Black History Month often arrives wrapped in celebration — progress, perseverance, firsts. But this year, it begins with a sobering reminder that some of the most dangerous chapters of U.S. history are not behind us. They are repeating.
Last Thursday, Black journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested for doing their jobs. The charges — widely viewed as flimsy and initially unable to withstand judicial scrutiny — appear less about securing convictions and more about sending a message. History tells us exactly what that message is meant to do: intimidate, exhaust and chill speech.
For Black journalists — and for those who support community-led news — this moment feels unsettlingly familiar.
What is happening today is not new. It is part of a long and violent pattern in American history in which the Black press has been targeted not only through law and surveillance, but through physical destruction and lethal force.
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