Livin’ On Purpose Black History, Political Realities and Community Development…... The Struggle Continues Dr. Eric Johnson Each year during the month of February The Black Community, and to some degree the broader society, collectively participates in a superficial ritual that is rarely connected to any discernable collective effort at widespread community development. However, superficial does not necessarily imply irrelevant or useless, it more specifically often indicates surface level or lacking substance. There is no necessary contradiction between superficial and true, in fact very often both are applicable to many situations, political and otherwise. While no investigation of history inescapably leads to a lesson learned, that does not mean the effort is without merit. Complicatedly, Black history month has become little more than a yearly socio-political pastime, where superficial and random facts are used to provide a skin-deep resolution to a considerable multi-layered predicament. The yearly visitation of Black History promises to provide potential instruction in every aspect of the lives of Black people but only if we are studious and committed to community betterment. The history of people of African descent is replete with victories and messages that are relevant to every current circumstance in which we find ourselves. Hannibal an African General from Tunisia who crossed the alps and defeated the Roman Empire in a series of battles around 200 BCE that resulted in his army controlling northern Italy for the better part of 15 years. Toussaint Louverture the former Haitian slave who led a revolt in Haiti and defeated France, the most powerful army in the world at that time. The year was 1803 and the accomplishment makes Haiti the oldest Black Republic in the Western Hemisphere. Moreover, the Moors ruled in Europe for nearly 800 years, beginning around 700 AD to the 15 century. During that time Moors introduced paved and lamp lit streets, libraries, and universal education. In addition, there is some evidence that the Moors created more than 900 baths houses across Spain during their rule, making common the practice of daily bathing. Carter G. Woodson the father of Black history set out to chronicle the effort of Black community’s struggle both before and after slavery to educate their children. They often double taxed themselves, meaning they paid state required taxes for education for schools their children could not attend then paid volunteer community taxes to build schools they paid for that their children could attend. The list of accomplishments for Black people in medicine, law, politics, engineering and education are simply too numerous for any one publication. However, in the effort to be seen as full citizens Black people have sought reconciliation as members of both the Republican and Democratic parties. For nearly 80 years Black people sought political redress from the republican party with far too little results. For the last 90 years the Black community has looked to the Democratic party for full political participation, but the results have been mixed at best. Certainly, electing the first African American President is no small accomplishment but Black poverty rates increased during the Obama Presidency. From the years 1899 to 1965 it is estimated that a Black person was lynched nearly once a week. A time span that covers our membership in both political parties. It should not be ignored that the current candidates for the Presidency in the Democratic party includes a diversity that in many ways is unprecedented, but I am reminded of the old saying “Just because the ax has a wooden handle that don’t make it one of the trees.” The lessons learned from history are complex because each time period has its own context and circumstances that are often unique to the moment. Therefore, Black history month is not simply a time to say because this happened that could happen. The point here is; any progress in the struggle to see a better day has and always will be the result of Black people’s efforts. The political reality of Black people today and any other day in the future will always be connected to the belief we have in our own ability to change our circumstances. The history of Black people informs us that there is no situation in which we find ourselves that we can not change. Black history month is less productive when we utilize it as a nostalgic tool to examine times gone by and more productive when we use history to feed the imagination in way to productively impact the future. Our current political and social reality is best addressed when we use Black history as tool to adjust current conditions with informed methods of progress development. There have been those that came before who accomplished a lot more with considerably less resources. Continued on page 42 41
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