It’s Black History Month. The time of year when every company, organization, university, and school reminds African Americans of their joyous and triumphant, yet horribly tough, journey to overcome oppression in America.
Think of it as a month-long state of the union for blacks.
But there is a divide deeper than Republicans and the Democrats. While some stand and cheer for their heritage, others make a mockery of it. We boo and hiss at the notion that we need the shortest month of the year to celebrate and remember something we should remember all year long anyway.
There is an annual debate Blacks have every Black History Month on whether it’s still relevant, but this year something happened. Social media stepped in and threw a curve ball.
BLOG: Redefining Black History Month: The Next Leaders Of The Movement
A few people started serving up Ratchet Black History, and it was great! It breathed new life into an otherwise boring and uneventful Black History Month.
I found out that Thaddeus Collins was the first black to put something on everything he loves. Clyde Parker was the first person to turn a ho into a housewife. We discovered the first person to wish a nigga would, and even the story of Ruthie McCauley. Her story is special for a totally different reason, because all she did was declare she had the right to do nothing else, but to stay black and die.
Being that this is the internet, no one bothered to fact check. We knew it was horribly wrong to make fun of our own history, but we couldn’t stop laughing. So we got into the act. We told the story of Jerome Palmer and Leon Cunningham, who went for a joy ride in a car and had the time of their lives.
We told the story of Miss Bernice Ward and the day her daughter decided to act a fool inside the local Woolworths. We told all types of stories and we essentially rewrote Black History.
You know what they say right? YOLO.
