February is annual Black History month and this year the NWN is going to celebrate with a column every Thursday. This week, we’re going to talk about why we celebrate this month in the first place. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve noticed people questioning the reasons why we celebrate black history.

The main question that most people have is whether or not racism still exists today. Some of the most common things I overhear from my peers include observations that “it’s obvious that society is now equal” or “we have a black president now, so racism doesn’t exist.” Yikes. If you’re one of these people that have this type of mindset, you need to lift your head up and look around the world you live in. If I had to define what our society is today, equality would not be a word that pops up in my head.

I feel like when some students think about racism, they associate it with drastic things like segregation or the Jim Crow laws. Although those type of things don’t exist in America today, things like stereotypes and racial profiling do. And, that alone doesn’t scream equality. America electing an African American president is a step in the right direction for equality, but it’s still not enough.

I just came across a clip from Fox News with one of the reporters saying that racism doesn’t exist because we have a black president and black entertainment channels. Oh Fox News, I continue to wonder about the type of people you hire. Just because we now have black entertainment channels, does not mean that we are an equal nation.  It also definitely doesn’t mean that racism doesn’t exist anymore. Racism is still as present as it was back in the 50s and 60s.

The 50s and 60s seem like such a long time ago when the African American Civil Rights Movements were at their peaks, but in reality it really wasn’t long ago at all when we lived in a segregated America. A lot of Americans think that time makes racism better. Time doesn’t make things better, and you can’t just ignore the past. We still celebrate this month not only because racism still exists in America, but because we need to remember the struggles that a race had to go through just to get equality. I know you all have probably gone over this in school a million times, and I’m not trying to lecture you, but just think about how hard a race had to fight to get the equal opportunities we have today. It’s almost to hard to comprehend because we take advantage of these opportunities daily.

Even walking through the halls, I can tell that students have pretty much forgotten about this fight. The best example I have is the laid back use of the “n” word. This is a really sensitive subject, so I’m not trying to over step any boundaries, but the way our society freely lets that word slide off their tongues disgusts me.  The history behind that word is horrifying, and although I think that people who are apart of the victimized history of that word should have a choice on whether or not to use it, I don’t think that any one else has that choice. It’ll be a sad day for our society if that term ever becomes normalized. But this is only another reason why we have to celebrate this month; to inform students of our history and the horrible history behind that word.

We use this month to celebrate the success of the struggles that  people went through to create an equal society. There are so many individuals we can look up to like Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr. We can use this month to learn about them on a deeper level. I don’t think we should be wasting this month debating on whether or not racism still exists. The real question is not whether racism still exists, but how you are helping to break this type of system down. If you’re not a part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.