In today’s edition of “What In the Hell Is Wrong With This Country?”, we find ourselves in Florida. Florida's House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would prohibit "classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity" in the state’s primary schools.
Read MoreIn today's edition of "What In The Hell Is Wrong With This Country?" we find ourselves in Texas. Today, Texas Governor Greg Abbott officially directed Family and Protective Services to begin investigating all trans children in Texas and prosecuting their parents as child abusers. He has also instructed all teachers, doctors, and caregivers to begin reporting any trans students they see.
No, you're not reading that wrong.
Read MoreThere's been a lot of talks recently about performance improvement plans, their effectiveness, and whether or not they meet a legitimate need. The short answer? No. They aren't effective, and they don't meet a legitimate need. But, like most things that are messy and workplace-related, it's much deeper than the short answer.
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Image Description: A cyborg can be seen stalking around an office area. The cyborg is reminiscent of one from the Terminator film franchise. He is wielding a sci-fi-inspired laser gun. Above him is a caption that reads, "Black History Month content that isn't fluffy, "feel good," or Martin Luther King Jr.". A little white girl is hiding under a desk. There are tears in her eyes. Above her head is the caption "Most white people."
This week's opening thought, expressly for white folx: tomorrow is the first day of Black History Month. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that your workplace, community group, church, "professional" organization, or social organization is all ready to go with their MLK quotes and Rosa Parks pictures. They've probably got the white choir practicing a few negro spirituals. I'm sure someone in your company who runs the social media wing of things has the nice appropriative Black History Month image with the hollow copy ready to post first thing in the morning. You know the image, the one with its African flag colors (because evidently, the whole damn continent of Africa only has one flag) and silhouette of a Black woman with an afro. You know the kind of copy I'm talking about, too, the kind that is somehow 250 words long but says absolutely nothing of substance.
Did I nail it? Thought I did.
I went out on a limb because I knew that limb was actually a whole damn tree and would support my weight.
It's white U.S. America's turn to go out on a limb and learn more about Black history in this country than the 10 people y'all have been learning about since elementary school.
Black history ain't fluffy. It ain't supposed to be "feel good" fodder for white consumption. Black History Month is a month for MY people to celebrate our achievements in the face of whiteness and its ongoing compulsion to oppress black bodies. For YOUR people? It's a month for learning, unlearning, reflection, and atonement around why whiteness has an ongoing compulsion to oppress Black bodies. Your performative gestures need to be replaced with an understanding that Black folx weren't slaves; we were ENSLAVED. Your MLK quotes need to be replaced with the knowledge that he was the most hated man in the United States during his lifetime and that all of your misquotes of his words were aimed at y'all. Your need to talk about George Washington Carver every year needs to be replaced with a deeper exploration into not only Carver but the millions of Black folx who have created and innovated processes and products that have made your life easier.
Black history is United States history. I know y'all wanna ban critical race theory because then you'd have to acknowledge this, but banning is denial through bureaucracy. It doesn't change the truth. Speaking of Truth, what do you really know about Sojourner?
Looks like you've got some learning to do that goes way beyond 28 days.
Hello, white U.S. Americans who organize events and programming for your company or organization. It's that time of year when the air is crisp, winter is well underway, and white "professionals" reach out to Black speakers, consultants, and facilitators to speak at their corporate events as panelists and teachers to "celebrate" Black History Month. You reach out to us to share our stories, pain, and lived and learned experiences with your white organizations during the shortest month of the year, continuing the cycles of melanated pain porn for white consumption that your organizations have trafficked in for decades.
And you're still asking us to do this for little to no compensation.
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