I don’t know about you… but Black History month felt like a drag this year. There was so much going on in the news (i.e. Gucci, Burberry, Cohen, etc.) that I felt like we didn’t get a chance to celebrate ourselves. I’m used to February being a chance to spotlight Black Excellence but that just wasn’t the case this year.
Although Black History month is ‘technically’ over, I still wanted to highlight some greatness I’ve noticed around us. Below are some of the things I enjoyed seeing, hearing and watching last month (and now) and I thought I’d share it with you.
Music
To kick things off, Solange released her 4th studio album, ‘When I Get Home‘.
I started listening to the album this morning and I’ve listened to it about 3 times so far. As of now, my favorite track is ‘Binz’. I love the subtle drum coupled with Solange’s relaxed voice.
We’ve all been waiting on her to return after the release of ‘A Seat at the Table’ and in my opinion, she did not disappoint. You can listen to the album on Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and more.
Oscar Winners 2019
- Regina King won for Best Supporting Actress in If Beale Street Could Talk
- Hannah Beachler won for Production Design on Black Panther (She made history as the first Black woman to be nominated and win for this category)
- Mahershala Ali won for Best Supporting Actor (this is coming off of his Oscar win last year)
- Ruth Carter won for Costume Design (Black Panther)
- Peter Ramsey won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature for Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse (the first Black person to win in this category)
- Spike Lee won his first Oscar after 40 plus years of film work for Blackkklansman
Film
Will Packer Productions released the highly anticipated movie, What Men Want. The movie starred Taraji P. Henson (as Ali Davis), a high strung sports agent. At the agency, she was surrounded by men and fighting to break through the glass ceiling to become partner.
Despite the movie’s low ratings, I enjoyed the new-age spin and found it highly entertaining. (However, I may be biased because I love Taraji.) Despite that fact, I believe that many women will be able to find parallels between Ali Davis’s life and their own when climbing the corporate latter and finding their voice.
Community
Jaden Smith, aka Will and Jada’s son, has joined forces with a local church in Flint, Michigan to bring clean water to the area. In 2014, it was discovered that Flint’s pipes were the cause of lead and other contaminations in the resident’s water. Since then, donations of bottled water have declined and news coverage has dwindled.
Jaden and First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church will work together to deploy a mobile water filtration system. The system, “The Water Box”, is said to filter out lead and other contaminations in the water. Amazing!
So, I hope that these quick spotlights are a little glimmer of hope for you after that very dark Black History Month. Remember that we are not limited to 28 days of history. We are Black History 365 days.
From Me to You, Love.
