Black History

I’m at work with my daily coffee in hand, headphones on tuned into New York’s Power 105.1’s the Breakfast Club.  I get my LIFEEEEE from Charlamagne, the DJ Envy mixes, and interviews with Angela Yee.  But anyway, today at the end of the show, Charlamagne said something that stuck out to me.  “If you want new better Black History, create it”.  He said this after the crew presented Lil Terrio’s cameraman with the New Black History Month for “saving” the Vine app with his videos and creating the phrase we all know  “OOOOhhhh Kill Em”. I laughed, it was funny as hell.  But this did make me think, he’s absolutely right. 

February is the shortest month but one of the more exciting months.  You have the unofficial American holiday AKA the Super Bowl, the let’s fake like we drunk in love holiday Valentine’s Day, and the season where we all spend it before we get it, Tax SEASON.  We are so caught up that we neglect to celebrate our history, our culture.  We’re distracted with endless Instagram parody Meme’s and false facts.  I’m not gonna lie, I laugh at the pics that say “Jamal Willis, 1^st Black promoter to introduce the $20 skip line”.  (Funny as hell).  Black History month has become an extended episode of Saturday Night Live.

Where’s our identity? Where’s our culture?  How can we expect other cultures to RESPECT us when we are constantly DISRESPECTING ourselves? #message.  Where’s the pride? Where’s the HONOR? Nowadays, anything goes: Madonna and others freely toss around the N word like it’s just another noun, Zimmerman is allowed to participate in a “celebrity” boxing match after he claims he killed Trayvon Martin because he couldn’t defend himself. (Forgive my rant, that’s a whole ‘nother issue.  Like my friend said “when did he learn to fight all of a sudden?).  I’m not saying we all have to dress in Kenta cloths, do an African dance, eat fried chicken and watermelon (Just Kidding J), sing Kumbaya, or watch a ROOTS marathon on BET but at least be respectful.  I fear the day when the powers to be decide that Black History month is no longer relevant, when those few pages disappear from our history books, and Black History is absorbed into a McDonald’s commercial (oh that already happened) and an Instagram meme.. I say all that to say this, a lot of us say we’re tired of hearing about Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Madame CJ Walker.  How about we continue making history creating a new cultural identity? I don’t know about you but I want people to talk about me loooonggggg after I leave this earth.  It’s called a LEGACY.   It’s humorous and we all laugh but at some point we gotta  #DoBetter and #BEBetter.

-grannyBee