Every year during the month of February, African American people nation wide come together with colleagues, family and friends to celebrate "Black History Month." The only month on the calendar in which the importance of the major contributions that black people extended to society is recognized. This is the month when parents and teachers encourage black children to acknowledge "The Month," and to strive to be more like the people who are being celebrated. But why is it that many African Americans nation wide sit down, take down the posters, flags and quotes once black history month is over as if there isn't still something to celebrate?
Black history plays a major roll in the success of the building up of America and our world just in general. If it wasn't for Plessy v. Ferguson there would not have been a Brown v. The Board Of Education. If there wasn't a Brown v. The Board Of Education there would not have been any freedom marches and if there had not been any freedom marches, there would not have been a Montgomery bus boycott and if there had not been a Montgomery bus boycott then perhaps the option of black people sitting anywhere that they would like to on public transportation would be void. Also black people would still be answering to the derogatory term "*****." Which falls into another category of the ignorance of many black children not understanding the importance of knowing their history in order to pave the way for their future.
Getting the words "ni%ger" or "n*gga" out of the mouths of many African American youth is quite a challenging task especially because many don't understand the words as being derogatory terms that were used towards black people by white slave owners and prejudice people who found black people to be less than human. If many understood what the words "ni%ger" or "n*gga" represents the words wouldn't be used as often, especially by the youth out of respect, integrity and dignity that one has for self and others. Children nation wide whether black or white hear and use the words "ni%ger" or "n*gga," quite often. They hear it in music, on television, in movies, they see the words on posters and the words are even incorporated into some of the video games. While it wasn't until just recently after hard work from strong African American leaders that the Webster dictionary (a very popular resource for defining words) changed their definition of the word ni%ger from: "a black person...a member of any dark skinned race.. a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons." To, usually offensive; a black person; a member of any dark-skinned race, which according to survey is still offensive to many black people especially because it identifies the color of a person with such an ignorant, horrifying word. According to Kevin Cato an African American male, in a report that he wrote while he was a student at Syracuse University he feels that as an African American young man, the word ni%ger conjures up with in him hate, hostility, violence and oppression. He also feels that the word "ni%ger" is the most pejorative word in the English language which is the same way that many other African American people feel about such a derogatory word. (See
http://wrt-intertext.syr.edu/XI/*****.htm... These are only a few of the major reasons why African American children/children in general nation wide should have the ability to be educated on the truths about black history without the whitewash of information that is currently being given in the public school history books. It is instances as the ones mentioned above that make vivid to all, that there is an imbalance in the education system, the public school history books nation wide are lacking in information--the full correct history of black people. (See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pu16Ilq51g... Not only do we hear the imbalance of the lack of black history that African American youth are being taught through their articulation and language that they use, but as well, we see it everyday on the streets of Chicago and in many inner cites nation wide. According to case studies teaching and celebrating the history of African Americans in the public school systems would be a major solution to the high crime rates in cities nation wide, especially because African Americans and Latinos are the majority in the the public school systems in inner cities nation wide and seem to freely use the words "ni%ger" or "n*gga" on the daily basis. If African American children nation wide are not exposed to the many successes of their ancestors, the freedom of knowing that someone has paved the way for them becomes a lost legacy and the youth begin to identify themselves with words like "ni%ger" or "n*gga," these very words that are the results of the lost legacies. President Obama's success as the first African American President is certainly something to celebrate, but there is so much more information about the success of black people not only in America but from the ancients of Africa that has been hidden/stolen, which leaves one with the understanding of there being a hidden agenda or system put in place which in conclusion is the reason for the failure of many young black girls and boys all over the world. Wouldn't you say it's time for balance, the youth deserve the right to know and celebrate the truth. (See Stolen Legacy by George G. M. James
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/32/00... or (http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/james.html)
For More information on the truth about black history log on to:
http://authors.aalbc.com/frances.htm http://www.librarything.com/work/1000224 See The Isis Papers
See The Souls Of Black Folk
http://204.232.255.211/114/
Posted By: Talibah Bakhit
Monday, March 1st 2010 at 10:05AM
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