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Saturday, March 8

I Wanted to Share Knowledge of Black History, In Return I Get This!

I've always felt that the younger generations of children of color are not well educated when it comes to their history; society today is so hell-bent on erasing prejudice that they are also erasing something very important that young people need to have: a sense of their own identity, knowledge of who they come from and what their ancestors accomplished. It amazes me that most young people don't know who some of the most famous people in Black History are, and even if they recognize the name, they have no concept of the importance of that person life in relation to their own. Sure, they know the story of Rosa Parks, but how many of them really understand what it was she did? How many young people know who Dred Scott was? Or who Emmett Till was?  How many can tell you about the three young men who disappeared in Mississippi for helping black people to vote? (And they were not all of color!) Or about the four little girls killed in a church bombing?

I'm saying all this to sort of explain why I started doing 'The Little Known Black History Fact'. I have heard people on various radio stations and in print do them on occasion, and I found that I was learning about a lot of people and events that I knew nothing about (and I'm 50+!); if I didn't know about them I'm quite sure a lot of younger people didn't either. Hence, my choice to do it, partly because I love learning and partly because I'm hoping that others will learn some of these facts and keep history alive for our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on. I'm not racist, I'm not prejudiced; I just want our children to know who they are! I want them to remember the past so it will not be repeated.

I got a message from someone I've considered (for years) to be a friend. She's also a blogger, and a popular one, so I'm thinking wow, someone giving me a review!! Imagine my shock when the message read "Your just so black."  That was it. No lol, no j/k, no nothing, just that one line. When I caught my breath, I began to try to make excuses; after all, she was a friend, so she didn't mean anything bad or hurtful by it, right? I couldn't come up with anything remotely innocent or humorous in it at all. Saying that to me made me feel like she thought I was being 'too' black; i.e. militant, angry, a revolutionary type. Just So Black. Makes me feel like this house nigga has fallen from grace and been denigrated to the fields...

So then I replied asking if she had a problem with that, I got no response. I don't know if I should be happy or not.

I wanted to share some little known knowledge! The month of February is not enough time to teach all the things that so many people of color have done. I wanted to give people a few small facts to hopefully make them proud of themselves, and look what I get in return… Sad.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

i find those sort of things disheartening, i have heard of 2 out of 3 of those people you mentioned (and more!), but even greateer are the people of color who let their imagination run wild and think of the impossible (just like every other race or culture). We must always remember each peoples struggle and it is good that you proclaim yours!

Wanda J said...

Thank you for your comment, Brite Mist. Every culture has had a struggle, and I feel it is up to each of us to keep the history of our struggle alive for future generations. Perhaps they will learn from our mistakes!

Unknown said...

Wanda,

I pray you got my message. That comment was not from me. My son and his bff (who happens to be a very militant Jewish young man) were using my laptop and I believe that you started a chat that said hi and they replied with that comment. I hope you know me well enough to know that I do not have a racist bone in my body and that episode was the cherry on a shitty sundae that he has been building for sometime. It also made me realize that he has no respect for me as a mother or as a person to do something like that. Please send me an email when you get a chance.I love you dearly. I never have claimed to be perfect, but anyone who knows me could call me many names but not one of them would be racist. God Bless and I now have my laptop password protected. Consider the source...two asshole young men who consider themselves to be educated??? I hope you accept my apology on behalf of those idiots. What a boring world it would be if it were all vanilla without a variety of flavors. Pure ignorance and I am ashamed that the one child that belongs to me participated in something like that. One sentence that was so hurtful and destructive..God Bless and please drop me a private email at susanrickels@gmail.com when you get a chance. xoxoxo always...