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29 Feb 2012
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I’ll never forget when i was in high school. This girl in my geometry class said, “Why black people gotta have the shortest month of the year?” and in response the white teacher said “I don’t think Black people should have a history month at all, its unnecessary” and as all of the black and the people in the class got offended he followed it with “I’m not saying that white people need a month, but who else has a month? Do Asian people have a month? Do Hispanics? Why do black people deserve one? This isn’t the sixties we learn about your history in school more so than any of the other minorities, why do u need a month? As people rose up with feeble attempts to try to answer him, I was boiling inside. I knew that he was wrong, and I knew that there were answers to his inaccurate assesment, but I didn’t know them so all I could do was sit there and be angry. I wish that I knew then that the reason that black history month is in February was because back when Carter G. Woodson created it, it was “Black History Week” and it was based on the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. I wish so badly that I knew that October is Hispanic History month and May is Asian American History Month. I wish SOOOOOOO badly that I knew that every class I’d ever taken was taught from a Euro-centric perspective with minimal emphasis on the African contributions to the world of academia at all. It is grossly unbalanced. I wish to God I knew then what I know now. Everyday I learn more about my people the more I wish i could go back in those moments where people made ignorant statements about black people or the black condition, and I was too ignorant to inform them with real facts and real perspective. I promised myself from that moment on that never again would that be me. There have been many moments since then that I have had to educate others about my people and my own identity as a black woman. I take pride in every moment that I gain a more equal and balanced account of history. And I speak with confidence every time I open my mouth to educate someone my people. Just my two cents for the last few moments of Black History Month 2012.

I’ll never forget when i was in high school. This girl in my geometry class said, “Why black people gotta have the shortest month of the year?” and in response the white teacher said “I don’t think Black people should have a history month at all, its unnecessary” and as all of the black and the people in the class got offended he followed it with “I’m not saying that white people need a month, but who else has a month? Do Asian people have a month? Do Hispanics? Why do black people deserve one? This isn’t the sixties we learn about your history in school more so than any of the other minorities, why do u need a month?

As people rose up with feeble attempts to try to answer him, I was boiling inside. I knew that he was wrong, and I knew that there were answers to his inaccurate assesment, but I didn’t know them so all I could do was sit there and be angry.

I wish that I knew then that the reason that black history month is in February was because back when Carter G. Woodson created it, it was “Black History Week” and it was based on the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. I wish so badly that I knew that October is Hispanic History month and May is Asian American History Month. I wish SOOOOOOO badly that I knew that every class I’d ever taken was taught from a Euro-centric perspective with minimal emphasis on the African contributions to the world of academia at all. It is grossly unbalanced.

I wish to God I knew then what I know now. Everyday I learn more about my people the more I wish i could go back in those moments where people made ignorant statements about black people or the black condition, and I was too ignorant to inform them with real facts and real perspective. I promised myself from that moment on that never again would that be me. There have been many moments since then that I have had to educate others about my people and my own identity as a black woman. I take pride in every moment that I gain a more equal and balanced account of history. And I speak with confidence every time I open my mouth to educate someone my people.

Just my two cents for the last few moments of Black History Month 2012.

(Source: kaminapan, via buttahlove)

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    I’ll never forget when i was in high school. This girl in my geometry class said, “Why black people gotta have the...
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