Fresno City College held ceremonies to mark the beginning of Black History Month at the FCC Theater on Feb.2.
The event included a display of cultural practices including pouring of water on the stage and lectures, one by Professor Kehinde Solwazi who claimed that all human beings are descendants of African (Black) people.
The theme for the ceremony was The Past, Present and Future, an acknowledgement of Barack Obama, America’s first African-American president.
Dr. Fitzalbert Marius, spoke about the past:
“Today, we are concerned with how the past related to blacks’ existence in these United States of America and how it affected the present which resulted in the electing of a black president, and how that will undoubtedly affect the conditions of blacks in this country in the future,” he said.
Marius went on to tell the story of an African slave, Kikuyu Lumidee and his descendants, who where subjected to the treachery of slavery.
Marius also told a joke about a man named Henry Jackson, who died at an early age.
Jackson ended up in Heaven at the pearly gates which Saint Peter was guarding. He asked Saint Peter “Can I come in?” Peter told him, “No! You will have to wait until 1 p.m., for no one gets into Heaven between 12 noon and 1 p.m. unless they have done something spectacular on Earth.”
Jackson replied, “Y’all is looking at a colored man that has done the most spectacular thing in the South.”
“Youse is looking at the first colored man that has married a white woman on the courthouse steps of Toga Louisa Boosa Mississippi.”
Saint Peter said, “That is indeed spectacular in these times of extreme racism and prejudice in Southern U.S.A. How long ago did you do it?” And Henry said, “Oh, about 15 seconds ago.”
The joke was about a black man marrying a white woman in the racist south. It was derived from a 1930’s song, “Strange Fruit Hanging from a Tree,” by Billy Holiday.
According to the true story, Holiday was on tour in the South when she stopped the bus to relieve herself in the forest. She looked up and saw the “strange fruit” – a Black man, tarred, feathered, and hanging from a tree.
The event began with the traditional singing of the Black National Anthem by Danneille Davis. After that, she sang the classic R&B song, “Change Gone Come,” by Sam Cooke.
While Davis sang, a PowerPoint presentation showing various pictures of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Obama showed on the screen.
“Many of us can realize what that dream must have looked like for Dr. Martin Luther King to at least have an African American President of the United States,” said Dr. Jenne Kennedy, the chairperson of the Black History Month celebration.
Next came an energetic display of African dance. Auguste Kouadio poured out some water on the stage to invite the forefathers’ spirits that originated from the Ivory Coast.
Eddie Reshard, a FCC student and small business owner, represented the present. The purpose of his speech was to inspire those who were living today to be all they can be, and not to allow all the different stumbling blocks to discourage them from achieving their dreams.
Deona Braxton, a 17 year-old Roosevelt High School student, spoke about how she felt on Nov. 4 after it was clear that Barack Obama had won the race for the President of the United States. “At that moment I felt like I could be the President one day,” said Braxton.
The event concluded with Kehinde Solwazi, the African American Cultural Studies instructor, giving a PowerPoint presentation showing the history of African people.
There were some key things that Solwazi stated should be understood during Black History Month, and that was Black history is everybody’s history; black history is world history.
“There is just no way you can talk about any history and leave out the original people, and we are the original people,” said Solwazi, “We are the first people to inhibit the planet, everybody in the world comes from us.”
