Unapologetically Black: Celebrating today’s Heroes
Naomi Kelechi Di Meo
"You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future" Thomas Sankara.
It is safe to say that 2020 has been a painful year; yet, it has also presented us with some crucial, unprecedented events. From health precariousness to climate change and political unrest, last year forced us to focus on issues that had longly been neglected, including the discrimination that blacks and POC are still subjected to today. As more innocent African-Americans died at the hands of the police, this time the world could not turn a blind eye on the rage that the black community has undergone through the centuries. This year’s Black History Month feels heavier. We have cried, mourned, and protested, now it is time for us to heal.
To being with, let’s emphasize the importance of this month and why we should celebrate it.
Black History Month stems from Carter G. Woodson’s legacy, a man who fought tirelessly to keep alive the memoirs of black people in the States. Coming from a poor household, Woodson was able to save the money needed to attend high school. Over the years, he gained different qualifications and recognitions, which turned him into a fundamental figure for the African-American community. In 1926, he founded the Black History Week: an initiative that, running until 1970, aimed at promoting black history in local schools. Ever since 1976, each American President has designated February as Black History Month.
Through the years, many countries, and especially those dealing with their colonial past, have done the most to incorporate this initiative in their calendar. Across the world, Black History Month is an opportunity to pay tribute to the actions of groundbreaking figures — from Martin Luther King to Harriet Tubman — with museums and broadcasting channels retracing the moments that marked the history of the black community. Because understanding our past is the only way to lay the foundations of a better future, but there won't be any future without the present. As we remember and learn from these undoubtedly powerful individuals, it is important to acknowledge the contribution of today’s leaders: those that are changing the narrative and breaking boundaries by being unapologetically black. The western world and the media have often embraced an unjust past while silencing those who fight for an equal society.
Black people are still unrepresented or stereotyped based on racial cliques (thugs, uneducated, and lazy). More space should be given to Black talents. We all know about Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and Rosa Parks, but not many of us are aware of black individuals actively contributing to radical and systematic change; those paving the way for future generations by becoming everything the ancestors could dream of.
The true meaning of Black History Month shouldn't be reduced to the celebration of the protagonists of the civil rights movement; instead, it should also stress how the past lives through and amongst us, and how we are nothing but a pure manifestation of it. Black people are scattered everywhere in the world, not just in the States, for this reason, it is important to celebrate black history and its people every day, but mostly everywhere. It is custom for European countries to honor African-American people while withholding their very own black communities striving for a better future.
So let’s not celebrate black people and their history only when the calendar dictates it or when it is cool to do so, let’s do it every day by supporting today’s generation.
