Black History Month for me is an emotionally mixed bag.

On one hand I feel great pride in having a month dedicated to celebrating my heritage. It is during this time that the strong black voices of our past are remembered and uplifted.

However, early childhood experiences with black history lessons taught in the classroom negatively shaped my self image for years. As an adolescent black female raised in a predominantly white middle class community in the mid 1980s, classroom discussions of black history were anxiety-ridden, eye-twitching events. Back then, black history was minimized to just a few school district approved topics such as George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King, Jr. with some mention of the Civil Rights Act and slavery. The topic of slavery was especially painful as I would listen to the teacher lecture almost anecdotally about how my ancestors were brought to this country. Absent from the lesson plan was any meaningful discussion on the long-lasting consequences of marginalizing an entire race of people by treating people of color as if they were not fit to be in the company of polite society. If I carried those early ugly negative images of my heritage taught in public school with me for years, I would imagine that non-blacks might, too, in spite of Black History Month. What, then, is the goal of Black History Month?

Black History Month in its current form is a technical approach to glorifying a timeline of black historical persons whom have contributed, through their novel innovation, to U.S. society. This is supposed to instill in black children a sense of pride, inspire a work ethic and a foundation upon which they too can build and achieve the “American Dream.” The problem is many find it difficult to identify with historical figures because most of us are not the direct beneficiaries of their invaluable experiences, knowledge or success. This is courtesy of families being forcefully disbanded pre-and-post Civil War era to the detriment of being able to truly trace and embrace our history. Seemingly, as with the passing of a generation, the importance of understanding and actively weaving lessons learned from the past into the fabric of our collective future is lost. Unfortunately, a month dedicated to the efforts of the black community is not sufficient.

With the success of a minority of black entertainers, athletes and a President of the United States, mainstream society insists that people of color “have arrived” and that our struggle is over. What black people are finding is that the goal posts have simply been moved. There is just a different discriminatory tactic that many African-Americans have not had adequate preparation for.

Black History Month’s goal is to educate those within and externally to the black community about our contributions and achievements. This is in hopes of tempering some of those negative images we all carry regarding black culture and history. It may be unrealistic to expect any lasting social impact following one month of “black history.” This should be expanded to include blacks in the national conversation all year round. This should be the single greatest priority within the black community as no one else will promote our agenda of acquiring adequate housing, job equality, education and healthcare -- if we do not. Our issues cannot wait until the month of February...the coldest and shortest month of the year.