Black History Month. Black History quotes flood the airwaves, quotations of great persons past and present. But the history of Black people in Canada is taught sparingly in the schools. 2022, however, has seen the re-awakening of a number of Black initiatives. We are suddenly hearing the truth about who are these awesome people and what are they doing.
In fact, youth are asking today, why is Black History Month a month? Why not all the time. Who is concerned with all the problems we are facing as black children on a daily basis.
One issue relates to the number of Black hockey players in Canada. Is it lack of interest, is it the cost , is it the abuse children suffer when they try to be accepted by white hockey players, and the questions go on and on. No resolve.
Canada is definitely hockey country. Parents of Black Children would agree that families with boys start figuring out how to get their kid into hockey before they can even walk! Every school has a hockey team. I would suggest that every school has a black child on their attendance list.
The time is now
“It comes to the individual, the Race, and the Nation, once in a lifetime to decide upon the course to be pursued as a career. The hour has now struck for the individual Negro as well as the entire Race to decide the course that will be pursued in the interest of our own liberty.” [Taken from the first speech made by Marcus Garvey, on his release from Tombs prison after 3 months].
I love this Black History Month message from the Canucks.
Marcus Garvey makes it clear that Blacks cannot wait for someone to allow them to do what they want to do. Every child should have dreams. Dreams about how they could do something that they think they can do.
As he says:
Today the one race is up, tomorrow it has fallen; today the Negro seems to be the footstool of the other races and nations of the world; tomorrow the Negro may occupy the highest rung of the great human ladder, as civilization moves in cycles.
Taken from the first speech made by Marcus Garvey, on his release from Tombs prison after 3 months
How to score
Mark Burgin, a local Black development coach dedicated to changing the game of hockey has a serious message and parents need to hear it. Getting black children on the ice is the same as fighting for the puck. It won’t be simple because no-one but you realize how important freedom is to the race. Ancient civilizations bear testimony to the heights achieved long before the more recent civilizations. Africa had conquered air and sea long before the West came along.
It’s a great message.