Have we forgot about our history?

Now that all of the fuss

about Valentine’s Day is

over, it’s time to focus on the real celebration of the month: black history. Throughout the years, we have learned about individuals such as Benjamin Banneker, Pearl Bailey and Charles Drew, who all played a major part in the advancement of the African-American people. We know who invented the light bulb, traffic light and the straightening comb. We have read about certain laws passed, which enable us to be seen as a free and equal people. Despite all of this, we, as young African-Americans, are still taking our heritage and history for granted.

For so many years our ancestors had to struggle and live in enslavement. They were captured from their homeland, stripped of their humanity and forced to live under the whip. From this period in history rose Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner and Frederick Douglass – all who helped encourage slaves to resist slavery and strive toward freedom. With the Emancipation Proclamation we were finally labeled as free, but the meaning of this word varied tremendously between races.

Discrimination and segregation reared its ugly head from state-to-state, especially deep in the South. We were forbidden to eat in the same restaurants, use the same public restrooms and drink from the same water fountain as whites. We’ve heard the story of Rosa Parks and young Emmitt Till. The courageous and heroic Martin Luther King Jr. created a nonviolent civil rights movement for blacks to follow to help end the war between the races. He died trying to make his dream a reality, but so many of those who shared in his dream picked up where he left off. The African-American race was now able to birth judges, writers, actors and doctors without being scrutinized.

Generation after generation our ancestors fought for freedom and the restructuring of our culture. There was pride in what had been accomplished and respect for those who made it possible. But then there is us…the young generation of the African-American race. Throughout the month of February we may attend church services, hear speeches and sing songs all in celebration of black history. However, we still walk around envying the next person because of the expensive clothes they wear. A number of black males are killing each other, selling drugs to each other and robbing each other every day. There are black females who walk past each other refusing to say hello, too jealous or too cute to do so. Dr. King has to be turning over in his grave this very moment!

In the past our race was so united, helping each other and lifting one another up. They fought together, learned together and prayed together, yet we seem to be so divided. Many of us have forgotten about what our ancestors had to go through in order for us to be where we are today. Without their determination there would be no historical black colleges or Black Entertainment Television. The opportunities we have now surely have not been here since creation, yet we act like it’s been this way all along. We no longer see ourselves as brothers and sisters, we disrespect one another instead.

Being that we have been given the shortest month out of the year to celebrate and reflect on our history, why not make the best of it? Spend a little more time learning about our history. Try to say positive things to one another instead of bringing each other down. Don’t let this month pass you by without acknowledging who you truly are. Most of all, don’t allow the legacy and lives of the people of our past be in vain.