It is Black History Month. Black. History. Month. With all of the craziness that is coming out of Washington, this fact has been overshadowed. The only acknowledgements from our new administration have been about the great things that Frederick Douglass is doing nowadays and the misspelling of W.E.B. duBois's name in a tweet from the Department of Education no less. But listen, it isn't the government's responsibility to instill in our children the history that is ours. The responsibility … Read More »
Dear Daughter: “Black is Beautiful” Doesn’t Mean Everyone Else is Ugly.
This weekend, for my twentieth reunion from Spelman, I got a super-cute t-shirt from Procter and Gamble's My Black is Beautiful campaign in my swag bag. From the moment my twelve year-old saw the t-shirt she was in love with it. It is a simple black tee with white writing..."My Black is Beautiful." Simple and harmless enough, right? No. On the Monday after the reunion, my daughter asked me to wear the shirt to school. I threw a tantrum. It is mine. I hadn't even worn it yet. It still … Read More »
Talk Time: The Tubman Twenty Makes My Daughter Nervous
Last week was a lot, okay? It was a...lot. In case you missed it....sit down...Prince died. But something else historical happened on last Thursday morning. I woke up and heard the Good Morning America folks talking about Harriet Tubman being on the new twenty dollar bill in 2020. Wait a minute...whuh? I walked around that morning in a state of disbelief a little bit...a happy disbelief...but disbelief. Before I started working for the day, I wanted to blog on my thoughts about it and … Read More »
Avoid the Black History Drive-Thru: It’s Not Healthy!
Ok y’all. Black History Month is almost over. Are you feeling accomplished in your child’s learning and exposure? Are you feeling under accomplished? Are you indifferent? Over the years, for fear of being “offensive” or too “militant”, schools have watered Black History down into the “Black History Drive-thru.” The little kids come home with their Black History “cut and paste” projects. Middle and high schoolers might have to write a paper or something. Some … Read More »
