Black History Month Should Not Be A Mere Celebration
History Provides Us With Instructions
The celebratory nature of Black History Month alone does not ensure the survival of Black people. Dr. Amos Wilson said so eloquently, “The study of history cannot be a mere celebration of those who struggled on our behalf. We must be instructed by history and should transform history into concrete reality, into the planning and development, into the construction of power and the ability to ensure our survival as a people.”
Our history provides us with instructions to confront the problems of the present and the future. I often wonder sometimes where would we be if we were instructed by history?
Today, in the world of education, we are complaining about the banning of books and the banning of teaching racism in the classrooms. History tells us that Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History, gave us instructions on the “Mis-Education of The Negro” twenty-one years before the 1954 Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, that decimated our power over the education of our beautiful Black children. We destroyed our own schools, a place where we could have eradicated the slave mentality, taught true Black History, and achieved Black Liberation. Social integration as a whole was a regression of Black power. History tells us we needed a strong economic foundation and we still haven’t learned that yet.
I wonder where would we be if we were instructed by history.
History and money have an intimate relationship. Black History is lucrative which raises the question, why did they rewrite history? Why are they banning our history? Why are they trying so hard to keep us away from our history? Because the distortion and rewriting of our history serve as a socio-economic function for white people, which is why they join in on the celebration.
“We now see even people who are not our friends joining us in celebration, which means that they must see in it some means of protecting their own interests.” — Dr. Amos Wilson
Dr. Amos Wilson would go on to say, “If they can celebrate our history and see it as something positive, then it means that we are not using it in a revolutionary sense. They do not see our study of it as a threat to power…our celebration of it is helping to maintain us in a state of deception.”
I wonder where would we be if we were instructed by history.
The reality is we could have been free a long time ago; so the celebration of our history is not enough. As you can see above they have commercialized our history to enrich themselves because they have conditioned us to consume and we think we are being celebrated — we are being deceived. We must recognize the value of studying our history in an effort to regain power. History tells us we were once powerful people and through the instruction that it provides, we can become powerful again.
“If our education is not about gaining real power, we are being miseducated and misled and we will die “educated” and misled.” — Dr. Amos Wilson
So, I encourage every Black person to learn and study their history to ensure the survival of Black people.
I wonder where would we be if we were instructed by history.
