“James Baldwin once wrote, in an open letter to Bishop Desmond Tutu, that the fight for Black freedom makes White freedom possible. We will uplift our history. We will protect it. We will promote it. And we will preserve it. We will plant our trees of truth, the ones that tell our story, right beside where they are planting their trees of lies, the ones that seek to erase and distort our story. We will teach our children, future generations, how to choose the path of truth and how to stand tall in moments of adversity, how to bring clarity in moments of confusion, and how to choose and embrace love instead of hate. Black History Month belongs to us—we do not celebrate because they see us, we celebrate because we see ourselves. We do not ask for permission to center ourselves; we write the stories where we are centered, and then we tell that story. We do not sing songs of freedom because they are playing the music; we sing because we are the music makers, and we carry the songs of our ancestors and bring that music to our people. We do not wait for anyone to write our story; our history has already been written, as we are the history seekers and the truth speakers. Black history is American History, and as we have done every year since 1926, we will proclaim and celebrate Black History Month!”
On Monday, January 19th, we remembered and celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an iconic leader in the Civil Rights Movement, a PhD, a Preacher, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, an author, and most importantly, a devoted husband and father. Dr. King believed that every individual is created equal and deserves respect, dignity, and “the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as promised in our U.S. Declaration of Independence, which he stated is the cornerstone of American Democracy.