Every day this month, the San Francisco Chronicle is celebrating African-American History Month by looking at African-American artists and performers in the Bay Area. It's nice to finally read some alternative articles about people like Boots Riley from the Coup, Tracy Chapman, and painter David Huffman, instead of having to read the typical, derivative articles that only remember the Civil Rights hereos. Now don't get me wrong. I admire, respect, and appreciate Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, but man, those are the only two faces that I keep seeing on all the African-American History Month advertisements. Good Job Chronicle!!!!
Speaking of the Civil Rights movement, I remember there was time when I didn't have an appreciation for it. I remember being in like 2nd grade and of course, I had the heedless, selfish, naive, ungrateful mindset that most 7 year olds have. I remember being confused and thinking to myself- What? What do you mean she got upset that she had to go to the back of the bus? Wait. Hold on a minute.... No one was sitting in the back of the bus!!! Are they morons?!! The back of the bus is the best spot on the bus. Everyone fights to be on the back of the bus. You get to look out the back window... Why would she be upset? If she were in our class right now and we were going on a field trip, she would be lucky if they made her sit in the back of the bus. Now, if they made her sit up front next to the smelly bus driver and all the teachers then yeah I would understand her being upset and everyone making a big deal about it.
My teacher then went on to explain that at the time there was also separate drinking fountains for whites and colored people. Being that I was darker then most kids in my class, I assumed that I would have been categorized as a colored person back in those days. With that playing in my mind, I looked around the classroom and thought to myself- OK. So that means that Me, my brother Victor, and Nick, the only African-American kid in our school, would be the only ones drinking from one fountain, and everyone else in the class including the handicap kid- who would probably take forever trying to get get a drink, Mustache Mary- who's mustache would probably rub all over the spout, and the shitty smelly kid, would all be drinking from the other fountain because they are white.....Nice!!! What's the big deal? I could go for some rules like that.
Finally, I discovered an African-American figure that I could respect. My teacher told us about George Washington Carver . For those of you that don't know, he was African-American and he invented Peanut Butter. Being that I was a big peanut butter and jelly sandwich connoisseur in grade school, there was a great deal of respect and appreciation for someone like him. Watching images of Martin Luther King, Malcom X, and Rosa Parks on TV never did anything for me, but everytime I bit into a PB and J, I knew good ol' George Washington Carver gave me the opportunity and was a real hero. I always hoped that since someone who was African-American invented peanut butter, that someone who was Mexican would have invented Jelly...I don't know...Maybe Abraham Lincoln Chavez?
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