February is Black History Month

The month of February has been officially designated by every U.S. president since 1976 as Black History Month, an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans (www.history.com).

According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the theme for 2021 Black History Month is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity.” The black family has been a topic of study in many disciplines—history, literature, the visual arts and film studies, sociology, anthropology and social policy. Its representation, identity and diversity have been reverenced, stereotyped and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time. The black family knows no single location, since family reunions and genetic-ancestry searches testify to the spread of family members across states, nations and continents. Not only are individual black families diasporic, but Africa and the diaspora itself have been long portrayed as the black family at large. While the role of the black family has been described by some as a microcosm of the entire race, its complexity as the “foundation” of African American life and history can be seen in numerous debates over how to represent its meaning and typicality from a historical perspective—as slave or free, as patriarchal or matriarchal/matrifocal, as single-headed or dual-headed household, as extended or nuclear, as fictive kin or blood lineage, as legal or common law, and as black or interracial, etc. Variation appears, as well, in discussions on the nature and impact of parenting, childhood, marriage, gender norms, sexuality and incarceration. The family offers a rich tapestry of images for exploring the African American past and present (ASALH).

In an effort to help individuals grow in their understanding of African American Catholicism and its impact on the local and national church, as well as on themselves, Christine Streams serves as the bishop’s liaison for African American Catholics Ministry in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. She says she sees her role as helping different ethnic groups in the diocese work together. “Through the process of evangelization, I want to establish programs for education/formation, and assist with empowering African American Catholics to share their unique gifts and step into roles of leadership. But I also want to invite people of all ethnicities to sit at the decision making table, and be accountable and responsible for making decisions together.”

Locally, the Finding Our Roots African American Museum on Roussell Street in Houma was established in February 2017. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-Noon and 1:30-3:30 p.m., and offers group and individual tours, as well as tours for students and senior citizens.

“The museum tells the stories and experiences of our journey from the shores of Africa to the southern region of Louisiana,” says Streams. “It focuses on the route of African Americans to the new world through slavery and how we survived.” According to the museum’s brochure, it tells the unfolding story of events through exhibits, visuals, early life, music, reconstruction, Civil Rights, education, inventors, musicians and the lasting history of the African American people of Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary and Assumption parishes, and beyond.

Nationally, in November 2020, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., already the highest-ranking African-American Catholic in U.S. history, became the first African American cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church in an installation ceremony in Rome.

According to Vatican News, by elevating Archbishop Gregory to the highest ranks of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis continues to play close attention to racial dynamics in the United States.

Cardinal Gregory, 72, told CNN, "It's been a time to thank God for this unique moment in my life and in the life of the church in the United States. I hope it's a sign to the African American community that the Catholic Church has a great reverence, respect and esteem for … my people of color."

To address the evil of racism in our society and church, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism issued the pastoral letter, “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love,” in November 2018. The letter states that “racism arises when—either consciously or unconsciously—a person holds that his or her own race or ethnicity is superior, and therefore judges persons of other races or ethnicities as inferior and unworthy of equal regard.”

“Racism is institutionalized and cultural; it has a lot to do with individuals and how they perceive themselves, for example, white supremacy and white privilege; and until a person has a change of heart, that will not change,” says Streams. “I look at things from a Catholic perspective. I was taught that everyone is created equal, so I don’t see anyone above anyone else; and I have never understood why a person with light skin would see themselves as superior to a person with darker skin. But if you look at it from the perspective of economics and the caste system, things change.”

The caste system is the architecture of human hierarchy, the subconscious code of instructions for maintaining … a 400-year-old social order. It is a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry and often immutable traits. A caste system uses rigid, often arbitrary boundaries to keep the ranks apart, distinct from one another and in their assigned places (“America’s Enduring Caste System,” New York Times Magazine, July 1, 2020, Isabel Wilkerson).

“In the United States, this race-based caste system – the division of humans on the basis of their appearance – has been reinforced throughout our culture and passed down for generations,” explains Streams. “There are many different aspects of racism: Institutional, economic, educational, etc., and I just think it’s sad that it is 2021, and we are still talking about the sin of racism and judging someone on the basis of what color their skin is; because what it all comes down to is that in God’s eyes, we are all created equal, and as Catholic Christians, we are all called to be more like Jesus Christ,” says Streams.