Jacqueline Wylie
African American History 128 Section 1
Professor Channon Miller
13 May 2022
Black History Blog
The Fight For Black America
Black History has been minimized by white Americans to just being a piece of the puzzle of our nation’s origin and history for centuries, but through the voice of Black activists like Patrisse Cullors, I have learned that Black History is beyond just a piece of the puzzle, it is the true backbone of American History. Black culture, history, and experience extends far deeper than what can be said in just an hour long program, but Patrisse Cullors brings to light the importance and the necessity of Black history in American culture today. Cullors – an artist, educator, organizer, American activist, and cofounder of the 2013 #BlackLivesMatter movement – shared her experience as a Black woman who has been using her voice as a tool to abolish systemic racism one step at a time for Black people in America. Her program, “A Night with Patrisse Cullors,” sponsored by USD, reveals how Black abolition’s ubiquitous power is necessary in making change within today’s society for the greater future of America and its Black citizens. Our nation’s history has been taught through the voice and perspective of white men and women for far too long, unrightfully silencing the voices of Black Americans whose voices deserve to be heard. “A Night with Patrisse Cullors” was a significant contemporary program rooted in themes of the discriminatory criminalization of Black people, Black resistance, and the power of abolition. The impact of Patrisse Cullors’ program further revealed that America would not be the America it is today without Black people of the past, present and future, and we must bring urgency to change in order to protect, support and celebrate Black lives.
Abolition has been essential to making change within America, but modern abolition is not possible if Black voices are not heard. The topic of abolition was a central theme in Cullors’ program, and is an essential part of her journey as a Black female activist. She shared that her turning point for an urgent need for abolition within our nation’s system came to her due to her experience witnessing heavy over-policing of Black communities and individuals, especially due to the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs in 1982 left a devastating effect on the Black communities of America.Even though at the height of the crack epidemic, the majority of crack users were white, but black people, men in particular, were being swept into jails and families were being broken apart yet again, similar to the effect of Jim Crow. I learned from reading Freedom On My Mind that the mass criminalization and disproportionate incarceration rate of Black people in America, is directly related to systemic racism that has been ingrained within America since the times of slavery. In order ro make real change within our nation’s system, effective conversations need to power the movements we make and support. Cullors asked the audience, “Do you know how to have courageous conversations?” This question stuck with me ever since the words left her mouth, leaving me to wonder how I can make real change through conversation. In order to have courageous conversations about racism and injustice, as someone who is not Black, I need to listen – we as a country need to listen – to the experiences of Black individuals around us, and let their culture, experience, and voices be heard and uplifted in order to make meaningful change occur.
Discriminatory criminalization and over-policing are another major theme of Cullors’ program, as well as her own personal activism and organizational efforts. She calls on us all as Americans to fight to make changes, saying passionately during her program, “We need to start changing ourselves, not just systems.” This change in ourselves – uplifting, using our voices, amplifying Black voices, protesting, and voting – will then be what makes real change in the system, just as it has through other powerful activists like herself, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and many others. Cullors urges us to push for an “economy of care,” not an economy that neglects the harsh realities that racism has perpetuated upon Black Americans for generations. After the height of the War on Drugs, prisons were an extension of the black community. The constant struggle and abuses Black people face with policing is evident just as it was through the 1800-1900s as our class text shares that,“by the mid-1990s, the disproportionate number of imprisoned African Americans made it apparent that the police treated blacks and whites differently and that punitive policing in place of jobs, job training, good schools, and adequate housing was a failed policy,” (Freedom On My Mind, p. 986). Over-policing of Black people in America is more than just a failed policy, but a way to generationally limit, silence, and hold back Black families from progressing to the same socioeconomic status as white families. Cullors said to the audience, “We have to imagine safety beyond policing. Why? Because we deserve it.” We as Americans need to start pushing for new bold systems, systems like mental health resources and rehabilitation for members of the Black community. Cullors has witnessed the prison system and police brutality, not only within her own personal experiences, but with her brother, a schizophrenic and bipolar Black man who was diagnosed in a jail cell and not given the proper treatment, care or rehabilitation that he deserved. Being her brother’s main supporter, Patrisse Cullors advocates for those with mental health issues, because Black mental health matters and should be taken seriously in our country. The prison system and mass incarceration rates of Black people has been a way to moderate, silence and ultimately keep the Black community inferior to white people for decades in America. Gathered from our class discussion this semester, Michelle Alexander stated, “The current system of control permanently locks a huge percentage of the African American community out of the mainstream society and economy. This system operates through our criminal justice institutions, but it functions more like a caste system than a system of control.” This caste system, as Alexander calls it, further perpetuates racism into our everyday American culture, giving Black people no way of making change from inside a jail cell. Cullors explained that we need public dollars for mental health services, just how there are public dollars for policing. Historically, our prison system in the United States has taken away voting rights, broken up families, and negatively affected their ability to attain high profile jobs, instead of providing its Black inmates with resources, positive correction, and guidance. Black people, Black culture, and Black history need to be taken seriously in order to understand American history and to progress as a cohesive society.
Black resistance and power has played a key role in change-making throughout American history. As Cullors explained in her program, in order to make change, we need to start with ourselves before we can make changes within the system, which is not a new concept in Black history. As shared in Freedom on My Mind, the efforts of the Black Church, Black Panthers, Malcom X, Black Power, Black Nationalism, Black female organizations, and many more movements and activist groups were at the forefront of change-making in the late 1900s. A book called, Remaking Black Power: How Women Transformed an Era, shares the importance of how Black resistance and activism through, not only Black men, but Black women, brought progressive change to America, stating, “In an effort to align their activism, political theory, and emancipatory goals, Panther women theorized a gender- specific version of the Panthers’ political identity: the Black Revolutionary Woman. An ideal that personified gendered formulations and applications of the Panthers’ political ideology, the Black Revolutionary Woman became a conduit through which female members reimagined their political and social roles” (Remaking Black Power, p. 51). Freedom and equality in America, a value of American History, would not be evident in today’s society without the fight for the real freedom and equality of Black Americans by Black Americans. But Black people should not have to fight alone anymore to make the changes they deserve in our country, and in order to protect Black history and culture, America needs to protect its Black citizens.
Developing helpful resources, new support, and change in our policing system is vital to protecting, appreciating and preserving Black history, culture, and lives in America. Understanding Black history as American History is essential to making change in this country. Without acknowledging the systemic racism and prejudices that are rooted in our nation’s systems leaves no room for real change, real abolition in America. Without Black resistance, there would be no change. Activists like Patrisse Cullors bring these issues to the forefront of the fight for Black lives through her voice, showing me that Black voices have been, and always will be, voices that white America must listen to, raise awareness to, uplift, and support in order to see the change that the Black people of America deserve.
Patrisse Cullors, for Art Net in 2020, Courtesy of Patrisse Cullors.
Works Cited
Miller, Channon. African American History Class Slides.
Farmer, Ashley D.. Remaking Black Power : How Black Women Transformed an Era, University of North Carolina Press, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sandiego/detail.action?docID=5102766.
White, Deborah G., et al. Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans, with Documents. Bedford/St. Martins, 2021.