Opinion: Black History Month devalues the contributions of so many people who look like me that it's staggering.
Obama's empowering message got twisted
Black History Month says that you can learn about the Founding Fathers, but you’ll never know about the Black men and women who built the seats of power upon which they sat.
The one time a Black person, former first lady Michelle Obama, deigned to raise the topic, saying at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 that she wakes up “every morning in a house that was built by slaves,” the statement was considered so controversial that news organizations started tripping over one another to write “fact-check” pieces.
Obama’s comment was meant to celebrate the progress that our nation has made. It was twisted into an angry, white narrative that gave rise to a president who traded on fear and hatred, rather than hope and inspiration.
And for the record, the White House Historical Association says on its website that “enslaved people were involved in every aspect of White House construction – from the quarrying of stone, to the cutting of timber, to the production of bricks, to the physical labor of assembling its roof and walls. Enslaved people worked as axemen, stone cutters, carpenters, brick makers, sawyers, and laborers throughout each stage of construction from 1792 through 1800.”)
We lump the same Black faces together
