Damn It Is "Black History Month"

Yesterday I said this exact statement to a friend when my Aunt tried to give me a Coretta Scott King Poster to hang up in my room and I declined it and she reminded me that it was Black History Month, which I had TOTALLY FORGOT...

Then we continued to have a conversation about Martin Luther King Jr. and I explained to her that from reading his Biography and other Civil Rights books, I had kinda lost the illusion I previoulsy held of him. An image that was put into my head as a child that Martin Luther King was "God," and was basically single-handedly responsible for the success of the Civil Rights Movement. And then we talked about him being a womanizer, and how his name was Michael until it was changed when he was around 12 years old, and other things. He appears more human to me.

But I took a Civil Rights Movement class and realized that Im more on the side of the grassroots movement and the SNCC/Student Movements that took place during those times. Martin Luther King Jr. is to the Civil Rights Movement what the President is to the United States...A Media Figure. In one of the book I read, I remember the SNCC people and other grassroots people talking about how they didn't even really like when MLK Jr. would come into their town sometimes because it would only create a media frenzy that would swoop in when he came, and leave when he left. Therefore creating chaos within the movements they were trying to make in their own communities. A good book to read: Debating the Civil Rights Movement. I can't remember the rest of the title but it talks about the Civil Rights Movement from two different perspectives. One of a top-down approach where they discuss how withouy the NAACP and SCLC and the government the success of the Civil Rights Movement would not have been as...successful. And the other approach is a bottom-up perspective that praises the grassroots, SNCC, and Student Movements for their work in getting "the people" involved. Because I believe without "the people" stirring things up and causing the government to react, we'd be living in a different world right now.

But back to what I was saying, It is Black History Month but Damn I haven't even seen McDonald's doing their typical Black History Month Commercials and things anymore. I just happened to learn alot about Black History in the past year because of classes that I've taken, but I know alot of people who have no idea about...The Wilmington Riots, Ella Baker's "Bigger than A Hamburger", Claudette Colvin, Fannie Lou Hamer, Bull Connor, Henry Box Brown, and even more stuff that I know but just can't think of right now because I have the worst memory EVER!!!

Black History Month Huh? Damn...Valentines Day is looking much more important it seems like to me (Even though Nobody Loves Me, and Valentines Day just reminds me of that, but luckily I don't celebrate made up Holidays anyway)...Maybe because its a Leap Year this year and there will be 29 days in February instead of 28...Whatever it is, I Definitely Forgot...