Actress and political commentator Stacey Dash recently ruffled feathers by saying she didn’t think Black History Month nor ethnic television networks were necessary. Okay I think it would have better Ms Dash if you would have said it like this for years, I’ve suggested re-branding Black History Month as, American History Month. This suggestion isn’t an escape from Blackness, as some on both sides of the aisle felt. It’s a recognition that our community is interwoven into every strand of tha national fabric. I would observe American History Month by acting upon its central premise, which is: Black history is American history and American history is Black history.
For all our inescapable uniqueness, our experience always leads to one inescapable conclusion we are also universal.
This dynamic of uniqueness and unlversality is especially evident in a recurring-sometimes riotous-role involving criminal justice reform. American History Month would be a perfect stage to advocate the union of brothers and badges. Its 28 days in February could promote overlooked concern about violent crime shared by cops and Black male concerned citizens. It could highlight athletic leagues, school resource officers, police/community councils, and institutions like tha Los Angeles Police Department charter school, which close tha gap between police and Black men. Inner city supporters of law enforcement like ” Detroit Bat-man ” Walter Gildersleeve and New Orleans’ Brother Al Mims would be featured as further proof that brothers and badges can work together. That’s how I would celebrate Black History Month AKA American History Month. When it all said and done as for me I salute Ms StaceyDash for raised this overdue issue. Questioning segregation era practices in a time of fairly broad desegregation recognizes our universality, without ignoring the challenges of uniqueness.
Happy American History Month 2016! If anybody has tha right to call themselves American, it’s Black folks!
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