What comes to your mind when you hear the words black history?
Many of us will think of the easy to remember names like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Emmitt Till. Some may even think of the lynching that took place in the South and the marches for civil rights in the 60s. But how many of you think of the history that we are creating right now? It is often said that the Black community of today stands on the shoulders of those who fought and died for equality in the past.
Some of our ancestors survived countless unspeakable acts so I could sit at a computer and write about the opportunities I have because of their sacrifices. These facts should be known by every African American in this nation and if you call yourself a student at this HBCU, it would be a shame to not know the history that brought you here. Every day you wake up you are in some way waking up to Black History. Many African Americans spend eleven months out of the year acting as if the world owes them something and one month out of the year celebrating people who gave up everything for them.
I’m starting to think that the only thing some Black people have in common with our ancestors is the color of their skin.
I’m not writing this article, however, to give you a history lesson. I’m writing it to ask what kind of history we are leaving for future generations of African Americans. Our culture today is all about ‘the come up’. Well what exactly are we coming up from? What bottom are we really starting from? The distinct difference between the journey to freedom that our ancestors took and the journey that Blacks are on now is that they were unified in their efforts.
They believed in equality for all African Americans and they were willing to die for it. Raise your hand if you would die for your classmate if you saw him or her being treated unequally. I doubt any hands are flying into the air right now. It is my opinion that as a race we have forgotten how to love and care for one another because we are too focused on how to get over and come up on one another.