Reasons 2-28

As of today, Black History Month 2014 has ended.

 

This year, I decided to read The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron in recognition of slavery in America. I have been reticent to begin the novel and have been holding onto it for several months.

It wasn't because it was difficult material, it was because it was a book about a slave revolt that was written by a middle aged white man in the 1960s. That didn't sit well with me.

I know, I know, it's just a book. But, it's a book that won the Pulitzer Prize. I've been working my way through the works of fiction on that prize-winning list, and have very few that have given me pause...especially when it comes to beginning.

I don't think I intended to read this novel during Black History Month, but in doing so, it served multiple purposes. I was exposed to the story through the perspective of Nat Turner, the leader of the revolt, a perspective that opened my eyes to the viewpoint of a young man who had ambition and was waylaid, in multiple ways, by the cowardice and deceit of his white owners and the white neighbors he was loaned to for work on their properties.

The book was a harsh reminder that there was a time in our relatively recent past when the color of your skin determined your place in society, determined if you were considered worthy of education, determined if you were allowed to live in safety and comfort, determined if you had sufficient nutritious food and drink.

Wait a minute. Have we changed? When I first moved to Nashville, I was told to stay away from certain poor parts of town (subtext=black neighborhoods).

How long did it take to elect a person of color as President? Why is his competence constantly questioned and why is he called a "subhuman mongrel"? Are we really still demeaning people of color with correlations to animals, inferring that they should be treated as lesser beings? Really?!

This is clearly the same mindset that has led to multiple murders of African Americans in the last year with self-defense as the plea. Stand Your Ground laws are the new horsewhip, the new way to put people in their place and mind their masters. Is this the world we want to create for our descendants? Is this the lesson we want to teach?

Let's not forget the advent of public housing developments and Urban Renewal that destroyed historically black neighborhoods, displaced residents and drove off middle class business owners leaving a void for those who remained. That void resulted in underserved schools, criminalization of young men, and limited resources including healthy affordable and fresh food.

I see the remnants of slavery all around us. We do not have to stand idly by while injustice reigns. We need to join in efforts to stem the school to prison pipeline, create food oases and address the roots of inequity wherever we see them.

I'm ready. Are you?