Black history is still relevant to our progress

With all the heated discussion taking place locally about the Building and Loan affair and the fate of NICE radio, following fines imposed by the Courts on defamation charges against the Prime Minister, it is very easy for broader matters, of great import, to pass by unheralded. Bearing this in mind, it is important to keep in touch with the wider picture and issues of our heritage.{{more}}

The months of February and March are of significance to Vincentians, especially those of us who are of a darker hue. In February, we join with black people in North America in commemorating Black History Month, while the following month is our own National Heroes Month. Both are of historical and cultural importance to us, continuing to shed light on our historical development and permitting self-assessment of our collective achievements.

Black History Month was started in 1926 by the black scholar, Dr Carter Woodson, as a means of educating black people in the USA about their history and celebrating their accomplishments. The month of February was chosen for both the outstanding black emancipator and scholar, Dr Frederick Douglass and US President Abraham Lincoln, assassinated for signing the Emancipation Proclamation in the US, were born in the second week of February.

Black History Month is also commemorated in the United Kingdom, in October, but the Caribbean was far more influenced by the Black Power movement in the USA than that in the UK, so it is no surprise that February, rather than October, came to be recognized in the Caribbean itself as Black History Month.

There are still those among us who believe that occasions such as Black History Month are no longer relevant and hence ought to be de-emphasized. They point to such realities as the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America as proof of how far black people have progressed and claim that the battle for equal rights and opportunities is over.

Ironically, it is the experience of the same Barack Obama which gives the lie to such falsehoods and in fact underlines the need to intensify and complete the struggle for equality. The challenges which confronted Obama in his bid for election to the highest office in the USA and which continue to be placed as hurdles before him, are not only political and ideological in nature, they have roots in an innate, deep-seated racism which would deny black people access to the corridors of power.

The President is conscious of this fact and makes it plain in his Presidential Proclamation officially declaring February as Black History Month. In the Proclamation, he speaks of the dream of black people for equality as having gone “unfilled”, but makes it plain that it is still “within reach”. As for the relevance of Black History Month in today’s world, this is what he has to say:

“National African-American History Month is a time to tell those stories of freedom won and to honour the individuals who wrote them… reminding us that while we have yet to reach the mountain top, we cannot stop climbing…. Let us honour those who came before us by striving towards their example and let us follow in their footsteps towards the better future that is ours to claim.”

If the black man who occupies the most powerful position in the world can still recognize that, as a people, we still have unfinished business in the equality stakes, then is that not a wake-up call for those of us who have slipped into complacency where racism and the fight for equal rights for black people, in practice and not merely on paper?

What do our schools do about teaching of our history during this month? Can our churches not educate their congregation about how hard we had to struggle, even within the traditional churches for our rights? Do our parents have any story to tell their loved ones about where we have come from, how we got here, and how much further we need to go? Simple acts like these will give real meaning to the month.

In conclusion, we must, on a local level, pay tribute to those who raised the flag of equal opportunities and dignity for black people. Outstanding Vincentians like Hugh Mulzac, himself a long-time victim of racism. Fallen advocates of the Black Power era like Eddie Griffith, Kerwyn Morris, Jim Maloney and Creswell Burke must be remembered for their contribution. And there are many still alive – P.R. Campbell, Dr Kenneth John, Junior ‘Spirit’ Cottle, Caspar London and Hugh Ragguette, to name a few. That is our common historical heritage and legacy.

Renwick Rose is a

community activist

and social com- mentator.