Black History Month – Two Looks Backward
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Feb 11, 2011
It's Black History Month once again, and what's strange is that I don't think I've heard anything about it other than when ESPN was doing its presentation a couple of weeks ago, and that was still in January. I feel so out of it these days, and I'm not thinking that's a good thing.
So why Black History Month anyway, and why February. The why is easy; because someone decided that there should be more education on the contributions of black people in America. Of course it started out as Negro History Week back in 1926, of all things, and it was widely popular, even back then. It wasn't until the 70's when "negro" became "black" and when the week spread out to a month.
And why February? Because Frederick Douglass was born in February, though there's no record of the actual date, and he passed away in February; so much for conspiracy theories on that one.
Now, last year I wrote about some things I wanted regarding race relations during black history month. It's as good a time as any to see if anything was addressed.
1. I want people to stop using “black†as the whipping entity for their negative positions. Nope, that one's still big, and was used surreptitiously during last year's election season.
2. I want people to stop thinking black people can’t be articulate or intelligent across the board. I wasn't so sure about this one until talking to someone the other night who had this interesting conversation with someone; nope.
3. I want people to stop saying black people are whining because we talk about problems overall. On my other blog I had someone say he hated when people wanted to talk about race; nope.
4. I want other people to notice the same things I do when it comes to inequities and lack of minorities in places and situations. I'd have to say 'negatory' on this one as well.
5. I want more people of all races to participate in programs like we have here in Syracuse called community wide dialogue. You'll have to look back at least year's post if you don't know what this is, but I'd have to say nope, didn't happen. I had someone a few nights ago on Twitter say it's something that should occur, but he was Canadian; isn't that something?
Oh well; maybe one more year of President Obama will loosen the grip on the fear of addressing race in America; nah...
I’ll have to go look at that post from last year….
I am currently reading “Roll of Thunder, Hear my cry…”
My daughter had to read it for school- I started reading it and am finding it very enlightening.
Things have come a long way, but there is still a long way to go.
I didn’t know your daughter was in school now; I thought you were taking care of that. And goodness, it’s been a very long time since I read that book that I didn’t even remember it until I just checked it out. Teachers do pull some interesting things out of a hat during this month, that’s for sure.