Celebrate Your Own Folks!

This Black History Month, we celebrate the contributions of great African Americans activists like Malcom X and Martin Luther King and the contributions of literary legends Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes. But Black History Month isn't just about these folks, it is also about the people in our families, neighborhoods, and circle of friends.

When I was a child, my grandmother told me a story about being on a bus here in Northern California in the 1950's or 60's. When she took the only empty seat on the bus, which happened to be in the front, she was asked by the driver to move. Fortunately, a group of young Marines boarded the bus and they sided with Mama.

Most Black folks I know older than 50 have a story to tell a time when they fought a fight that I haven't had to or when they were the first African - American in their school, or their city to do something. Let's not forget to celebrate the people in our own lives this Black History Month.