Reflections on Black History Month

When I think of Black History Month, I reflect upon all the influential black individuals who came before me.

?I think of all the hardship and humiliation that they would have endured, so that everyone who followed would be in a better position. I think about all the individuals who lost their lives in the ongoing fight for freedom; many whose stories we will never hear. I think of people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Viola Desmond, Willie O’Ree, William Hall, Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks and countless others. I ask myself, would I have had the courage to endure what they endured? I would like to believe the answer to this question is yes, but I may never know.

When I think of Black History Month, I think of all the influential, strong, loving, and resourceful black women in my life who helped shape the man that I have become today. I think of my aunts and my cousins, who never let me forget where I came from or the man they had envisioned I would be. I think of my mother. A person who set a very high standard for me growing up. A lady who never stole a thing in her life or had a mean bone in her body. A lady whose bag would be searched at the end of each of her shifts when she was a cashier at a local grocery store here in Ottawa. As embarrassing as that situation was for her at the time, she endured; what choice did she have? She needed the job … she had a son at home to take care of.

I think of my 9-year-old self who was once asked by another boy on the playground at my elementary school, “Do you know who my favourite actor is? Arnold Schwarze-nigger…get it?” I won’t get into the details of what transpired after this. What I will say, is that standing outside that elementary school with my nose against the brick wall each recess, in the winter, for a week did not bother me one bit. I have had a handful of these types of encounters in my life. As influential as these encounters have been for me, in shaping my perspective, I know they are nothing compared to what others before me have had to deal with. For every negative encounter that I have experienced in my life, I have countless positive stories of the kindness, generosity, and selflessness that others have extended my way. Some of which went unknown to me until much later on in my life and will never be forgotten.

When I think of Black History Month, it’s not about focusing on the negative events of the past, but about focusing on the positives of today and a hope for tomorrow. As we move forward as a collective, I hope we begin to focus on the content of a person’s character regardless of their colour; regardless of their race. This is something I try to instill in my three children daily. Love and compassion over hate. At the end of the day, we are all people.

?As the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." Let us all decide, together, to stick with love.”