Black History Died with Martin Luther King Jr.

Or at least this is what society would have us believe. Prior to Dr. King's grand entrance onto the public stage, George Washington Carver invented peanuts, Harriet Tubman worked in a train station, and blacks weren't treated so kindly by whites. Then came the glorious pinnacle of black society, a short Southern preacher with a booming voice and a charismatic personality. In him resided the entire wealth of black culture, dignity, and potential...and then he was assassinated and Black America deteriorated into an amalgamation of booty shaking, gang violence, and UPN that is not worth even mentioning as a footnote in a textbook.

Yes, in the four decades since King's death there has been nothing of note in the black community. I was surprised to discover this last month when I was informed that the piece I was prepared to read for my school’s African American history program was not going to make it on to the video. I selected some excerpts from Huey Newton's To Die For the People in the hopes that I would expose others to a segment of Black history that is so often overlooked. I'm sure that everyone here is familiar with Mr. Newton and some of the positive work he did in the black community. Granted there were many negative events in the man's life, but to deny that he did not play a significant role in black history is to spit on the efforts of an entire generation. Also, I challenge anyone to find a public figure that does not have one or two skeletons in their closet (Dr. King included).

The decision to have my piece cut came directly from my principal (I’m withholding her name), who felt that in light of a recent incident involving a school dance group's performance and negative depictions of police officers, it was best not to allow me to read Mr. Newton's work. While disappointed, I can understand why she made her decision, at least from an administrative point of view. However I take issue with her objection on two accounts. The first being that the excerpts mentioned police officers twice, neither one advocates violence against police officers, they simply mention that blacks have historically been harassed by them. My second qualm is with her statement that the work is not positive. In her eyes, and I’m sure in the eyes of many Americans, "positive" constitutes the "I have a Dream Speech", a rather hackneyed black history month tradition. Frankly I'm not sure how they got through black history week (later month) before Dr. King made the speech. Not to diminish the importance of the speech, but I do believe that there have been other addresses (lots of them made by King himself) that are of great importance as well.

What annoys me to no great end about this entire ordeal, is this idea that there is some acceptable form of black history, as if it is okay to ignore those aspects of history that make us uncomfortable. In an age where black youths are more concerned with rims than with education, in a country where African-American men are more likely to end up in prison than in college, and in a time when African-Americans have more opportunity than ever before, the messages of Huey Newton, Malcolm X, and others are needed more now than ever before. The students at my high school, and many schools around the nation need to be reminded that black history is supposed to empower and uplift us, it is supposed to restore a sense of pride in our community that is rapidly fading away.

no....

Instead of creating a program that incorporates all aspects of black history, the school was given a watered down mush of gospel music and Dr. King. We will continue to portray black history as a series of hymns and Negro spirituals, we will continue to pretend that all became well when Dr. King uttered those famous words.

But if I may remind of us of Huey Newton's words for just a moment: " We, with all of our numbers are recognized with no one. In fact, we do not even recognize ourselves. We are unaware of the potential power latent in our numbers..."

And we shall continue to be unaware of this power as long as Black History is regulated to the same old speeches and spirituals. I suppose it's irrelevant though, we have little to look forward to anyway, because Black History died with Martin Luther King jr.