Black History Month. A month meant to be loud and full of pride seems a little quiet this time around. It’s time we as a school, as a community, and a society as a whole start celebrating and respecting the month more than we’re disrespecting it.
Before, Black History Month has brought educational and informational values to schools, jobs, and the public. This year, there’s a noticeable change in the atmosphere. This prompts the question: Are we really engaging in Black History Month in a meaningful way, or are we as a community and society allowing this month to be swept under the rug by ourselves and our government?
Black History Month is a month to celebrate how far we have come as a Black community, honor those who have lost their lives to racial injustice, and highlight Black excellence in society from the past and the present. Usually the month is met with active conversations surrounding the month’s significance. Podcasts, educational events, and public tributes.
This month, I’ve seen nothing.
It is only our fault that we aren’t seeing as much of it.
“It’s not hard to show your appreciation, your grief, or your achievements whether you’re part of the Black community or not. I think some of us are just scared,” Aicha Beye, a former Liberty student, said. “It’s sad that after how far we’ve come that we still don’t feel safe in the ‘comfort’ of our own society.”
This year there’s not nearly as much energy around the topic, almost as if the usual celebrations and informative conversations have been muted. Muted by who though?
There have been major federal shifts when it comes to the importance of Black History month. The Trump Administration is constantly going through with actions like the dismantling of federal DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives, the removal of informational exhibits at national parks on slavery, and overall trying to “sanitize” or erase references to slavery and systemic racism from federal, educational, and cultural institutions. It pains me to say, that’s not all. It’s not just big corporations or our government. It’s us. Students, teachers, our family and friends. Jokes about slavery, racial slurs, and micro-aggressions were never funny and still aren’t.
This is my third year of high school and my second year of working in customer service. I, and a disgusting amount of other people, have been called names like “monkey” or the N-word. People have made jokes about me working at Popeye’s just because of my skin color, have said it makes sense that I don’t have a lot of money, called me a criminal, said “I like your hair” when all I did was straighten it, and so much more. My own friends (not anymore of course) have said they don’t like Black people or supported major political figures that directly affect me, my friends, and my family. When does it ever come to an end? When will people realize that it’s not okay to say and do things like that? Or do they realize and just not care?
As students, we know Black lives matter, we know racism is bad and “not tolerated,” we know MLK had a dream, and we know that we’ve come a long way from the past.
But at what cost? Just so we can settle for “coming a long way” and not fight to make our future better for us, our children, and the next generation? So we can keep making jokes, make people of color feel small and disrespected?
Right now is the best point in time to fix the crack in the foundation of the education and celebration of this month. We have to do better. Don’t repost something about Black History Month because you feel guilty and feel like you have to. Do it because you want to. Because you support the intentions of this month and care about your community. (click here to see how YOU can participate in the celebration of Black history)
Happy Black History Month.
