Black History Month: How can you get into “good trouble” when you don’t even understand the reference?
2021 is a great year to really reflect on what Black History month means to you.
Societal justices are based on power and control. Wait....there is a lot to life that is based on power and control, maybe all of life - think about your two-year-old. If young children and others don’t have any idols to look up to - merely because they have no knowledge of them - from where do they get their inspiration?
When history only defines white men as powerful or inspiring - based on historical knowledge - then all of the power and control will rest with them. Many times in life there is a struggle - this is why most people will just “go with the flow” and accept the idea “that is the way it is”. It takes a lot of energy to shoot out of the orbit in which you are circling. If you had the inspiration to know about someone who changed norms, changed the culture, you might stand on their backs to rise, to receive the energy needed to push out of the orbit in which you are circling.
Learning about the first African American bankers, real estate developers, redline laws, voter suppression and African Americans central to the civil rights movement can be very empowering. History itself is written and rewritten by people who have an agenda - by definition history may not always be accurate or inclusive.
We know Abraham Lincoln but we do not know about the 102nd Colored Infantry Regiment. We know about Billie Holiday as a singer but not about her part in the Civil rights movement. Young girls may not know that Vernice Armour was America's first African American female combat pilot. It saddens my heart when a young 16 year old who participated vehemently in the Black Lives Matter movement this past Summer had no knowledge of the late John Lewis, even when his funeral was playing out in the news. How can you get into “good trouble” when you don’t even understand the reference?
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