“Black lives still matter and are still discriminated against” – Pastor Cory Millben
Every February, countries around the world celebrate Black History Month. Black History Month has been celebrated for over a century to recognize the abolishment of slavery and the rights of African-Canadians. As it is very well known, black rights are still a pressing matter today. In our generation, the biggest publicly known movement is the #BlackLivesMatter movement that originated in 2012 after George Zimmerman was acquitted for the murder of Trayvon Martin. (You can learn more about the #BlackLivesMatter movement at www.blacklivesmatter.com)
Since then, the biggest issue has been the black community and the U.S. police and justice system. In 2015, a totaled 1,134 African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 were killed at the hand of law enforcement officers. These deaths were five times higher than the amount of young white men killed by police.
The black community has been pinned against law enforcement officials for years, as we can see even from the movie Straight Outta Compton. You also may have seen Beyoncé’s personal protest at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show with her new song “Formation”.
While some of those men killed may have been armed, a majority of deaths comes down to one final thing: racism and prejudice have been alive for so many generations that it is engraved in our minds both consciously and subconsciously.
Covert racism is the subtle form of racism that can be deliberately disguised or subconsciously stated. For example: “It’s okay, my neighbour is black.” It’s covert racism that keeps the apparently background prejudice covertly in our foreground.
Grant African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor and black rights activist Cory Millben feels that “it’s a shame we have Black History Month; it should be our history month.”
Where the teachings of history and black history coincide, Millben tells a story of covert prejudice. When his late son Caylen was in grade 7, he had to do a project for Black History Month and chose to research Malcolm X.
The teacher would not allow Caylen to do a project on Malcolm X because she felt that he was “too controversial” of a subject. However, the class had just learned all about Adolf Hitler the month before. With this story, the pastor concludes “there is still a stigma about our history.”
Black History Month is a very important month to educate people about the hardships and accomplishments of African-Canadian and American citizens throughout history. Pastor Cory Millben believes that “the way to bridge racism is to educate.” However, it is also very important to keep an eye and mind on the racism that still occurs in our generation.