Martin Luther King Jr. marching to freedom’s dream. PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRITANNICA.COM AND JEDIHEART.COM

Happy Black History Month!

February has arrived and it is time to celebrate Black history. Black history is world history, and in many respects American history would not exist if it were not for the strength and backs of the African enslaved and their descendants.

But this very language always has been under attack. The truth. There are forces in this country that would love nothing more than to erase the history of the enslaved and their significant contributions to the foundation of American society from the libraries and consciousness of future generations. The United Daughters of the Confederacy were able to successfully repackage and sell the public “alternative facts” regarding the Civil War, or the War Between the States It occurred because the American South was staunch in its belief that the institution of slavery was a fundamental and legal right that should not be challenged or abolished. The right to be the master and keeper of another human for personal and economic purposes was viewed as God-given and how dare anyone threaten to suspend that way of life.

That type of deviant criminality, narcissistic and evil, was the true catalyst that lit the fire of the Civil War. The Southern states seceded from the Union, rebelled against the Constitution of the United States and became their own entity.

When the Union won the bitter and bloodiest war in American history, bringing the rebellious states back into the fold, the abolishment of slavery became a reality.

But the criminality of the institution and the inhumanity of its culprits were not adequately eradicated because the racist attitudes of an entire culture prevailed. The Daughters of the Confederacy which comprised the wives, widows, and family members of Confederate soldiers, collectively decided that the diabolical and insidious institution and those who fought and died to preserve the right to enslave other human beings deserved to be celebrated and memorialized.

So, from the late 1890s to the 1950s, this group of White women erected more than 700 monuments across the South and other parts of the United States that venerated these so-called “heroes,” effectively changing the narrative, replacing the truth with “alternative facts.” Generations of children were taught a kind of American history that created “heroes” of sadists and masochists, serial killers, and perpetuators of mass genocide. One group was able to promulgate a myth in the social consciousness that has yet to die.

Think about it. Fast forward to the year 2024. One group is making a formidable attempt to take up the cause of the Daughters of the Confederacy and once again change the narrative. This time the plan is not localized to the South. This group plans to take their message into every school district in America. Moms For Liberty, which was founded in Melbourne, Fla. in 2021, now has 278 chapters in 45 states according to the Brookings Institute, with more than 100,000 members, not exclusively White women. There are Moms For Liberty chapters that boast Black men and women and other minorities as members.

The key point to keep in mind is that even though there may be misguided minorities within its ranks, Moms For Liberty are nothing more than a hate group that wishes to indoctrinate America’s children with the propaganda of the Southern “cause.” That propaganda specifies that the belief system of White Americans, so called “patriots,” are superior to any other thought process or intelligence. The group is sowing seeds of the “Old South” by going into school libraries across the nation and removing or banning books that they deem unfit for America’s children to read. Books written by Blacks, Jews, the LGBTQIA, and other authors on a wide range of subjects that help to educate and spark the intellect of inquisitive youth are being removed and labeled “unfit.”

When a book is banned or removed from a school library or classroom, a message is replacing that book – namely that the only history that matters is the one according to White Americans, whitewashed for the consumption of white children to continue generational or systemic racism, and to feed Black children and children of other minorities that they are inferior and born to a life of subjugation.

That is why Black History month is important. There are definitive forces that have congregated to “make American great again” and the greatness that they seek are the foul traditions of the “old South” and the “rebel cause” that uplifted the myth of white supremacy. The only way to challenge the battle for the minds of future generations is to educate ourselves and our youth.

This Black History Month, make a diligent effort to seek and purchase books of any genre by Black authors. Support your local Black businesses. Dedicate time with your children in activities about Black history.

Most importantly, read and support Black-owned media. Make Black history come alive this month, and every month.