Happy Martin Luther King Day y’all. Do you know when and why Martin Luther King Day was established? Do your children know anything about him other than the I Have A Dream speech and the March on Washington?

What do your children and grandchildren know about Kwanzaa, or who started Black History Month? Are you aware it started as Black History Week? Who started it and when?

Do you watch Black news channels, listen to Black talk radio stations, or do you get all of your information from mainstream media?

How many Countries on the Continent of Africa can you name? And yes, no shade, just dropping a few gems, but some may not be aware that Africa is a Continent.

How is it that our Ancestors were able to establish and thrive in Black towns, (there were more than Greenwood), successfully when they had less than what we have today? Why can we not go into our inner cities, buy the block one house at a time and build solid communities? Why do we have young men lost, finding a family in the streets, and no Ole Head on the block reaching out? Boys need solid men in their lives to become solid men.

Food deserts? Why not develop a food co-op in the neighborhood? Why have we not reached out to the elderly, checking on them?

I intended to write a Blog on another subject. However, as I was chilling this morning, these thoughts kept running through my head. Prompted no doubt by a discussion I had last evening at a party.

I pose these questions to you in hopes that if you don’t know the answers, you go to “Google University” and do some research. Then pass the information on to your children and grandchildren. Children who will become adults cannot pass down what they don’t know.

My eight-year-old granddaughter recently joined a Harambee dance group. The word Harambee means ‘all pull together’ in Swahili, Kenya’s national language. I took her to see the Harambee dancers during Kwanzaa, she wanted to join, and Grandma couldn’t say no. I now take her every week for dance class.

I was impressed by the fact that to participate the dancers have to learn the Black National Anthem, the meaning of the colors Black, Red, and Green, as well as the 7 principles of Kwanzaa. They have a month to learn it. Lay will do well, she is excited and wants to be involved.

In closing, think about what you can do to support Harambee’s “all pull together” concept in your community. Think about ways to educate yourself, your children, and your grandchildren about African American history. I often shake my head when I see videos of our babies twerking and everyone thinks it’s so cute. Knowing our history and passing it down will assure our real history is told, not his-story. Let’s stop twerking and start working, together.

Enjoy your day off if you are fortunate to have it off!

Peace, Love, and Blessings💖