is still alive in the hearts and minds of tens of millions of blacks in America.
Martin Luther King, the leader and author of peaceful black resistance against white racism is immortalized by his famous single line utterance that goes like, “I have a Dream” the same way that Malcolm X is remembered for saying that black liberation should be achieved “By any means necessary”. The dividing line between King and Malcolm little as he was also known is huge but their goal was the same: freeing black African Americans from the shackles of centuries of overt and covert racism in America.
Luther King was less militant more religious and more peaceful while Malcolm X has gone down in history as the most militant and most courageous leader of the same resistance movement who went from denouncing his Americaness to embracing Islam. What unites both leaders was however their willingness to give their lives for the cause as both were killed by agents of the white and racist American establishment.
With these two legendary figures, the struggle of African-Americans against racism in America has assumed a new dimension and entered a more mature and more articulated phase and gave birth to the ongoing “Black Lives Matter” movement that has become a global call for racial justice in America that has yet to go a long distance in order to live up to the dreams of its leaders and the black population of America in general.
It is inconceivable that the “Black Lives Matter” movement could grow into such a powerful and uniting force without the sacrifices of past black American leaders. It all started with those black leaders who invented or initiated the modern black movement for racial justice down to the present day new generation of black people who are continuing the struggle under new conditions without forgetting that sacrifices are part and parcel of the whole business of liberating the black people of America.
Among the precursors of the movement are leaders like Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) who launched the Negro History Week back in 1926. This is “a precursor of the Black History Month and coincided with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and that of Frederick Douglas on February 14 both of which dates Black communities had celebrated since the 19th century. “ The Negro History Week has grown into a wider and more [powerful movement in the 20th century, giving rise to the Black History Month or sometimes called the African American History Month.
According to available information, Black history Month has become, “an annual observance originating in the United States where it has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada and more recently has been observed in Ireland and the United Kingdom. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the African Diasporas. It is celebrated in February in the United States and Canada.” Every year, Black History Month is celebrated or observed with specific themes that highlight the dreams and objectives, the challenges and hopes of the black people of the world who, throughout recent history, have identified the movement which is also their own.
The major theme of Black History Month in 2023 was for instance is “Black Resistance”, a theme that explores how “African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racist terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms and police killings since the nation’s earliest days.” Black History Month started in 1915, “half a century after the Thirteen Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.”
At present, Black History Month is remembered or celebrated not only in the countries sited above. After month than a century, the movement has managed to grow and expand to include black people everywhere in the black Diasporas and naturally in Africa which is the original home to African Americans in the United States who were taken from Africa as slaves to work in the cotton plantations south of the Mississippi river. As such blacks in America have played a defining role in the making of the United States which they help build with their blood and sweat and continue to do so. Black have fought for the creation of the modern United States and have produced their share of notable black personalities who changed the face of America for good and made it a multicultural and multi-racial society as that the whole world knows it now.
Black Americans have also played a pivotal role in shaping American culture and the arts. There are many black American writers who have shaped the consciousness of the American people about race, gender and other dimensions of identity. WE can site for instance W.E B. Dubois who was a non-fiction writer alongside Booker T. Washington who “debated how to confront racism in the United States.”
Toni Morrison is perhaps the greatest black American women writers who and the voice of African-American women who won the Nobel and Pulitzer prices for her works that served as a vehicle for the cause of black liberation more than anybody in America. There was also James Baldwin who “though he spent most of his life abroad to escape racial prejudice in the United States, is known as the quintessential American writer, poet and essayist who “explored the unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual and class distinctions…” Ralph Ellison is also another black writer who was said to have pursued universal themes of oppression and segregation through his writings. He is best known for his classic novel “Invisible Man” that won the National Book Award in 1950.
The black experience in America has long become part and parcel of the modern history of the United States as African-Americans are credited for their achievements in various walks of life from writing fiction and non-fiction to displaying athletic prowess, painting some of the best pictures and for conducting scientific researches that have changed American society and made the US what it is now, namely the richest nation on planet earth.
There is also a growing awareness among black people in the world that the struggle of African Americans has assumed universal dimensions as growing numbers of prominent black men and women are involved in the “Black Lives Matter movement both as active supporters or sympathizers. The growing migration of Africans to the United States and other parts of the world has also contributed to this growing awareness. On the other hand African-Americans in the US are aware of the challenges Africans on the continent are facing and living through as a result of the global nature of racial, gender and class oppression these days.
The Ethiopian Herald February 9/2023
