How Black History Month Ignores Critical Parts of Black History

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Jessica Thomas, Reporter for Yellow Springs News to discuss the real story behind the viral video of Dave Chappelle threatening to pull his investments from Yellow Springs, Ohio over a proposed land development plan that was claimed to have included affordable housing, how Dave Chappelle’s celebrity has contributed to rising property values and the struggle for affordable housing in Yellow Springs, and Dave Chapelle’s relationship to the town of Yellow Springs.

In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Jenipher Jones, Co-Chair of the National Lawyers Guild Mass Incarceration Committee and lead counsel for the JLS International Law Project to discuss a lawsuit alleging delayed medical care for people held at Rikers jail and the inhumane conditions that people held at the jail are subjected to.

In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Nate Wallace, co-host of Red Spin Sports to discuss the blockbuster trade between the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers swapping star players James Harden and Ben Simmons and how the trade relates to the controversy over China sparked by 76ers General Manager Daryl Morey, the continued propaganda campaign against China propagated by both liberals and progressives as the Beijing Winter Olympics continue, and the reactionary backlash from some sports commentators against Brian Flores after he filed his lawsuit against the NFL over alleged racist hiring practices.

Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly, assistant professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Carleton College, Visiting Scholar with the Race and Capitalism Project at the University of Chicago, and editor of the upcoming book, “Organize, Fight, Win: Black Communist Women’s Political Writing” to discuss the politics of Black History Month and how it’s nearly exclusive focus on domestic Black trivia disconnects Black history from Black radicalism and its connections to the African continent, the upcoming book “Organize, Fight, Win: Black Communist Women’s Political Writing” and how it connects to progressive movements today, and how pop culture seizes on the sanitized version of Black history to ignore real Black heroes who challenge dominant ideologies.