Black History Month is the month long observance and celebration in February with its origin in the United States to remember important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is mostly observed in the United States and Canada, and more recently adopted by Ireland and the UK, observed later in the year.
Meanhile just this week the United States moved to dissolve the House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and state governments are launching a campaign to ban books and other curricula that tell an uncomfortable history of slavery and oppression, and continuing discrimination – a strange expression of reverse reparation, if not adding insult to injury.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, the acclaimed American author, journalist, and MacArthur Fellow, wrote The Case for Reparations and made a compelling argument before Congress. Still, talks of reparations keep dying in committees and a certain terror of supremacy continues to play out with increasing fervor and hostility on the House and Senate floors, trickling down the capital steps into neighborhood streets and private porches, parking lots and routine stops on commutes, and even catholic school classrooms. It’s not actually clear if America as a nation will ever overcome.
Welcome to the .136th edition of Prescriptions. This month, for our part we revisit some of the articles and profiles which seem pertinent as ever to recognize and celebrate the artists who have inspired and created and the struggle for civil – or human – rights in spite of the un-ease and the discomfort in the face of discrimination and the continued suffering.
