By: Foyinisi Adegbonmire
Special to the Chronicle

Earlier this week, I was confronted with the reminder that some way, somehow there are still those in these United States of America who fully believe that Black History Month has served its purpose and that the first step in solving the issue of racial tension in this country is getting rid of it. Some even go a step further and believe that we have finally “achieved the integration of black and white history into education.”

Let’s pause there for a second.

Part of the problem here lies in the belief that by mentioning slavery and the Civil Rights movement, schools have done an effective job in teaching black history. Now, while it is important to learn about those aspects of history, it is also just as important to learn about the contributions that black people have made in this country beyond having it built on our free labor. How about educating us about people other than Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks? How about teaching about Assata Shakur and Huey P. Newton? Or that the Black Panthers were not terrorists and nowhere near the level of the KKK and how they actually held many free programs to benefit their communities? How about teaching about Garrett Morgan who invented the traffic light, Daniel Hale Williams who performed the first open heart surgery or Phillis Wheatley who was the first published black woman poet?

The high school I attended not only didn’t teach beyond the standard “slavery equals bad, Civil Rights equals good” route that most teachers employ but there was hardly any mention of black history even during Black History Month. In all my four years at that school, I don’t recall a single program held to commemorate it. At times, it wasn’t even until near the end of February that I realized BHM had already come and was almost gone. My sister attends that same high school now and she can confirm that this is still true. Now I’m sure you’re wondering what backwards middle of the country state that I attended high school in. Guess what? It was in Pennsylvania. Let that sink in.

Another belief that was shared in that dreadfully uninformed op-ed about the uselessness of Black History Month is that so-called holidays like National Pizza Day “get much more hype” on the unarguable basis that the writer’s friends quickly alerted her about it. I won’t even comment on the comparison of black history to pizza. That one speaks volumes for itself. Nor will I ask for receipts on just how many of these friends who were so eager for National Pizza Day were black. I promise you, I won’t. But what I will question is how you can arrive at the conclusion of getting rid of BHM on the reasoning that it didn’t get a lot of “hype” (after all, the BHM Snapchat geofilter wasn’t even available anymore).

Bear with me as we pause again.

Since we’re evidently using completely personal and limited experience for the basis of our entire argument, then I can tell you firsthand that the idea that not enough people were hype for BHM is not true. At all. In fact, this has arguably been the most eventful BHM we’ve had since its creation. There was the release of Beyoncé’s unapologetically black anthem “Formation,” Kendrick Lamar’s performance at this year’s Grammys with songs like “The Blacker The Berry” and “Alright” and so much more. I think anybody who is part of the area of Twitter known as “Black Twitter” will attest to the sense of solidarity experienced this year. But please tell me more about how little hype BHM received.

Supposedly, the existence of BHM only serves as a “reminder of the rift between race relations.” That’s right, a month dedicated to reminding us what black people have done in this country is what contributes to that racial tension. Not the fact that black people are killed by police every eight hours or the fact that people of color are constantly victims of racial profiling or even the fact that there are still instances where black women are punished for wearing their natural hair. Nope it’s definitely the month.

People need to let go of the idea that something that is pro-black or singles out black people to praise them is inherently anti-white or anti any other group. That is simply not true. The month is called Black History Month, not “I hate white people” month. The hashtag is “Black Lives Matter,” not “ONLY Black Lives Matter and screw everyone else.” Sometimes, once in a while, it’s just not about you. Additionally, the way to end racism and racial tensions is not to just “stop talking about it” as if it will magically go away. If only.

There are so many other issues to discuss but the bottom line is that Black History Month is definitely still necessary, as evidenced by the very article saying that it is not. The day everybody realizes this, I will raise my own glass in celebration.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section are those of the authors of the articles. They are not an endorsement of the views of The Chronicle or its staff. The Chronicle does not discriminate based on the opinions of the authors.