By: Rev. Gerald D. Adams
The time has come again to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of people of African descent to the ongoing life of a America. It is the celebration of a nation within a nation.
Jews are instructed in their holy book to teach their children the history of their nation. They are to do it diligently so that the generations now and generations to come will not only know who they are but whose they are. All over the world dispersed Jews are nations within nations who never forget to reaffirm themselves and to pause at designated times during the year to celebrate themselves.
In America, people of color must adopt this attitude. We must reaffirm our oneness and celebrate. We have the month of February as a time set aside to celebrate. We have but to familiarize ourselves with our history. We will have to do it as a people. Parents, churches, educators, politicians and others who impact our circumstances must help us to arm ourselves for affirmation. We must become intimately involved with our places as trailblazing inventors, musical geniuses, intellectual giants, knowledgeable politicians and prepared artist. No area of life in which we are involved should be foreign to us.
As a nation within a nation we must teach our children to stand and to celebrate. We are black and we must be proud. We must learn from our history the ability to survive. We must reaffirm the blessings of our past and out present. We must stop apologizing for who we are. Historically, we could never be just as good as, we always had to be better than.
Websites such as:BlackAmericaWeb.com, Biography.com and gopher.com will teach us facts about ourselves. If you are into the printed word, there are Colin A. Palmer’s six volume, Encyclopedia of African American History and Culture, Paul Finkelman’s five volumes by the same name or Lerone Bennett’s, Before the Mayflower. There are also local and regional publications such as Black Dallas Remembered, and Facts about Blacks published by the Urban League in certain cities. All of these will tell us our story with which we must become conversant. Then, when February rolls around, we will be ready not only to celebrate but to encourage others to join us.
It is our right to glory in our legacy and to reaffirm our nationhood within America. God bless us one and all.
