Know Your History

If We Do Not Speak 

Of It

Others Will Surely Rewrite The Script 

Continuing with an excerpt from the follow:

"One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over. We must not remember that Daniel Webster got drunk but only that he was a splendid constitutional lawyer. We must forget that George Washington was a slave owner . . . and simply remember the things we regard as creditable and inspiring. The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history loses its value as an incentive and example; it paints perfect man and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth."  ~* W.E.B. Du Bois

"When you deal with the past, you're dealing with history, you're dealing actually with the origin of a thing. When you know the origin, you know the cause. It's impossible for you and me to have a balanced mind in this society without going into the past, because in this particular society, as we function and fit into it right now, we're such an underdog, we're trampled upon, we're looked upon as almost nothing. Now if we don't go into the past and find out how we got this way, we will think that we were always this way. And if you think that you were always in the condition that you're in right now, it's impossible for you to have too much confidence in yourself, you become worthless, almost nothing. But when you go back into the past and find out where you once were, then you will know that you once had attained a higher level, had made great achievements, contributions to society, civilization, science, and so forth. And you know that if you once did it you can do it again; you automatically get the incentive, the inspiration and the energy necessary to duplicate what our forefathers did."  ~*Malcolm X

****

During my adolescence upon seeing the commercial by McDonald's
Lighting candles to commemorate 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  
I knew my favorite time of year was approaching. 


During the month of February
We paid homage to 4 of my favorite people.
A woman that refused to leave her seat
A male baseball player
A female conductor on the underground railroad 
And a man who had a dream. 


I vividly remember 
The excitement I felt 
Every Black History Month.

Unlike the individuals I read about all year round
Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Harriet Tubman, and MLK
Filled me with a sense of pride
To be an African-American. 


 I was so overjoyed to learn something different
 It never occurred to me to ask
Why did we spend an entire month
Year in and out...
 Talking about the exact same people?


I didn't recognize 
The information that was withheld  
And the gaps in between what  I was taught
Until my eyes were slightly open
In November of 1992. 

I was eleven years old 
When my mother and father took me to see 
Malcolm X 
Directed by Spike Lee. 


At the time, Malcolm X 
 Was the longest movie I ever saw in my life.
I was enthralled every second
 I sat in the movie theater watching.


At the closing credits
 I was in awe of a man I never knew existed
And how different he was from the four individuals I learned about
Every year.


My curiosity was piqued.....





A few months later 
During the 1st day in school of Black History Month
I anticipated asking my history teach about Malcolm X.


We knew everything there was to know about 
Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Harriet Tubman, and MLK
Surely we could discuss something different, right?
WRONG! 


I was told, if Malcolm X was important 
He'd be in our history books.
Being that he isn't, 
Learning about him wasn't up for discussion. 


I was in utter shock 
Unable to reply.
My teachers response 
Silenced me into submission.


3 Years later
My silence was transformed 
Into an invigorating voice 


No one could quell. 

In 1995 at the age of 14
My eyes were opened further
When I went to the movies to see
 Panther 
Directed by Mario Van Peebbles. 





Like Malcolm X
I didn't know Huey P. Newton 
And the Black Panther Party existed. 

Ironically 
This unknown 
Made sense out of everything I was previously taught

It pieced together:
Why Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat
Why Jackie Robinson was commended
Why Harriet Tubman Freed slaves
And the reason behind Martin Luther King's dream.

Although it wasn't Black History Month
I couldn't wait until I went to school the following Monday
 So I could ask my History teacher about The Black Panther Party. 

I assumed 
Because I was no longer in elementary school
My Junior high school teacher would answer my inquiry, right?
WRONG!

I received the same response. 
This time around I refused to remain silent.
I responded in an authoritative manner
Demanding to be taught about those who weren't written in our schools history books. 
Not just during Black History Month, but all year long. 


That day was the 1st time I was suspended from school
For 'challenging' an educator.
It definitely wasn't the last, 
for years to come. 

I was determined to
Obstruct:

"Philosophers have long conceded... that every man has two educations: that which is given to him, and the other that which he gives himself. Of the two kinds the latter is by far the more desirable. Indeed all that is most worthy in man he must work out and conquer for himself. It is that which constitutes our real and best nourishment. What we are merely taught seldom nourishes the mind like that which we teach ourselves." 
 

What formal education refused to provide
I spent countless hours cultivating my mind 
At various libraries, teaching myself.
Slowly opening my visions circumference. 


In February of 2001 at the age of 20
I was bestowed with good fortune to have met
And had an in depth discussion with 
S.E. Anderson, the author of:

Conversing with S.E. Anderson 
Coupled with the content I absorbed from his book
My eyes were opened 
Conclusively.

A week later
In the course of my internship
At Teen Talk Radio.


I was given the opportunity 

To read the following poem during Black History Month
Live on the air:

Unspoken Truth 

"Free at last, Free at last,

Thank God almighty

We are free at last"

Martin Luther King, had a dream

The speech he delivered, Gave inspiration and gleam

But to know one’s history, What would those lines

Really mean:

We’ll we ever be free

Because if we were, In this land ,We wouldn’t be

Crossed over by sea, In chains

Beaten and tormented, stripped to shame

Taken to plains and fields

Wondering where we came from

Ever exist - No longer real

Watching our people, Get slaughtered and killed

Was our pain

How you stripped us of our name

Culture and dignity

You made us into slaves, The lowest of living things

Inherent pangs

Giving birth to their children, Still being enslaved

At the tender age of three

As long as they could walk, That’s all massa could see

For to them we went nothing

We were less then human beings

Through the Atlantic Slave Trade, Millions of my people died

For hundreds of years, It is only my people who have cried

Who tears have dried, Nothing of them remains

But pictures, scars, nooses, and chains

By bringing them here, What have they gained

As I ask those who brought us here

Have no shame, Only greed

Twisting history so to others

It is misconceived

We must look upon the past, To know what was done

To us throughout history, cannot be overcome

What gives us hope, Inspiration and gleam

Should be more then just a dream

But to see:

Living upon a land

One doesn’t come from

We’ll never

Be free

© LaToya S. C.

Author's Comments

 Inclination:

 Silenced

Nevermore 

 
The poem above was written 10 years ago
Until this day
I continuously nourish my mind
Striving to insight the appetite of inquiry
In the minds others.

Never losing sight of:

"The events which transpired five thousand years ago; Five years ago or five minutes ago, have determined what will happen five minutes from now; five years from now or five thousands years from now. All history is a current event" ~*Dr. John Henrik Clarke 

They Are Us.

They Are Me;
They Are You.

Know Your History.....