Let’s go back, back to when Fredrick Douglass said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress”.
Or back to when Harriet Tubman said, “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed more if only they knew they were slaves.”.
What about when Rosa Parks simply said, “NO!”, and “The only tired I was, was tired of giving up.”?
Let’s go back to when Malcom X said, “Education is the passport to the future.”.
Back to when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Dream, but stay woke.” or
“If you can’t fly then run,
If you can’t run then walk,
If you can’t walk then crawl,
But whatever you do,
You have to keep moving forward.”
Let’s go back to when James Baldwin told the world, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”.
Back to when Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible, until it is done.” or “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”.
Let’s go back to when Maya Angelou said, “The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.”.
Let’s go back to where we started, and recollect all of the dreams, visions, plans and desires for social equality; seen through the eyes and the minds of those who have gone before us.
Let’s go back and remember how we got here, who set the stage to help us get here, and the many heavily consequential sacrifices that were made to get here.
Let’s go back and recognize those who opposed a system set up to suppress the black population; putting what little freedom they possessed and lives on the line to bridge the social inequality gap.
Now, let’s go forward! Let’s go forward holding all that we know, all that we have seen, all that we have been, and continue to do what it takes to keep bringing those dreams, visions, plans, and desires of social equality to life.
Let’s go forward with the courage, the power, the knowledge, and the opportunity to keep changing the narrative of the black population.
Forward to a time where social inequality will be a thing of the past.
Let’s go forward, in unison, to a truly liberated and just America for everyone.
Let’s go forward in hopes to continue to form a more perfect Union for justice and equality for all, together!
– Chelsea Williams managing editor of The Gramblinite. She is a senior mass communication major.
If you'd like to submit a piece in commemoration of Black History Month please send it to barnettk@gram.edu.