The African-American Struggle Continues: Still, We Rise

Happy Black History Month &?Happy Month of Love

“Still I Rise”?

You may write me down in history

With your bitter twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise… -Maya Angelou (Excerpt)

February, the shortest month of the year is when we celebrate two of the most powerful and heartfelt aspects of our lives, Black History Month, and the month of love. Is there some reason why the celebration of the history of African-Americans in this country is relegated to the shortest month of the year and is not celebrated every day of the year? Unfortunately, although essential, important, and positively impactful, the celebration of the history of African-Americans and the practice of love in America are much shorter than the daily and systematic practice of hate.

You would think that because of the designations of history and love during the month of February, hate could and would be set aside at least for one month. However, it seems as if the hearts of many men and women have waxed cold when it comes to people who don’t look like them. In all actuality, it would be a major milestone if hate could be eradicated for a lifetime. Where is the celebration and where is the love? No matter what, Blacks still rise!

As poet Langston Hughes wrote in his poem, “Mother to Son,” “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” For African-Americans, not only has life not been a crystal stair, but the struggle also continues. The bigotry, racism, sexism, institutional and structural forms of systemic racism, economic poverty, inequities in affordable housing and healthcare, the lack of a quality and equitable education, as well as the consistent denial of the right to vote are all a part of the constraints that have been and continue to be placed on Blacks in America. Unfortunately, these constraints have served, and they continue to serve as shackles on the legs, backs, minds, hearts, and finances of Black folk in America. It’s nothing new! These acts of inequities and inequalities have continued since 1619, when the first ship containing enslaved Africans docked at Point Comfort, which is now known as Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia.

But through it all, African-Americans have held onto their faith, while remaining hopeful that things can and will get better, sooner or later. Yes, there have been some financial, academic, political, economic, and social progress made by Blacks in America. However, those gains cannot make up for, nor can they compare to the hundreds of years head start that White America has had in the financial, academic, political, social, and economic realms of American life. Although there have been some gains and some progress, there is still a long way to go. No matter what, Blacks still rise!

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To combat and withstand the struggles imposed on African-Americans as a people, they have constantly had to fight for survival. Through it all, they have risen from the ashes and the dust of despair, degradation, and pain. Their struggles have only made them stronger! They have used prayer and song to help them to deal with their pain and their suffering, from gospel to blues, and all other genres of music and in between. Even to this day, gospel music and prayer continue to help African-Americans to deal with their pain, their suffering, their struggles, their losses, as well as their identity. It’s music and prayer that helps them to remain hopeful, and to keep their faith for a better day! From the middle passage to the plantation, from the one room schoolhouses to the corporate boardrooms, African-Americans use music and prayer to communicate, to navigate, to orchestrate, and to help them to assimilate. No matter what, African-Americans still rise!

Black History is very rich. It covers so many centuries that there is not enough space nor time in this article to highlight all of the contributions or to name all of the African-Americans who have made and continue to make America what it is today. America was built not only on the backs of Black people; it was also built through the spilled blood of Black people. This country is richer and better because of Blacks and others who have toiled, fought, and died for the freedom and the success of the country.?

Below are just a few of the vast number of struggles, strides, and strengths of African-Americans throughout their historical journey in America. No matter what the situation, the struggle, or the cause, Blacks in America still manage to rise!! They have risen, and they continue to rise above the fray of racism, sexism, institutional and structural racism, voter suppression, economic deprivation, social isolation, political alienation, inferior education, poverty, discrimination, and other atrocities that have been systematically put in place to hold them back and to hold them down. And yet, they still rise!?

The Middle Passage

Can you imagine being kidnapped, transported against your will, while scantly clothed in rags, crossing the Atlantic Ocean, packed to overflow in the hull of cargo ships, with no room for you to move, mired in the bodily secretions of not only your own feces and urine, but also in the feces and urine of other enslaved Blacks? Can you imagine not being fed or provided water throughout your forced transport, forced to brave the elements of the weather, with the constraints of chains and shackles on your feet, your hands, and your neck…chained as if you were an animal (it’s a worst crime to chain an animal), on the way to foreign lands of destination? It’s been more than four hundred years since the arrival of the first twenty slaves into Virginia in 1619. They were called Coloreds, Negroes, and other demeaning names… But through it all, Blacks in America have kept singing and praying. Still, they rise!

The Plantation & the Punishment

Although many White Republican governors (whose names I will not elevate in this article) and other right wing politicians don’t want the true history about Black America to be told or taught, history/herstory cannot be erased. The truth about African-American history as it relates to slavery in America is a part of the painful journey as to how this country has treated people who should have been considered one of its most valuable assets. No matter how much these Republican governors deny public K-12 schools and public colleges the right to teach African-American history, they cannot and will not be able erase nor ignore the truth regarding the past, which serves as a foundation for America.

The plantation was a horrendous experience in African-American history where Blacks were not only denied an education, but they were also denied civility, humanity, voting rights, economic gains and growth, freedom, and so many other rights afforded Whites within America. In Article 1, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution ratified in 1788, Blacks were “counted as three-fifths of a free individual.” However, they never stopped praying, dancing, and singing, while living in shacks, shanties, while also being forced to wear rags, and eat slop. Their sunup to sundown cotton field experiences, as well as witnessing the hanging, lynching, deaths, sales and auctions of family members and friends kept them singing and praying for a better day. Even during the denial of their human rights as Black men, women, and children, they never stopped their progress. But through it all, Blacks still rise!

Although hunted like animals by plantation overseers and slave catchers to keep them enslaved, and while being whipped and chained, Blacks found a way out of no way to still rise. They defied the hatred of the pointed white hoods, white robes, hangings, and lynching of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as the cross burnings, dog attacks, as well as being watered down by fire hoses over the centuries. No matter what the struggle, no matter what the situation, Blacks still rise!?

The African-American experiences of the plantation and the punishment included:

●??????Slavery

●??????The Ku Klux Klan

●??????Cross burnings, house burnings, lynching, hangings

●??????Plessy vs. Ferguson—1896, “SEPARATE BUT EQUAL”

●??????The Underground Railroad, with White safe houses

●??????The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln which was to free all slaves

●??????Juneteenth-June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, announcing that more than 25,000 enslaved Blacks were free by executive order, although freedom came in 1863

●??????Jim Crow Laws-Denied Blacks voting rights, eating at restaurants, using public bathrooms, shopping at stores, and staying at hotels in White communities?

●??????Infiltration of crack & other drugs into the Black communities in the 60’s

“History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history. If we pretend otherwise, we are literally criminals.”?(James Baldwin,?I Am Not Your Negro)

The Promise

Formal education has been one of the major factors in keeping the American promise alive for Blacks. It is purported that ALL children are entitled to a quality education, including Black children. As we celebrate Black History Month, we must keep in mind that compulsory education was not meant for Blacks. It was known throughout slavery that the way to keep a Black man, Black woman, a Black boy, or a Black girl down and enslaved, was to deny them an education. As a matter of fact, in 2023, there are still covert and overt efforts to not educate and to under educate Black children in America. It is also very well known that people do perish for a lack of knowledge, and that knowledge is power. Hence, the move and the movements of certain right wing supremacist Republican governors to ban courses related to African-American history that not only heightens the educational awareness and knowledge of Blacks in America, but that also enlighten Blacks and others to the contributions of Blacks in America. Their unsurprising movements and racist laws are becoming the norm, rather than the exception. However, as requested by the late Congressman John Lewis, because Blacks see the injustice, they will say something and do something about the continued efforts by these governors and others to impose injustice upon them. They will not stand by as efforts are being made to prohibit their children from learning, growing, and progressing. No matter what, they will still rise!

However, even during the struggles, African-Americans have defied the odds in the field of education. Whether formal or self-taught, education has led Blacks to many accomplishments, inventions, and notoriety. Some are documented and many more undocumented. Just to name a few, African-Americans invented the lawn mower, the traffic light, blood plasma, the cotton gin, peanut butter, the pull out sleep sofa, soap, potato chips, the telegraph, etc., etc., etc.

When we think about sports, the arts, entertainment, education, music, medicine, literature, and so many other fields, Blacks have soared and keep soaring as leaders. We can take our hats off to Blacks, take a bow to them, give a toast to them, and one day, provide reparations to them. However, with or without reparations, Blacks will still rise!

There are many major markers in Black history that have helped to fuel promises for the Black race. Many of the promises have been fulfilled and there are many that remain unfulfilled.

●??????Black Wall Street-Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Blacks flourished in the 1900’s

●??????Brown vs. the Board of Education, 1954-Racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional

●??????The Bus Boycott-Montgomery, 1955

●??????The Little Rock Nine-Nine Black students entered Central HS in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957

●??????The impact of Malcolm X; Huey Newton; Martin Luther King, Jr. Shirley Chisolm, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Al Sharpton, …

●??????The Civil Rights Movement of 1965

●??????James Brown’s song of affirmation, “Say It Loud-I’m Black and I’m Proud,” 1968

Hope & the Possibilities

It is hoped that one day, there’ll be:

●??????A change of heart by those who hate and fear African-Americans, just because

●??????Open and honest conversations about racism, with action

●??????Open and honest conversations between White and Black police officers and Black communities, swift with action

●??????More to DEI than meaningless acronyms and catch-all phrases, but sincere lasting action for racial, economic, political, academic, and social, change in America, with Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion

●??????Actions to implement gun control laws to help save our Black, Brown, and Indigenous children, eliminating the daily killings of these populations by guns

●??????Action plans and change of hearts for ridding America of racism, stereotyping, implicit bias, discrimination, and macroaggressions,?

●??????Accountability for behaviors that foster racism, avoiding diversity, equity, and inclusion

●??????Federal, state, and local efforts and actions to deal with poverty, economic deprivation, classism, and voter suppression in Black communities

●??????Actions to bring the income of African-American women and men in line with the income of White men & White women

●??????Actions to ensure affordable healthcare, including Medicaid, mental health, as well as affordable housing for Blacks

●??????Education equity and equality for Black children

●??????Conversations and plans of action to combat Black on Black crime

●??????Opportunities for the restoration of the thousands of Black voters purged from the voting rolls of GA and other states

●??????Laws to rid Black communities of predatorial lending and insurance redlining in Black communities

●??????Efforts to confront and eliminate institutional and systemic racism, allowing for equity & equality

…Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise. -Maya Angelou (Excerpt)

Don’t forget to read Dr. Joyce’s blog, titled,?“Loving with Boundaries”https://doctorjoyce.blogspot.com

?2023; J. Morley Productions, Inc.; P.O. Box 1745; Decatur, GA 30031; (770) 808-6570;?www.doctorjoyce.com