This Black History Month, NABWMT honors A Century of Black History Commemorations—one
hundred years of deliberate remembrance, resistance, and resilience. What began in 1926 as
Negro History Week, led by historian Carter G. Woodson, was a radical act of truth-telling in the
face of erasure. Over the past century, Black History Month has grown into a powerful
declaration that Black history is not optional, supplemental, or confined to the past—it is central
to understanding our present and shaping a just future.

As a gay, anti-racism organization, we recognize that Black history is inseparable from ongoing
struggles for liberation across race, sexuality, gender, nationality, and class. Black LGBTQ+
people—particularly Black immigrants—have always been part of this history, even when their
lives and contributions have been rendered invisible. Today, that invisibility is reinforced through
systems of state violence, including the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
which continue to harm, detain, terrorize, and in some cases kill Black and Brown people under
the guise of “enforcement.”

A century of commemoration demands more than reflection—it demands action. We cannot
honor Black history while remaining silent about the contemporary violence that echoes past
injustices: racialized policing, criminalization of migration, family separation, and the targeting
of Black immigrants as well as gay and trans people. These practices are not disconnected from
history; they are its continuation.

This moment calls us to act personally and collectively. Personally, we are called to challenge
anti-Black racism and xenophobia wherever they show up—in our families, our workplaces, and
our communities. Organizationally, we commit to resisting systems that criminalize Black and
Brown lives, to standing in solidarity with immigrant justice movements, and to using our voice,
resources, and influence to demand policies rooted in dignity, safety, and human rights.

Commemorating Black history is not about honoring struggle while tolerating suffering. It is
about carrying forward the legacy of those who believed that freedom is collective, that silence
is complicity, and that justice requires courage. This Black History Month, we recommit to
honoring the past by confronting the present—and by working relentlessly toward a future
where Black lives, including Black immigrant and Black LGBTQ+ lives, are not only remembered,
but protected, affirmed, and free.

NABWMT Board of Directors