Written by James Evans
February 2, 2021

African American History Month, or Black American History Month… either works for me, but celebrating this month requires knowing American History.

After suffering the British Crown’s injustices for ten years, a far lesser torment than a singular moment in an American’s slave’s life, our founders launched a tenuous and costly war for their independence and dignity; all the while suffocating human beings under the weight of their newly formed constitution.

We the People. This duality, even today, reverently holds the American flag in the right hand while beating a capital police officer with the other. This duality witnesses the unique injustice that befalls Black men and women and still decries, “We are better than this; this is not my America.” 

But this is your America, and the supremacy within cannot be casted-out by verbal expulsion. Yes, planting a Black Lives Matter sign in your lawn is good; reading books by Black men and women is good, but my black children cannot eat lawn signs. 

I pray you don’t sleep through the Revolution as Rip Van Winkle once did, drunk on the whisky of passive resistance. 

America’s History is centered on capturing and extracting resources. At its heart, Racism is a knife that cuts and divides those resources, assigning some much less so others can have more. And we cannot merely vote equity into being after four centuries of fractional justice. Only the difficult and unselfish acts matter now. 

• Hiring people of color when your white inner circle is expecting to be tapped for the job.

• Pulling back on the expense of a family vacation to allocate donations toward African American Scholarships

• Letting go of some vendors and adding vendors of colors

Yes, these are not easy things; justice is not always a comfortable road. Nevertheless, enfranchisement is the root to sustainable change and REAL Social Justice.

Black American History month is not just my month to reflect on the accomplishments of my ancestors. It should also be a time for Americans to reflect on the beauty of the human spirit because we all yearn and deserve to breathe free. But after reflecting, we must commit to doing something  or be counted asleep and complicit.