I Wanted to Share Knowledge of Black History, In Return I Get This!

I've always felt that the younger generations of children of color are not well educated when it comes to their history; society today is so hell-bent on erasing prejudice that they are also erasing something very important that young people need to have: a sense of their own identity, knowledge of who they come from and what their ancestors accomplished. It amazes me that most young people don't know who some of the most famous people in Black History are, and even if they recognize the name, they have no concept of the importance of that person life in relation to their own. Sure, they know the story of Rosa Parks, but how many of them really understand what it was she did? How many young people know who Dred Scott was? Or who Emmett Till was?  How many can tell you about the three young men who disappeared in Mississippi for helping black people to vote? (And they were not all of color!) Or about the four little girls killed in a church bombing?

I'm saying all this to sort of explain why I started doing 'The Little Known Black History Fact'. I have heard people on various radio stations and in print do them on occasion, and I found that I was learning about a lot of people and events that I knew nothing about (and I'm 50+!); if I didn't know about them I'm quite sure a lot of younger people didn't either. Hence, my choice to do it, partly because I love learning and partly because I'm hoping that others will learn some of these facts and keep history alive for our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on. I'm not racist, I'm not prejudiced; I just want our children to know who they are! I want them to remember the past so it will not be repeated.

I got a message from someone I've considered (for years) to be a friend. She's also a blogger, and a popular one, so I'm thinking wow, someone giving me a review!! Imagine my shock when the message read "Your just so black."  That was it. No lol, no j/k, no nothing, just that one line. When I caught my breath, I began to try to make excuses; after all, she was a friend, so she didn't mean anything bad or hurtful by it, right? I couldn't come up with anything remotely innocent or humorous in it at all. Saying that to me made me feel like she thought I was being 'too' black; i.e. militant, angry, a revolutionary type. Just So Black. Makes me feel like this house nigga has fallen from grace and been denigrated to the fields...

So then I replied asking if she had a problem with that, I got no response. I don't know if I should be happy or not.

I wanted to share some little known knowledge! The month of February is not enough time to teach all the things that so many people of color have done. I wanted to give people a few small facts to hopefully make them proud of themselves, and look what I get in return… Sad.