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| American History Collage |
It’s February –that time of year when
we celebrate folks who happen to be born with extra pigmentation in their skin.
Insincere praise lavished on a group of
people based on skin color, is not my idea of honoring the accomplishments of
anyone. Black history is month is on par with adopt a cat month, or asbestos
awareness month, it means little but says volumes –it says we don’t think of ourselves
as part of America, but a separate entity, that needs to be recognized in order
to feel validated.
Well, a celebratory month each year
ought to appease the guilt some experience in regards to past wrongs done to
Blacks in this country. Everyone feels great when talking about the triumphs of
Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass; replaying speeches by Dr. Martin Luther
King, and showing that iconic picture of Rosa Parks being arrested. We see
their images, hear snippets about what they did -than we pat ourselves on the
back, fold up the tents and put that stuff away until the next year. But doesn’t
all of the fake celebration miss the point? All of the people who are being
honored fought so that we wouldn’t be judged by our color, so that we would be
treated as equals, seen for who we are and not what we look like. Black History
month does the opposite of what it sets out to do, it makes everyone see Black
people as radically different than the rest of society, and because of the
horrible way our ancestors were treated, we must be held to a different standard.
