Black History Month: Oh "To be young, gifted, and BLACK"

"You are Young, Gifted and Black,

We must begin to tell our young,

There's a world waiting for you,

This is a quest that's just begun"

Nina Simone

Its already Day 5 into Black History Month 2010 and I don't feel like I've embraced it enough.  I should be a pillar of light a big ole ball of "Negro Sunshine" out in the community raising money to be an ambassador to go to Haiti helping to facilitate,rebuild infrastructure, and establish new sewage systems to ensure clean water etc... But what I am doing, just like many other Africans in America, I am sitting on my butt, sending in my hard earned money (its still a recession folks) to various organizations/churches, praying that the money gets to Haiti to help with the efforts, but I haven't seen the fruits of the labor.  On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the island of Haiti causing massive destruction and killed hundreds of thousands.  Almost a billion, yes I said billion, dollars have been raised, but where is this money going?  Its almost a month later, today is February 5, 2010, and I have seen little to no progress. Whatever you opinion maybe on the situation in Haiti or not this is what Black History Month 2010 should be about, helping our brothers and sisters no matter where they are in this world (yes I am very pro black :) ).  Black History Month was created by Carter G. Woodson to educate non "negros" about what sacrifies, ideas, inventions, and impact that Africans in America and all over the world.  The least we can do to celebrate is figure out how to make sure the money that is being raised is being used to help the Haitian people.  We need to take action, like Mr. Woodson, and educate "non-negros" bka the rest of America on the importance of coming together as a community, that Black history is 365 days a year and not the shortest month of the year, and be more proactive in ensuring the funds raised for Haiti go to Haitian people and the rebuilding of the country. 

"To be young, gifted, and black, oh what a lovely precious dream" Nina Simone.  We are young, gifted, and of course the best part of it is that we are Black.  We have the power to do anything we set our minds to. And we need to take action just like Nina Simone says in the rest of her song.  "You are Young, Gifted, and Black, we must begin to tell our young, there's a world waiting for you, there is a quest that's just begun"!!!

Keep the Faith!

Until next time,

~E