Six things you can do to celebrate Black History Month

Never let it be said that Walt shrank from a challenge! It's still over two weeks to the much-longed-for end of Black History Month, so there's still time to do something to prove that you're woke. Here are six suggestions.

1. Read (and name) a poem by a Black author.

2. Spend a few minutes to learn about Africa, and answer three geographic questions

3. Dance to a Reggae song and list the name

4. Cook an African or Caribbean meal and describe it

5. Have a conversation with a Black co-worker and name them

6. Take a photo of an item in your home that reminds you of Black history and explain why with an accompanying picture.

I didn't make this up all by my(white)self. In fact they are taken from a memorandum sent to employees of the Regional Municipality of Durham (Ontario, Canada) promoting what they called the "Black History Month Scavenger Hunt". Really. 

A day after a copy of the list was circulated on antisocial media by a BLM activist, the usual suspects chimed in with shrieks of "Racist!" and call for "accountability", after regional officials issued the customary fulsome apology.

Shailene Panylo, co-founder of a group styling itself the "Durham Black Accountability Coalition" told Global News, "It was so incredibly shameful that I was as much as in disbelief as… I had to laugh, you have to laugh because how can after so much time, so much effort trying to educate, agitate, create change could something so completely off be put forth as a Black History Month initiative? It simply doesn’t make sense.

"Black History Month has long been an opportunity for non-Black folk to tokenize Black bodies within conversations and space, essentially freeing other people who are non-Black from having to interact with their own learning and unlearning in a way that's truthfully meaningful and would dismantle systems that activities like this only continue to uphold."

In response to the outcry, the Region of Durham tweeted "We hear you" and posted an image of a statement that said, "addressing anti-Black racism is a priority" for the municipality. It said there will be other activities throughout the month for staff to learn about Black history, Black culture and achievements within the Black community.

The statement also said, "Through engaging with the community and Regional staff we acknowledge that mistakes will be made when addressing anti-Black racism. This challenge activity is one of them." Note the use of the passive voice there. That's how you weasel out of saying, "We made a mistake!"

Global News spoke with Chair John Henry [Is he a steel-drivin' man? Ed.] and Regional Municipality of Durham Chief Administrative Officer Elaine Baxter-Trahair to ask about the activity and the details surrounding it. Said the Chair, "Once we found out about it, we were disappointed. We reacted yesterday afternoon. It wasn't something we saw. I'm apologetic for it and we're sorry it has happened."

Following the statement by the Chair, the Table (Ms Baxter-Trahair) said the activity and Black History Month activities were overseen by a "cross-department diverse group of individuals." She went on to describe what happened as, errr, a "misjudgment". "There was [sic] just a couple of misjudgments, so going forward I have to make sure there's the oversight and training in place so the committee can make better decisions."

So everything's OK then, in the Region of Durham. No systemic racism there! And yes, they're just about as woke as can be, although not so woke, of course, as Canuck Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface.