Black History Month: Celebrate Freedom

"Black" History "Month" is an interesting take on removing discrimination and promoting black history knowledge: Dedicating one month to events, festivals and university lectures. I'd like to see every month made a 'black' awareness month in schools and in educational legislation. Also, why do we still use that word 'black'? Is it just me that finds it tinged with racialism? 'Black anger, black hostility, unclean, dirty, evil'. I'm thinking of the first time brother Malcolm 'X' opened up a dictionary to contrast the 'white's innocence' against the 'black sins'. Forgive me, I don't mean to come across as nationalistic, but at the risk of demanding politically correct terminology, how about we use only African heritage month instead?

I recently bought Malcolm X's autobiography and memorised many of his life experiences as lessons for us today. Despite his imprisonment, addictions and the Harlem riots, brother Malcolm converted to true Islam during hajj, not even living to see his book published, and ended his life on a strong but unfulfilled hope:

"Anything I do today, I regard as urgent. No man is given but so much time to accomplish whatever in his life's work... I never have felt that I would live to become an old man... But it is only after the deepest darkness that the greatest light can come; it is only after extreme grief that the greatet joy can come; it is only after slavery and a prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come." (pp. 496-98)

Watch Malcolm X the movie, directed by Spike Lee.

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By: The Misanthrope