BLACK HISTORY MONTH TURNS TO THE FUTURE

Black History Month typically has been a time to reflect on the achievements of prominent African-Americans such as Jackie Robinson, Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall and others. But for some people, like Robin Price, this year's celebration represents an opportunity to look ahead.

Prompted in part by a more forward-looking view of Black History Month, which begins Monday, Price has decided to spend the year mentoring a young student.

"There are so many young girls that need guidance; their mothers need guidance," said Price, 55, an event planner from Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. "Not to say I'm a guru, but I have a great base. I'm excited about the prospects. I'm ready to share what I know."

African-Americans have made historic gains in recent years, the most prominent example being the Obama family in the White House. Still, African-Americans are struggling, with foreclosures and unemployment rates greater than the national average. That has prompted some to see Black History Month as a time for service and to chart a more stable future.

That's exactly why Tim Lee plans to kick off an outreach project for at-risk boys in Chicago starting Monday, offering them counseling and guidance. His timing is strategic, he said.

"People are expecting to hear about black history, so this is the time when people are open and listening," said Lee, who is a youth pastor at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. "I use it to take advantage. You can learn history from now until the day you die. But if you don't act, you in a very real sense are failing."

Lee already has the children at his church writing a play where they predict the state of black America 10 years from now. It's an exercise to make them imagine what murder rates, drop-out rates and HIV/AIDS infection statistics will look like if there is no intervention.

"If we're going to be serious, we have to act now to stop what we see," he said.

Although some are making their efforts more visible, taking an activist approach toward Black History Month is not new, said Barbara Ransby, a professor of African-American studies and the director of gender and women's studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She said it's a natural step for people who understand history to want to change the future.

"Sometimes we think of history as stories that have closure," Ransby said. "Slavery ended, so we can tell the history because it's over. The civil rights movement ended, so we can tell the story. A more activist approach to history is that history is always being contested and always being made."

The historical element and activist element are intertwined, Ransby said.

"History is not a blueprint for the present … but there are lessons to be learned from what came before," she said. "History is the study of change over time. So if we don't like the way things are today, we are pretty much promised that they'll be different in 20 or 30 years."

When Toyia Miller-Peters, sponsor of the African-American Awareness Cultural Club at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, began planning the school's Black History Month celebration, she wanted to do more than reflect on the past. In addition to watching films, attending fashion shows and reading books, students will have a forum to openly discuss race, she said.

"I realize we are making a lot of positive changes and doors have opened where they never were open before," she said. "We take a lot for granted. We don't want (students) to forget our past and that we have to move forward and open more doors."

SOURCE: CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM