Black History and Censorship
Black History month seems to be a complicated time in our year. This past week, I was blessed to engage in a conversation with five educators from Middle Tennessee. It was interesting to hear how schools in some counties or districts produce thoughtful and purposeful plans to teach and inform their students about Black history while other districts produce no plan unless a teacher or parent is present to champion or push the process. Why is this still the case in our society today? Why do we have to fight or find excuses to celebrate Black people, their history, and their accomplishments?
One primary reason seems to be the ongoing tool of censorship, which Fredrick Douglass addressed in his 1860 speech, “A Plea for Freedom of Speech in Boston.” This speech came on the heels of an attempted gathering to discuss how American slavery could be abolished. Those opposed to that discussion, in a town supposedly famous for its abolitionist ideals, mobbed the meeting and with the help of local authorities “censored” all talk of freeing slaves. Within four months, America was plunged into a civil war, with those vehemently against the ideals of Douglass and his friends fighting their fellow countrymen to defend slavery.
Our society is still censoring the ideas and history that make some of us uncomfortable. Much of Black history in America should make us uncomfortable. The Willie Lynch Letter, Jim Crow, lynchings, the Birmingham four, integration, sit ins, redlining, gerrymandering, Black Wall Street, Selma, back of the bus, and many other subjects and stories make us uncomfortable. In our society, from the smallest community or school district to our highest government offices, subject matter that causes us discomfort too often leads to intended or unintended censorship. We don’t want our children to read a certain book. We don’t want to draw voting lines with impartiality because it will change the demographic of our local, state, and federal government. We don’t want to stop redlining because it might “negatively” impact the value of our homes.
Censorship hides the whole truth. Censorship increases ignorance. Censorship hurts people. We need to know our history. We need to understand the viewpoints of all our neighbors. Only when we are in harmony with one another can we be empathetic, feel discomfort, and then work together for unity and the rights of all people.
