We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.
-- Carter Woodson

In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B Dubois asked, “Would America have been America without the Negro people?” Would America be privy to and enlightened by Black culture – music, art, literature, religion, food, etc. – without Africans in America? Would America be even more narrow-minded and stifled if Black people did not present at the national table; challenge deceitful, discriminatory, and inequitable values and behaviors that hurt the least of us; and hold accountable those entrusted to act on the nation’s behalf? Would America be the “superpower” she is without African Americans on her soil, having dug in, up, and through her soil?

As we begin this year’s celebration of Black history, keep at the front of your mind that Black people were and are at the heart of – if not the heart of – making America what it was and is. We keep this country on its toes. We keep it functioning at full speed. We keep it poised to make proper and righteous decisions for its people and peoples around the world. Because of the history upon which we stand – the history that gave us all civil rights, because of the spirit with which we continue to carry the flame – the fire for which each human being will have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, because this is our country and “’I, too, sing America,’” we confidently wave the flag, sing the national anthem, vote from our consciousness, walk a path of freedom, and vigorously challenge inequity, bigotry and any other -try that stands in the way of progress for us and the country we painstakingly built. For the next 29 days rest of your life, keep at the front of your mind that Black history is American history.

Sadiqqa © 2008