HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH Mental Health: Written by: Caleb Thomas, M.A. LMHC Hello Urban Experience Readers. I pray 2024 is off to a great start and that this will be the best year ever. I want to wish you a Happy Black History Month, I know there is a lot to our Black History, yet I want to take a snapshot of what it means to us today. How can we do this, you might ask? We do this by continuing to press forward with change. One major change we can start working on is to help improve the lives of our Black youth. We can tell our Black youth about Black History including but not limited to, Black History, Slavery, Freedom, the Civil Rights Movement, and all the great Black leaders who fought from slavery to freedom to the Civil Rights Movement. We will continue to teach and educate and bring to their remembrance, but they also need support, help and encouragement right now. Our Black youth especially the young males are dying at a higher rate, dropping out of school at a higher rate, and going to prison at a higher rate. We know our ancestors didn’t fight just to be stoned, beat up, terrorized, put in prison and even their very lives were taken, and now for our Black youth to fail. Not on our watch! Yes, it’s great to celebrate Dr. Kings birthday (in January) and Black History month in February however, I believe we should also be seeing a change in the alarming statistics we have been witnessing among our Black youth. To do this, it is going to take work on our part, as I have mentioned before I can’t just be concerned about my four and no more. If we’re going to come together and celebrate Black History month it needs to be every month and every month, we need to be working together to see a positive change in our Black youth. They are the future, so we must decide what does the future of Black History look like, when we are gone from this earth and enjoying eternity in heaven. Unfortunately, our Black youth are bombarded with evil and wickedness coming at them daily. They are engulfed with demonic music, that glorifies and edifies sexual promiscuity, gang violence, selling drugs, using drugs robbing, stealing, and killing. (Do you know of other cultures glorifying such horrendous acts in the same way?). There are individuals who glorify violence, heinous evil wicked acts who gets awarded and rewarded with accolades, prizes, trophies and even television commercials. These individuals don’t allow their own children to participate, their kids are being set up for success, by going to the best schools and having tutors and studying to become successful professionals. One thing we can do in celebrating Black History is stop promoting the big entertainers of music the tv and products of these entertainers who could care less if your son or daughter ends up dropping out of school, joining a gang, ending up in prison or being killed. I think we’ve had enough of that in our own back yard within the past year. (Prayers and condolences for those families). The Bible lets us know we can’t mix good with evil, so we must choose how we’re going to continue to celebrate Black History. We should honor the honorable and dismiss those who are ignoring what happens to our Black youth. Our Black youth need better role models, no walking around with
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