Do we still need Black History Month?
by Rodolpho Carrasco
in Whittier Daily News, Saturday, February 6, 1999
(Rodolpho Carrasco is associate director of Harambee Christian Family Center in Pasadena, Calif. and a columnist for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. Check out more articles by Rodolpho Carrasco here.)
(PASADENA) - This week, as I made a deposit at my local bank branch, inside a supermarket, five high schoolers who accompanied me stodd a few feet away at the magazine rack.
The four black young men and one Latina laughed as they flipped the pages of many different magazines. When I completed my business, 15 minutes after entering the store, we all left. Once outside, the four guys complained that the store security guard, a Latino, stared at them the entire time they were in the store. They felt like he expected them to steal something. They were mad, frustrated, and hurt.
The Latina was also disturbed. "I saw him staring at us," she said. "At first I didn't know if he was looking at all of us, or just them. So I walked away. He didn't follow me. He stood right there and didn't take his eyes off the guys."
As I listened to the guys vent their frustration, I prayed that they wouldn't lose hope in their future as American citizens. Why care about a country where people look at you and assume you are a criminal, a crime waiting to happen?
It was also frustrating that the security guard suspected these guys, of all people. Each of these vibrant African-American teens has committed himself, publicly, to his education, personal responsibility, and doing what is right. Each is vocal about his Christian faith and morals. Each strives to make friends with people of other races.
The eldest, a senior, is currently fundraising for a June missionary trip to Armenia. Another is applying for an internship at a Latino-controlled radio station in Washington state. The third is applying to Azusa Pacific University, a local Christian college. The fourth just raised his grade point average to nearly 3.0 after bombing his entire ninth-grade year.
If these guys are suspects, what other blacks are suspect?
This past December, my wife and I visited her family in Brooklyn, N.Y. At a community-wide Kwaanzaa celebration, we sat with a roomful of young, successful, black adults. There was the computer science graduate student who gets flown out to Chicago by Motorola, his employer, every school break. Next to him, the Harvard Law School graduate just accepted into USC Film School. Listed in the evening's "where are they now?" section, Dwana Smallwood of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, recognized in January by Newsweek magazine as a top face to watch in 1999.
These are the suspects? Apparently so. Every black person I know can tell stories of being followed, of negative assumptions being made about them, because of the color of their skin. My experience in the black community has taught me that blacks from every walk of life endure this treatment on a regular basis, regardless of class.
The fact that blacks remain perpetual suspects in our society argues for some action that fights this type of discrimination. Yet, at this very moment, it seems that Americans are backing away from tangible solutions to discrimination.
Black History Month is commemorated in February, but many Americans are ignoring it as a "black thang." Some even argue that it foments racial turmoil. If Black History Month is not part of the solution, then what is? If we pass a law next year eliminating Black History Month, how should we Americans who pledge "liberty and justice for all" fight discrimination?
I have no new answers.
What we have now, a month dedicated to the study of black history, is an excellent start. I wish there was no need for a month to be set aside. A prominent black leader said the same to me this week. But until a full version of history, giving blacks their proper due, is taught in our schools and media, there will be a need for Black History Month.
We all have much to gain. Non-black interns at my nonprofit who study black history purposefully have better rapport with, and show more respect to, the young blacks and Latinos they tutor. Volunteers who don't study black history struggle to understand the children. Black history also helps black youth experiencing discrimination to respond in non-violent ways. When you know who you are, it's easier to recognize your persecutor has the problem, not you.
"That security guard is stupid!" laughed one of the guys in my car, as we drove away from the supermarket. This teen's response encouraged me. The other three, however, didn't shrug it off as easily. Thinking about them kept me from sleeping on the night of the incident.
At our youth center, we train young people to be servant-leaders who operate according to God's standards, over and above the standards of the "color-blind" American electorate. But at times it's tough for them to accept the idea of leading people of other ethnic groups. One can see the question in their eyes: "Why try to lead people who don't trust you?"
That sense of hopelessness must be overcome. Our predominantly Lation and white cities will be stronger with young black leaders in the mix. They have a responsibility to prepare themselves, morally and educationally, to lead.
The rest of us have a responsibility to eliminate unjust obstacles from their paths. Using Black history to educate non-blacks is one small, but important, step in the elimination process.
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