In a new light
This Black History Month is the perfect time to emphasize the need for active reflection.
Consider the kaleidoscope, that extraordinary “toy” invented by a Scottish scientist named David Brewster in 1817. As Brewster noted in his patent application, he had developed a device using mirrors and pieces of colored glass inside a tube that, when rotated, creates an “infinity of patterns.” And why? “For the purposes of rational amusement,” he explained.
Two hundred years later, the kaleidoscope has another use, as well. A metaphorical one. Brewster’s ingenious invention with its myriad mirrored reflections reminds us of the endlessly varied reflections of history.
Those shifting reflections are not right or wrong, necessarily. They are perspectives reconsidered, reconfigured. In kaleidoscopic terms, they are images of history observed in a new light.
In light of all this nation has experienced since last year’s commemoration, Black History Month 2021 is an especially opportune time to reconfigure, reconsider:
• Two hundred forty-five years after the nation’s founding, we elected our first Black vice president, our first woman and our first graduate of a historically Black university, all in the person of Vice President Kamala Harris. Nearly twoand-a-half centuries is a long time waiting.
• Two hundred thirty-three years after initially being admitted to the Union, Georgia elected its first Black U.S. senator in the person of the Rev. Raphael Warnock, one of a duo who flipped the Senate to Democratic control. Warnock is senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where both Martin Luther King Jr, and his father ministered. Two-and-a-third centuries is a long time waiting.
• Georgia during the past year lost a native son who personified momentous black history. John Lewis, the Georgia congressman who as a young man worked alongside King in the Civil Rights Movement, died of cancer. Not long before his death, the civil rights icon — who, as a young Freedom Rider was beaten within an inch of his life — urged demonstrators not only to protest and object but also to repair the nation: “Organize. Demonstrate. Sit-in. Standup. Vote.”
• Those demonstrators had taken to the streets in cities across the nation in response to the killing of George Floyd, a former Houston resident (Cuney Homes in the Third Ward) who died after being pinned for almost nine minutes under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer. Floyd’s cruel and senseless death not only ignited marches and protests but also forced a painful reconsideration of law enforcement in minority communities. His death and the death of other Black men at the hands of trigger-nervous police officers has forced us to face the importance of a phrase some had considered a mere slogan: “Black Lives Matter.”
• Floyd’s death was not the only outrage that marred the past year. Just a few weeks ago, we witnessed the outrageous invasion of the nation’s Capitol by insurrectionists, many of them proudly white supremacists. Their rampage resulted in destruction and death.
• Meanwhile, we suffered through — and continue to suffer through — a pandemic that disproportionately affects Black people and other Americans of color.
The kaleidoscope is more than a toy, as designers will testify; Black History Month is more than a rote reminder that Black Americans are integral to the warp and weave of this nation’s many strands. Black History Month is a moment in time when we emphasize the need for active reflection, reconsideration. Let us amplify and expand those efforts this year.
We urge Houstonians this month to take advantage of libraries, museums and other cultural institutions that have mounted exhibits — primarily online — that contribute to realigning history’s reflection. Our schools, colleges and universities can take this time to reflect on the social and cultural cost of ignoring or minimizing the Black American experience, even as they search for approaches that broaden and deepen our understanding of the diverse American experience. Lawmakers meeting in Austin this session can re-reflect on a number of the state’s knottier problems — health care, housing and criminal justice among them — through a Black History prism.
Black History Month is a time to remember those among us who exemplify struggle and perseverance, yesterday and today.
“… being American is more than the pride we inherit,” as 22-year-old inaugural poet Amanda Gorman recited for us last month. “It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.”
And yet there’s more to the story. In this diverse and richly variegated nation, this kaleidoscopic nation, those sterling qualities of ingenuity and reinvention are just cause for celebration.