This Black History Month we want to recognize the journey, struggle, and history of Black and African people. People of color built this country shackled in the chains of oppression for over a hundred years before the reckoning of a Civil War that cost more lives than any other conflict in the history of our nation. For 100 years following that war and “Reconstruction”, we fought for equality necessitated by the re-emergence of white supremacy systematized through Jim Crow.

The Black diaspora expanded as Black people migrated to other parts of our nation and territories; as well as Africans immigrating to these Lands. While this afforded new opportunities, new challenges emerged.

Even after equal rights were enshrined in the law of the land through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voter’s Rights Act of 1965, the following generations have been burdened by the lack of access to the generational wealth of property ownership due to redlining, the New Jim Crow born from the prison industrial complex perpetuated by police brutality, and a shift to the fringes of society through appropriation and gentrification.

Yet here we stand today, proud and resilient as the children of slavery and colonialism, seekers of freedom who sprung up after being buried under centuries of oppression. “Our roots go deep!”

This Black History Month, we share the journey of a single drop of African blood on the route of triangular trade to the colonization of the Americas. We have come to be a strong nation through the amalgamation of many African cultures, various European cultures, Asian cultures, and Indigenous Peoples. Our Black History has been raised in struggle and some met by it as they have immigrated here in the pursuit of happiness. When you know Black history, you know American History.

Join our SEIU 503 AFRAM caucus as we celebrate Black History Month by joining people together to highlight the diversity amongst Africans, and African Americans. This Saturday, February 3rd, from 1 to 6 p.m., we’re hosting a hybrid event, African Diaspora “One Drop of African Blood – Ancestry and Proud of it” where we will focus on the difference between slavery and colonization and identify the differences between the two. Register today and join us in celebration.