Glenda Simms, Contributor
FOR A LONG period of time, the dawn of the month of February rekindles a wide spectrum of emotions including nostalgia, anger, fear, hope, pride and misbelief. All of these roller-coaster feelings are stirred up by a flurry of activities for 'Black History Month'.
In 2003, the passions were heightened for 28 days and in 2004 we will have an extra 'feel good day' before we go back to 'forgetting'.
While each February we become aware of the voices that proclaim 'Once we were kings and queens of great dynasties and kingdoms', we black women must consciously deal with the history of colonialism and patriarchy which have resulted in many contradictions that are the reality of the times in which we now live.
Black women need to question what aspects of their history and contribution to human development have been remembered, celebrated and integrated into the objectives of the month of February.
Is black history, like white history, about the exploits and achievement of men or is the history of black people, as it is recorded, interpreted and taught, a true reflection of the role that women have played in the building of both Euro-dominated societies and majority black-populated nations?
Women need to ask themselves these questions and if the answers that they get point to a denial of their vital contributions to human development, then they need, not only to rewrite the history books, but also to write about the realities of their lives and ensure that their stories are integrated in the educational system and the knowledge base of all people in society.
BLACK WOMEN'S CONTRIBUTION
So, in this Black History Month, black women should start analysing the forces that have been working against a real and balanced appreciation of the roles that women have played in the development of the economies of the western world.
While we oftentimes acknowledge and verbalise the multi-faceted contributions of black men to science, social movements, entertainment, the arts and to 'governance' structures, we have been less vocal about the sterling contributions of black women.
Black women have historically played more than an equal part in development. They bore more than half of the pain that has distinguished the struggles of all black people in the so-called 'New World'.
In recognition of our valiant confrontation with the history of black peoples, which saw us being ripped from our ancestral moorings and exiled in 'foreign lands', we black women of the hemisphere should be, by now, confident in our own femininity and in our essential presence as women.
Instead of this, we have to deal with historical interpretations that characterise our strengths by descriptors such as 'Amazon', 'superwoman', 'mammy', 'bitch', 'ball busters', 'dishes', 'chicks' or, at the most benign, 'pretty girl'.
While black women are very conscious of the fact that these negative forces that define their present day reality are related to the atrocities endured by black men and women during the era of slavery in the West, the time has come for black women to take a strong stance against the legacy of a history.
A history that render us the mother who is never worshipped as Madonna, the caretaker who is never respected as nurturer and the woman who is never really a lady.
Out of this history of negation and external definition, black women still struggle to find warm and tender relationships with black men.
In all societies in which we live, we are overwhelmingly represented in abusive and exploitative relationships at the level of the private domain.
Yes, this is the blueprint that has been designed for us by the historical forces of the colonial and the patriarch. But in this month of February 2004, black women must dig deep into the memories of the links to their past and the tremendous efforts that they have made to contribute to the most positive aspects of the present.
Black History Month must be about black women also. So, Jamaican black women must ensure that we write the historical tracts between now and all the Februarys to come, by being positive, proud, hard working, creative, loving and caring of self and others. In this mode, we will force everyone to recognise that we have always held up 'more than half the sky'.
Dr. Glenda P. Simms is the executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs.
