Have Your Say – Do We Need Black History Month?
“Black History Month (BHM) is a remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February and the United Kingdom in the month of October.” (Wikipedia)
Over the years, Black History Month has been widely criticized, not least by people of African descent, who argue that BHM should be taught all year long. Others deem the whole project unfair to other cultures and that the event, once significant, has become shallow and meaningless.
Do you attend BHM events? Is BHM is still relevant? Should we abolish BHM? How could we improve on the BHM celebrations? What do you think of this year’s events? See Black History Month events here
Add your comments below.
Posted: Tuesday 6th October 2009 5:56 am
Tags: Black Community, Black History Month
For me Black History Month has always been meaningless. What’s black anyway? Maybe if we stopped characterising ourselves by colour, people originating from the continent of Africa or elsewhere could just get on and live. It’s the colour / race categorisation that keeps us low.
1. I think the way forward is to call it African History Month. Remember in the words of Peter Tosh: No matter where you come from, as long as you’re black (read: of African descent), you’re an African
2. The focus should be on history, with a good content of African British history. This can be done in an entertaining way to interest people, and for them to learn from – BTWSC and BritishBlackMusic.com have been running edu-tainment programes for yonks – for this year’s progranm see: http://www.btwsc.com/BHM_Projects
3. African History Month is not just for African, it should be for all races to learn a bit more about the diverse histories, endeavours and contributions by Africans globally
4. It’s not necessarily having Africans running the show that make for a good programme, it’s having people, irrespective of race, who have a good handle on what AHM is supposed to be about. As we know, several AHM events are organised by Africans, and all the attendees get is a good dose of entertainment or the same rejurgitated histories name-checking Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, perhaps Malcolm X, and lately Barack Obama.
5.You probably need to read my Open Letter entitled African (Black) History Month Aim Not Achieved/African History Is Wider Than Enslavement, and you’re welcome to feedback on our African History Is Wider Than Enslavement campaign at: http://www.btwsc.com/AHIWTE
Black History can only carry on being relevant if it is undertaken by the black community. There are well-known historians, professors and or amateurs of African History who would have the knowledge and drive to make it much more insightful. In its current state, it’s the same old story that’s being told, with no relation with Ancient Africa and future Africa… It’s meaningless because it’s not going anywhere. There is no purpose in terms of where is this heading to? Raising awareness and historical consciousness within the black community? Tightening the bounds and ties between each community composing the so-called “black community”? Promoting African History?
I think Black History month is used as a hotspot to promote African descendants’ contribution to the building of western societies, especially the UK. And this will be done each year by putting the emphasis on one forgotten aspect. This year could have been: Black History Month – Black Inventors and Scientists. Next Year: Women, the following year literature, the following: religion… And so forth and so on.
I think one of the main issue of black people is the fact that we are a civilization with no purpose apart from surviving. We are not going anywhere, we just want to be there, stay there. What is our civilization’s aim? Re-birth; re-construction, rise, domination, offering a different world? We know well about others civilizations’ projects (China), what’s ours? Where are we going? We are here, surviving… and we do it well. But surviving is a need, it is not a goal. After having survived, what do we do next? As long as this isn’t sorted, none of anything we’ll do will have a long lasting relevance, i.e. direction.
Yes we should keep BHM because I believe this is a starting point the problem with some us black peeps is when a few get together and start something we are always ready to judge it and stand back and watch it fail. I believe that God have something bigger for us and this is only the beginning, Black people are very talented and are a very ambitious race of peeps (just like they said about Michael Jackson, he was a perfectionist.) And if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit we love to put on a good show, we want the best, and it has to be the best (why should we settle for second best?) We all need to come together and mix in all of our talents together. I am sure we are not seeing it all. I see too much of our black peeps let their dreams die. We allow each other to talk us out of a good idea especially when others do not see the end and finished product. We need our own budding photographers and movie makers instead of looking to Hollywood. We need to promote our own the same way other races promote their own race, instead of always endorsing other people’s culture.
I think it’s a great thing but before Catch a Vibe, I never heard of it so it’s not publicized enough. Why a month indeed? Where in France the governments are still denying our shameful past, there are newspapers on line of Africa news (Afrik.com which is in English as well), a huge museum devoted to African Art and lots of other events. In England it seems to me that governements assume their past and don’t deny it but the access to African culture is really discreet and not promoted enough. So this event is great but more would be better
If BHM was just a token gesture, I’d just ignore it. However, it is more insidious than that; it reinforces ouright lies, half-truths and distortions about Africans (‘black’ people). One example of this is the whole ‘Windrush’ narrative. According to this narrative, Africans only feature in British history since 1948. This is not only wholly untrue, it is even untrue about post WW2 history. RAF planes brought Britain’s first post-WW2 African & African Caribbean settlers to Britain in 1945. The first ship to bring a significant number of African Caribbean people to Britain post war was the SS Almanzora in 1947. Yet every year we are told the same old, distorted story and it has become part of the story we tell ourselves.
Britain was ruled by an African appointed by the Roman Empire. Queen Elizabeth 1 issued an infamous proclamation expressing her fears about the numbers of ‘blackamoors’ in London during her reign. Liverpool and Cardiff have settled populations of African descent dating back at least three centuries. The first officially acknowledged racially motivated murder of a person of African origin in Britain, a Caribbean man named Wooton, occured in 1919 (he was one of the many thousands of unacknowledged or marginalised British Empire veterans who contributed to Britain’s WW1 effort). None of this is ever discussed. As far as Britain’s education system and too much of the BHM industry is concerned, African history starts with tranatlantic slavery, which the British ended out of the goodness of their hearts, stops, then resumes with the Windrush.
African history is world history. Human history starts on that continent and Africans were trading partners and equals of Europeans and others millenia before the triangular trade. BHM is a dangerous undermining of this fundamental truth, so for me it has to go. As the old African American slogan says: I’m tired of being miseducated via a black history month and a white history year.
Brothers and Sisters United we stand divided we fall. How on earth can we forget what our fore fathers went through? How can we compromise our Independence and freedom of speech? Yes we need Black History to carry on maybe as one commentator said throughout the year and not in one month as it is too much to take in one month. Better still now we have got so far, ‘My president is Black’ could we ever dream that this statement would come from America, smile guys but do not stop here it is just the beginning of a long history and battle fought if we stop getting together we shall fall and we will never be able to get back on our feet again. Let us remember and honour our heros. Forgive we have, forget we can not.
HARAMBEE…..HARAMBEE – Swahili word meaning Unity. Lets get it on
I believe that we should have a season dedicated to Black History, but I think that Month should be dropped from the title. The whole idea of Black History is extremely relevant, but could be put across the whole year as opposed to one month!
In my opinion by using ‘Month’ in the title, the impression is that we need to cram everything into one solitary month. The whole idea should be about making sure that adults and children alike are made aware of the vast contribution that Black people have made in every aspect of life, across the world. In one month is asking too much…
Black History should be a natural part of the curriculum in schools, especially where you have a school that is made up of many different cultures. And if this is not to be, then it should be taught as after school subject area (not ideal, but a start).Also, why just schools, Black History is important across all areas of life- the same as Christmas, Easter, Halloween etc…
I have attended BHM and always make an effort when I can. It is a shame that many cannot take the time to do the same and would rather go shopping for that ‘perfect’ pair of trainers or sit in fast food outlets, rather than educate themselves and their children about what is really important.
To improve Black History, it would be great if parents educate themselves, read, read and read some more.
It’s all too easy to put the blame on others, we need to take control of our history and work with what is out there and make it our own.
There are many events and many of them look extremely interesting, times and event location are always going to be a problem. We should still try and make the effort, for us, our children and our children’s children.
Thank you Catch A Vibe, for keeping me updated with events across the year. Keep up the good work…
Why limit awareness of black history to one month? Ideally, it should be part of our every day teaching to help instil a sense of identity and pride in black culture. The efforts of others during October are appreciated, however a programme of monthly events would really go a long way in keeping awareness strong. I am happy to support the events and would welcome any thoughts/ideas on developing a year round programme.
Sadly, we need more of Black History and whilst I agree that it should not be limited to one month in the year, in the absence of having anything in the education system, health system, social and political sphere it is more necessary now that ever before. Arguably we are a disparate people with so many variables of language, etc etc etc; some of us cannot even agree whether we are black!! But what is constant is that past historical events have impacted on us and we MUST and CANNOT forget it. No one questions the experience of the Jews in Nazi Germany nor the right to remembrance of events during the secon World War. BHM goes a little way to this remembrance. My Cathartic experience of visiting Elmina Castle in Cape Coast and was a stark reminder that we need BHM. The failing of Black children in this country is another. The Black on Black crimes is another. Working in a large Mental Health Trust and seeing the increase in Black in-patients is another. My daughter saying to me that a White teacher claiming that Black people did not resist or fight back being enslaved is another and my daughter having to enlighten a Black teacher about Harriet Tubman and other iconic figures are reasons for BHM.
Simply put, if we do not know where we have been, what we have been through, how will we know when we have arrived though BHM is not ALL about slavery!!!
I can go as I feel passionate about this but I must stop….
No – WE DON’T NEED BLACK HISTORY MONTH, WHAT WE NEED IS EACH OTHER, WHAT WE NEED IS UNITY…TO HAVE REAL PEOPLE POWER…TO MAKE SOME LONG OVERDUE CHANGES
A Sister slipped in an interesting comment about the 18th…there is a very interesting email going around about this event, I’m gonna paste the text below because it makes sense that “Black History Month” can never reach it’s full potential unless we, the offspring of Africa, learn to put our differences aside, respect each others right to choose and follow own own belief/doctrine/way of life, and unite to start dealing with the issues affecting us as a people locally and globally…
What are you doing for “Black History Month?
· Has “Black History Month” become another cliché?
· Is it an excuse for Local Government to show that they “value diversity” (i.e. are not racist)?
· Is “Black History Month” a Token Gesture? (“Give them their own month so that they can feel better about themselves”)
· Has “Black History Month” become the “same old, same old”?
· More African Dancing? More Workshops & Lectures? More Films and Documentaries?
· In contrast, do the events put on by cultural organisations really reach the whole community?
Has “Black History Month” stopped Black on Black Gun & Knife Crime?
Has “Black History Month” stopped Death’s in Police Custody?
Has “Black History Month” stopped our Leaders being incarcerated?
WHAT ACTUALLY IS THE REAL PURPOSE OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH?
We have all heard:
A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. (Marcus Garvey)
“Sankofa” teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.
Visually and symbolically “Sankofa” is expressed as a mythic bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg (symbolizing the future) in its mouth. (derived from King Adinkera of the Akan people of West Afrika )
IS “BLACK HISTORY MONTH” DOING ANYTHING TO CREATE UNITY AMONG ALL THE BLACK ORGANISATIONS SO THAT COLLECTIVELY ALL THE BLACK CULTURAL & COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS, CHURCHES, ETC, HAVE A VOICE BASED ON NUMBERS, “PEOPLE POWER” THAT POLITICIANS AND THE MEDIA HAVE TO START LISTENING TO, THAT CAN CREATE THE CHANGES WE NEED IN OUR COMMUNITY?
WE (YOUR ANCESTORS) INVITE YOU ALL, DESCENDENTS OF THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA, THE PEOPLE AND CONTINENT WHO HAVE THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSED THE MOST,
TO RE-CREATE THE VILLAGE,
TO RE-DISCOVER WHAT IS MISSING FROM “BLACK HISTORY MONTH”.
SUNDAY 18TH OCTOBER, LEICESTER SQUARE , NOON – 6PM.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: UNITY & REMEMBERANCE DRUMMING CEREMONY
CALLING ALL PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO BRING THEIR DRUMS AND SOULS
CALLING ALL CULTURAL ORGANISATIONS TO STEP FORWARD AND PERFORM LIBATION AND PRAYERS OF REMEMBERANCE
· IN MEMORY OF ALL OUR GREAT ANCESTORS;
· FOR ALL OF OUR ANCESTORS WHO PERISHED, SACRIFICED AND SURVIVED THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE, “MAAFA”, OUR HOLOCAUST;
· FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING, EXPERIENCING FAMINE AND BEING MADE REFUGEES ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT RESULTING FROM ECONOMIC AND VIOLENT WARFARE TARGETED AT RAPING OUR RESOURCES AND RAW MATERIALS
· FOR ALL OUR VICTIMS OF DEATHS IN CUSTODY
· FOR ALL OUR VICTIMS OF GUN AND KNIFE CRIME
· FOR ALL OUR CONTEMPORARY LEADERS WHO ARE STILL BEING CHARACTER-ASSASSINATED, INCARCERATED AND TORTURED.
CALLING ALL PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO CONGREGATE IN PEACE, WISDOM & HARMONY
It’s nice to have your own private gathering or party in your house or garden or for your own organisation.
It’s better to create a community gathering. Our whole community cannot fit in 1 house, garden or community centre.
We all will need to meet in a communal space. In Africa, our ancestors spent most of their time living outside the box (4 walls) and therefore thinking “outside the box”.
Invite the Media & bring our own Reporters so that our voices can be heard.
Please send this email to all your friends and any organisations and media contacts that can help with these causes of concern within the communities of people of African descent. Please print off the fliers and get them into all your local stores and African-Caribbean Centres. Organisations, please call your brother/sister organisations and get them to commit to attend.
“We are our brother’s and our sister’s keeper”.
DISCLAIMER:
This email does not advocate any person or organisation attending this event to come for the purpose of preaching hate or racism or to break the law of this country in any way, shape or form.
Please do not respond to this email as there is no one here available to respond to – Let Your Actions Speak Louder Than Your Words! Receiving this email gives you the responsibility to make the above manifest and you are free (are you?) to accept or reject this responsibility.
E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The Ancestors therefore do not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission.
Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the Ancestors. Finally, the recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The Ancestors accept no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email
What a healthy debate. It’ s refreshing to see that most of the people commenting here are for Black History Month. We agree with you on many points:
- Black History Month should be a season or all year long. That is the reason behind this magazine. So that we can have access to those types of events all year long. – Black events should be better promoted and supported. It shouldn’t be only for our community: mainstream media should be talking about it
- the need for a museum/gallery, a repository for our culture: it’s on its way: the Black Cultural Archives
http://www.bcaheritage.org.uk/
- Black History Month should not be about slavery: and it’s not. There are art exhibitions, plays and screenings that celebrate the beautiful and positive in our story, not just the suffering.
I have a question to those who think that BHM is just handed down to us: isn’t it a bit hypocrite? As an editor of a culture mag, I attend a lot of “culture events” and I have to tell you: they’re quite empty. Theatres struggle to get bums on seats. Promoters lose money. So those who claim that it should be all year long: where are you when those events take place? Maybe the reason councils/funding bodies don’t support our events it’s because they think that our community is not interested. And the numbers show they are right. If we want our won culture to be valued, we should start to value it ourselves and show that it makes economic sense to support it.
As far as Black History Month there is a small part of me doesn’t like it because it creates this fade mentality in which we seem to only recognise our history in October. At the same time its a good thing because it can be a kind of starting point for those seeking to learn more about there history.
There are plenty of grassroots organisationas who put on various seminars, classes, events etc throughout the year, which focus on various aspects of Black history. This culture of only seeking the history in October is plain stupid.
Tony Wraner a memeber of 100 Black men set up Black History Walks. Via this prganisation he takes people on tours in London, highlighting various monuemnts , etc that reflect on ths history of Black people in London http://www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk/
Toyin Agbetu Founder of Ligal. http://www.ligali.org Checkout the newsletter which highlights various black history, educational events, etc
Dr Lez Henry Founder of Nubeyond. http://www.nubeyond.com.
He has also set up B.L.A.K Fridays.The reasoning behind these BLAK FRIDAY sessions is simple. 2007 was the200th marker of the so-called abolition of the chattel-slave trade and we knew that one bag of foolishness would be suggested by many who do not have our best interests at heart. Therefore we have, since January 2006, dealt with the legacy of the MAAFA (Afrikan Holocaust) from various perspectives as a way to provide practical solutions to real problems. This means we do not deal with victimhood or self pity, we are promoting empowerment and upliftment.
He is currently running a course called AN INTRODUCTION TO RACE AND REPRESENTATION IN THE MEDIA AND ON TELL-LIE-VISION from October – November
Robin Walker (author of When we Ruled http://www.whenweruled.com/) along with Mark Simpson and Charmaine Simpson set u http://www.blackhistorystudies.com. They host black historical seminars, classes on variious parts of our history, as well as organising family tours of museums, film screenings,etc
Checkout the website.
Paul Obinna , hosts various courses which focus on various sections of our history etc. He founded the Black History Timeline check out http://www.hogarth-blake.com/about.html
Other links/people to check out
100Black men website http://www.100bmol.org.uk/1024/index-1024.html Evry month they send out a list of educational/thought provoking events
Kwaku Founder of http://www.britishblackmusic.com/. He also founded the Black British Music Month which takes place every June. He is also associated with http://www.btwsc.com/index.php
Paul Ifayomi Grant. Deals with more the issue of economics in the Black community http://www.houseofknowledge.org.uk/. Join his mailing list and he will keep you updated on his seminars,book releases, etc
Pan Afrikan Society Community Forum
Host seminars evey Friday on various aspects of our history. Currently they have been doing a series on Kwame Nkrumah.
Theyare also responsible for yearly celebrations like African Liberation Day, Marcus Garvey African Family Day, etc. Some of the notes given out on there lecture days can be downloaded from there website
http://pascf.org.uk/
Yes we should know about our story and that’s not always the case for everyone. At school they don’t teach to Afro-Caribbean kids their history and this a time in the year where these black kids can be more curious about their roots and others as well.
I would say that it should not happen just once a year in such a short term maybe at different times throughout would have a stronger impact.
BHM is still important: as a means to remind us of our accomplishments; teach our young about their history; promote understanding amongst other communities; and help the growing number of dual heritage children out there learn important aspects of their heritage.
You begin to really appreciate the importance of BHM when you’re outside of London. In Colchester, we have a small but growing number of BHM events lined up. The response from everyone has been really good so far and it’s an opportunity to build on this to be even bigger in coming years.
Dominic
Colchester African Caribbean Community group
Looks like many of us are grateful for this so called black history month that is given to us 1 month very year.
What is Black History?
If it’s that foolishness of slavery and colonialism then that is not black history, that like writing an autobiography of an 100 year old great man and only telling us about the point of [deleted by admin] into his mother’s womb.
If you know your-story and yourself, you will overstand that there is no need for Black History, because Your-story is the world’s History.
To answer the above posed questions; Yes I do, Yes it is, Yes it should & should be replaced with Black history Season, By running free courses on things like ancient civilisations, languages etc & have better mainstream media publicity so ALL can become aware of the Truth, also take the emphasis off of slavery. Finally, the only thing I’ve seen so far that has sparked my interest is an event at Leicester Square on Sunday 18th. Peace Family
Black History is crucial if we want to be one of the living and leading communities in the UK(and not only: we need to tell our story to the world and show off how much we contribute to humanity altoghether. It is important that people can identify us because of our history and not just because of our skin colour. On top of that, it’s a way to remain conscious of where we come from to have a clearer idea of where we’re going. Our history is to be made by us and told by us.
We need Black History Year…or Black History 24/7. Do we have white history month…NO. This is because so called white/European history is in our faces everyday, in school, at work, on TV etc. This is why our children grow up thinking Black people did nothing but be slaves, white people are “better”, smarter or more beautiful. This is far from the Truth. I was listening to Bob Marley ‘Get up Stand up’ yesterday; he said “Half the Story has Never been told!”, he was right; that’s OUR half. There is too much Black History which is World; “Civilisation” history out there to be condensed into ONE measly month…What an insult to us, our ancestors and our children.
Black history month is dead in Birmingham!!! The city really doesn’t support the movement – read this article and you will see what’s happening.
I’m happy for everyone who’s currently thrilled by Staffordshire’s Anglo Saxon hoard, now on show at Birmingham Museum. As a (mostly) ex promoter, I simply can’t stop my heart from beating faster when I see punters queuing outside a venue! And I know how hard it is to get a line of people forming outside a municipal building. We learned this cajoling, compelling and hopefully inspiring over 70,000 souls into Punch’s touring exhibitions over the last five years. Currently we’re showing “Art’s Own Kind – Lemi Ghariokwu and the Art of Afrobeat” over in Leicester. It’s great that there’s a queue to see the Staffs Hoard – that people are excited and inspired by an aspect of our regional culture and heritage. But the same people were lining up for “Turner” and for “Burne-Jones”, the City’s crowd pleasers in years gone by. So I know what it means when I say – just when exactly is Birmingham City Council going to start putting its weight behind Black History Month 2009? And I mean real weight!!
When do we start pleasing the really big crowds – the ones who aren’t there, the ones who want to see something different? Do we have to get a metal detectorist down to Handsworth, to unearth Apache Indian’s first gold tooth, or lock on to Steel Pulse’s forgotten cymbal set? It’s Black History Month, and there should be real effort – and real funding – to help promote the treasures left to us by Birmingham’s Black cultural achievers. Maybe our leaders are simply unaware of the market value of our cultural, musical, social and political legacy. Maybe we need an external evaluator for this hoard too, to remind us all what it’s worth. I recommend you all enjoy the treasures of Black History Month for yourselves. You won’t need a metal detector to unearth information from the Drum (www.the-drum.org.uk) and Punch (www.punch-records.co.uk) We have South Africa’s top Jazz diva Simphiwe Dana, US soul stalwart Eric Roberson and a showing of the controversial Deen Tight documentary, all this month.
I can hear you saying that there’s no money in the Council’s kitty for this, because we spent it on the new website, or that Clive Dutton is leaving so no-one will know what to do. But that won’t wash; here in the Post we’ve already heard corporate voices mumbling of the millions they’ll raise to keep the treasure in Birmingham, for us and for our children. But of course, it’s not ours – it belongs to the people of Staffordshire – and their Lord Lieutenant wants it back!Of course, like all national treasures it belongs to the British people. We won’t lose by having to catch a train to see something that last year we didn’t know existed. What I say is this – give the Greeks back their marbles, the Egyptians back their treasures, the Maoris back their grandparents and the Staffs back their gold. Then let’s work to make Birmingham’s Black History Month the best in the UK
I am an African American who visited London for the first time in July. I was very much interested in visiting Brixton and meeting Black Britons and though I did both, one disappointment was the lack of places to go that caters to sharing British Black History.
It is more than important, it is vital to have Black History Month! If at no other time in the year, there should be at least one month where your history is purposefully shared and celebrated. My visit to Brixton revealed the extent that gentrification is washing away the vibration of Black culture in an area I imagined to be like New York’s Harlem. As a native New Yorker, I am witnessing how gentrification is washing away Harlem’s vibration and I can only be grateful we at least have museums that cater to preserving our history in some sense. Unless I spoke to the wrong Black Britons, I found there to be no institution/place where your history is preserved and shared. If this is so, Black History Month must continue; you must dedicate this time to celebrate and remember your beauty and struggles. The older Black British History gets the more important it becomes. Young people cannot be expected to live up to a legacy they know nothing about.
I would love to come back to London during BHM and learn your history! Keep it alive!!!!!
Yes we do need a Black History Month throughout the African Diaspora. Unfortunately as long as the “other” history continues to be taught in our schools, churches and other venues the need for this special month is needed.
We must not labor under the illusion that Black History Month is a meaningless and frivolous time. We must respect, but not be overly concerned of others’ cultures for we have a lot to do to uplift, and keep up, our proud African culture and traditions.
We must maintain the tradition of Black History Month!
OF course we do! It’s a little reminder in our head that we need to be proud of our culture, and even within the black community to open our minds to other communities within the African diaspora. So it is and will always be relevant. Think about all communities who are always talked about and who make sure that no one forgets their history and praise their culture, if we don’t no one will do that for us so keep BHM alive!