Those of you who are avid readers of my column might remember me guaranteeing to alarm the conscious and to be a potential guide in your awakening. Well, if I didn’t touch basis on this issue I’d be failing you.
February has begun and within the black community this is the month of which Black History is celebrated. That statement alone should have disrupted your thought process… It is truly ironic that black folks living in this society religiously honor the idea that they should, and for the shortest month of the year only, celebrate their history. One month in celebration of all that blacks have overcome and accomplished in this country in correlation to 500 plus years of oppression is absurd. I would never protest opportunities for black people to join together on a positive note but this particular note should be a daily reminder, not an annual one.
According to some, we have arrived far beyond where we used to be, i.e. being labeled colored/negro. So why then are we still holding on to the belief that there should be a month dedicated to our heritage? If we have arrived “far beyond” our past, why don’t we believe that every day of our lives should be dedicated to our heritage? Something for you to ponder on. The efforts of Dr. Carter G. Woodson will not go unmentioned and he will be honored for the establishment of “Negro History Week”. Dr. Woodson believed that besides building self-esteem among blacks, Negro History Week would help eliminate prejudice among whites. At the time, this accomplishment granted blacks a chance to rejuvenate their spirits in an attempt towards progression. Although what Dr. Woodson missed was that it would take astonishingly more than a week of every year to build the self-esteem of blacks, but this was a start for him. After that there was the national awareness by President Gerald R. Ford, who “officially” recognized Black History Month.
Now technically speaking, this annual recognition that was given by a white American alone could have eliminated all of the self-esteem gained by blacks because he took something that was already created by a black man and decided he was kind enough to allot our people a few more days of entitlement.
I wish black people in this country would en masse give the “generosity” back. I wish we could see that we deserve and are immeasurably more than a month’s worth of acceptance.
The most heart-breaking factor of it all is that we still acknowledge Black History Month at Historically Black Colleges and Universities… Universities that are black, historically, meaning that the history of our universities and the history of the people whom these universities were designed for should be included in daily reflections. Yet here we are, suppressing our reflections and duties as young blacks in these institutions at a yield to disclose it for merely a single month. It is a problem in itself that blacks aren’t acknowledging and reflecting every day of their black lives, but specifically at HBCUs, enlightened and scholarly young black people should know and embrace history that they extend from and are making every day.
I believe to my soul that my generation in particular has the truest potential to turn culture and social conditions around for blacks in America, but before we even plan for baby steps, we must open our third eye to see things as they truly are. A small portion of that is knowing that our accomplishments, endurances, and future advancements have no limits and will not be put into a four week duration on a calendar. The history of our blood is eternal.
Categories:
Limitless History
February 10, 2015
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