Even as some schools and school districts around the nation have gutted their Black history studies, students at Swigert International School marked February as Black History Month “by celebrating the assets and beauty of Black culture,” says third grade teacher Lindsay Edge.
On the first day of February and the start of Black History Month, dozens of Black Coloradans went to the state capitol building to describe how racism and discrimination had impacted their lives.
Terri Gentry is a fourth generation Denverite who has been attending Denver’s Martin Luther King Jr. Marade since its inception in 1986. “It’s always been an event about unity and coming together, with people from all walks of life. Young people, old people, families pushing strollers. Blacks, whites, Latinos, Jews, Christians, Muslims.”
Hate crimes against Asians are on the rise. Again. But this time, there’s a difference from last year’s wave of hate: The “mainstream” media, from newspapers to television news, has been reporting on the spike.
Having experienced learning in both majority white and majority people-of-color spaces, tears start to form in Shakira Abney-Wisdom’s eyes as she reflects on the value of belonging.
Harold Fields says of reparations: “We have pipes that are deep underneath these buildings and underneath our streets. The pipes are decaying, they’re old. They’re leaking, and they are only distributing resources to certain places. You’ve got to be able to dig up those pipes and re-do the system. It’s not a matter of changing the washers on faucets or putting in a new shower head, but changing the system.”
If you know the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” you’re most likely Black—and you also know it is often referred to as the Black National Anthem. If you’re White, you likely know none of the above.
