February is a month filled with both, celebration and
revelation.
Celebrations of any kind should be a time to reflect on the accomplishments - as well as the hurdles – of a person or people. This month, as children around the country are taught about a handful of American heroes who happened to be black, we should all pause long enough to reflect on WHY these accomplishments are more than mundane.
Much of the “history” we repeatedly celebrate is no more
than two or three generations old. Our
children are being corralled together into a “group think” mentality where they will
no longer research the struggles of their own race, but instead, accept only
the accomplishments of a select few. Although, I do applaud the
heroes of the civil rights movement, the abolitionists, and the inventors who
changed the perceptions of African-Americans, I also celebrate the millions
of unsung heroes who came to these distant shores in chains and sacrificed their lives, families, and more in this unending attempt to be seen as equals in America.
In celebrating American history, we need to remove our blinders that tell us of only the good, palatable stories of change. We, as a country brimming with diversity, should begin to teach REAL HISTORY in our schools every month of the year instead of dissecting one race from another and only speaking of accomplishments.