Guest Editorial: Black history—my history—is American history

image_pdfimage_print

As I pause to reflect on Black History Month, my heart longs for the day we all can say without doubt, “Black history is American history.”

I am a Black man born and raised in America. When I enter a room, my blackness is on display before I speak. When I preach, my passion speaks as a Black preacher.

I am an American, yet America reminds otherwise.

American history is my history—all of it. We all were forced to be a part of it. American history called me “slave,” “three-fifths,” “colored,” “Negro,” “Black” and now an “African American.”

An attempt to ignore the fact our country has had two Americas is evident. This fact always is present, whether one is completing a form, an application or census data.

A dear, well-meaning, Christian, Anglo friend said to me recently: “People need to stop talking about race. John, when I see you, I do not see you as a Black man. I just see you as a man.”

He believed what he said, but his statement bothered me. It said, “Do not think or talk about your blackness anymore,” that he was content with the disparities, racism and injustice that continue to exist, that he was satisfied with Black history omitted in history books, and that voter suppression does not matter to him. He is OK, so I should be OK, too.

Furthermore, his statement devalued who I am. I am Black. Do not deny how God made me. The melanin of my skin is God’s doing. I am a man made in God’s “image” and “likeness” who happens to be Black.

His statement denied how America looks at me and treats me—minimizing my lived experiences: attended “separate-but-equal” public schools; in the first group of 68 students to integrate Wilmer-Hutchins High School; the first Black to serve as vice president of the student congress at the University of Texas at Arlington; and the first Black to serve as chair of the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.


Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays


When I was accepted into South Texas College of Law in 1976, I was one of seven Black people in a student body of more than 900. This is my history.

At the crossroad of history

If you had asked me a decade ago if we would be at a racial crossroad in America, I would not think it possible. Presently, the truth of Black history—American history—is dismissed by a large segment of Anglo-Americans who espouse the name of the Christian faith.

There is an ongoing move to suppress and silence further the ugly truth of American history. Critical race theory has been taken out of context and used as a cultural and racial wedge between white and Black people.

States passed laws against teaching the full truth of American history. States have enacted laws to prohibit instruction in our schools on anything in history that will make Anglos feel uncomfortable or guilty. Such suppression will hinder us from becoming “one nation under God.”

After the murder of George Floyd, it seemed our country had become enlightened and empathic toward the Black man’s experience, but it was short-lived. I hoped Black history would be taught and appreciated. I hoped we would be able to discuss race and racism intelligently and civilly, seeking to understand each other.

I hoped my Anglo friends would understand why I wore a Black Lives Matter t-shirt, why I went to the George Floyd march and funeral in Houston. I hoped they would understand my fears, because I have three sons and five grandsons. My hope was diminished by their silence and later their attack on me personally.

Recently, I ran for a fifth term on the Cy-Fair Independent School District school board. Being a strong pillar in this community and having served on the board for 18 years, living in the district more than 30 years, having raised four children and developed relationships—many white—and being a man who did not speak of his blackness, I felt American.

An ultra-right-wing political group sought to destroy my reputation because of my social media posts from my Black perspective of life and politics in America. I was labeled a racist even though my record showed I had been a consensus builder working hard for all children equitably.

I lost several “white evangelical” friends who could not value me having a Black perspective. Unfortunately, I lost my election. Some voting against me believed they were doing God’s will.

People of God, we are at a critical crossroad—a political, racial, moral and Christian crossroad. The future of America and possibly the church is at stake.

Will lies win? Will hate win? Will politics win? Will the church drift further apart racially? Will Black people continue to think or feel these words in Langston Hughes’ poem “Let America Be America Again:” “There’s never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free.’”

All I am asking

I am asking Christians to practice the Christianity of Jesus with the ethic of loving your neighbor as yourself. I ask that we set up dialogue to bridge the divide, that justice be valued along with justification, that the heavenly Father be valued over the flag, that love abound, and that Christians lead a movement for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Broaden your awareness, and read one of the books in my personal library: Caste by Isabel Wilkerson; The 1619 Project created by Nikole Hannah-Jones; Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson; Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.; Four Hundred Souls edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain; Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr.; Kingdom Race Theology by Tony Evans; Christians Against Christianity by Obery M. Hendricks; or One Blood by John M. Perkins.

“My people perish for the lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). Face it and embrace it, so we can erase it from our future history.

Pastor John Ogletree is the founding senior pastor of First Metropolitan Church in Houston. He has provided leadership for the Cy-Fair Independent School District, Union Baptist Association, Baptist General Convention of Texas and the African American Fellowship. The views expressed are those of the author.


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.

More from Baptist Standard