Melanin project begins Black History Month programming

Editor:

This February, the Melanin Mountain Project is honored to step into our sixth consecutive year of Black History Month programming, made possible through partnerships with so many of our local restaurants, bars and small businesses. Each year, we are reminded how powerful it is to honor history in places some might consider unexpected. And yet, as our community continues to change and grow season by season, one truth remains beautifully constant: Black people are everywhere, and we thrive everywhere.

We have built a community here, one rooted in care, intention and persistence, and we are also deeply woven into the greater Gunnison Valley. Black history is not a story meant only for those who have been harmed by it, nor solely for those who have benefited from systems of harm. It is a collective human history, one that asks something of all of us who are willing to sit with it, learn from it, and grow.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, uncertain, or weighed down by the state of the world, if you’re constantly feeling bewildered and asking yourself, “How on earth did we arrive here at this how on earth did we arrive here at this junction of pitfalls and chaos?”, let this month be a place to land. We do not treat Black History Month as a museum exhibit, something static, distant, or safely behind glass. We treat it as a survival manual. For historians, and for those with strong pattern recognition, we know what we are witnessing in this country is not new. It is not some abstract evil that exists elsewhere. It lives here, and it always has. When we avoid naming it, we trap ourselves in a familiar cycle, one where fear and hysteria flourish, and where suddenly it becomes difficult to speak honestly with friends and family without confronting the painful possibility that they may reject what they refuse to understand.

The Melanin Mountain Project was founded in 2020, not as a tourism initiative or a feel-good attempt to bring “inner city” or financially disadvantaged BIPOC communities into mountain spaces for temporary enjoyment. From the beginning, our vision has been rooted in building an integrated outdoor and mountain community with intention. One where people who have long called this place home and those who are newer arrivals meet each other with authenticity, curiosity and shared responsibility. Not guilt, not shame, but real sincerity and camaraderie.

As Malcolm Jamal Warner so poignantly said: “Slavery is white history. How we survived it is Black history.”

So the question before us is not abstract. It is deeply personal. How will we survive what feels like the inevitable popping of this bubble together? Will we scold one another to vote while failing to build systems that truly protect access to voting? Will we speak in the language of love and light while turning away from the hard, necessary work of grassroots action, work that ensures people are housed, fed, and able to live without constant, paralyzing fear?

Compassion is powerful, but only when it is practiced and not performed. If you are unaware that many of your nonwhite friends and family members have spent recent days making emergency plans and having heavy, heartbreaking conversations with loved ones, then this is a moment to pause and truly listen. This is the lived reality of this country for so many right now.

Learning our shared history and engaging honestly with the present realities your nonwhite friends are navigating, is one of the most meaningful steps forward we can take. Black History Month is more than a commemoration. It is a century-old tradition of remembrance, education, and responsibility. We invite you to step into it with us, to learn boldly, to act thoughtfully, and to commit, together, to not repeat what history has already taught us.

To stay in the loop on all of our upcoming events this month, please visit the Melanin Mountain Project website and join us, we would love to see you. 

In community and with care,

Chloe Bowman
Melanin Mountain Project