Another day, another Twitter phenomenon. Today's comes courtesy of an unconventional celebration of Black History Month with the hashtag #Tweetlikethe1600s. The hashtag is comprised of comical reimagined scenarios black individuals might find themselves in during the 17th century– and nothing is off limits. This hashtag garnered hundreds of thousand of impressions, none of which aim to be politically correct.
It’s no secret that if any of these things were shared in real life conversation the reaction would not be thousands of people in agreement. So what’s the bigger issue here? A common form of coping for POC who have been historically marginalized is through comedy, as shown by the work of many 21st century comedians like Dave Chappelle and Richard Pryor. Additionally, this may be a way for the black community to reclaim their own identity and history. Think of the N-word: a word used as a racial slur against the black community throughout history, up even until today. The black community has reclaimed and redefined the word in their effort to restore the identity that was stripped away from them. Another issue may be the American education system (which has enough problems for another article, but applies to this situation nonetheless). In 2015, a student from Pearland High School in Houston, Texas, was in geography class when he began reading the Patterns of Immigration section of his geography textbook. The book described the Atlantic Slave Trade as "millions of workers from Africa moving to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations". When contacted for comment, the Texas Board of Education, which provides textbooks for the entire state, declined to address the issue.
Why is America afraid to address its troubled past? In 1960, in response to a new wave of anti-Semitism, Germany created § 130 Incitement to Hatred, a law that states:
(1) Whosoever, in a manner capable of disturbing the public peace:
incites hatred against a national, racial, religious group or a group defined by their ethnic origins, against segments of the population or individuals because of their belonging to one of the aforementioned groups or segments of the population or calls for violent or arbitrary measures against them; or assaults the human dignity of others by insulting, maliciously maligning an aforementioned group, segments of the population or individuals because of their belonging to one of the aforementioned groups or segments of the population, or defaming segments of the population, shall be liable to imprisonment from three months to five years.
Germany, Austria, and Hungary were among the perpetrators of the Holocaust, and each country has recognized the past, and acknowledged it constitutionally. Does the 13th amendment suffice in the United States of America? #Tweetlikethe1600s suggests that America still has lots of work to do in acknowledging its past and present.