By Terimarie Degree

Staff Writer

February is coming to a close and as it ends, so does the allotted time set aside for the celebration of Black Americans. It seems, however, that within this the shortest month of the year, so many other things receive our attention and the full amount of recognition which is deserved never quite is able to come to fruition.

Most times when Black History Month rolls around, the exact same stories about the exact same people are told, providing the exact same morals and facts pertaining to the strengths and weaknesses of the human spirit. With this being the case, by the time someone is our age they can barely avoid having a lackadaisical attitude because they already know about Martin, Malcolm, Rosa, Montgomery, burning crosses, the Middle Passage, abolition, Jim Crow, sit-ins and assassinations. Nothing new is ever said and a problem arises because in fact the history of Black people did not end in the 60s. Black people have gone through and accomplished so much more since then and those experiences are not restricted to the worlds of entertainment or crime, and the range of events and need-to-know people stretch out way further than affirmative action, welfare, Jordan, Woods, Cosby, Simpson, King, Winfrey, or Powell. With that said I would like to take a different spin on writing the `Black history' article and focus more so on the present and potential future of Blacks.

One of the main myths about Blacks and their efforts is that they are exclusive, focusing too much on themselves and fixing their own problems that they fail to assist others or even acknowledge that anyone else may be experiencing oppression and/or discrimination. However, that is simply incorrect. Blacks have helped in working towards solutions to problems as large as the AIDS epidemic and the stigmas placed upon gays and lesbians. These efforts were at their heights during the late 80s and early 90s with such things like the formation of the National Black Gay and Lesbian Conference (est. 1986) who along with the support and participation of the NAACP marched in Washington D.C. in 1993 with other gays and lesbians of all races to form one of the largest marches in U.S. history. Due to the severity with which HIV and AIDS were affecting the Black community many social structures such as health, civic, government, and religious organizations were changed and adapted to inform and educate people. Some of the new programs included housing programs, emotional and spiritual support, medical care, and legal assistance. Also, awareness was made when basketball star Earvin `Magic' Johnson came forward in 1991 and announced that he hadHIV. His contributions included getting financial support for research and appropriate medical care for AIDS patients.

Another group that Blacks have supported and fought for are the people of South Africa. With the first of many apartheid protest sit-ins done in the South African Embassy in Washington, Blacks such as Randall Robinson, Mary Frances Berry, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Walter Fauntroy in 1986 started a campaign that lasted over a year which involved the arrests of hundreds of people all in the attempt to stop injustice. Four years later, their efforts and others like them prompted the new president F.W. de Klerk to lift the thirty-year ban off of the ANC (African National Congress) and free black liberation leader Nelson Mandela from prison.

Bringing the focus a little closer to home, there are many Blacks who have made impacts that relate to our faith and to our school. For example, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who was here during the January Series, completed the awesome task of creating the Encyclopedia Africana. It focuses on the African and African American experience and makes that information readily available in CD-Rom form. Another person who helped shed light on the African American experience is playwright August Wilson. Our interim play production was his Pulitzer Prize- winning ``The Piano Lesson.'' The play gives a closer look into the struggles of early American life as a Black person, but also was Calvin's first all-Black cast performing an all-Black subject.

I mentioned earlier that Blacks play a role in our faith, yet that is the most recent fact of all, and one that you can be involved in. Have you ever noticed a ton of cars in the Seminary parking lot on Sundays and wondered what was going on? It was not until after spring break of last year that I myself found out. The people are members of a predominantly Black church, Higher Hope International Ministries, which rents space in the Seminary from Calvin (which they have done for five years now) to hold their services. I personally was overjoyed at the discovery after having spent two and a half years church-hopping because I could not find a suitable fit for a church in this mostly Christian Reformed, super conservative city. Other students share my delight in Higher Hope; their Baptist based small congregation is lively, fun and - most importantly - welcoming. There are about ten of us (not all Black) who go on a regular basis and who often share the blessings we are receiving and invite others to come check it out. For whatever reason, Higher Hope is not featured in Chimes under the church services section, nor does the church have posters or signs inviting students to their services. They assumed that no one at Calvin would be interested but are now taking the steps to broaden their presence with the students.

This is not at all a summation of everything that Blacks have done since the 60s but it is merely meant to be a general overview of things not usually mentioned during the history sharing process. Blacks have done a great deal for themselves as well as others, both in the U.S. and abroad, and they continue to make wonderful contributions in the areas of education and spirituality into our lives. Black history is an ongoing and ever-changing phenomenon, and one well worth the time it takes to investigate.