Without even a hint of satire, a white Wisconsin legislator is actually trying to whitewash Black History Month by honoring more people who aren't black than those who are. Republican state Rep. Scott Allen is circulating a resolution that recognizes 10 Wisconsin honorees, most of whom helped slaves escape between 1842 and 1861, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "As we approach February, which has historically been recognized nation-wide as Black History Month,” Allen said in a memo the newspaper obtained, “we should all recognize the importance of highlighting the history of black Americans in a way that raises the prominence of that part of our mutual history so that it is the center of our attention."
Try not to roll your eyes. I dare you. Democratic state Sen. Lena Taylor did a bit more than that though. She called her privileged peer out in a Facebook post on Dec. 20. “Once again we have a non-black state legislator deciding who should be honored in the state legislature's 2020 Black History Month resolution,” she said. “Without consulting black state legislators, Rep. Scott Allen, at 4pm on a Friday, before the Christmas break, issues a Black History month resolution. This is an insult and disgraceful.” The black lawmaker was apparently so offended by Allen’s resolution that she emailed him directly too. “If this was intended to be without controversy you failed,” she said in the email the Wisconsin State Journal obtained. “Thank you Massa Allen for pickin’ whose we should honuh suh. We sho ain’t capable of thinkin’ fo ourselves, suh.”
In his interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Allen said he couldn’t understand the opposition and didn’t see a point in talking to black legislators before proposing the resolution. “I don’t recall Sen. Taylor speaking to me about any of the resolutions or any of her bills ... before she’s circulated them for co-sponsorship,” Allen said. As moving an argument (she didn’t share her toys either) as that is, Allen’s position really shouldn’t be surprising in Wisconsin.
This is the same state legislature that in February couldn’t pass a proclamation recognizing Black History Month until it removed all mentions of Colin Kaepernick in the document. The resolution, drafted by the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus and authored by Rep. David Crowley, included the Milwaukee-born quarterback-turned-activist as someone “who has sought to raise attention to racial injustice and systemic oppression.” Kaepernick, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers, was all but banned from the NFL when he took a knee during the national anthem three years ago to protest police brutality and social injustice.
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Crowley told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that although he appreciated the Assembly ultimately passing the resolution, the fact that he "had to get the blessing" of his white counterparts to do so was a "slap in the face," a "textbook example of white privilege." Allen’s recent push, however, takes the white privilege cake, if I may say so. Rep. David Bowen expressed his desire on Twitter Dec. 20 to use the emboldened lawmaker’s initiative as an educational opportunity. "I will propose to my caucus that he will officially be the first white man to receive all information pertaining to the Black History Month activities so that he can be educated by Black people," Bowen said.