What has Donald J. Trump, President of the world’s most powerful country, got to do with Black History Month?
His social profile as a privileged son born into wealth and opportunity, screams a world away from the misopportunity and misadventure that usually typify the struggles of the black person in the United States of America.
Not many black sons ever received “a small loan of $1Million” from their father, as President Trump once lamented.
For many parents in the black community, the best gifts they would ever give their children may be divine transcripts of prayer and the grace to service the remainder of debts and hurts they bequeathed to their kids.
Dehumanizing Obama
It is from the throes of these regrettable moments in history that black people have emerged to assert themselves as innovative and hardworking thought leaders who are today leaving footprints of excellence in politics, academia and business.
The Black History Month, inspired by the Negro History Week which was celebrated from 1926, provides all black people around the world the opportunity to remember their history, recognise the achievements and contributions of the thoroughbreds who inspired change, and look into the future with greater promise.
Since 1st February, the black communities in Canada, USA, UK and other countries, have been gathering together to celebrate these milestones, with various cultural and educational events jostling for space on the calendars of government and community organisations.
In the USA, however, this year’s Black History Month may be overshadowed by the gory implications of a meme racist video allegedly posted by President Donald Trump on his Truth Social media platform.
In the video, former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, are depicted as apes.
The former first couple are made to perfect the natural appearance of the omnivorous creatures, complete with all their hairy properties and their unique animal features.
The heads of the Obamas are planted on the torsos of apes dangling in the forest, as music plays in the background.
Big names in February
The sad event has received widespread condemnation in the United States and around the world, as the President and his government slug it out with botched explanations and counter explanations about how the post appeared on the personal page of the American President.
A faceless and nameless presidential staffer is alleged to have posted the video while the media handlers at the White House have called the public reaction to the video ‘fake outrage’. Meanwhile, the President has refused to apologise, insisting he did not make a mistake.
The Obama meme video was part of other videos, with a preceding content on voter fraud.
This mismash of labelling, disrespect and harassment have long characterized the history of the black man–from the days of slavery to the crackdown by ICE in recent times.
The pain in watching hurtful racist videos today would not compare with the harsh times marked by the near annihilation of the confidence of black people, when Carter G. Woodson in 1926 suggested the second week of February as the Negro History Week.
February was also chosen to honour the birthdays of two important American political figures: President Abraham Lincoln, (12 February 1809) and former African-American civil rights leader, Frederick Douglass (14 February 1818). Incidentally, Abraham Lincoln is Barack Obama’s favorite president.
Nearly every black person has experienced an ape moment at some point. From my former roommate in Ottawa who asked whether I am offended when I am called black, to my Nigerian friend in England who was told by a girl he propositioned that “I don’t do blacks”, to my African-American journalist colleague who gave up journalism because the all-white newsroom struggled to recognize his quality, there is a lot to regret–not as apparitions of the horrendous treatment of slaves on the plantations–but as reminders of what it means to be black, even today.
Black don’t crack
Yet, Black History Month–celebrated from 1st to 28th February–is not the time to vent our hurts; it is a month to celebrate what we have been able to contribute to our collective prosperity.
In this month, whatever takes us back–back to the pains of yesteryears that held us behind–is not welcome.
Instead, we remember the truisms in the poetry of Philip James Bailey: “We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best”.
So, what is the noblest thing to do about the offensive meme video of the Obamas? Let’s act best in this month of Black History and cut President Trump a slack.
Not because Barack and Michelle are black, but because Luther King charged us to Dream Big. Because Michelle taught us to go high when they go low.
Because there is a lot more that unites the peoples of the world, than divides us. Because being black is not an obstacle; the only obstacle we see is being poor.
This year, Canada will celebrate 30 years of the Black History Month, an important commemorative milestone for the black community.
Every February, we remember Dr Jean Augustine, the first black Canadian woman elected to Parliament, who in 1995 proposed February as the Black History Month, and Donald Oliver, the first black man appointed to the Senate (later Deputy Speaker) whose 2008 motion was adopted to officially recognise February as the Black History Month in Canada.
We also remember Mathieu de Costa, the first black person to arrive on Canadian soils (Turtle Island) in 1608, and Olivier Le Juene, the first African slave in Canada.
Tissues Of The Issues
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