Esau McCaulley says in his piece for The New York Times, “History is not merely the study of intent; it encompasses effect.”

As public debates around an alleged incursion of critical race theory into public school education have transformed into policy proposals and book bans, it was inevitable that some debate around the need for Black History Month would happen. McCaulley argues that, “Americans have not been taught enough about anti-Black racism in our past and present” and that we are poorer as a nation because of these omissions. “If we are indeed a part of this nation, then our lives and experiences have a claim on our national narrative. African American history forces us to view the Black experience of injustice not as the interruption of or caveat to an otherwise grand narrative, but as a compelling story in its own right.”

Read the entire article here.