Letter to the Editor: Black History Month
Dear Editor:
Dr. Martin Luther King said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Black History Month is a time to reflect back on those who died for us, those who paved the way for African Americans to have the same rights and education as everyone else.
One month is set aside to honor African Americans. In order to remember the achievements of African Americans, different organizations, universities or communities put on many programs honoring these triumphs.
Black History Month is also about learning about another culture. Some people are afraid to step out of their comfort zone because they have no idea what could happen. That is the beauty of it all. People may think that they know about African American history. They know about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglas and Malcolm X.
Black history is more than the people and the boundaries that they broke. It is about why they broke these boundaries; why they wanted to be treated equal. It is about the pain they had to suffer and why they went through it. They could have just given up and gone along with everything, but they did not. Instead they fought for the next generation and the generation after that. That is what Black History Month is regarding. It is about knowing your past so you can shape your future.
Last year I heard this comment: “It’s Black History Month, the black people decorated.” This was disturbing to me for it showed me that some people just did not understand the importance of learning about another culture. Then I thought how do we, as African Americans, carry ourselves and would our ancestors be proud? We are more violent toward each other; we kill each other over things that have no importance. We talk down about each other when we should be congratulating and encouraging.
We, as people of any cultural background, must take that step to understand another culture, for we all live in the same world. The color of our skin and the traditions we have will never change.
Maya Angelou said it best “If we lose love and self-respect for each other, this is how we finally die.”
Elisha Smith
President of the Black Student Association
