And also, it gives black people an opportunity to celebrate, in some cases, their ancestors and what their ancestors have accomplished throughout history. But now that we have access to so much information, do we really need a month set aside specifically to focus on black history?
Because that's the important thing, is that when we celebrate black History Month, we're celebrating the contributions of humans that made our lives better and made the world a better place. So let's go. I'm going to kick it off by dropping this photo here because I started writing a thing about Kendrick Lamar being a modern day Beethoven, which I haven't released yet
And he created it because there was no representation of African Americans in history. And there was not. When history is told, regardless of which civilization, which empire you look, in, which country you look, in modern times, we deal mostly with countries. It's like the story of history is always told from the side of the victor
Erica Jean
@HeyItsErica · 4:19
We have iPhones, which are basically computers in our pockets, or androids. So the information is definitely out there. The books are definitely out there. So that's not even an issue. Like you said, we have the access now, but I think the celebration part should remain having that month set aside. Now, whether we have black History Month or not on the calendar, it wouldn't matter to me because again, it's a year round thing here, but it's nice to celebrate
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 4:53
And so no, our view of what we see online is not limited to the 5000 people or whatever that we have following us. I indicated that in my original swell when I said in the explore part of Instagram, these are the people not connected to me. These are just ads and instagrams that Instagram thinks I might be interested in. And so I said I noticed in the Explorer, these are folks that I don't know
Cheyonia Wade
@Chey · 3:40
Like the whole purpose of us marching and fighting and speaking and the revolutions was so that our stories could be told, so that people were aware of who we are and how we contributed to society, especially those that don't look like us and don't come from our background in history and who's not aware. And there are those of us that celebrate every day and all throughout the year
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 4:32
And I love how you said that you even observe other cultures, their history months, their months of celebration, like you said with the latina hispanic culture, I think that's important, too, to learn things. And I think that the Pacific Islanders and native Americans even have a month of celebration, a month of heritage that they also observe as well. And I think it's great to be able to observe other cultures accomplishments, notable achievements as well, and not be insulated to our own community
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 3:47
So I don't know if somebody's going to pick up that torch and continue. But it's just something I observed. And I just like, wow, it's definitely different from years past. And, yes, we're out here in the world. We're out here in the community, but even out here in the community, I'm not hearing the same level of celebration that I'm used to hearing as I have grown up and as I have gotten older
Evelyn Phipps
@LadyFi · 0:47
Because black history is awesome. We awesome every day. We bring it every day. We take it higher every day. And, you know, over on my swell, black and brown history every day. So you know what we do? You know what time it is? Happy Black History Month. This is a sample. You're welcome
Andrea Piggue
@Andrea_Speaks · 3:10
And I think you did a swell about black history month a while back where you asked if black History Month was still needed. And me personally, part of me feels like it's not needed. The other part of me is like, what is it going to hurt? But the part of me that feels like we don't need it is just because it's gotten kind of commercialized
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 1:55
It originated in black classrooms in segregated schools when black teachers wanted to teach their students about important historical black figures so they would set aside time during their class to do just that. So I liked and enjoyed Black History Month when it was really about education and awareness, and hopefully we can bring that back. But like I said, with the technological age and everybody being able to Google, Google everything, it's like, do people really have a hunger for that kind of knowledge anymore?
Evelyn Phipps
@LadyFi · 0:50
And, yeah, I do. Black and brown history every day. I've been doing it for months now, and I enjoy it. Learning about our people, learning about their significance, learning about their achievements, their accomplishments, their goals, our culture, our ups and our downs. So thank you, guys. I really appreciate you so much
dee felton
@MrDee · 4:47
Like, I remember as a kid and even as an adult, seeing that printout to where it says, you wouldn't have refrigeration or air conditioning or the gas mass or the traffic light. All these different things that we still use so many years after they were created, that was created by a black person. Like, put some respect on that. Like, what the hell will we be doing if we didn't have traffic lights or we didn't have air conditioning or all these other inventions?
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77 · 4:24
I think that those things are very important. But I know America wants to be this big melting pot, and it's always prided itself on being a big melting pot, but it's starting to melt everybody's accomplishments together to fit kind of an all lives matter narrative. And I don't know if that. I think that that is, like you said, starting to water it down. I think, as Andrea said, the commercialization of it