Last month was Black History Month. It passed by like any other month, but I should have given it more of my attention. This newspaper should have given it more attention. I read my usual daily newspaper, my national news magazines and even watched some television. None of this media seemed to make a big hoopla about our special month. Sure, there were television shows, PBS specials and the like, but no huge national celebration like, say, Saint Patrick’s Day or Cinco de Mayo.
Consequently, I have to ask what it says about our nation, more importantly the Black community, and me. Should Black Americans take to the streets and holler, “I’m Black and I’m proud”? Would we? Or maybe a better question is whether America is ready to have its Black citizens drinking beer and dancing in the streets with racial pride like other citizens do. Or would the police show up in riot gear? I won’t pretend to know the answers to these questions.
I do know that many of the African American men who should be celebrating the rich history of American blackness are in prison. All I have to do is look to the gleaming brown faces on the yard here at San Quentin and I can see what the legacy of slavery, continued bigotry, and the American judicial system thinks about Black History Month…and us.
Over 40 percent of the men at this prison are Black: Despairingly, we are being sent to prison. Most of us know the statistics but how many of us ask ourselves why? Why do we sell drugs to our own people? Why do we defame and disrespect our women? Why do we hate another Black man because he is from a different neighborhood? And why do we insult our Black brothers with the N word? I won’t pretend to know the answer to these questions.
What I do know is that we should look to ourselves to understand why our month is not the glorified celebration it should be. Our leaders also have to look at the plight of the Black community and together we should work to remedy the social despair that stands in the way of the full success of Black Americans. More specifically, we need to provide hope and opportunity to our young men.
I know that we Black men are proud; but I don’t know why I didn’t write about this pride last month. Maybe it is too soon for me and other Black men in America to stand up with elation, hold our fist to the sky, and say we are proud. This type of celebration will only happen when all Americans are free and equal.
