Wake me up when Black History Month is over

By Kenneth L. Hardin

In his quest to erase all things darker than him, the Racist in Chief is proposing to discontinue recognizing Black History Month and I’m ok with it. I used to really like the month of February. We’ve never had beef with each other and have always gotten along these last 59 years. But when I started shaving more regularly, wearing big boy clothes, having to put gas in a car the bank owned, and paying my own bills, February took on a whole ‘nother meaning. As I grew more conscious, this month became 28 days too long, and if it was a leap year, well that was even more mentally sadistic. Every year, on the first day of this dreaded month, I close my eyes and pretend to take an extended four week nap.

I despise the month simply because for 28 days, we get to endure all the fake intellectuals, neo revolutionaries and the part time conscious Knee Grows posting pro Black memes, pictures, bios, and other Black influenced fare that they’ve either been previously unaware of or afraid to share the rest of the year for fear of being labeled as “woke.”But since insincere whites and a few good hearted liberal ones will forgive them for a few short weeks this month as they try to run up their Black credit on Wikipedia and amass overage charges on their hood card trying to prove they’re down. We’ll have to endure a month of Black people singing, gyrating and dancing to hip hop music in commercials as if Marketing folks think that’s the only way to grab skinfolk’s attention to recognize their products.

This month, white America will pretend to care about our advancements, and smile through paralyzed faces while feigning excitement about learning of the good ‘ol safe standby names and events that have shaped a stolen people in this stolen land. For a short month they’ll celebrate the familiar people and things they once denied and fought against. Their recycled approved His Story list includes the Sit In’s, the Marches, The Freedom Riders, Obama, the I Have a Dream version of  Dr. King, the base stealing version of Jackie Robinson, the movie version of the Tuskegee Airmen, the white Michael Jackson, the Olympic shaking Muhammad Ali, and other overly popularized representations of Black bravery that allowed us to drink white water and sit on white toilets next to white people who despised us. I’m tired of hearing about how we fought against hate as if that’s all there is to our history of accomplishments. What about sharing the accounts and stories of Africans who weren’t captured and enslaved? What about those who fought back to ensure their freedom? What about those who made small accomplishments and inventions that haven’t been deemed ok for us to celebrate by white America? What about our rich history before we were kidnapped and stolen from Africa? I want that part of Black History to be told and not this bleached, sanitized, feel good, Hollyweird created mess where we continue to be the victims and never the heroes in stories about us.

Our history didn’t start with Slavery nor did it end with the fight for freedom, justice, and equality during the Civil Rights era, but that’s all we’re forced fed with a long handled spoon during this month. I begin celebrating our history and accomplishments on January 1^stand all year. Just wake me up on March 1^st.

Kenneth L. Hardin is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.