Black History Month: Here is the real lesson to be learned

Black History Month, which takes place each February, reminds me and other African-Americans of our past and the wrongs committed against our people. However, the real lesson to be learned is not in the pain of the past, but how black Americans have not – and must not – let those events define who we are as individuals.

Yes, there was a time when our ancestors were forcibly taken from their homes, dehumanized, treated like animals and sold into slavery. After slavery, the era of convict leasing became popular. Southern states passed Black Codes, which were laws intended to criminalize people of color.

Because many black people were unable to pay even small jail fines, they were sentenced to labor. As a result, convict laborers were leased to plantations, lumber camps and mines to be used for forced labor. It was the era of slavery by another name.


Source : Foxnews