“Say there ain’t no hope for the youth and the truth is, it ain’t no hope for the future, and then wonder why we crazy…”

–Pac

In the past, our ancestors hoped for a powerful, progressive, prominent future for Black America. That future is now our present, our current reality. Can we really say that we are living up to the expectations of our forefathers? Are we a solid depiction of what they fought for and envisioned for us?

Once upon a time, African-Americans had to learn how to read and write behind the white man’s back. Every slave wanted to learn. And once they did learn, they eventually became amazing authors—take, for instance Frederick Douglass and Susan Paul– who influenced the likes of Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison. Sadly, in this era, we are seeing higher drop-out rates, a lack of eloquence, and a nonchalant attitude towards scholastic cultivation.

Our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ generations were much more aware and active about civil issues facing their community. They were more in tuned with politics and how certain political candidates could affect their future—and when I say future, that really translates to “us”, the current generation. They were voting, they were marching, they were demonstrating. Standing up for their rights and fighting the power. Today, it seems the only way you can get us to vote is if it’s the first black president. Obama’s election was the first time in history that Blacks surpassed White turnout rates for voting. A Black presidential candidate should not be the only thing bringing us out to the polls. But since we won’t be having any more of those, the only voting we seem to care about is a Twitter contest.

Even family ideals were different back then. With so many forces working against the Black community, everyone knew that fellowship and family was important, because essentially, that’s really all anyone had. During slavery, everyone protected each other, stood up for each other, fought for each other, not against each other. The only time fathers left their households was to make money for the family. Mothers were more nurturing towards their kids and taught them moral values. Now we are experiencing a generation of fatherless children. A generation that is abused by mothers who are too young to raise children and are worn out by their circumstances.

This is not to say that the whole community is like this. That’s not true. There are a ton of Black writers, artists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, doctors, etc. who have (and still are) working hard to make a mark in the community. But we also must not fail to realize, that our community needs a lot of help realizing how much our ancestors have paved the way for us to go forward, prosper, and be better. Not to travel backwards. So as we continue on throughout the course of Black History Month, let us not only remember our forefather’s revolutionary movements now, but always as we pave the way for our future generations.