Paul Riley Black History Month Speech

Transcription

1 Paul Riley Black History Month Speech When I think about the Month of February, I think about a few things. For millions of football fans and commercial lovers, it is the month in which sit around the TV and watch The Super Bowl. February is also the month where we express our love to one another, on Valentine s Day, through cards, chocolate and roses. For others, you see February as the last real month of winter and you look forward to the warmer climate that the month of March brings. What many of you may not realize is that February is also the month in which we celebrate Black History. It is a time where we remember and commemorate the lives of blacks who continue to have a positive and significant impact on society. Now that all of you know what I will be talking about today, there are three groups that have just formed within this chapel. One group is happy that I am talking about Black History, one group is indifferent, meaning that they don t care what my speech is about, and one group is simply annoyed and irritated. They are wondering why we continue to talk about Black History and why we focus on things that have happened in the past. No matter what group you may find yourself in, I hope that you will listen to what I have to say today. When I think about Black History Month, I think about three things: Relevance, Reiteration and Reality. I feel that in order for Black History Month to continue to have significance, these three things have to be addressed. Relevance: something that is current and something that people feel connected to. In a day and age where technology is at the forefront of society, relevance is very important. One day something could be a media hit, for example the homeless man with the unique voice, and the next day forgotten. I feel that this same thing has happened to Black History Month. Today we see things like Jim Crow and the Civil

2 Rights Movement as distant memories and as things that have happened so long ago, as if it were ancient history. We can sit in class and watch every documentary and read every book on Black History, but many people still do not see it as relevant. Because we live in a society where individualism is stressed and where every person is striving to achieve the American dream, we are constantly focusing on our future, while simultaneously forgetting our past. We as a community must find ways to preserve our history so that we can keep the hopes and dreams of those before us, alive and relevant today. I am a strong believer that in order to reach higher heights in the future, we have to use the past as the foundation on which we build off of. The one way that you can keep Black History Month relevant is by continuing to have a dialogue. I didn t truly understand the importance of having a dialogue until I took American Literature in eleventh grade. In this class, we read many books that focused on blacks, like Huckleberry Finn and Their Eyes Were Watching God. In these stories, several issues were addressed, like racism, segregation, and the usage of the N word. I would constantly hear my peers mention how they could not stand reading these books because the words were slurred and cut off, making it difficult to read the text. I feel that this class was effective because it gave students the opportunity to be honest and open about their true feelings. By at least having a dialogue within the class, it allowed for people to hear other people s persepectives on topics that are often not talked about, like race for example. I feel that we now live in a day and age of extreme political correctness, where people have become afraid to share their thoughts and where people shy away from talking about touchy topics. In order for us to progress as a community, we have to begin having these conservations, and we have to break through the wall of uneasiness so that we can understand each other better and so that we can become a community that is aware of the issues of all of its members. #2 Reiteration: the act of repeating something over and over again. We reiterate something to instill it in the minds of others, to paint an image or picture in someone s mind, and to emphasize our

3 point. I feel that with Black History Month we have reiterated the same things over and over again. We have all learned about Martin Luther King, Jr., the leader of the Civil Rights Movement and Rosa Parks, the woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus. I am in no way, shape, or form trying to devalue their significant contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and Black History Month, but I feel that Black History Month should also shine a light on the blacks who have had a significant impact on the way that we live life. People like Frederick Jones who invented a refrigeration system for long haul trucks in 1935, Henry Sampson, who was awarded a patent in 1971 for a gammaelectrical cell which could send and receive audio signals and which was like a pre modern cell phone. W.B. Purvis who received a patent for the fountain pen in 1890, when he saw the need for a better and more efficient way to sign letters and documents. I am pretty sure that these people like Martin Luther King Jr., had a dream, whether out of curiosity or necessity, and had faith and a strong belief that they were capable of achieving things, which were considered innovative and revolutionary for their time. We must reiterate the fact that blacks offered an array of things to society. There were blacks who were activist, who were inventors and blacks who played a significant part when they participated in Bus Boycotts and when they marched through the streets calling for social justice and equality. Lastly, Reality. When I learned about Black History, it was always in a general sense. I learned about how Blacks fought against segregation and Jim Crow and how they overcame obstacles in order to achieve the common goal of equal opportunity. The problem that I have is that I do not feel that we as students are being taught enough. When we learn about black history, we have to learn that blacks were struck down by water hoses, and that the people who were supposed to be protecting blacks, the police officers, were the ones aiming the water hoses. We must learn how blacks were lynched, and sometimes skinned and burned alive. We must learn that food was thrown on blacks when they demanded to sit and be served together at white only diners. We must

4 also learn about Freedom Rides, where blacks risked their lives as they traveled to the South to test the effectiveness of a ruling that outlawed racial segregation in terminals serving interstate buses. We must learn about the Little Rock 9, a group of nine students who faced opposition from the Governor and the National Guard as they tried to enter Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. All of the aforementioned examples show hope. Hope that they could one day receive the same education as their white counterparts. Hope that a brighter day was right around the corner. Hope for a day where love would conquer the segregation and overt racism that plagued America. They also had faith. Faith in themselves. Faith that what they were doing was not in vain. Faith to endure the hard times that they faced. Most importantly, Faith that God would watch over and protect them as they fought to right the wrongs of society. When we learn about history, we must learn about the good, the bad, and the ugly. We must learn from our past, so that we don t repeat the same mistakes in the future. Black History Month is so much more than just commemorating the lives of blacks who did something amazing, extraordinary, and revolutionary. It is also about recognizing the significance of a race coming together to fight for the rights that they knew they so richly deserved. Today, because of the resilience and determination of those before me, I do not have to endure the trials and tribulations that those before me endured. The fact that I am even speaking in front of you today, shows how far we have come as a nation and it shows how the faith, hope and determination of those before me has given me so many great opportunities today. Although we have made progress, we must continue to fight to ensure that justice and equality prevail because, as MLK put it, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We, as a community, can talk and talk and talk and talk, but I am a strong believer that actions speak louder than words. You can do your part by accepting the differences in others, by treating everyone with kindness and respect, and by striving to make a difference, whether big or small.

5 Black History Month gives us the opportunity to acknowledge and recognize those people who have made a difference. It does not take much to make a difference. All you need are ears to hear the voices of others, a heart that is willing to serve, and a voice that is willing to speak up for what you believe in. Thank You.