February was always a month I looked forward to as a young kid in grade school and high school.
Black History Month was the reason because it was a brief break from learning about people Toni Morrison rightfully called uninteresting for the most part to discover more about the contributions of my people to the world.
Unfortunately, February 2025 felt empty, and I shudder to think what this time next year will look like with the madness we’re facing in Washington, D.C.
HBCUs and our Black-ass lives are at the greatest risk since Reconstruction and Jim Crow. And to me, we have a simple choice: Roll over and let them take our institutions, our culture, and our very being, or close ranks and resurrect the strength in numbers to combat the fascists currently in charge.
Supporting HBCU athletics is a form of resistance
HBCUs should serve as a major catalyst for that. Sports programs should provide pockets of joy, fellowship, and camaraderie for students, alumni and fans. As long as we have our schools and these sports, they deserve our resources, love and attention.
As a research geek and nostalgia nerd, I love seeing the old pictures of Black students dressed to the nines (not just the homecoming court, the student body!) just to watch a football game.
Granted, you won’t catch me out there in a suit (I’ve been a sportswriter for 23 years; we’re always the worst-dressed people in the newsroom), but the idea of everyone bonding and watching those they care about is one of the biggest forms of resistance to the nonsense that we can have.
To do that, I suggest no matter what your tie to an HBCU that, you donate either your money or your time, and to be honest, the time part may be more valuable. So many people invested in my success during my longer-than-necessary undergrad stint at Delaware State that I never wanted to let those people down. Thankfully, I’ve been able to avoid that.
There’s still room to call out the nonsense. You may remember I wrote a column just before the end of 2024 about how the Mississippi Valley State band should have rejected the invitation to perform in President Donald Trump’s inaugural parade.
That, of course, was met with an email of hilarious and grammatically depleted proportions.
There is still a lot to celebrate despite growing uncertainty
White people do not like being reminded that Black people exist for more than their insecurities, projections, and violent fantasies of erasure.
What better way to drive them even crazier than to enjoy ourselves, celebrate our culture, and leave them to stew in the fecal matter that they themselves created?
It would be foolish not to admit that the news is doing a number on us all, and the future looks uncertain with each breaking news story. But living our lives in fear is something that doesn’t help either.
And it’s not something that Black people routinely do or have done historically.
We sang songs as enslaved people. We danced and went to church even as the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses in our yards. We will survive this if we work together.
And maybe next February, even if Black History Month is removed from the federal holiday list of approved celebrations, we’ll still have a lot to celebrate.
Our way.
