No
leaders in black culture today
Daniel
Frias
As
most of you know February is Black History
month. It's a time to reflect, think and
learn about all the great accomplishments
blacks have made in America. People like
Woodson G. Carter, a black historian, who
organized the first annual celebration of
Negro History Week in 1926 to recognize
black history and achievement. This event
was held during the second week of February
in honor of the birthdays of African American
scholar Frederick Douglas and former U.
S. President Abraham Lincoln. It later became
what we now know as black history month.
Their
involuntary and inexcusable service as slaves
served as the foundation of America's nascent
economy. Following their liberation, they
established businesses and served in Congress.
Hiram
Revels, a son of former slaves, became the
first black to serve in the U.S. Senate
when he was elected in 1870 to fill a seat
left vacant by Jefferson Davis.
Booker
T. Washington, the son of slave, help run
a school where black people could uplift
themselves educationally and economically
by learning agricultural and industrial
trades. In 1879, Booker T. became an instructor
at the Hampton Institute in Washington,
where he headed and helped organize a night
school for American Indians where he taught
them industrial training. Upon the success
of this school the founder of the Hampton
Institute appointed Booker T. organizer
and principal of a black school in Tuskegee,
Alabama, now Tuskegee University.
Carter,
who received his doctoral degree from Harvard
in 1912, founded and edited his own news
quarterly, The Journal of Negro History
from 1916 to 1950. Carter also started a
monthly in 1937 -- The History Bulletin
-- and wrote several books on the Negro
and education.
Thurgood
Marshall, a civil rights lawyer, became
the first black to serve in the Supreme
Court of the United States. He was appointed
to the position in 1967. Marshall was a
tireless advocate for minorities and the
poor. In 1954 he was the lawyer who won
the Brown v. Board of Education case that
ended segregation in public schools.
There
are many more accomplishments African Americans
have made to this country. But it seems
those contributions are a thing of the past.
Those great black leaders are gone now and
who is left for young blacks to look up
to? Shaq, Kobe, Tracy McGrady, Jay-Z, 50
Cent, and other so called celebrities. What
is happening to the legacy and history of
the great black race?
It
seems black people are trading in their
heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa
Parks for Jay-Z and Beyonce. The black panthers
are gone now and have been replaced by Bloods
and Crips and so-called gangsters. Jackie
Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947
being the first black man to play in Major
League Baseball and now black athletes dominant
professional sports.
Is
there anything wrong with this? Of course
not. If black people are talented and have
the skills to play sports and get paid lots
of money then they deserve to do so. But
for every Kevin Garnett and Lebron James
that makes it to the pros there are ten
of thousands of other talented young black
athletes who never get the chance and are
left on the outside looking in.
What
are black people's major accomplishments
these days? Halle Barry winning an Oscar
for her role in "Monster's Ball"?
That's a great accomplishment but doesn't
compare to astronaut Mae Jemison becoming
the first black woman to travel in space
when she flew on the space shuttle in 1992.
And
what happened to the culture blacks created
through their music and lifestyles. The
once vibrant hip-hop Culture that represented
black life so positively has been reduced
to a commercialized commodity of sex and
bling-bling, to be sold at $15.99 a set
of rhymes. What happened to the once conscious
rap artist like Chuck D from Public Enemy,
KRS-One and Jeru that gave blacks a voice
and a message?
Now
hip-hop has some cat named Chingy who sings
"Right Thur," rap superstar Nelly
taking his clothes off because "it's
getting hot in here" and the king of
rap 50 Cent who's gonna party like it your
birthday.
It
seems former NFL player, now Minister of
Defense, Reggie White was depressingly correct
when he said in one of his many controversial
sermons that if he were an alien from outer
space and he came to this country he would
think blacks were only athletes or entertainers.
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