I am disgusted by many of the actions of our southern neighbor’s Felon Leader over the last month, but today I’m focusing on the possibility that he might put an end to Black History Month in the United States. Rest assured that February will continue to educate and celebrate Black History Month in Canada.
I watch many documentaries about our deplorable past about how white people treated people of color, particularly those descended from the enslaved and I learn something with every one I watch. Today I watched the story of the Freedom Summer Murders where three young men, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, who were voluntarily attempting to register African Americans in Mississippi to vote, were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. What shocked me was: a. that this happened in 1964, and b. that I had never heard the story before.
My partner and I are both in our early 70s and he asked, “You don’t remember this?” Maybe it’s because I grew up in Montreal and he grew up in Windsor, right across from Detroit, that he remembered. Maybe I just led a very sheltered youth. I digress.
My point is – I believe these stories are so very important. I speak to younger people I know, and they have absolutely no knowledge of the historical prejudice that exists. They don’t know the stories of the horrors Black people had to face. They’ve never watch any of Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s epic productions. They know the names of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, and they might know what they did; but they’re less likely to know John Lewis, Roy Wilkins, John Ware, Jean Augustine, Maya Angelou, Frederick Douglass – who they were and what they achievements. Of course, the list goes on. But how will people in the present and future know about these people if we don’t consciously single them out, teach their accomplishments, and celebrate how they rose to success against all odds?
I remember the hope when Barrack Obama was elected that maybe the United States has finally turned a corner in race relations. Sadly, apparently that is not so. We need to keep telling the stories of all the wonderful Black People (scientists, doctors, inventors, activists, writers, poets, politicians, etc.) of whom we can all be proud. Even if it is no longer officially Black History Month in the United States, our youth must be encouraged to watch every documentary that celebrates the accomplishments of Black People.
Hindsight: My Journey 