"Why Black Lives Do Not Matter:" African-American History Month Lecture on roots of oppression

The UNC Sonja Haynes Stone Center hosted its 14th annual African American History Month Lecture on Wednesday evening. 

The lecture featured Dr. Gerald C. Horne, an award-winning scholar and author of more than 30 books on history and African-American Studies.

“Tonight is a capstone for our University celebration of African-American History Month,” said Chancellor Carol Folt, who gave a brief welcome address at the event. “It’s a time for continuing to have frank discussions about the nation and our community at this time in history.”

The event came in the wake of the death of two important figures in UNC’s racial history. LeRoy Frasier and John Lewis Brandon, two of UNC’s first African-American undergraduate students, passed away in the past two months. Both Frasier and Brandon attended the University after successfully challenging its racially discriminatory admissions policy in the 1950s. 

The lecture also honored the life and work of Colin A. Palmer, who served as the first African-American department chair in the College of Arts and Sciences in the 1980s. 

The lecture, titled “Why Black Lives Do Not Matter: Re-thinking the Origins of the USA," explored the historical roots of racial oppression in the United States. 

“Inferentially, my remarks suggest that the current heroic narrative of U.S. and African-American history (that) deposits steady progress within a system designed to accommodate our demands is vocally inadequate,” Horne said, “We definitely need a new narrative of U.S. history and African-American history.”

Horne argued that the origins of current racial trends and movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement can be traced as far back as colonial times. He cited his deeply researched books throughout the lecture. 

“I think he’s very provocative,” said Miriam Thompson, a North Carolina-based organizer who attended the lecture. Thompson, a longtime supporter of the Stone Center, has admired Horne’s work for many years.

“I’m always looking forward to his evolving insights into the state of both our country and our role in the world,” she said. 

Horne discussed the nuances of America’s racial narrative and how this narrative has led to the current racial and political climate. 

“Contrary to the opinion of many of our liberal friends, Trump is no aberration, no anomaly, and we must ditch forevermore the comforting canard that whatever is negative in this nation … (can be) dismissed airily with the empty slogan, ‘That’s not who we are,’” Horne said during the lecture. “No, I’m afraid this is who we are.”

Ben Greer, a first-year political science and information science major, attended the lecture after his professor informed him about it. 

“As soon as class let out I scurried over here to watch,” Greer said. “It was very multifaceted and at some points hard to follow, but he made a very strong case.”

Although Horne detailed the deeply entrenched roots of racism in the U.S., he called on those in attendance to combat them by becoming more globally aware and active in social issues. 

“If Black lives are to matter in the United States, we’re going to have to engage in agonizing reappraisal of our present plight, critique the path that has brought us to the precipice of fiasco in recent decades, and embark on a new path,” Horne said. “Certainly, we have to develop a new narrative.” 

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