196. Celebrating Black Innovation and Joy in Black History Month
A Broader Scope of Black History
Black History Month often curtails the true scope of Black history to a few key periods of time, but Black history is much more than the history of enslavement or the Civil Rights Movement.
Black history is more than trauma. Black history is full of innovation and joy, and it’s being made all around us.
Erica and India discuss the importance of recognizing and celebrating Black joy during Black History Month, and all year long.
Listen on your favorite podcast player or keep reading to learn:
Why it’s vital to recognize the throughline of innovation and joy in Black history in America
Why it’s necessary to amplify Black innovators and creators working in spaces outside of music, movies, or sports
Why allies need Black friends, not just educators
How to witness, support, and share Black joy
Black Joy and Innovation
On the Pause on the Play® podcast, India Jackson (she/her) recalls something Erica said back in episode 94, Celebrating Black Joy for Black History Month and says it has stuck with her since, and asks Erica to read the quotation.
“We find beauty where there is none. We find joy and innovation where there seems that there is no way, because it is in our DNA.”
India says the reason those words stayed with her is, “being a person of color, being a Black person where that is that history, being an African American Black person, of so much that has happened within my DNA lineage. I feel so witnessed in what you said there.”
She says there is something to finding the throughline of joy and innovation in Black history in America, “we are still finding joy in innovation where it seems that there is no way. Our DNA has not changed.”
Erica says that enslaved people had to be innovators for their own survival, but “when there was, at some point, even in small doses, the ability to exhale and simply utilize that ingenuity for your own uses and desires and wants and thoughts and needs…All of a sudden, all of these tools that we had to use that were deployed to support the people that enslaved us…We were able to reclaim those tools as ours.”
She continues that it’s vital to recognize that “tools born out of strife can build and create so much beauty,” and that’s why it’s necessary to pay attention to “the joy that is Black history, not just enslavement, not just the Civil Rights movement. There’s so many things that you can focus on that are based on trauma…and we leave the joy behind.”
Black History is Happening Now
India says the first problem with Black History Month is that it is crammed into the shortest month of the year. She also notes that she and Erica “often talk about how Black history isn’t just the past. Like, we are literally creating Black history every day.”
She continues, “I think that is such a beautiful gift to acknowledge that and honor that and to allow it to guide how we live, how we lead, how we love, and also how we earn.”
She says that Black innovators are everywhere from music, to fashion, “there’s just so many beautiful things that have been created and are being created today from Black creators.”
Erica says too often Black creators are marketed as existing in the specific spaces like music, movies, and sports, and don’t get focused on or acknowledged when they’re working in other spaces.
She mentions Ron Finley, the Gangsta Gardener and his workshops on creating vegetable and herb gardens in urban spaces, using resources at hand, and making gardening more financially accessible.
India says being able to highlight creators like Ron Finley is part of what we lose when we try to cram Black History into February, and focus primarily on specific types of Black history, like the stories of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. “There’s things happening right now as well that we can include in that, that don’t have as much trauma associated with it.”
“We can make so many things of something that seems so simple as putting your hand in the soil, actually change our communities as well.”
Understanding in the Everyday
Erica says it’s vital to remember that “Black joy, Black history, Black education, Black connection, it is not simply about what makes its way into a book, what makes its way onto a TV screen, onto somebody’s website or blog post. It is what happens on a day-to-day basis on a personal level.”
She continues, “you cannot underestimate the validity, the necessity, and the impact of the smallest comments, the smallest actions, the smallest outreach…It doesn’t always have to be so big. Sometimes it’s literally just being present and…allowing someone to be safely witnessed.”
India says that reminds her that it’s important to “make sure you have some Black friends.” Your interactions with Black people shouldn’t only be about education, “you need to get to know them better, get to know their experiences, what joy is for them, and you, do you celebrate that with them?”
Erica agrees and adds “if you only have Black people around your and/or accessible in a teaching and/or service modality, I need you to work on that…You have to understand what it means to build relationships with people that you may or may not understand because you don’t have to understand us to validate us.”
The more you connect with people in mundane, everyday ways, the more you’re able to pick up the nuances of who they are and of their experiences, “so than you’re able to understand how it is that I intersect with life…There is value in understanding somebody else’s reality is valid, and you have to reconsider your own normal by understanding that their valid is normal.”
Witness and Celebrate Black Joy
India says that when she thinks about celebrating Black joy, “it’s not Black History Month, it’s all the time.”
But an important aspect for her is creating opportunities for Black people to experience joy, like roller skating meetups. She asks herself, “Am I, in how I’m spending my time and moving through the world, am I creating more opportunities for joy, more opportunities for movement, for embodiment, to be yourself and to just be human in that moment?”
And the second thing she thinks about is amplification. She thinks about amplifying others’ work not just in terms of sharing on social media or in newsletters, but in simple interactions of saying, hey, I witnessed this thing and thought you’d find it interesting.”
Erica cautions specifically in terms of social media and entertainment, that there is “the witnessing that is not helpful, and that’s when you’re witnessing people in a zoo type of way…For me, it’s that piece of, are you able to behold me being joyful and not turn away?”
She mentions statistics that show that people do turn off Black joy. “They’ll leave Black trauma porn on, but not joy.”
India says to be mindful of what you’re telling an algorithm when you opt out of witnessing Black joy and how you’re voting with your attention.
Erica adds, “The fact that me being joyful and laughing and enjoying myself is less interesting than me being harmed or addressing harm, is harmful…It’s very worthwhile to acknowledge what are you taking in and witnessing that is based in Black joy, and how much of that can you prioritize?”
India says that prioritizing joyful content from Black creators can be as simple as liking, commenting, or sharing with a friend. For offline spaces, she says it can be inviting friends, writing a review, “There are so many small little things that we can do that don’t cost us one penny to support other people and their experiences.”
And, Erica adds, “pay Black people. Because the constant witnessing and educating for free, that’s not okay either.”
Finally, Erica says “I just want people to find joy in the history of Black people, and I want you to be present for the current creating of the history of Black people in joyous ways. I want you to recognize that Black history is being created right now. We are Black history in the making. Help us honor that by being present to us being able to safely exist.”
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