I Want to Document YOU for Black History Month!

It's Black History Month: the 28 (this year 29) days that we get to celebrate the many accomplishments our brothers, sisters, forefathers and mothers have brought to the American culture. It is an opportune time to reflect on your family and who they are to you both direct and indirect. It is a time to consider the people you know and others in communities afar that are making contributions above and beyond the call of duty that creates a legacy that will live far beyond our lives.

It is Black History Month!

With all of the pop culture, political advancements, pioneering and innovation that the Black culture is bringing to the table at this very moment, it is a hard concept to understand needing to have #BLACKLIVESMATTER movement or issues that have went on in Flint. Even with all the advancements of society, it is necessary to have places, people and things that celebrate our culture and uplift our people. Black History Month, years after its inception, is a much needed thing in our community.

But, wait.

I can't be mad at the anger that African Americans give to other cultures who question why there is a need for a month to celebrate our history. And since I won't get mad at that, I hope that my Black brothers and sisters don't get upset for me asking why do they erase us from history?

Time and time again LGBT people have been taken out the history books based on their sexuality. I think the one in my social groups that we most discuss is Bayard Rustin. Bayard Rustin was the right hand man to Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights era. Because of the stigma during that time, they didn't want Rustin to be attached to something prolific or send mixed messages to supporters of the movement so he was largely hidden from the public and from history books. In that same movement there were other people such as Aaron Henry who were important to the fight. On the other hand, you had outspoken gay men on either side of success seeming to be affected by being either too "in-your face" or not "too Pro Black" thought processes like James Baldwin and Essex Hemphill. Although Baldwin is hugely recognizable, the homosexual part of his story is seemingly hidden even in conversations around different social circles today. And Hemphill, completely overlooked.

I will never forget speaking with a good friend Amir Dixon as he was gathering material and people to speak in his docudrama, Friend of Essex, about the importance of documenting our narratives. And, in this day and age, it is all the more important.

With the talent that we possess: from vloggers to stylists to politicians to advocates to artists... and the list goes on, we are getting on television more than ever, becoming published more than ever, garnering spotlight more than ever and living lives that our gay fathers could only dream of. And not documenting a thing.

I don't use this platform to be famous or to be rich-- even though I believe doing what I love will create wealth on its own, but this platform will allow for me to document some of the wonderful narratives that we should hold dear. There are many stories that at this early point in my career I am not able to capture, but stories such as the one with Atlantis Capri (the transgender women who has a birth child in which she is a single parent of) to the Interview with a Social Drug User and the upcoming Interview with a Gay Power Couple are important to our culture-- and we deserve a place to house them.

What's your story? It's Black History Month. It's time to document your narrative. Hit me up! Email is the easiest IanHaddock@TheNormalAnomaly.com