By Campaign staffer Erika West
As it is the first day of Black History Month and we are now, following her passing, celebrating the life of Coretta Scott King, it is appropriate that we take pause and consider the significance of each.
During the month of February, African Americans, and certainly every American should celebrate not only our greatest achievers, but also how their triumphs came to pass, particularly in the area of social progress.
By this I mean that every change-maker will not lead a march of great social protest, or deliver a soul-stirring oration. Those special ones, those visionaries, led movements that began in a room where they gathered with a few, and eventually more, to begin dialogue, to define a problem, agree to an end, and ultimately, a means to that end.
With this lesson in mind, we now celebrate the legacy of Coretta Scott King during Black History Month. She has always been part of this occasion. She carried on the legacy of Dr. King, because she was the greatest witness to his life and preserved his memory in a way no one else could. But, Coretta Scott King was also a woman who knew what it meant to show up for change, and even after the death of her husband as the evolving world presented new challenges such as, gun violence and HIV/AIDS, Mrs. King began new dialogue and new work toward their solutions.
My generation looks at progress differently. In our experience it is rapid and almost seamless. One day there is a new innovation, and because information moves among us so quickly, it is an instant phenomenon. We can be impatient and forget that there are things that cannot occur so quickly. Changing minds is one of them. In some ways we will do things differently than in the time some of our most celebrated heroes took their greatest action. It is more difficult in a world of faster pace to catch and hold people’s attention. But, whatever progress we seek will begin much the same way it always has. We must first, in some way, show up for work.
Sometimes forgetting that action is ours to take, we look around and ask, “Where is our leadership? Who is going to bring us out of this?” I have done it. We all have. But we cannot wait for our next Dr. and Mrs. King to emerge. Few have that special combination of gifts that makes people into icons, but even those who do are not islands unto themselves. Their ideas and inspirations come from the will and efforts of small groups, community organizations, and brothers and sisters who gather in small and growing numbers to make a difference. We all must return to these spaces, speak thoughtfully about something, and take some action – no matter how small it may seem – toward its resolution. From my point-of-view, that is the history of what it is to be black in America, and it is the reality of every movement, no matter its people, or their color.
Happy Black History Month…
Erika West