February: Groundhogs and Black Folks

February is the silly season, and forecasting weather based upon a groundhog notwithstanding, this can also be called the silly season because it is recognized as Black History Month. Not surprisingly Black History Month has taken a hard left turn from what it was intended to be when Carter G. Woodson established “Negro History Week” in 1926.

And why should any rational person be surprised? Immiseration and victimization are the viscous substances needed to lubricate the “it’s because I’m black” machine that has evolved into a generational zeitgeist of government dependency and contempt for white people.

Negro History Week was established to recognize the contributions of the Negro to the American fabric. The devolvement of same into Black History Month recognizes failure, abortion, black on black crime and revisionist history.

Factual history of blacks is that they have shed all pretense of morality by becoming the population group best known for reducing its overall demographic by thirteen percent, by having over 20 million black women murder their unborn children. Black history will show that blacks have taken the killing of one another sans abortion, to a level of 94 percent.

Between 1976 and 2011: 279,384 blacks were killed, with 262,621 being killed by another black. That means, that over a 35-year period, 94 percent of all blacks murdered, were murdered by other blacks. (See: LeBron James: “Who Died and Made Him the Spokesman; Mychal Massie-The Daily Rant; 8/7/2018)

Combining these staggering numbers, with the ever-increasing number of black single parent households, blacks dropping out of school/colleges, etc., blacks appear to have developed an allergy to modernity. The weight of conversation this Black History Month will focus on the handful of blacks who were shot by police and maudlin anecdotal instances portrayed as evidence of the systemic racism-boogeyman.

Which brings me to Black History Month celebrations as advertised for Allentown, PA. There the celebrations will include a panel discussion, which is code for blame the white man, live music and a soul food reception. It will also include the requisite number of whites tripping over their self-inflicted guilt and promises to do something nice for colored people.

While there are those who will ask, what break dancing combined with bump and grind have to do with any semblance of Negro history; others will ask what hog maw and overcooked collard greens have to do with the exquisite foods served by chefs who are black at the premiere restaurants decades ago?

Not to be out done, African Fashions in Cleveland, Ohio is having “African Fashions Black History Month Sale.” They will host a “Pop-up shop of vibrant African outfits, accessories, and fabrics featuring unique designs” for black folks. The translation of that horror show is blacks will dress up in robes and head wraps looking like Aunt Jemima and Kunta Kinte’s granddaddy.

The problem with this nonsense is it does not represent Carter Woodson’s vision; it showcases a fanfaronade of ignorance. Blacks may have been Africans two hundred or more years ago but today whether they like it or not they are Americans and they have been for a very long time.

Contrary to the ancestry companies and their claims, having DNA some part of Africa hundreds of years ago doesn’t make one African nor by definition of African descent. It makes one American, if they and their family have resided here for generations. It is a fact that with every passing generation one becomes further removed from the domicile of origin.

The city of Cleveland, Ohio will host a “Black History Month Bazaar.” I’m definitely inclined to call it “bazaar” especially since the event is advertised as “vendors selling a large collection of unique gifts.”

What does the sale of “unique gifts” have to do with Black History Month? The answer of course is nothing. What the referenced events show is that blacks have no idea how to define history, and even less regarding how to define their own.

The idea of “Negro History Week” was to recognize Negroes who had contributed in tangible realistic and forward reaching ways, so they would not fade into the obscurity of forgotten history. Blacks today view Black History Month as a Month long jeremiadic celebration of immiseration, complaint of white oppression and the obligatory chants of “we shall overcome.”

Brilliant Americans of color who actually knew the pain of discrimination left all of America a legacy of accomplishment and invention. These brilliant Americans, who were black and contributed massively to the American fabric will never be discussed.

How many of the following brilliant contributors to history have you heard of and/or heard discussed during so-called “Black History Month?”

Garrett Morgan, is the inventor of the first traffic light and the gas mask. He was the father of what we know today as intelligent traffic systems. Morgan established a tailoring shop that employed 32 people and established the Cleveland Call newspaper.

Percy L. Julian, developed a way to remove and prepare soybean products such as cortisone to treat arthritis and an extract used in the treatment of glaucoma.

Jane Wright, was the former director of the Cancer Research Foundation, who formulated mithramycin, a drug that has proved promising in fighting cancer.

William A. Lester Jr., a theoretical chemist did research on the troubles of high-velocity molecular collisions and was chosen to manage the National Resource for Computation in Chemistry.

St. Elmo Brady, in 1916 became the first black in the history of the United States to earn a doctorate in chemistry. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Illinois for work done in Noyes Laboratory.

James Durham, born in 1762 was the first regularly recognized black physician in the United States. Born a slave in Philadelphia, he was purchased by a Scottish physician in New Orleans who hired him to perform medical services.

Daniel Hale Williams, was a black surgeon who performed the first successful open heart surgery? He was the founder of Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891. He was also the only black charter member of the American College of Surgeons.

History is replete with the legacies of black men like Norbert Rillieux, who was born in 1806. He was an inventor and engineer whose patented inventions that revolutionized the sugar-refining industry.

Only the constraints of space limit my enumerating the legacy of the “houses that our fathers built,” as Jung put it.

But today the legacy of those houses has “fallen into shambles.” Today, rather than seeing a careful enumeration and inclusion of these great Americans into the history of America, we see many blacks contributing to the erosion of their own well-being, which contributes to the erosion of the overall well-being of America.

The question that begs an answer is whether blacks in America will leave a fruitful, positive, legacy for future generations of Americans? Or will they leave a legacy of self-segregation, rap/gangster wars, abortion, single-parent homes, blame, animus, and resentment?

Will their legacy for tomorrow be that of undereducated children with dreams of athletic endeavor as a means of accomplishment or will it be that of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Major Robert Lawrence Jr.?

Or will it be that of Maxine Waters, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Sheila Jackson Lee and the Obamas – who embody all of the most reprehensible qualities heretofore attributed to blacks?