What is the point of celebrating one race for a month? Black history is taught every day in school. We talk about slavery and the civil rights movement. There is an entire holiday dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr. Children watch “Our Friend Martin” every MLK Day in school. There are even streets named after him all across America (and I really do mean everywhere). What else is there to say about black history? Everyone already knows about the accomplishments of African-Americans. We know about Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Madame C.J. Walker, President Barack Obama, Gabby Douglas, Jessie Owens, and many others. Isn’t that enough knowledge? Shouldn’t that be enough? Black people are always on television. There's BET, Centric, Kevin Hart, Tyler Perry, and even Oprah. They have their own networks, their own channels, and there are even all-black casts in movies. Isn’t that enough representation?
Why should ladies get information? Why should they stop shooting us?
I would love to say that these questions and statements are ridiculous — but they aren’t. It is evident that these beliefs are more than just the uncommon few. They are being publicly vocalized on national television (*cough cough* Stacy Dash). Cases like Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, and Eric Garner are sadly becoming more common.
But while the negative continues to increase, there are some positives. Barbie has revamped their dolls to include diversity. Kerry Washington, Viola Davis, and Taraji P. Henson have dominated prime time television.
We need Black History Month because African Americans are taught not to love themselves. They are told this implicitly by a culture that praises the full lips of Kylie Jenner and Angelina Jolie, but are deemed unattractive on Jay-Z. A culture that finds cornrows “edgy” on the Kardashians, but “ghetto” on an African American. Women straighten their hair with chemicals harsh enough to disintegrate an aluminum can in four hours in order to achieve the idealistic European look. (I’m guilty myself of using relaxers.)
We live in a world where affirmative action is largely seen as a negative. People believe that blacks and Hispanics had an easier path into college, even though blacks and Hispanics compete for spots against the same percentage of applicants as white and Asian students; they are still viewed as having an advantage. I myself have experienced this. I was told not even three days into O-Week at Rice University that I had it easier getting into Rice. Through this statement, all of my hard work in high school was diminished. The color of my skin was the only attribute that led to my acceptance. Not my intelligence, not my dedication, not my sacrifices, but a feature determined by ancestry and the amount of melanin my skin produces.
This is why we need Black History Month. By not recognizing the accomplishments of African Americans, we are diminishing their success. The movements like Black Lives Matter and Black Girl Magic are not protests or hate movements. They are voices that have been quiet, that can’t breathe, and voices that have been shot. Now, these voices are proudly saying, “I am unapologetically black and I refuse for you to tell me that’s wrong.”
