Black History Month is the time of year we honor the heroes and heroines of the past and present who have sacrificed, lost, given and died so we may live and express ourselves freely without the fear of being punished for being who we are.
We can now exercise our voices and stand for whatever we choose with strength, pride and dignity. But it is very clear to me that many people often resort to two terms when something is going wrong in their lives, whenever they may feel a little offended or many other reasons under the great big sun.
The words I am referring to are white and black. Now don’t get me wrong, I am aware that racism does exist in today’s society. In fact, it may be worse today than ever before because it not only exists outside of one’s race but inside as well.
But the truth of the matter those colors are a justification for most of the problems we face today. We have 101 excuses, but excuses are not results. It’s time we as human beings start progressing and stop blaming everyone else for our problems.
I get so tired of hearing, “I can’t get a job because that white man or that black man won’t hire me,” or “I can’t go to school because that white or black man’s government won’t give me any money to pay for it.”
I understand that life can be frustrating, especially when everything seems to be going wrong and it seems like the entire world is against you. But we also must understand that we all have the opportunity to make a life for ourselves in some way or the other and it’s not right for me to blame anyone else for my misfortune.
For example, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics states the union membership rate is 12.3 percent, essentially unchanged from 12.4 percent a year earlier. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions declined by 771,000 to 15.3 million, largely reflecting the overall drop in employment due to the recession.
This is not just for one race. This means everyone. Everybody is struggling, but the difference will be made for those who go out and apply themselves and not for those who sit around singing their “shoulda, coulda, wouldas.”
We also have to remember that black and white people are not the only people that walk this earth. I know for many, many years, not only blacks, but many other cultures were persecuted and discriminated against simply because of the color of their skin.
I’m aware that some of this still goes on today as I said previously, but we have something now that we didn’t have before. We have the courage, the determination, and the will to say, “I will be treated with the respect and equality that every human being deserves.”
But in accepting all that, we must accept the responsibilities and the duties that come with equality. There are multiple colors that make up the portrait we call earth, and black and white are simply colors just like the rest. Both must exist in order for time to progress but one thing is for certain: We can never allow one to determine the failure or even the success of the other. In the end, we are to blame for whatever turns, bumps and curves our lives may take.
Stedmond Ware is a sophomore majoring in biological sciences. He can be contacted at [email protected].