Black History Month has officially sprung into action this year and, with all that has happened in the past few years regarding racial inequality and discrimination, African-American citizens have become increasingly proud of their heritage and are expressing zero-tolerance for slander of any kind toward their race. More and more black Americans are embracing their natural features and going back to their roots, bringing awareness to the fact that trends which have been surfacing online and in pop culture almost always goes back to African decent. Although there has been a “rebirth” of sorts in the Black community, it also has brought a lot more hostility and violence towards them as well.

According to the Huffington Post, in 2016 more than 250 black people were killed by police. Additionally, the Washington post reported 223 black Americans were killed by police in 2017.

Many murders involving black (and unarmed) men and woman have been going viral, showing the world the racial injustice and police brutality that has been going on for a while now and sparking a movement called the Black Lives Matter or “BLM” Movement.

BLM have been working endlessly to bring awareness to the value of Black Citizens and aim to address issues involving the African American Community. Their website explains that their mission is to “bring forth the plans and solutions that take us from the dream to the physical manifestation of our excellent and completed potential.”

The BLM movement have made it loud and clear that they strongly believe that all lives matter, but unfortunately our country sees black citizens as less than equal to everyone else and have turned BLM’s message around to imply that they think black lives are more significant than others.

It has been a recurring event that whenever the black community brings up the fact that they are constantly being picked out for being black and try to do something about it, a certain demographic of people feel the need to make it about themselves and disregard the whole purpose of the original BLM movement. Frankly, the black community is tired of it, and they have every right to be.

It isn’t right that black citizens have their rights and lives disregarded because other races feel dis-included in the movements they are trying to make towards equality. White privilege is real whether you choose to accept it or not. White people do not have to fear being profiled for their skin color every time they leave their homes or worry about not getting a job solely because they are white. Black people are forced to work twice as hard at everything in life and will still fall short because of the skin they are born in.

If more people recognized how wrong that is and actually worked towards a solution instead of taking to social media to preach about it, America would be more of a home and less of a war zone.

Many TV and radio broadcasts, such as The View, have decided to honor black Americans throughout the month of February. Host Whoopi Goldberg announced at the beginning of the month that they will be honoring black women specifically on the show and have honored woman such as Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Keckley.

Black Panther is going to be playing in theaters starting February 16 and is significant because Black Panther is the first black super hero and the first black super hero to have their own solo movie adaptation, making this a historic event.

According the movie writer, Joe Robert Cole, “Black Panther is a historic opportunity to be a part of something important and special, particularly at a time when African Americans are affirming their identities while dealing with vilification and dehumanization. The image of a black hero on this scale is just really exciting.”

There has been an abundance of excitement surrounding the movie on social media and many are looking forward witnessing this historical film.

Here at Robinson, the African American Heritage Club is planning a cookout to celebrate the month on February 28. There will be food along with games and music starting at 4:30 in the courtyard. Poets are welcome to present their works of art at the event and the club officers strongly encourage those, whether black or not, to attend.

Black heritage month is meant to be celebrated by everyone in order to acknowledge and show appreciation for all the contributions of African American citizens. The more we recognize these contributions, the more positivity and appreciation we will have for each other.