Black History Month Informative Speech

Let's hit the snooze button on Black History Month.
Since 1926 there has been some parts of February recognized for black people around the nation. From Negro History Week invented by the black historian Carter G Woodson to Black History Month created by the Kent State Black Student Union, there has always been some recognition in the 20th century. As of 1976, February has been recognized as Black History month. From that point on, BHM has been 28 days of white people singing kumbaya to black people around the nation and playing the ¨I Have a Dream Speech¨ on replay. But underneath all of the stupidity, BHM is a big “I’m sorry” message to blacks from most white people. If Black History month is an apology, it would take more than a mere 28 days to tell us blacks that. If
you ask me, white people need at least three hundred years for any apology to be taken seriously, because that's how long my ancestors were in bondage on this foreign continent.
For those of you saying, ¨We need to get over this, slavery was so long ago,¨ remember that it took another hundred years or so for most black people to have the ability to read and write. Before the alphabet tortured people of color because they did not understand it. Me sitting behind my laptop typing an essay about making a change in the way we celebrate black culture is a blessing in itself! Getting past this is harder than it looks, because we are constantly reminded that this nation was built on the backs of our ancestors. For example, almost every large city on the eastern seaboard was built on the backs of your five great-grandfathers, who then was just the average negro. As masters whip breathed life into to cities just because of the fear it instilled in slaves. Wall Street, where a lot of Americans make money in real time, was built hundreds of years ago by slaves along with the whole city plan of New York City was built by slaves and so was broadway. As you sit in a theatre on broadway just know that the
beautiful paintings in the ceiling or that ornate brick design outside was not built by an artist they were built by a human who was not paid a single cent for it (Young). They were even forced to build a wall to keep out Indians (Young). The Universities of North Carolina, Virginia, and a lot of other southern Universities were built by slaves. Their blood, sweat and tears are literally embedded into the foundation of where the heads of our government and lawmakers have twitter wars as we speak because all of Washington even the city plan was made by slaves. It’s a mockery! We are reminded of our past every waking hour, when all we have to do is call an older relative to remenace life when black people couldn't live certain neighborhoods or go to a certain restaurant. Back in those times “Whites only” signs spat insults just by being there. It is comical how we are not reminded of white people massacuring black in Tulsa, Oklahoma on black wall street. It’s almost like some people control the information we know about our own people. Like we are bred into ignorance.
Even though it was only about sixty years ago, and some might say even now, negros were killed in the streets for one thing. Melanin. How can one chemical make someone so powerful or so worthless? It makes no sense! So before you say get over it, just realize it's a big pill to swallow. Malcolm X once said, “History proves that the white man is a devil.” I don’t disagree. To this day, black people are still on the lowest rung of the racial ladder.
“But what can I really do? I’m white, so this has nothing to do with me. I will stick to singing kumbaya”. Those of you saying that, it might not the case. According to a 23andme study,¨23andMe customers found that around 5,200, or roughly 3.5 percent, of 148,789 self-identified European Americans had 1 percent or more African ancestry, meaning they had a probable black ancestor going back about six generations or less¨. This study was in 2014 and many more people have entrusted their saliva with this genealogy company, meaning that your two great grandfathers might have been passing as white to get a job and ended up pretending to be white for the rest of his life. But I can not sit here and say ¨Africa forever 100% black Wakanda forever!¨ Because my 23andme results may say that I am eligible to join the Choctaw Native American tribe or that I own an island in the Pacific. This shows how saliva speaks a million words that have not been spoken. The concept of being just black and white is now archaic, and we all need to accept the fact that beige is the new everything.
In terms of change, all I want is black culture to be more widely understood in schools across the country. Or not have a black history month because everyday black people should be recognized. We could help solve this problem by adding black culture, black inventors, and history chapters in the middle of the history books. I say the middle of the book because in my entire school experience, never have any of my social studies classes gotten to the back of the history book so the black chapter being in the middle of the book probably makes sure that the school year finishes strong with a chapter on black excellence. An education of racial diversity is what this country needs to cut down on so many problems that we face.
For all of you thinking I’m a black man mad at the things that have gone wrong in the past and I’m ¨militant¨ for thinking this way. I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed.