America needs to rethink its representation of Black culture during Black History Month
U.S. corporations are among the many entities that misrepresent Black people, especially during Black History Month (Pixabay)
As Black History Month ends, there are some conversations to be had and questions to be considered about the practices of the month.
This February marks thirty-seven years since Congress passed Public Law 99-244, officiating the month as the “National Black (Afro-American) History Month.” It is supposed to be a time to celebrate our African heritage and all the various things that make us unique.
Every Black History Month, the corporate world makes it a mission to “represent” and “celebrate” Blackness. Advertisements from big companies such as Walmart, Target, and Nike feature Black people and are created by Black people.
Walmart has an entire section dedicated to celebrating BHM on its website. However, reports have shown that Black people, who worked hourly wage jobs for the company, are disproportionately underpaid than their white counterparts, according to Insider.
This report is from 2020, a year that Black people took to the streets to fervently protest the killing of George Floyd. The same year that Walmart issued a statement, promising to address systematic racism.
While I do applaud and appreciate the representation of Black people in the cast and crew for these ads, I have to think about this performative representation. Do these corporations only do right by Black people during Black History Month?
Chauncey Dennie, an English professor at the University of Maryland, attributes the actions of these corporations during BHM to economic interest.
“In a capitalist society, a corporation ideally wants consumers,” Dennie said.
After former President Barack Obama’s 2008 election, the term “post-racial society” began appearing in conversations surrounding race in America, according to Rebecca Roberts for NPR .
The term refers to a society in which race is no longer a controversy, a world where people are “color-blind.” However, each year we encounter circumstances that prove that America is set on disrespecting the Black individual.
We were all there in 2012 when Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman, in 2014 when Eric Garner was killed by Daniel Pantaleo, in 2020 when Breonna Taylor was killed in her apartment by police officials, and recently in 2023 as Tyre Nichols was killed by five police officers.
So what society does post-racial exist in?
“There are loud voices that are claiming that teaching material that simply acknowledges Black existence and Black suffering and Black humanity is somehow anti-american or detrimental to children,” Dennie said.
The english professor is referring to the actions taken by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to ban the newly added AP course on African American studies.
We have spent 37 years celebrating Black History Month in an effort to educate and ameliorate, but it feels like we are stuck in the same position. America is insistent on showcasing progression when it is clear that it isn’t actually happening.
How many more Black History Months do we endure under the guise of change when America is hell-bent on consistently undervaluing and disrespecting the Black individual?