What Black History Month Means to me as an African

                                    What Black History Month Means to me as an African?

"A people without the knowledge

Of their past history, origin and culture,

Is like a tree without roots."

                                                                      - The Rt. Hon. Marcus Garvey

Yeah right! Ask that question out loud, I thought I heard you ask-are you black American? Celebrating black history month is more than just being American or British! It’s more to do with identifying with who you are! Be you a black-American, black-British, black–Caribbean, Black -African, Black-Irish, Black-Scottish...am I making some sense here?

Walk with me,

Fela Ransom-Kuti ,Bob Marley, Chinua Achebe and Maya Angelou, Wole Soyinka , Nelson Mandela, Mary,J.B, Angelique kidjo, India Irie ,Jill Scot, Gladys knight ,Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill ,Akon, Wyclef jean, Don Omar, Alexander Burke, Beyonce, Jay-z, Mitchell and Barak Obama, Rihanna, Drake, Fally pupa, Tracy Chapman, Neyo, Desmond Tutu, Malcolm X, Martin Luther king, Adele Emeli Sandé, Christopher Robert Iwelumo, Olaudah Equiano,Phil Lynott,Samantha Mumba... now do you get my drift ?

Common!

Black History Month started in 1926 in the United States it was instituted by Carter G Woodson as a way of responding to the view that the Black Americans and people of African descent had made no significant contribution to human civilisation. In the United States it is celebrated in February of every year.

 Black History Month was first celebrated in the UK in 1987, as a way of exposing black teenagers to their rich cultural heritage, which is not often exposed or celebrated in mainstream history! In recent times it has become a time to celebrate our ancestry as Africans. It is celebrated every month of October.

Now open your minds to some facts, as this is a time to engage in thought provocative entertainment, the likes that connects you to your inner being and liberates your mind in hopes of deep insight.

There would have been nothing like black history month, if millions of Africans had not been forcibly shipped into slavery, disseminated to various parts of the world and had their ancestral memory wiped or hidden from them!

There would have been nothing like Black history month, If Black achievements, the Nubian pharaohs, the West African Empires and others had not been ignored in conventional history. We needn’t have bothered with these special measures to restore our worth and stir up motivation among our people.

If black entertainers, sport people, poets and writers, Black achievers of diverse nations ,were not repeatedly and exclusively paraded and proclaimed as notable "role models" as though the Arts ,entertainments and sports were the only areas where black people have or could excel; then perhaps there would have been no point to Black History Month!

If Black History hadn’t been sidelined, subjected to distortion, denial, and deconstruction there would have been no point celebrating black history month.

Got it?

Black history month is a time to promote our history and experience, ours is a story of resilience and perseverance, a time to disseminate information on positive contributions attained by black people; it is most of all a time to heighten awareness and certitude in the richness of our cultural heritage!

This is a chance to revel in our blackness, a chance to get on with that swag God gave us naturally and roll whatever shade you might be -Hot chocolate, Brown- sugar, Tan, Cream, Whipped cream...(LOL), we know us when we see us! It’s in our walk...our talk...in our dance ...OUR COMMON ROOTS!

Your Gist Mate,

Shy