Black history has long been the target of white ire. But more recently, it has found itself subjected to the whims of politically aimless conservatives, who have put it at the top of their hit list in their ridiculous culture wars.
For the next month, The ReidOut Blog will examine America’s turbulent relationship with Black stories by holding Black history’s greatest foes accountable and highlighting the absurdity of the effort to censor the legacies of Black Americans.
“The Reconstruction” series will underscore the feat of Black history’s mere existence…
“The Reconstruction” series will underscore the feat of Black history’s mere existence, dissect the nation’s affinity for revisionism and look toward the future of storytelling around race in America. We’ll speak with educators, historians, journalists, descendants of Black icons and one of the civil rights movement’s more overlooked figures.
The project will illuminate Black Americans’ struggle just to get our plights and progress on the record and illustrate the ways Black history remains under attack — whether in the classroom or at one of the most-beloved discount stores.
Just days before Black History Month kicked off this year, a white woman complained on X that she’d itched to get out of a Target store because its Black History promotions were “insufferable.” Among these unbearable items was a sign with a little Black girl wearing a shirt that read “Black joy is revolutionary.” Last year, one of the corporation’s employees said a co-worker repeatedly erased Black history facts she’d written on a whiteboard.
In December, a California town literally canceled Black History Month (although, to be fair — if you want to call it that — Women’s History Month and Pride Month were also axed).
But, of course, such tomfoolery isn’t confined to Target, to California or to this era.
America has been in this game of hide-and-seek with Black history for centuries. Incidents…
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