As Black History Month 2013 comes to an end I reflect on how
far the United States has come in the area of race relations. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the nine African-American
students known as Little Rock Nine and many other pioneers of the Civil rights
movement, risked their lives, spent time in jail and endured brutal beatings in
their fight for equal rights for all mankind.
More than half a century later, our first African-American president, President
Barack Obama, is serving his second term in office. Additionally, we celebrate Rosa Parks, a
seamstress that helped ignite the Civil Rights movement by refusing to give up
her seat to a white man on a segregated bus in Alabama. Her refusal to give up her seat, lead to the
Montgomery bus boycott. This month, Parks
becomes the first black woman to be honored with a life-sized statue on Capitol
Hill.
There’s no doubt
we have made great strides and that deserves to be celebrated. However, I can’t help but think that we have moved
forward just to move backwards when I hear about rapper, Lil’ Wayne making offensive
lyrics about Emmett Till. You ask who is
Emmett Till? He was a 14 year old
African-American from Chicago, IL. In 1955 while visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, Till was accused of flirting with a white woman in a grocery store. Days later, Till was kidnapped by two white men, brutally beat and shot in the face which lead to his death. Till’s mother chose to have an open casket so
that mourners could see her son’s disfigured face. Till’s brutal murder and open casket electrified the
emerging civil rights movement.
Now, I see
several problems with Lil’ Wayne’s actions.
The one that keeps coming back to me every time I hear of his ridiculous
antics is the fact that if it were not for the life of Emmett Till along with
so many others and their sacrifices, Lil’ Wayne would not be where he is
today. The sad irony is that Lil’Wayne
is one of many people who have no idea about their history and the pain and
sacrifice that affords them the life they live. I could go on about the negative effects of
not knowing our history but that’s a blog post for another day. The fact is, this type of behavior by anyone
is not acceptable and should not be tolerated.
We must continue
to celebrate our success but in order to move forward we must hold one another
accountable. There are some people that
will buy Lil’ Wayne’s music in spite of his ignorant, inflammatory lyrics. This
is moving backwards. I realize Lil’ Wayne is not the only one that does these
things. The fact is, this type of behavior by anyone is not acceptable and
should not be tolerated. When we support
anyone, regardless of their race, that goes against what is right and what we
believe in, we support them and their stance.
In the words of Mahatma Ghandi, “You must be the change you wish to see
in the world.”
Until next time, I hope you have been encouraged, empowered, enriched and enlightened.
Peace and blessings,
Cherlisa