by Harold McMillan

First things first. For some of us every month is a celebration of African American culture. Even so, we still think it's a good idea to bring special attention to African American history and culture each February. Even if more folks really embraced the notion of the importance of living in a multicultural society, it would still be a good idea.

The truth is, so it seems, life in America is really not a life in the melting pot of the world, not life in a happy-functioning multicultural society. I hate to be the one to tell you, but mentally, emotionally, America is moving very painfully, slowly-some kicking and screaming-into a future that will find the dominant, majority "race" as the statistical minority. In just a little while the conglomerate mass of the various "minorities" will actually be the composite majority here. All of those by-god-I'm-pure Americans will be but a small handful of misguided white supremacists and (as I call them: WAPIDs) other, slightly more conscious White American Purist in Denial seeking shelter from the grungy masses of uppity hyphenated fellow country-persons. And, I really believe, if we don't take a look at this situation now, and start doing some things to soften their shock, there are gonna be some very scared and dangerous white people around here when the Texas political landscape starts to be peopled by folks with names like Garcia.

To offer full disclosure here, I must admit that I really don't have a soft spot for the average good-ole-boy-Texas-redneck-KKKwannabe-type. They have their own problems to contend with: I'm happy to be one of the problems for them. But for the WAPIDs, I have more compassion (after all, being a compassionate extremist IS in fashion these days). For the WAPIDs, I have some advice. And, my advice is somewhat based on how blackfolks must live in this country, as a matter of course. My tips for survival are simple, to be sure, but the situation is very complex. WAPIDs, you got improvise some here. You can learn that from us blackfolks. You know, that's one of the things we are supposed to be good at.

OK, ready?

First things first. Open your head, heart, and your mouth and repeat after me. If you have trouble following the words, just listen to us blackfolks. We've got lots of practice, soul deep practice, with the first step.

Step one: say this to yourself and everyone that will listen:

One of America's major hindrances to achieving true, ethical, moral greatness is our inability to deal honestly with our "race problems." And, as an American, I must admit that this is indeed my problem, not just the problem of those who don't look like me.

Step two: say this in much the same fashion as the first:

The answer to our societal race problem is not to simply demand conformity and homogeneity, but to look honestly and openly at our differences. Then, if we need to demand something, we demand that folks learn that identifying difference, at it's base, is an acknowledgment of observation without judgment.

Step three:

Judgment of difference is not necessarily a bad thing. All of us judge. Judgment without investigation, knowledge, appreciation, critical thinking is, however...lame! We want to be cool, not lame. We aspire to be zesty, not unzesty.

Demanding that everyone embrace our world-view, culture, point of view, and politics is uncool, unzesty. Unless, of course, we're sure that our bias is informed by a direct line to God. And if we do have that direct line, we have to be prepared to produce evidence of the connection. God speaks to everyone, remember. And, since that connection might be hard to prove, we have to engage in respectful debate-that must include some amount of time listening- in order to establish agreement. And, chances are, our connection to God will tell us that truth, integrity, respect, and love are the keys to dealing in a righteous manner with difference.

Now, my next step is not advice nor a mantra, it's a request for you to consider three questions:

1) If I were a white American, who grew up in Grand Saline, Texas, and moved to Austin to practicce my profession (say, law enforcement), how good do you think I'd be at telling you about blackAmerica's contribution to my American cultural heritage?

2) If I were a blackman who grew up in Houston's Third Ward, and moved to Austin to practice my choosen profession (law enforcement), how good do you think I'd be at telling you about white America's contribution to my American cultural heritage?

3) If those two guys ended up as State Troopers, on the detail protecting Gov. Perry, and over coffee started to discuss the influence of Mexican history on the art, politics, and culture of Texas, which one would know the date and significnce of Cinco de Mayo?

4) Because you are who you are, from your own personal cultural knowledge-base, what could you do to contribute to their converstion? After all, we do-regardless of our ethnicity or politics-now live in what was once Northern Mexico.

Yes, I digress, but not that much. The point I'm trying to get at here is that whole thing of difference. Our schools, media, government have to make sure that we Americans do have a somewhat common knowledge-base. What is also true is that knowledge-base is predicated on the assumption that white people are the normal Americans. We folks of color-regardless of where we live or come from, or how far back our American lineage goes back-are the others, the abnormal ones,the minorities, marginalized.

Even here in Northern Mexico that is true. Even (especially) on the Native American/American Indian resservations of the Upper Mid-and South West this is true. Even for the historically all blacktownships of Florida this is true.

Those of us who are not true Americans are brought up with the expectation that we hook -- line, and sinker -- into that common knowledge-base I mention and quietly wait until our month, or our chapter, or our area (sports anyone?), or our day/night at the student union or workplace to move out of the shadows and into the light.

As for my little list of questions, I don't really know the answer. Maybe the white guy from Grand Saline, which happens to be an all white village in Northeast Texas, is the one who knows the most history. But if he is, it's because he and/or his parents made an extra special effort to dig below the surface of what is offered as part of our public education system here.

The point that I'm most confident in making is that we "minorities" also have to dig to get at our stories, our histories, our culture because we are not woven into the [telling of] story of America in ways that really do justice to what is true and real.

Because the company line has been for so long to ignore and deny, yes there is much catching up that needs to happen. And, yes, one of the best ways to do that is to have an annual "month" to celebrate.

But you know what, black folks are black all year long. My/our family history stays intact, ready for the telling/reading/celebrating all year long. And, more than any other thing I want you to hear me on, on the other side of that hyphen is still American. There is absolutely no way, no sir, that you can tell the real story of America without talking -- at length -- about the important roles my ancestors played in building this society. And this is even more true because my/our ancestors are many of the same folks.

Let's do better for our kids than what we were handed. Until we have schools (and parents) that deal with multicultural education as the standard, there will always be a remedial need for Hyphenated-American Month. I hope that, at least in my son's lifetime, there will be a day when we all look to Black-American History Month or Brown-American History Month or German-American History Month as times to simply celebrate the multiplicity of cultures found here, not as a begrudged political concession made to keep the savages from rioting. Lighten up and have a good time with us. It's your history too.

In the meanwhile, think about how different America would be without...jazz, blues, ragtime, dixieland, hiphop, rhythm and blues,reggae,open heart surgery, blood banks, dreadlocks, Michael Jordan, Barbara Jordan, Colon Powell, Billie Holiday, Juneteenth, breakdancing, "what up, dog," Martin King, Malcolm X, Alain Locke, the Harlem Renaissance, Motown Records, Duke/Peacock Records, James Brown, Thurgood Marshall, Johnny Holmes, T.D. Bell, Erbie Bowser, traffic lights, the hot comb, Bert Addams, Toni Morrison, Miles Davis, Alice Walker, Doris Miller, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith, Jimi Hendrix, Fredrick Douglas, W.E.B DuBois, Cecil Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Kenny Dorham, Langston Hughes, Spike Lee, The Marsalis Family, Zydecco, Carter Woodson, John Biggers, Charles White, Jacob Lawrence, Heman Sweat, gospel music, bebop, funk music, rap, Soul Train, FUBU, gerry curls, B.B. King, James Balwin, Richard Wright, the New Negro, the Niggerati, the talented tenth, Clarence Thomas, Joycelyn Elders, Arnette Coleman, Arnette Cobb, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, King Oliver, Sun Ra, Ismael Reed, Jessie Fauset, Zora Hurston, Ralph Abernathy, Jessie Jackson, Earl Campbell, W.C. Handy, Willam Grant Still, Ron Carter, Max Roach, Ebony, Jet, Essence,Paul Robeson, Howard University, Fisk, Huston-Tillotson, Jarvis, Prairie View University, Walter White, Countee Cullen, Texas Southern University, Grambling College Football, Michael Jackson, Hayes McMillan, and on and on....