Best Black History Month Since...Ever
- Mar 3, 2016
- 3 min read
I might be a day or two late and a couple dollars short but I just had to put this into the universe. February 2016 has been the best month so far to be black in America. I highlight black because there was nothing cliché about February, and each week the conversation highlighted our blackness. Whether from the hashtags, the memes or some celeb showing up and showing out…it was litttt!
Yes, it started of with the same ignorant few who don’t know the significance as to why we celebrate BHM in February, and still think its because it’s the shortest month (Yea…at this point, your argument is played out, and you better not be 25+ saying that ish out loud). So not even a good week approximately 6 days) Beyonce drops formation, THE VIDEO. I’m not a stan but I stanned (word?) that day. The lyrics were bold, cocky, and blatantly direct. One visual from the video read “STOP SHOOTING US”, but the overall activism and tone from the Carter’s camp set the tone for the best black history month.
The next day, she showed up to the Superbowl with a blonde, kinky curly lacefront and a Michael Jackson/Black Panthers/Classic Beyonce leotard to SLAY. When I tell you the all media forms went crazy; people actually stopped talking about the worse election ever (but that’s another story). Her performance was a direct smack in the face to all of America on one of the hugest platforms during the year, and shifted the conversation to the Black Panthers. If the nation wasn’t already divided, I would be surprised at the ignorant comments (they compared the Black Panthers to the KKK), but no. See her performance here in case you just came out of a coma.
A week or so later, the Grammy’s aired. Personally, I enjoy unscripted, low budget award shows…you know the type where the performer is wearing the same outfit on the red carpet as they do on stage; that’s my kind of award show. The Grammy’s is just too posh and stush for me but Kenderick and J. Cole was going for the gold and Rih was supposed to perform. Now, if you haven’t hear Kenderick’s album, his performance probably caught you off guard, and scared the bejezus out of you, but it gave me LIFE. I didn’t blink once…eyes so dry they couldn’t close…I mean it was raw, electrifying, energetic, boastful, and the message couldn’t be anymore clearer. The reactions from the white folks in the audience set off some more off the wall memes on social media platfroms. AHHAHA...they didn't know how to take it. Another huge platform to highlight our blackness.
The next night PBS airs The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution by Stanley Nelson. The documentary hit home because it laid to rest ignorant media commentaries circulating after the Beyonce performance (look, the buzz was so loud it was deafeaning). It spotlighted the revolution they tried to create to bring equality (still trying since then) to black Americans, and showed how the FBI saw them (us) as a threat and committed too many illegal acts to recall. Just google COINTELPRO.
The week leading up the Oscars (I never noticed how all these big shows happened in our month, hell they might change dates come next year) was eventful. There was the black-ish episode that spoke on police violence, President Obama invited the Braxtons and Trina kept it real, and Rihanna made history. Yes, one black entertainer surpasses another black entertainer, Michael Jackson on the Billboard charts for having the most No.1 hits. Chris Rock killed at the Oscars…wait…first of all he came out to Public Enemy (funny enough I watched Do the Right Thing earlier than day). In true Rock fashion he didn’t hold back, and even gave us the opportunity to say bye to Stacey Dash for the last time (who we trade her for again?… I heard Gary Owen, the comedian).
Ya’ll, I hope you enjoyed this black history month of 2016 as much as I did. We have to keep this momentum going and continue to show pride and be unapologetically black. Correct it when they try to rename or whitewash our history. Don’t just limit all this melanin to February, let’s rename March "Melanin March" and enjoy being black.
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