How to Center what Really Matters During Black History Month
Here at ReadySet, we realize Black History Month provides countless opportunities for businesses to truly honor Black culture and center the unique experiences of their Black partners and colleagues. Unfortunately, we often see these same institutions run the gambit of performative practices that may cause unintended harm. Our goal during Black History Month is to provide support and resources that assist our clients and community in allowing intentionality and solidarity to inform their Black History Month planning.
Critical theorist, bell hooks argues,
“Solidarity is not the same as support. To experience solidarity, we must have a community of interests, shared beliefs and goals around which to unite [...]. Support can be occasional. It can be given and just as easily withdrawn. Solidarity requires sustained, ongoing commitment.”
This quote provides a holistic overview of solidarity and highlights the antithesis of solidarity, what many of us would broadly identify as performative allyship. Performative allyship can be easily understood as a stand-in for active solidarity practices. More specifically, Holiday Philips tells us performative allyship happens when, “someone from [...] non marginalized group professes support and solidarity with a marginalized group in a way that either isn’t helpful or that actively harms that group.” Non-Black business leaders and managers may have the very best of intentions to provide an enriching Black History experience for everyone. Yet, they have to do so recognizing a wide margin of error.
Here are three ideas on how you can celebrate Black History Month authentically and avoid performativity:
Encourage your clients to tell the entirety of Black stories.
We all need to build muscle around cultivating Black History programming in an intentional manner that centers both Black truth and story-telling. In some ways many of us have been taught the proverbial “highlight reel” of Black history that usually contains the same three stories and four notable figures. Can we say Martin Luther King Jr? And while these notable figures are essential to Black culture, Black History Month allows us endless opportunities to reframe these stories in much more rich and nuanced ways.
For example, when discussing Dr. King's influence during the Civil Rights movement why not add to the discussion his early interactions with the FBI? Moreover, share details about his ground-breaking advocacy for a living wage. When we fail to openly discuss Dr. King’s conflict with federal agencies, we are minimizing the impact of understanding institutional impacts on collective action. Understanding Dr. King’s participation with the Poor People’s Campaign and his advocacy for a universal wage reminds us of the value of intersectionality.
When we engage in storytelling during Black History Month, we should try to paint the entire canvas. Telling the stories of Black leaders, laborers, and change agents must always be a holistic enterprise that includes celebrating their gains and acknowledging the sacrifices and costs associated with their heroism.
Remember that creating a distinct Black History Month also means creating active spaces of engagement.
We must openly acknowledge the stress that many Black employees are experiencing right now. Global crises including COVID-19, racial unrest, housing and food insecurity may heavily impact your Black employees. It's important that leaders regularly create opportunities to acknowledge and address these concerns. Create space for Black employees to connect and take pause. But be sure to do this with intention. A mandatory company session on the March on Selma will feel patronizing to Black employees who may already be actively targeted by discriminatory practices.
Lastly, as a final act of solidarity we suggest that non-Black employees be active learners during this month.
Take the time to recognize the richness of the culture without centering your own “wokeness.” Don’t make a practice of “sharing” personal accounts of Black knowledge with Black employees in order to gain social or organizational leverage. Additionally, don't find the single Black manager and bombard them with additional (unrequested) labor as part of your BHM to-do list! More often than not, performative allies come to expect some level of gratification for providing support to marginalized groups. We want to make sure everyone involved in Black History Month planning truly sees the value in Black history!
Here at Ready Set we always want to remind folks that impact is important. We encourage you to check us out all month long as we continue to center the diversity of Black experiences and reinforce why Black history is truly worth celebrating year long.