Make no mistake about it, there are some in this current presidential administration – starting with the light head that wears the crown – and in this country who would rather ‘observe’ this month by discounting, minimizing, trivializing, questioning, or even ignoring the contributions that Black people have made to this country, hence, mockingly, the missing ‘B’ in the title above.
Unequivocally, it’s well known that this country was built on the backs, sweat, blood, tears, and lives of millions of Black people, and often brutally, over the course of centuries, and, that remnants of that form of oppression persist to this day. While we’ve made many strides, we still have a ways to go before our country elects to acknowledge and rectify its horrific past and truly exude a consciousness consistent with words written about it by Samuel Francis Smith 194 years ago:
My country, ’tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty,
of thee I sing:
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims’ pride,
from every mountainside
let freedom ring!
My native country, thee,
land of the noble free,
thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills
like that above.
No more shall tyrants here
With haughty steps appear,
And soldier bands;
No more shall tyrants tread
Above the patriot dead—
No more our blood be shed
By alien hands.
Let music swell the breeze,
and ring from all the trees
sweet freedom’s song:
let mortal tongues awake,
let all that breathe partake;
let rocks their silence break,
the sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our king.
So, let’s take and put that ‘B’ back.
Because we are:
Beautiful.
Beloved.
Bold.
Beaming.
Brave.
Brilliant.
Beatific.
Black.
