Identity death

Reflecting on Black History Month in the current political and cultural landscape.

Written by Derek M. Williams

It started 99 years ago with a declaration from what was known then as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. The declaration was for the second week of February, specifically planned to include the birthday celebrations of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, to be known as Negro History Week. Conceptualized by historian Carter G. Woodson, this week would celebrate the commitment and excellence of Black leaders. In 1976, during the celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial, President Gerald Ford officially recognized this commemoration for all of February as Black History Month – a month of advocacy and reflection for a country that built itself upon forced labor and inequality.

However, the idea which Black History Month stands to represent is one which is currently under threat, particularly the executive orders issued by President Donald Trump soon after he took office in January to discontinue Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and rising tensions between political identities. I, and many other young African Americans, fear that the significance of Black History Month could lose the meaning it has stood for nearly a century to represent.

Brazil Jackson, a sophomore majoring in journalism and public relations and an African American student who is involved with equitable programs at Cleveland State University (CSU), believes that Black History Month is more for show than anything else. 

“Nothing. It is undervalued. Nobody looks at it. Nobody cares,” Jackson said. “Everybody does it for the media, and then nothing really happens. Nothing but Instagram posts.”

In conjunction with Trump’s executive orders declaring an end to federal DEI programs, the secretary of defense issued a memo titled, “Identity Months Dead at DoD.” This was released on the eve of Black History Month, January 31, and called for the immediate ending of any official resources to host or celebrate an event related to any cultural awareness month. Pete Hegseth, the new defense secretary, explained that his memo was made, “to celebrate the valor and success of military heroes of all races, genders and backgrounds as we restore our warrior culture and ethos.”

As a young Black man, this statement does not read as a genuine effort to acknowledge and celebrate people of all backgrounds. Instead, it feels like an attempt to erase the sanctity provided within Black History Month itself. Never was the history of a Black person celebrated to make a white person feel excluded, but to exemplify to young Black people what they are capable of. It is to ensure that our stories are not lost to new voices who sing a song history never knew the tune of.

America is a country that once prided itself on its rich diversity, influx of cultures and uniqueness as a “cultural melting pot.” The effort to erase these prides will not serve to unify the American people under assumed equality, but serve instead to ignore them under ineffective equity. To minorities across America, it remains ever important to hold steady in our celebration of our history, to be cognizant of leaders and thinkers who have allowed us to reach higher than we were ever allowed to go. We must honor, respect and cherish the importance of these individuals, if not to progress, then to stop history from ever repeating itself again.