As you all know, my skin is white so obviously I am white and I do acknowledge that I have that privilege whether I want it or not as it’s a given based on my ethnicity so the only as far I can do is to say that I do also recognize that the United States and many of other countries have a huge problem with racism even to this day. The black people suffers oppression everyday by the very same color that I have on my skin which is something that I am very ashamed of, even though I do everything I can do to support black people through activism and to pass their voices on around in hope that I can or at least hope that we can bring more awareness of what is going on in this world on racism issues. I have thought over and over about if I should or should not write a blog post about the black history month because it never will be my place to do so as I am white but at the same time I feel that I would also be bothered not to do so as I want to echo that for the ones who oppress black people are the lowest of the low in the eyes of mine. It is unacceptable, especially that it is 2019 and to see how the people who have the same color as my skin still to this day are being racist and not be willing to become an ally because as I would always say that the different color of skins that every one of have are just a coat that we wear because inside of us all are the same. Black people have suffered for centuries, from the beginning of the slavery era and still to this day.
I have read and watched several stories and videos of the black people sharing their story or history about their people which is powerful even I or most of us never will understand it because we aren’t them. Like Martin Luther King JR famously quoted “I Have A Dream”, they share the very same dream as Martin Luther King JR did and still to this day, we never have given them the dream that they asked for which is a shame thing for us. Why did they must fight for that dream, fight for their place in this world and fight for to be viewed equally as we? They should never have to do that in the first place because we should never create something, a system that can only benefit the people who have the same color of a skin that I have and none for others who have a different coat? As for the “white supremacist” people, I can never understand why it is so important that they must be the superior or have that nonsense power? In the United States, we never were the first, so I don’t see what’s a big deal of that, considering that this belonged to indigenous people and we robbed them of their lands. They are people, black people are people and we are people – let’s accept that can’t we?
I can remember when I was a child, one of my mother’s best friend was a beautiful black woman named Nancy who lived in the city of Williamson in West Virginia and we would often visit her house to spend our time there or sometimes my mother would need to do some errands Nancy would babysit me when I was a child. I looked up to her, in these eyes at a very young age of a child I saw a beautiful person and never thought anything over the fact that she is black until a few years later when I have heard from few of other people saying, “that black woman, Nancy”. I never understood what they meant “black woman” with a name Nancy, she would have a few of her friends which has the same color as hers and that is when I noticed that they are a group of another ethnicity just as I would see native people or others but I never thought that there are a lot of people who have the very same color skin as mine oppress them and slaved them several years ago until a much later down the road when I started seeing some news or watch some movies talking about slavery or stories on slavery. My thought was that, that such beautiful woman who’s named Nancy who I knew of since I was a child, that her generations went through that and I was so heartbroken by the fact that the very same color of my skins does such thing to them. The terror that they put them through, it was horrible and ever since I learned about the racism issues that is going on in this world, I feel so ashamed. So ashamed to know that the people who have same colors as my skin do such thing to other people who have the same color skins as this beautiful lady named Nancy that I looked up to growing up. Couldn’t believe it, I never will understand it because it was so cruel for the things that they have put them through and still to this day it is so cruel that it sickens me. Nancy, if you ever happen to come across this article – I always will love you.
The moral of this is, it should never happen and still to this day it needs to not be happening. I always will be an ally to them, not just the African people but also the native people and many of other people who only have different coats on them but remind ourselves daily that inside us is the same. This is their platform, this is their time and be their ally. Even our past generations, especially during the slavery era, did them wrong does not mean that we should too and that we should do something about the racism that is going on in present and future generations of us. Listen to them, allow them to share their experiences and their history because this is their month – black history month as it is every February.
Here are a few links that I think you should read, so to learn about black history month and the people. There are so many amazing stories, histories, lectures, their experiences shared and others that you can find using the search engines!
https://www.nbda.org/content/black-deaf-history
https://abcnews.go.com/US/history-black-history-month/story?id=60922761
http://longisland.news12.com/story/39936552/black-history-month-keeping-spinney-hills-legacy-alive
https://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/
https://africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/about/
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-facts
https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackHistoryMonth
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States
Joshua “Joshie” Sullivan
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