Why we need Black History month...

I suppose it’s fair to say that, on Saturday, January 18^th, very  few households in America knew who Richard Sherman was or what he did for a living; but, on Sunday, the next day, it took exactly 34 seconds for Seahawk Cornerback Richard Sherman to become a household name (at least in households with ESPN). Having tipped a touchdown pass out of the hands of 49^ers rival, Michael Crabtree in the final moments of the game that would determine which team would advance to the Super Bowl, Sherman was asked by Fox Reporter Erin Andrews one of those innocuous “game over” questions that poses for breaking news in the NFL. Only Sherman didn’t respond with one of those innocuous answers which distribute praise to those on and off the field. Rather he did what any one of us would do when overcome by the stress and pressure of high expectations, an undoubtedly over-the-top endorphin rush and, I suppose, more than a little exhaustion - he threw a tantrum.  Only when any one of us throws a tantrum, it’s highly unlikely that there will be a camera and a microphone to record the scene for endless views on YouTube.  

Within the NFL Richard Sherman is viewed as, perhaps, the up-and-coming young Cornerback.  He is also known as the NFL’s bad boy du jour - or more precisely - as the League’s resident “trash talker.” He is, of course, the most recent in a long line of trash talking NFL players.  What makes this particular incident noteworthy isn’t what Sherman said in those 34 seconds but what was said (or more precisely, posted and/or tweeted) about what he said…and it wasn’t pretty. Within a mere 24 hours, the Internet was pulsating with anti-Sherman remarks; some so vile and degrading that it felt as if the Nation had been transported back in time to the ante-bellum South. One particularly troubling Tweet that was picked up by the news aggregators asserted:

Someone needs to introduce Richard Sherman to George Zimmerman.

From my perspective, there can be no sugar-coating the dark intent of this message - which not only conflates two unrelated, if equally race-laden, situations with the author’s obvious implication that Zimmerman had done society a favor. Richard Sherman’s response to these on-line race-inflected taunts was haunting in its simplicity:

"I thought society had moved past that."

How ironic, then, that the tantrum and its race-infused backlash occurred over the course of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. The irony, however, isn’t limited to these two overlapping events; but to the holiday itself.  Only students of history will necessarily remember that it took over 15 years, nine million signatures on two different petitions and a House defeat (by 5 votes) in 1979, before Congress finally passed a Bill authorizing a Federal holiday honoring Dr. King. At the time, only 27 states and the District of Columbia implemented the holiday and it wasn’t until 1992 that Arizona adopted it.  The last state to adopt the holiday - South Carolina - did so in 2000, the same year it permanently lowered the Confederate flag from its statehouse dome.

            February is Black History Month. Since 1976 every US President has issued a proclamation acknowledging its significance.  Many schools devote whole weeks to the study of race relations and African-American issues. So, when I asked my Mentor Class whether we still needed a Black History Month, I took note of their lack of concern (interest?) in the topic - this took place before Sherman’s MLK tantrum and backlash. In that conversation, I came to realize that, for today’s young people, Black History Month is exactly that - history; not something that necessarily touches their present situation - as opposed to those of us past a certain age who remember the marches, lunch counter sit-ins and Birmingham Sheriff Bull Connor’s water cannons blasting away at protesting men, women and children.

            Our society may have moved past the physical violence prevalent in the South during the Civil Rights era (and in the North during court-mandated school desegregation plans in the 1970’s); but this year’s Martin Luther King weekend will be remembered for the intellectual violence that spewed veiled and not-so veiled racial vitriol across the Internet in response to a testosterone-fueled tantrum by a young African-American athlete.

Boston Globe Columnist, Christopher Gasper, got it right, I think, when he wrote:

The real loud and clear statement made by Sherman’s post game comments is that stereotyping African-American males is still an American pastime.

The events of January 19/20, when Richard Sherman became a household name in ways that proved to be unbelievably unattractive, suggest that society hasn’t gotten past it’s fixation on race. Our young people still need to care about the polarizing effects of racial animosity.

 

I think it will be quite awhile before the imperative behind Black History Month will no longer be necessary.