" Pre Black History spill"

Black History is Dead!

       By: M. Tairu

Year after year during Black History Month we lift up and celebrate prominent figures within the black community who went beyond the call of duty for Negro rights and justice. Throughout this month we speak of people like Medgar Evers and his courageous acts as he fought to the point of his death during the struggle for equal rights. He often did small things that resulted in a big impact, things like standing up for blacks in Mississippi with anti-segregation speeches and marches. Also Harriet Tubman, who understood that workless faith was dead, so she put her faith into action and helped over 300 people escape slavery through the Underground Railroad. We lift up the intellect of our founder Mary McLeod Bethune who visualized and brought that vision to life by starting an institution for higher learning for black people with only $1.50, five little girls and faith in God.

There have been many more influential people who helped lay the ground work so that we may have the freedom and opportunity to achieve a successful and fulfilling life. The issue however is that our people have become content in only discussing the Black accomplishments of the past rather than fulfilling their destiny and establishing a legacy.  If we were serious about black history we would work diligently for change, so much that we would not accept anything less than excellence. We would work so that communities would change, and the dream Martin Luther King Jr. had in 1963 would be a reality in 2011 instead of yet another recurring dream. The reality is that we claim to be thankful for these influential black figures, but we spit in their faces and on their legacy with our actions and ignorance. I believe that we have a moral duty to go beyond the mere celebration of black leaders of the past, because doing so has only lead us to a state of euphoric inactivity. Gratitude goes far beyond having a couple of black campus events during the shortest month of the year. Let’s change the monotony of “Black History Month.” Let’s dive deep into the mind of a people long oppressed. Let’s dissect the philosophy not only of those black leaders who stood on the forefront but of those who stood their ground while they supported each and every movement such as SCLC, SNCC, and CORE. We must appreciate the very things they brought to life and make sure they do not die.

I challenge you to educate yourself not only about the injustices of Black people but about the success that we as a people have achieved. I dare you to be better. Use your gifts, use your intellect, be that change that you want to see, because the civil rights leaders were NOT the last critically thinking Negros. So think, analyze, challenge, and never except mediocrity!