Black history month

MLK day is short, celebratory and over before the ice-cream melts. And that's how us white folks like it.\nBut if Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a short-lived celebration, then Black History Month is an unfulfilled commitment.\nThat's right. Black History Month. You know…this month?\nJust as a reminder, this month is February. It's the one with 28 days, sometimes 29 and has been designated as a month during which we pay special attention to the history of black people. I can imagine two reasons why white folks would forget about it.\nReason Number One: It ain't Christmas.\nEven if you are a Yuletide humbug, you can't help but notice when the red ribbons wrap themselves around the street-lamps. \nUnfortunately, there is no decorating committee for Black History Month. Kente cloth swags aren't festooned anywhere. Since there aren't any decorations for Black History Month, it's understandable that we forget about it and move on to Valentine's Day.\nReason Number Two: White Folks Don't Want to Go There.\nMonday I went to an event sponsored by the Black Law Student's Association. They had invited Judge Viola Taliaferro to speak. I was one of four or five whites in the room, and despite the overwhelming warmth of Judge Taliaferro and the unquestionable kindness of everyone present, \nI felt just horrible. Maybe part of this was due to my pigging out at the reception afterwards. I did take more than my fare share of ham-wraps and pineapple chunks, but I can't blame the lonely pangs of firmly rooted pain entirely on my embarrassing appetite.\nThe truth is, whenever white folks find themselves in a crowd of black folks, their stomachs clench, their breathing shortens or their heart-rates pick up. Most of the time, it doesn't have anything to do with hate or fear. It's good old guilt, and it goes like this: \n"Oh God, oh God, I don't want to be here. There are black people here and I know what they are all thinking. They think I'm part of that legacy of hatred and injustice. Truth be told, maybe I am. And Lord, I just feel so guilty."\nThe prevailing wisdom is that guilt is normal, but unnecessary, and no one should feel they have to bear full responsibility for white oppression.\n But on the other hand, if white folks are going to join in honoring Black History Month, they have to embrace some of that guilt. It may seem like studying black history requires us to study the history of white villainy. Our ancestors did some miserable things and white folks continue to live in a country that was founded on the backs of slave laborers. Every study shows that on average, we live off the fat of the country, while so many blacks live off the scraps. Generally speaking, our houses are nicer, our salaries are better and our young men are not disproportionately imprisoned.\nJudge Taliaferro suggested that the barrier we face today is not explicit race-prejudice, but rather an unwillingness to engage in honest dialogue about how we feel towards each other. I'm going to suggest that white folks just don't want to go there, not because we don't want to learn about black history, but because we're afraid we'll learn about white privilege. We're afraid we'll learn about ourselves.