It’s not an understatement to describe the past year’s events as historical, and particularly for Black Americans. The nation elected its first Black vice president, a woman, and a historically Black university graduate, and Georgia sends its first Black senator to the Capitol. (Both of these realities were possible through the tireless organizing efforts of women like Stacey Abrams of Fair Fight and LaTosha Brown of Black Voters Matter.)

This period also had Black Americans experiencing disproportionate deaths and job losses from Covid-19, police brutality, and myriad race-fueled attacks. The killing of George Floyd, a Black man in police custody, ushered in a period of collective reckoning — one that prompted widespread protests, a push for racial justice, and a re-examination of the education system’s failure to teach the accurate history of Black and Indigenous people.

As Black History Month kicks off, let us remember, honor, and learn from black lives’ sacrifices and movement. Each day in February, I will be posting and celebrating POC.

It is our right to educate!

~Diadel Kimberlee