Posted by Min. Paul Scott (minps) on 1/28/2003, 10:11 pm Min. Paul Scott Black History Month has become a corporate sponsored It is also an attempt to show us that the days of If you believe the sugar coated version of his-story, Even as uncompromisingly gangsta as Hip Hop is The TRUTH is that no one can tell our story but us. I We must be clear that Black History is more than a Unfortunately, the sole purpose of commercialized So, this month I will not be celebrating Black History No, I wont be singing any ole negro spirituals this Min. Paul Scott is the founder of the Durham, NC based
205.188.208.10
De-fanging a Black Panther:
the blacking out of Black History
There was a time when I would look forward to Black
History Month. February was the one time when the
happy -go- lucky white families on the sitcoms got
bumped by the Martin Luther King Story. Also, Ms.
Crabtree would take a break from talking about
Christopher Columbus long enough to remind me and my
4th grade homies that if we worked hard and stayed out
of trouble we could invent the next formula for Soul
Glo Afro Sheen and become rich and famous. Yeah, those
were the good ole days but as BB King would say, the
thrill is gone.
Black Hypocrisy Month. What was supposed to be a
celebration to give Black folks a sense of pride and
purpose now reinforces the idea that our Black
ancestors had no history, culture or civilization
until the good white man rescued our triflin',
backwards behinds from dark Africa.
slavery and Jim Crowism werent really that bad. To
hear white America tell it, the enslaved Africans
were perfectly happy rappin Jimmy crack corn and I
dont care to the beat of the swinging of a whip. And
the whippings would not even had been necessary if it
wasnt for a few rebel rousers like Nat Turner, who
made it hard for everybody else. In the mind of
mainstream America the slave ship was a virtual Love
Boat, complete with jacuzzis and Promenade deck with
Shaka Isaac serving cocktails at the bar.
there was never a real resistance movement during the
Civil Rights Era. After all, the March on Washington
was really just a group of friends who decided to get
together for a little stroll. Malcolm X was only doing
a stand up comedy routine when he said the ballot or
the bullet and although the so called Black militants
said burn baby burn it was only in a symbolic sense.
supposed to be, it to has become a victim of white
de-radicalization. While at the height of the Pro
Black Rap Era, it was said that it would take a nation
of millions to hold us back, today an elderly white
man with a check book can make a whole movement come
to a complete stop. The sound of urban unrest has
disintegrated into some multi cultural, party all the
time-ish, mumbo jumbo, so much so that a blond haired
white boy could become to symbol of class resistance
in 2003.
wonder how proud the president of the white
corporation that is the proud sponsor of Black
History Month would be if he thought that the
company's black history program was inspiring the
entry level brothas in the mailroom to start a
rebellion. Or inspiring the sistas in the secretarial
pool to march on the board room and demand equal
opportunity.
play or a television program. It is the realization
that there has never been, in the history of mankind,
an atrocity worst than the Afrikan Holocaust. It must
serve as a constant reminder that we must carry on the
struggle of our ancestors to LIBERATE our people and
anything less is a complete mockery of their
sacrifices of blood, sweat and tears.
Black History Month seems to be to establish
reconciliation among the races (as if we were ever
conciliated in the first place) and to promote
racial understand. It seems that we are forever having
to prove ourselves worthy to live on the same planet
with white folks. The dominant sentiment seems to be,
if they understood us they would like us. As the front
of my 1990 throwback black Bart Simpson t-shirt says,
sometimes it is a Black Thing You Wouldnt
Understand and I ,for one, do not intend to spend
another month trying to beg white America to
understand me.
Month but Black Resurrection Month, with the hope that
we will begin to resurrect our TRUE history from the
grave in which white America has buried it.
year but I will be singing the 2003 remix, We Shall
Overcome
by any means necessary. (I just thought Id
add a little somethin somethin' on the end)
New Righteous Movement. He can be reached at
minpaulscott@yahoo.com.
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