EDITORIAL: Black History Month awkward but important

Black History Month is, depending upon how you count and where you count from, almost 100 years old. Official nomenclature usually dates the start to Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s “Black History Week,” which he proposed and helped start in 1926, but the idea of particular observance is probably older than that.

Like any tradition with a little age on it, Black History Month is a morass of misunderstandings and misconceptions. It has a vocal set of critics, including a bigoted few who view it as yet one more indignity foisted on them by the Civil Rights movement; and even some blacks, who find it tired and worn (how many more George Washington Carver/Tuckaseegee Airman school reports must we endure!?) or demeaning (doesn’t requiring a special month of study suggests that black history is somehow inferior?). But it has been adopted in a general, if informal manner. Black History Month is not law, but since the 1970s, no president has failed to issue a proclamation directing its observance and no public school that we are aware of has done anything but fold it neatly into the February curriculum.

Perhaps one day this will all come to an end when the event’s absolute obsolescence becomes apparent to all. The race-blind society of that day will mock our quaint customs and Black History Month, will wonder why ever needed a month in which we celebrate the diversity we ought to celebrate year round, and the whole thing will become a curiosity that is studied during a standard review of the 20th and 21st century. It will, in all likelihood, merit no more than a line or two.

Or maybe that will never happen.

Whatever the case in the future, Black History Month today remains a useful, if somewhat awkward, tradition. It does what Professor Woodson intended, which is to lift black history out of a deep, deep hole. When Woodson and others began looking at the subject in the early part of the 20th century, they found not only a regrettable lack of black heroes and heroines in the history books, but a recounting of the American tale that retained vestiges of the old, pre-war system of slavery. Blacks, when mentioned at all, were noted for certain racial characteristics. Some were flattering. Almost all were pleasing to the scribes who wrote the history. Few, if any, of them were black.

Erasing that blot from a national psyche is no easy task, especially not in a land where racial disparity in education, economic well being and so much more clearly still exists. It is not as hard as once was for a black child to develop a sense of worth and well being. But it’s still harder than it is for other children. Yes, dictating an observance of black history is a clumsy tool, and yes some figures are lifted up who probably do not deserve it. But what are you going to do? This is a deep-seated issue.

The next century will produce a different America in terms of race and culture. But there is no doubt that blacks are a big part of the current one. The impact of that particular group on American society and culture is undeniable. But just in case there are a few deniers out there, here’s a capsule look at the impact. The numbers and facts were compiled by The Associated Press:

*  42 million -- The number of people who identified as black, either alone or in combination with one or more other races, in the 2010 Census. They made up 13.6 percent of the total U.S. population. The black population grew by 15.4 percent from 2000 to 2010.

* 65.7 million -- The projected black population of the United States (including those of more than one race) for July 1, 2050. On that date, according to the projection, blacks would constitute 15 percent of the nation’s total population.

38 percent -- Percent of Mississippi’s total population that was black in 2010. Mississippi led the nation in this category followed by Louisiana (33 percent), Georgia (32 percent), Maryland (31 percent), South Carolina (29 percent) and Alabama (27 percent).

 2.4 million -- Number of black military veterans in the United States in 2010.

 82 percent  -- Among blacks 25 and older, the percentage with a high school diploma or higher in 2010.

27.4 percent -- Poverty rate in 2010 for blacks.

$135.7 billion  -- Receipts for black-owned businesses in 2007, up 53.1 percent from 2002. The number of black-owned businesses totaled 1.9 million in 2007, up 60.5 percent.

Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Editorial board members are: Mark Blum (regional publisher); Tucker Mitchell (regional editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (content manager), John Sweeney (political writer), Rebecca Ducker (multimedia editor) and David Johnson (regional circulation director).