My Ask of Non-Black People This Black History Month

As Black History Month begins its 100th year, I ask my readers to approach it not as a celebration emptied of substance, but as a solemn opportunity for reflection, education, and action. Especially for non-Black people—including myself—this month should not be about performative statements or recycled talking points. It should be about accountability. About action. About anti-racism. Here’s just part of what that looks like, as we fight back against a fascist regime bent on eliminating education and knowledge of Black History. Let’s Address This.

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What Is Black History?

Simply put—Black history is American history. And ignorance of that history is no longer a neutral position. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned, “Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.” Lukewarm acceptance—absent study, engagement, and action—does not move a nation forward. It stalls it.

If we are serious about building a more just society, then this month must be treated as an invitation to deepen our understanding, not merely affirm our values.

Education Is a Responsibility, Not a Threat

One of the most persistent myths deployed against racial justice efforts is the claim that honest education about racism somehow constitutes an attack on white children. That argument collapses under even minimal scrutiny.

Racism is not a feeling; it is a function of power. Roughly eighty percent of teachers in the United States are white. If teaching accurate history were inherently “racist against white children,” then the claim would require us to believe that white educators are systematically harming white students. That argument is not only incoherent—it is dishonest.

Critical examinations of history, including what is often labeled as “CRT,” do not invent racism. They document it. They study how laws and policies—slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, mass incarceration, the war on drugs, discriminatory healthcare systems, immigration bans, and land theft—were deliberately designed to marginalize Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. These are not opinions. They are historical facts, encoded into legislation and enforced by the state.

When political figures attack this scholarship, they are not defending children. They are defending ignorance. They fabricate definitions because confronting the truth threatens the narratives that sustain inequality.

My Ask of Non-Black People: Listen and ACT

1. Listen: Another recurring failure during Black History Month is the tendency to praise Black leaders rhetorically while ignoring them in practice. We see this contradiction clearly today. For example, how many politicians praised Dr. King with heartfelt press releases on his Birthday a few weeks back, while ignoring his condemnations of militarism as they fund ICE? Too many to count. While politicians offer symbolic recognition, Black faith leaders and organizers are demanding concrete action on issues of life and death. To honor Black history requires us to consistently listen to these voices and to ensure their moral clarity shapes policy and action.

2. Take Action: This is also a moment that demands organization. Extremism thrives when opposition is fragmented, distracted, or unserious. That is why I encourage readers to invest materially and personally in organizations and Black scholars that have sustained the struggle for justice across generations. Joining your local NAACP chapter—through membership, volunteering, or financial support—is one tangible way to translate values into action. Justice does not advance on intention alone. It advances through institutions sustained by people willing to show up. Therefore, invest your money into Black voices and scholarship. Below are just some of the Black writers and scholars to whom I subscribe as a paid subscriber, and encourage you to do so as well. Subscribe at a minimum for free, and if in your budget, as a paid subscriber as well.

• George “Conscious” Lee - Educator, Musician, Writer, and Scholar

• Dara Starr Tucker - Singer, Songwriter, Actor, and Scholar

• Elizabeth Booker Houston - Lawyer, Activist, and Health Policy Expert

• Dr. Akilah Cadet - Scholar, Writer, and Activist

• Malynda Hale - Interfaith Leader, Activist, and Scholar

• Karen Attiah - Journalist and Activist

• Kahlil Greene - Historian and Scholar

• Jazz Hampton - Civil Rights Lawyer, CEO, and Activist

Please do tag your favorite Black voices in the comments!

Conclusion

In the United States, human trafficking was legal. Slavery was legal. Jim Crow was legal. The federal government paying reparations to white enslavers while denying justice to the enslaved themselves, was legal. Indeed, prison slavery remains legal to this day. Black History Month demands that we recognize that legality and power does not equal morality and justice.

Power often cloaks itself in law but justice always exemplifies morality. As ICE kills innocent people under the cloak of law, citizens like Renee Good and Alex Pretti uphold justice with their moral opposition, and their very lives. As the President praises a propagandist who demonizes Somalis in Minnesota, Black journalists Don Lemon, Georgia Fort, Jamael Lydel Lundy, and Trahern Jeen Crews are arrested for reporting on ICE fascism—yet persist with their moral opposition to censorship.

The lesson is clear and non-negotiable: we must never confuse what is legal with what is just. Because progress has never come from obedience to unjust systems. It has come from organized resistance to them. Thus, as a fascist regime gains power, it’s critical we fight back with anti-racism. This Black History Month calls for more than symbolic recognition; it calls for deliberate, sustained responsibility. It requires a commitment to serious education rather than defensive avoidance, a willingness to listen to Black leaders even—and especially—when their demands unsettle comfort or challenge the status quo, and an active vigilance against extremism paired with organized resistance to injustice.

The pursuit of a more perfect union has never been achieved through mere acknowledgment, but through courage, discipline, and financial support, and long-term engagement. Let this month serve a cause beyond reflection alone. Let us renew our commitment to the unfinished work that history demands of us all—and then act.