With February being Black History Month in the US and Canada, I think it’s important to discuss ways to honor it. We are often encouraged to celebrate the contributions, achievements, and impact that Black people have made on society in the past. And rightfully so because they’re immense.
While doing so, I feel compelled to also figure out ways to celebrate the impact that the Black community has made on society in the present day.
And I encourage you to do the same.
Celebrating Black History Month can take many forms, but here are four practical ways to get you started:
1) Engage in meaningful conversations:
Use this month as an opportunity to have meaningful conversations with friends, family, and colleagues about Black history, culture, and current events. Be open to learning from different perspectives and experiences.
Education is empowering and can elevate your life, and this is true even in the non-academic setting. By engaging in conversations with Black people, where you seek to listen and truly understand, you’ll find that doing so may not only enable you to better understand the other person, but it may help you understand yourself a little better at the same time.
For example, even though my husband and I are both Black, we had two different cultural upbringings that colored our perspectives into adulthood. Whereas his parents lived through the pains of segregation in America, my parents lived through the pains of a civil war in Nigeria. Both were very impactful periods during their childhoods that affected how they showed up as adults, how they parented us, and ultimately how we viewed the world as kids then as adults.
A key lesson here is that Black people are not a monolith, and having those meaningful conversations with an intention to understand and empathize is effective in understanding the rich history.
2) Support Black-owned businesses:
Use this month as an opportunity to shop at Black-owned businesses in your community or online. This can help support economic empowerment within the Black community.
Making the conscious decision to seek out and patronize Black-owned businesses is a powerful strategy to show your support because it not only benefits the business owner, and their bottomline, but can also have a positive impact on their families as well.
We all know the strength of the dollar and the importance of striving for financial freedom, so patronizing Black-owned businesses is a tried and true way to make a direct impact in the Black community.
Supporting Black Owned businesses can also look like giving them grace and understanding, respecting their prices, and encouraging others to support them by referrals.
3) Amplify Black voices:
Share content created by Black creators on social media, attend virtual events featuring Black speakers or performers, and actively listen to the voices and stories of Black individuals in your community.
Similar to supporting Black owned businesses, we can honor Black History Month by supporting Black creators/influencers as well. This can be done by engaging with and sharing their content, shopping their links, recommending them for campaigns, listening to their stories, and joining their online communities, just to name a few.
These gestures may seem small and unimportant, but in the social media world where creators are judged by things like audience size & engagement, each impression really does matter. Even though people sometimes fail to realize it, many influencers earn their living by creating content, and participating in brand partnerships etc, so when we support them, we are supporting their small business and essentially their bottom line.
4) Take action after reflecting:
Reflect on your own beliefs, biases, and actions, and consider how you can contribute to creating a more equitable and inclusive society. Take action by supporting initiatives and policies that promote racial justice and equality.
We. All. Have. Blindspots.
It’s a consequence of being human.
There is power in understanding that everyone has biases and power in having the humility to identify them. Once we do realize what our blind spots are, we can take practical action to remedy them by considering the feelings and perspectives of others, especially in marginalized groups.
For example, even though the statement “I don’t see color” may seem benign coming from a White person, it’s actually counterproductive in helping to make things more equitable for the Black community. Whereas with this statement one may wish to relay that they strive to judge people by their character and not their race, what they’re actually saying is that they have the privilege to live life without the constant reminder of race. There’s an implication that race isn’t that big of a deal, which is dismissive & unuseful to the people who don’t have the luxury to “not see color”.
I encourage everyone to channel our energies to efforts that will help level the playing field by supporting or championing initiatives designed to make things better for Black people and other marginalized groups. It may be difficult for one person to do the work alone, but collectively, if we all commit to making small changes, we can begin to move the needle in the right direction.
By supporting Black owned businesses & creators, amplifying Black voices, engaging in meaningful conversation, and identifying our blindspots, I’m hopeful that we can begin creating lasting change.
And this is a great way to honor Black History Month.
Although I personally celebrate Black History 365 days a year, I am happy that this month is designated to shine a light on how large of an impact the Black community has made on the country. Celebrating Black History Month is not just about acknowledging the past but also about recognizing the ongoing contributions and struggles of Black individuals and communities in the present.
Here’s to a fruitful Black History Month this year and beyond.
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Dr. Tiffany Ofili Porter 