Black History Month: On the Note of Mainstream and Being Different

It is already February, more than a week in and in a few days, Black History Month will almost be  halfway through.

I have always loved Black History Month, especially when I was in school - it was a time for history and reflection about important people who paved the way for black people at a time where being black was a public problem, a public issue, and in a lot of cases, a death sentence. With each year seems to come some new bit of history that shined further light, punctuating even more as to what it means to be human.

What I have come to appreciate is that the struggle fought has grown to affect everyone, not just black people. The human struggle is a very real one, on account of differences that, for some reason, some people can't comprehend or tolerate. I am so grateful to live during a time where diversity seems to have become more accepted, a time that my parents have hoped for me and my siblings. At the same time, it bothers me (plenty) that there remains an upheld societal ideal, a preferred aesthetic and background, that a lot of people will never seem to fit. It just seems to be the polite thing to not talk about it.

In the last few weeks, entertainment personalities have referred to non-white people as "ethnics" (Naya Riviera and Rashida Jones being examples). At the Grammys most recently, Kanye West rushed the stage during Beck's win for Album of the year, and although he attempted to retract the unwelcome gesture, his rant about "respect" towards "artists" was a bit attention-seeking.

Really, 'Ye?

I suppose my point is that the divide is still alive and well, but how much are "the opposed" contributing to it? There is a preference of how to be, but how much are . There is definitely a point to address one's beauty and uniqueness as well as their being deserving of recognition and praise. But the energy seems to be placed in the wrong direction.

Be you. Make music. Write. Speak. Wear your hair and clothes and facial expression the way you want without question. It just seems that the conversation focuses on the mouthpiece and ends there, at the mainstream. Mainstream is a great avenue to focus on hometown issues, but mainstream shouldn't all what it's about.

Watch "Selma", read about Douglass' Army; try to imagine how Rosa Parks felt making the news when she really just was just tired and refused to get out of her seat on the bus. Make a difference because you are you, not to make news.

The thing is, everyone wants to be different these days. A lot of people want to be stars; some, like the aforementioned, are "stars" if only by accident. Some people just want to be cute and get attention; fair enough. But what about people like Harry T. Sampson and Robert F. Flemming, Jr., Sarah Boone and Lydia O. Newman who were who they were and changed the world on significant, albeit seemingly minute, levels?

It's not a sin to be ordinary. Ordinary people make things happen. Ordinary is extraordinary, something that mainstream isn't.

Hopefully the future generation really won't see color as a inhibitor to ability or success. And maybe they will secure a level playing field so that all families, all individuals, in all pay brackets can enjoy a wonderful life.