Black (American) History Month. A Triumph Story.

Black History Month doesn’t memorialize race. It honors the impossible that transpired despite it.

As Black History Month commemorates, there’s a debate on whether this holiday is celebratory or segregationist.

On the latter, Chicago rapper Kanye West declared the holiday should be replaced with “Black Future Month” to celebrate “#BlackExcellence.” And rapper T-Pain, in a short interview with a TMZ reporter, shared similar sentiments expressing, we should “Stop celebrating [the holiday]” because “we want to be part of history, don’t celebrate one month for us.”

And beyond these artists, the question “Why Should We Celebrate Black History Month?” seems less rhetorical as our cultural conversations become more divided in America. And I believe it starts with our opposing opinions with the term “Black.”

So, let’s go back to the 1950s; from a pulpit in a modest church. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made an enthusiastic address to Black Americans.

Martin explained, “If the [Black American] is to be free, [you] must move down into the inner resources of [your] own soul and sign with a pen and ink,” expounding that “no document can do this for us.” Here, King illustrates personal freedom from racial identity. Before I elaborate on that point, let me share his…