During the second week of Blackest History Month, we continue to seek insights from Carter G. Woodson to fuel the momentum of historical memory as a device for breaking through the noise, distraction, and disruption of contemporary events.
Neely Fuller Jr. (1929-2025), an early proponent of what has been labeled “anti-racist” thinking, contended in 1971 that “If you do not understand white supremacy (racism)—what it is and how it works—everything else that you understand will only confuse you.” Fuller Jr., Woodson and countless others’ lives and thoughts should help us develop our best thinking on governance by forming a fortifying genealogy in the face of serially hostile social structure-activity.
This includes strategies like the so-called “Bannon Strategy” currently at work in the U.S. federal government—a barrage of manufactured crises designed to seize control of political and economic levers of power.
Through all of this, the need for focus and deliberate action in the face of systemic distraction must be emphasized. A question emerges: How do we break from a punishing cycle of serial reaction, understanding how to use the interplay between study and practice? Answers can be found in applying the “momentum of memory” to propel forward action.
Carter Woodson’s approach of slow, deliberate study and organized community-grounded activity serves as a foundation for mass action and collective learning, urging us to build a compendium of knowledge to guide our future. When properly understood, the key is that study will lead to anti-oppressive action, fostering empowerment.
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