The 47th President has attacked our government like a bull in a China closet. He is doing his best to upend precedent and policy, as he promised that he would. He issued hundreds of executive orders, pardoned convicted criminals (like himself), manipulated the truth through websites, abolished DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion measures), putting hundreds on administrative leave, and caused more damage in just a few days than most do in a lifetime. Additionally, wholesale deportations of undocumented people have shattered families, disrupted communities, and upended some international relationships. Wow! The folks who chose to stay home during this election are regretting it. There were those who said that he wouldn’t be “so bad”, but he has been worse than we could ever have imagined. But it is what most voters, that is those who were not suppressed out, chose.
The Department of Defense, zealous acolytes genuflecting at the President’s anti-DEI stance, decided to scrub references to the Tuskegee Airmen in their Air Force training videos. Within days, his morally compromised choice and marginally selected Secretary of Defense reversed that decision. The Tuskegee Airmen videos are back in. This is not cause for celebration. The fact that the anti-DEI forces that now reign could attempt to erase history, and they will continue to attempt to rewrite reality. Erasing the Tuskegee Airmen is at the tip of the iceberg. These people are so creative that they can turn a violent insurrection into a benign Capitol tour, although who comes to a Capitol tour with weapons and bear spray? The violent, rabid, insurrection crowd has been described by the current President as “peaceful” “hostages”, even as many have been convicted of assault against law enforcement officers. If they can erase the unlawful actions of January 6, they can attempt to erase the massive contributions of African American people to this country. We will not be erased.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson, founder of Negro History Week, now African American History Month, established our historical presence because of our nation’s tendency to forget injustice. Many, like Presidential sidekick Elon Musk, who has encouraged Germans to move “past guilt” of the Holocaust, indeed exhorting them not to “lose” their culture “in some sort of multiculturalism”. He is the Trump whisperer, and it is likely that he and 47 are having similar conversations about the role that multiculturalism and an acknowledgement of has in contemporary society. They don’t want to go back and embrace our flawed past. Instead, they’d prefer to swallow our difference with a since of misplaced pride in our past. Make America Great Again? Really, when was it ever great for the exploited.
The unsuccessful attempt to erase Tuskegee from Air Force training tapes is not the worst thing this administration has done. Abruptly halting federal grand programs, including food assistance, impact millions and is an unnecessary flexing of power muscles. Peremptorily and illegally firing inspectors general in several government departments is a bullying tactic. Somebody does not want inspectors general because they do not want illegal actions to be inspected. With skillful manipulation of the facts, there are those who can characterize them as justified, no illegal and non-Constitutional acts. We are in an era with truth doesn’t matter,
CNN anchor Jim Acosta abruptly announced his departure from the network on January 28. He left an ominous parting message – “It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant…Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give into the fear. Hold onto the truth and hope”. I’m grateful to Acosta for putting it out there, and disappointed that so many others are holding their tongues and currying favor with the Felon-in-Chief.
Where does that leave African American people? We are living in a sad and empowering time. What did we do before government assistance? What did we do before federal dollars subsidized our Black History Month celebrations? What did we do without DEI programs? We survived. We thrived. We heard the song, “God Bless the Child” and we went to get out own. We didn’t what we deserved; we didn’t get all of it. But we got. We taught our history in churches and in Saturday schools. We gathered in salons in private homes. We taught our children about our struggles. We didn’t need government to do it.
We will not be erased, no matter how hard they try. It’s a Sankofa moment for Black folks. Got back and get what has been instrumental to our survival heretofore. Go back and get the resilience. Go back and get the creativity. Go back to go forward. We will not be erased.
