February 11, 2021
Journalist Ernest Owens is annoyed with white people’s attempts to celebrate and promote Black History Month. In a Feb. 5 op-ed at the Washington Post, he complains of what he calls a “thoughtless ‘Happy Black History Month’ email from a White colleague.” He bemoans the “empty platitudes” that make him as a “Black queer millennial” feel “insulted” when white people, especially white bosses, indulge in exaggerated declarations of support for black Americans. “I don’t need or want corporations celebrating Black History Month,” he asserts.
In one sense, I can appreciate Owens’s frustration. Many white Americans’ expressions of solidarity with our fellow black citizens are undoubtedly superficial, if not performative. Corporate commemorations of Black History Month from Amazon’s “celebrate Black innovators” tab to Apple’s “App Store Black History Month Hub” say as much about capitalists co-opting the latest cause as it d