Challenges, opportunities greet Black History Month

Since its inception nine decades ago, black history observances in February have served as golden opportunities to celebrate African- Americans’ rich contributions to government, politics, science, society, culture, the arts and other threads in the fabric of life in the U.S.

As Black History Month begins today, the observance also provides myriad opportunities to reflect upon those contributions as well as to listen anew to the powerful words and heed the responsible calls of civil-rights trailblazers. Taken together they can guide us toward a stronger and more-harmonious nation.

The roots of Black History Month date to 1925, when Dr. Carter G. Woodson and his Association for the Study of African-American Life and History first declared Negro History Week, timed to encompass the February birthdays of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass and venerated U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Over the decades, the observance expanded to one full month and spread to all corners of our country.

That proud tradition plays out all month in the Mahoning Valley with special lectures, performances and forums at Youngstown State University, branches of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, black churches and other venues.

Today, the month rightfully continues to draw attention to the unique black experience in America. Sadly, some of that experience remains mired in struggle, bias and tension.

The struggle endures in poverty rates that are three times as high for blacks than whites. It endures in low graduation rates and lackluster educational achievement in too many black communities. It endures in disturbingly high rates of black infant mortality in our region, state and nation.

And it endures most viciously in lingering attitudes among relatively small pockets of society that black lives still do not matter as much as white lives.

Nationwide, the racial schism is widening. A majority of Americans – 63 percent – rate race relations bad, the highest negative rate in a generation, according to a July 2016 Washington Post poll.

In the White House, President Donald Trump, who has not formally acknowledged the monthlong observance, plans meetings with civil-rights leaders from across the nation. One can hope that constructive interracial dialogue from the top will filter down to all strata of American society.

HEED WORDS OF PARKS, RANDOLPH, KING

Clearly, more profound attitude adjustment is necessary. That process can start by better understanding the contributions of African-Americans that have benefited all Americans. It can be enriched by listening again to the powerful and resonant voices of civil-rights and cultural heroes of bygone years. Those voices carry universal messages to help narrow the racial divide.

Listen, for example, to the instructive words of Rosa Parks, the Mongomery, Ala., seamstress and secretary who in 1955 refused to give up her seat on a city bus, and in so doing took a bold and lasting stand to challenge the segregationist legacy of the American South.

“Each person must live their life as a model for others,” she once passionately pleaded. Parks lived that philosophy in exemplary fashion, and Americans of all races and backgrounds could accomplish much progress by heeding her sage advice today.

Listen, too, to the stirring oratory of American civil-rights and labor-rights leader Asa Philip Randolph (1889-1979): “Justice is never given; it is exacted, and the struggle must be continuous for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, economic, political and religious relationship.”

Finally, listen to the impassioned pleas of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the icon of America’s proud civil-rights movement, on the necessity for the masses to peacefully engage in actions to warm race relations in this country.

King once said “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualist concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” Here, King’s words urge all Americans to disavow themselves of apathy and self-absorption to work toward the greater good of justice for all.

Collectively, the insightful words of Parks, Randolph and King continue to reverberate today, and Americans of all backgrounds should embrace their timeless messages. Those and other voices of the past can provide renewed momentum toward crushing resurgent racist attitudes today and shaping a more tolerant and just America for all tomorrow.