Happy Black History Month!
Life Every Voice and Sing!
Blah........blah........blah.......
Every February we go through the motions of telling our children small facts about black people and ask them trivia questions like:
"What was the Underground Railroad?"
"What year did Dr. King give his 'I Have A Dream' speech?"
"Who was Malcolm X?"
"Who was Hiram Revels?"
When they answer the questions we clap our hands, pat them on the back and tell them how important it is they know their history. Then on March 1st it's back to business as usual and we don't say another word about the contributions of Africans to this country until the first day of February the following year. In many ways, I think the recognition of this month has become a crutch in our community. We don't discuss our history and we sit quietly while others ignore it. Let me ask you a question: How many times have you turned on the History Channel and watched anything concerning black people in America? Other than the "Rise and Fall of the KKK" where they show clips of us during the Civil Rights movement, how many times? Seriously, how many times? I'll tell you since I may be the only geek who watch the History Channel......ZERO!
You know why?
Because they think we're cool with our 28 days fame, which brings me to the question;
" Is Black History Month Serving It's Purpose?"
If so, HOW?
If not, WHY are we still recognizing it?
Oh by the way, Hiram Revels was the first African-American elected to the senate. He was from the state of Mississippi and served from 1870-1871.
I teach 4th grade in a predominantly Caucasian community. We just happened to be on the chapter on slavery in social studies today. As we discussed it, I heard comments like, "Being a slave was like being a maid," and "Slaves kind of got paid because they got food." I had to leave my classroom and students with an aide and go get a breath of fresh air because I was distraught at the lack of understanding and education displayed. When we forget or marginalize our own history, we allow others to take us back to the place from which we came.
ReplyDelete~Deidre
WOW Deidre!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I would have been able to hold my tongue on that one. Unfortunately, those kids have no clue because that type of stuff is only talked about during Black History month.