Khalil Gibran Muhammad

            In his blog, "Khalil Gibran Muhammad with Bill Moyers on Confronting the Contradictions of America’s Past", C. Matthew Hawkins poses the following questions regarding the art and science of history: Where does Muhammad say that black history begins? What does he say is the character of black history? In what ways does Muhammad suggest that American history is a situational irony – an irony of situation? Why does Muhammad say that Americans, Black or White, tend to avoid discussions about the contradictions of American history during national holidays, such as the 4^th of July? This blog entry endeavors to provide a brief examination of those questions.

            Where does Muhammad say that black history begins? What does he say is the character of black history?

            In an interview with Bill Moyers originally aired on June 29, 2012, “Full Show: Confronting the Contradictions of America’s Past”, Khalil Gibran Muhammad affirms that black history begins long ago in Africa—long before American history. Muhammad contends that black history does not begin with slavery; rather, African history commences before “the white man came”—in thriving civilizations, like Timbuktu. Many thousands of years before French colonial rule, Timbuktu was a flourishing center for Islamic scholarly study; in fact, the findings of a 21^st century archaeological excavation indicate that an Iron Age tell complex existed during the 5^th century BC and continued to prosper all through the second half of the 1^st millennium AD. Please see “Timbuktu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia” for additional background.

Muhammad characterizes black history as oppressive, but celebratory. He asserts that “black history for young people is life-saving” precisely because it does not begin with slavery. Furthermore, Muhammad describes the duality existing between the struggle and pain of black history and its narrative of survival and creativity; he points to the incredible endurance of a people who have long existed in societies working against them yet continue producing original forms of art. Unfortunately, inequality of all sorts (racial, gender, socioeconomic, etc.) has become an accepted, normalized aspect of American society.

            In what ways does Muhammad suggest that American history is a situational irony—an irony of situation?

            Irony involves expectations; situational irony exists when we expect a particular outcome, but the opposite occurs. Muhammad suggests that at its core, American history is a situational irony in its failure to build a true democracy. Thomas Jefferson and 55 other ‘founding fathers’ composed the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights;” however, the reality of American democracy reflected in practice does not, in fact, hold these truths for all human beings. American democracy, in practice, has been for the benefit of men only—specifically white men—and to the detriment of all others: women, black and indigenous peoples. Please refer to “The Declaration of Independence - USHistory.org” for a complete rendering of the Declaration of Independence. Muhammad notes that the “ideal of equality that Jefferson portrayed, he also betrayed.”

            

Image Credit: American Treasures of the Library of Congress

Irony exists, too, in the founding fathers’ justification for seeking independence from Britain: “the history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny;” so too has black history in America been one of “repeated injuries and usurpations”—and of being subjected to an “absolute Tyranny.” In fact, Muhammad notes the irony inherent in Thomas Jefferson’s belief that whites are fundamentally superior to blacks and Jefferson’s assertion that “money, not morality, is the principle of commercialized nations.” The founding fathers sought “equality” and freedom from British rule; however, the motivating principle behind settlement in the American colonies was acquiring resources for the purpose of wealth accumulation. Sadly, the last two centuries of American history repeat similar ironies: efforts at social, political, economic reform (like the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement)—with the goal and expectation of equality in the United States—gave way to the manufacture of new and insidious manners of discrimination and denial of equality (i.e., urban ghettos, policies of stop-and-frisk, the criminalization of black people).

Why does Muhammad say that Americans, Black or White, tend to avoid discussions about the contradictions of American history during national holidays, such as the 4^th of July?

Image credit: pbs.org

Muhammad describes America as a “culture of escapism.” He illustrates our inherent contradictory nature: we want to believe in and participate in the experiment of American democracy, but we do not want to be ever-conscious of our conflict-filled, discriminatory history. Sometimes (particularly during national holidays), Americans (of all colors) prefer to forget the failings of our collective history. Even though Muhammad reminds us that Frederick Douglass once described the 4^th of July as “your holiday,” rather than “our holiday,” most Americans today enjoy the 4^th of July as a time to picnic, set off fireworks and spend time together. Toward the end of his interview, Bill Moyers asks Khalil Gibran Muhammad how he will celebrate the upcoming 4^th of July—to which Muhammad replies, smiling, that he plans to “take the day off from the weight of history.”