History

Valentine’s Day and Black History Month

First off, Happy Happy Happy Valentine’s Day to all! I hope and pray that you will be spending today and beyond with your special someone. Enjoy this wonderful day.

When we think of February, three things comes to mind Black History Month, Valentine’s Day, and that it’s the shortest month of the year.

Valentine’s Day is when people buy gifts like cards, flowers, chocolates, and jewelry, etc.

Black History Month recognizes well and little known facts about African Americans of the past and present.

Valentine’s Day and Black History Month can both enjoy their recognition. Valentine’s Day popularity is right up there with Christmas because it’s the day that people express their love through gifts for their significant others. There are several blacks owned businesses that can help to make Valentine’s Day memorable during one of the most critical months of the year.

A very popular gift that people get on Valentine’s Day is chocolates. It is estimated that a whopping 19.6 billion dollars will be spent on chocolates alone. Phillip Ashley Rix is the founder of Phillip Ashley Chocolates. Phillip Ashley Chocolates has a clientele of celebrities such as the incomparable singer Stevie Wonder. These chocolates will win anyone over with the visually gorgeous, bold colors, and unique shapes which are unlike any others.
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Feeling like you and your loved one would enjoy a playful glass of wine? Check out Brown Downtown Napa it’s the first and only black-owned winery in the state of California. It’s one of five black-owned wineries that are located in the United States.
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Perhaps your special lady would enjoy some colorful flowers with an artful setting that will leave an lasting impression? Check out Hibiscus Flowershop located in New York they even make fudge. How cool is that?
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How about seeing your lady in something sexy? Aimanosi Lingerie will have your lady looking sexy while being affordable.
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Want your lady to know how you feel, but you can’t find the right words? Trust African-American Expressions to find the perfect words for you. They even have a collection by my favorite poet Maya Angelou.
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Fellas I haven’t forgotten about you Talley & Twine Watches have beautifully designed one of a kind watches that will show you just how your lady feels about you.
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February may be the shortest month, but it has two events that can leave lasting memories that people could never forget.

Our History

A past is something that we all have. Today will be yesterday by this time tomorrow. Will I make a mistake? Will I offend someone? Will I overcook my broccoli? Will I wear my wig wrong and never be able to live it down? Will someone have a problem with the way that I lived my life ten years from now? When I get into a relationship how much of my past is owed to my partner? If I have worked my past out with God why should I have to dig up old bones again? I am not trying to pull out skeletons that are in my closet and lay them across the bed like a wardrobe. Explaining this mistake and that mistake. Really?! I am torn about this subject. I have so many questions and feelings.

In the news there has been waves made about this amazing Youtube couple name Justin and Ami McClure. Mr. and Mrs. McClure are a interracial couple who has a set of twins and a son. Recently, Mr. McClure’s past came back to haunt him. Many years ago before Mr. McClure got married he made some racist tweets about black people and black women. This situation has caused a media frenzy and I pray that their marriage can withstand this situation. I believe that Mr. McClure learned from his mistake there are many who refuse to allow him to live it down. It is obvious that he loves his family. This man adopted the twins if that doesn’t show that he’s a man of substance I don’t know what will. There are a lot of men who don’t take care of their children and he’s not one of them. Just Sayin.

It’s funny how last night I kind of got into a small debate about women who have been divorced giving a single or married couples advice. The guy felt that a divorced woman couldn’t give advice because her marriage didn’t last. As if a wife is solely responsible for keeping a marriage together. A person can’t keep a person who doesn’t want to be kept. In my opinion marriages end every day for different reasons. If a man cheats should a woman stay? If a woman cheats should a man stay? If a man is a drug addict should a woman stay? I get tired of one sided people. This man calls himself a Christian yet it’s the wife’s fault if a marriage falls apart? What happened to the husband being the head bruh? One of his female facebook’s friends jumped on the post coming for me. SMH! Ummm Sis. You go right ahead on and talk to yourself. Long story short I believe that experience is the best teacher. A mistake is a mistake no matter what kind that it is. Oh we can choose what a mistake is now? Suppose people got married young and things didn’t work out? Maybe the people who got married young can give advice about why getting married young was a bad choice. The base word of message is mess. A message can’t happen without a mess happening. We can learn from the past that’s why they teach history in school.

I don’t know about anyone else but I refuse to be bonded by my mistakes. I’m not going to keep reliving things. I might get involved with a partner and have to explain something that happened years ago? I don’t think so. If a person was married before okay then they should share that information. No one wants to have their past dug up. Our present is a gift that affects our future. The past is over and we have to be careful of people who are out to hurt us. Mr.McClure’s tweets are many years old and no I am not saying it’s okay. All I am asking is how long do we have to keep reliving something that is over? And why is it that some people gets a quicker pass than others? They will extend the courtesy a million miles long for certain people. I refuse to not live my life to the fullest out of fear. I have dealt with my past as far as I am concerned if there is nothing in my past that will hurt my partner later then there is nothing to discuss. Cars don’t drive backwards. People don’t walk backwards. So why should I live my life constantly looking back. Everyone has made mistakes and will continue to do so it’s called being human. The worst thing about a mistake is if nothing was learned from it. So I am erasing my past mistakes unless they can be useful to somebody else, besides that there is no need of studying my past one won’t be able to earn a degree from it.
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Black History Month

I am so thankful for black history month. Every year  I share black history facts and always end up finding out new things. There is so much that we wasn’t taught in school.

Does anyone know anything about what happened on March 2, 1955? Nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man someone else did her name was Claudette Colvin. I know right in school we were always taught about Rosa Parks. When  I think about all the history that wasn’t taught in school it really gets me to thinking.

Claudette Colvin was a 15 year old high school student who refused to give her bus seat up to a white person. There was quite a few black women who refused to give up their seat but they were fined instead of jailed. On March 2, 1955 a bus driver ordered Colvin to get out of her seat she refused and was arrested by two police officers.

Most people including myself don’t know the role that Colvin played in the bus boycotts. Colvin was one of four women who challenged the law. Colvin case overturned the bus segregation laws in Montgomery and Alabama.

Colvin was asked why was her story not talked about she felt it was because her community shunned her after her arrest and once she became pregnant. Colvin felt that the civil rights leader felt that she was an inappropriate symbol for the test case. Colvin spoke of the colorism within the black race how Rosa Parks had “the look” her skin texture and good hair was the kind that people associated with middle class. Rosa Parks was a married woman and Colvin was a pregnant teen. Colvin felt that Rosa Parks was used because civil rights leaders felt that she would be a better icon.

When I found out about Claudette Colvin story I wasn’t sure who I should be more upset with. Yes there was segregation but what about the way that Colvin was treated by her own people? What about the things she endured because she was a pregnant teen? Who’s responsible for the colorism that took place? Who is responsible for not allowing Colvin story to make it in to the history books?

I so enjoy black history month and  I do not have anything against Martin Luther King Jr or Rosa Parks  I just think we need to be taught about history in it’s entirety. There was a lot of women and teens who were making a stand in the segregation situations not just middle aged men in suits.

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Inheritance

Before we were even born

God already had our

Lives designed

True history

So we have to decide

Are we going to hold on to

What people say or think of us

Or what God has for us

We can’t hold on to both

People views are always

Changing it’s just too much

To try to keep up

It requires too much focus

People’s opinions holds no value

Why stress behind words

Which are more than

Likely inaccurate

If we have people who constantly

Talk about our past then

That’s where they belong

So blast to the present

And prepare for the future

Don’t need people on our team

Who keeps a tally our faults

But when it comes to them

The pen doesn’t work

What was one of the lessons

That was taught in school

Pertaining to records of history

Recounted by people

It was Leif Erikson

Who was the first European

That discovered America

And not Christopher Columbus

We had the past all wrong

So on that note allow

Positive words to keep us strong

If our name is not rightfully

On it than we don’t own it

Do not I repeat

Do not inherit negativity

It’s not meant let’s

Lift our heads up high

And smile we owe

It to ourselves

Focusing on the wrong things

Will cause us to miss out

On our blessings

Remember God has many

Wonderful things in store

Which are the best

Get ready

Step into your inheritance