We are almost halfway through the month of February and I'm wondering what you've been doing to celebrate Black History Month?
I've been covering black stories for my weekly 411 column in the Buffalo Challenger. Will be taking my family to a Soulful Cook-Off event sponsored by the Buffalo Urban League at the end of the month where I will serve as a judge, watched the history of Soul Train on VH-1, getting my daughter ready for a program about black notables in our church, will see a friend's documentary on The Lynching Tree and have written some poetry.
I know comedian Richard Pryor used to joke about how Black History Month was the shortest month of the year. While that maybe true, it also reminds me why we need to celebrate it.
Recently, I got annoyed because too many people are complaining that we are giving too much aid to Haiti and how we need to take care of home first. It's gonna take years for Haiti to bounce back. I also find this ironic when Hurricane Katrina hit, hardly any aid came to it for a few days because President "W" had to be coaxed to come back from his vacation. What do these two scenaros have in common? Black folk!
I have listened for years as we have helped every other country on the planet, but when it comes to black folks ...it's a problem.
As much as we have contributed to the world and especially this country, it needs to be recognized EVERY day. We need to take a lesson from our Jewish brothers and sisters. They have been able to keep the horrors of the Holocaust front and center in the public eye for years. Some people believe it was a hoax.
Black people like to be a litte too inclusive at times. We haven't recovered from slavery and segrgation. We have recovered from Jim Crow. People think Affirmative Action is racist; it isn't. This bad economy confirms that in my mind.
Affirmative Action has only been around 35 years. Slavery existed for 400 years. No way 40 years will cure all of our ills. That's too much of a head start!!
We need to celebrate Black History EVERY day. It not only shows us where we started and how far we've come, but also how far we still have to go. If we don't study our history, we are doomed to repeat our mistakes. Having a Black President makes a significant ripple in our history pond.
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Thursday, February 11th 2010 at 10:25AM
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