Commentary by Deja Davis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBlack culture should be represented not only during Black History Month but every single day because it is too rich.<\/p>\n
We deserve that much as African-Americans and definitely those before us, especially in the south.<\/p>\n
I love to see our leaders who fought for freedom honored daily for doing the \u201cnormal everyday things,\u201d because it is a constant reminder that we were more than their work.<\/p>\n
They were real people like us who sacrificed so much for liberation and it is motivating to see that we can do it too.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, it seems as though our generation now believes that Black History is losing its relevance and it has been a major concern for a while.<\/p>\n
We see very few programs here and there, and even fewer in schools today. It is not stressed enough how it should be, especially to children.<\/p>\n
My initial exposure to black culture took place at my home. My parents made sure that I knew and learned something new around me and could recite the information I learned back to them. From black history research papers, programs, tours were prominent back then to make us excited to learn about us as a people.<\/p>\n
I can remember graduating from high school knowing that I wanted to attend a HBCU but not knowing which one.<\/p>\n
Once I learned the history of my Dear Ole College Home, Jackson State I was immediately sold.<\/p>\n
The summer of July 2016, I came on campus for the college tour and was fascinated with the Gibbs\/Green plaza, not knowing the history behind it.<\/p>\n
It made me want to research more about my institution feeling empowered about the traditions, the diverse atmosphere, the feeling of having a second home, and of course the black excellence that came with it.<\/p>\n
I will never forget sitting in a class my junior year of college around this same time, hearing a student express that they were tired of seeing and hearing the same thing every year about Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X to name a few.<\/p>\n
It was disheartening and very disappointing because why should we ever get tired of it?<\/p>\n
Our leaders didn\u2019t. They continued to make a difference and were eager to pass the torch to the newer generations.<\/p>\n
Sadly, what has happened is that we are constantly leaning on our social media platforms and our society to feed us knowledge that we should want to learn more about ourselves.<\/p>\n
We need to stop minimizing and start creating a better black future to connect with each other and also continue to pass it on to our children so it does not go unnoticed.<\/p>\n
Keep supporting black businesses and stop becoming intimidated by expressing your true self.<\/p>\n
Wear your natural hair, continue to take risks, embrace your style, and become comfortable being black.<\/p>\n
Black culture is the America\u2019s history. We now have all the tools. Let\u2019s make it a routine to learn something new about ourselves, continue to teach, and strive to keep it going.<\/p>\n
Black people lead culture. Everywhere. Now it is time to own it every day.<\/p>\n
Happy Black History Month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deja Davis Managing Editor \u201cA people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree with no roots.\u201d – Marcus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_plus_post_options":"{}","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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