When the words “Black History” come to mind many seem disconnected from the idea. For some reason they automatically think that celebrating Black History and its importance only pertains to African Americans. Zach Woolford* asked the question, “Why should there be a month for it? It seems racist…”
“It seems racist…” almost defeats the cause for the observance of Black History. Another student who would like to remain anonymous said “It seems ironic, as if black is different than American History.” Black History Month is not just observed in America; it is also observed in Canada and the United Kingdom. Black History Month is more than a remembrance of key events in history, it is as Creekview CA Eliot Dancy said, “improvement”. It is an achievement that we have won together. Dancy also mentioned that if Black History month were to be removed she would be hurt because we have gone so far to regress now.
When asked whether they had gone to any of the events on campus for Black History month, these students responded no. Humboldt State student Danielle Salamoni believes that elementary schools and even high schools did a better job with providing students with information on Black History Month. Salamoni said it needs to be more focused .
Humboldt State student Cheyenne Ruiz-Lopez believes that it should be longer because we can’t move forward until we know the history and we can’t ignore that something happened.
Humboldt State student Spencer Mitchell said he doesn’t know how to celebrate Black History Month while Dancy said that as a student she does not have time to celebrate it. Black History month is not a party. It is not celebrated the way we celebrate the Fourth of July or even Birthdays it is celebrated through education. We reminisce on the past, see how we can apply it to our present, and create changes for our future.
“Every day is a history day for every colored person,” said Humboldt State student Kayla Shapero, embodying perfectly what she believes Black History Month is.
Black History and its importance pertains to what we consider as “black;” it belongs to everyone because Black History is our history. It is the history of humanity; a reminder of how low we are capable of acting; a remembrance of how primitive we can be. It is a history that reflects our struggles and our triumphs, that we are all human and have similar worries and that our skin color should not define our struggles. Black history derives from the hope that with each passing year we move towards acceptance, understanding and consciousness, not only of ourselves but of others and what they did in the past to help shape our future.
Black. Black. Black. Yellow. Blue. Red. Orange. Green. Pink. Purple. In the end it’s just a color and all that remains is history. You’re history.
*Name has been changed.