Those who do not listen to history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. And it seems we’ve all become very deaf all of a sudden.
Following January comes February which is designated African American History Month, or Black History Month. Beginning in 1915, half a century after the abolition of slavery, Carter G. Woodson helped found the Association of Study of Negro Life and History, dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating the achievements of Black people, their history and culture. This led to the creation of Negro History Week in the 1960s, choosing the second week specifically to collide with Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass’s birthdays. As more schools, cities, states, and countries acknowledged the holiday and celebrated the week, this dedicated moment of recognition began to encompass all of February as Black History Month.
The importance of Black History Month is seen daily as America evolves, or de-evolves in others’ eyes. The death of George Floyd has served as a painful and tragic reminder of how far Black citizens still have to go to demand basic rights and respect, leading to the Black Lives Matter movement. Black voices need a place to stand and to be heard. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X- are all people who have fought for Black expression, free speech, and for social change. They are not numbers, but real people with real lives and with their own narratives as well.
We have come a long way in our country. We have moved past segregation, past integration of schools, past election for positions in government office, including as President of the United States. We’ve made progress to reach today’s version of “equal ground”. But when racism and prejudice are clearly still prevalent in our country, with daily cases of racially motivated hate, where innocent people are targeted for the color of their skin, are we done yet?
The First Amendment states that all citizens are given the right to freely assemble, and that is what carried them before, and will bolster us again. Protests in the street, the screaming and chanting of millions; if we strive to help others reach equal opportunity, if we all want equal opportunity, we need to be louder. We all need to be better informed. We need to hold people accountable for spreading racially motivated hate and unite as a country against repression.
America is the land of “equal opportunity”, it allows us the ability to work hard and create something out of nothing. We and others around us aren’t born with that opportunity. Is it not noble as citizens, as a nation, to dig our hands in and help out those people? We are the future, and we can carve it as we see fit. Our American Dream should be to carve a world where not only Black, but Asian, Hispanic, Disabled, and more minorities feel safe and protected.
This is why Black History Month is important. To remember the history of the people who have paved the path in front of us, and today use it to put one foot in front of the other to pave the next path for future generations.
