Twenty-Eight Days

Isn't that the same amount of time people go to rehab?

There is an argument out there that African American history is irrelevant. I say that the only way it is irrelevant is if the accomplishments of African Americans are seamlessly interwoven into the fiber of American history in general. The history of these disparate groups are the history of this country in which we live.

Nevertheless, how can we posit that African American history isn't needed as a stand alone history if we do not rehearse it with our children and teach them the things they need to know. It has to be more than 28 days, more than a month, a week, MLK day. It has to be lived.

It is like the controversy early during last year's presidential race. Would black women vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman or Barack Obama because he is black? For those who revel in statistics that may be a question, but for me it wasn't. The decision wasn't between one side of me or another--it was about competence and the ability to succeed.

It is the same with American History. Consider it without the stoplight, the cotton gin, peanut butter, heart surgery, the roller coaster (as I found through my son's project last week). There is no full American History without these things and all were contributions by blacks.

Now that the official month has ended, let us live in history. A united history. An American history.