Why is black history month the shortest month of the year?

When black people have brought so much to this nation,

Why is our history subjected to only 28 days?

Is it so after that the world can brush it off

Can pretend that race is no longer an issue

That black people got their month

And that’s good enough

In those 28 days

Why do we only speak of black suffering

Why only of slavery and civil rights

Of Martin Luther King

Of Rosa Parks

Of a constant fight for justice

Why in those 28 days do we not celebrate

In schools we learn how black people were slaves

How we were treated like animals

We speak of the prisons

Of the ships packed with brown bodies

Of the trading and selling

Of the back of the bus

And of the constant struggle

Black people are made to be saviors

We are not people

We are here to be placed upon a pedestal

To be celebrated for our feats

Yet still not equal

Why do we never learn real history

Why do we never celebrate black culture?

We never speak of black excellence

Of black art and black music

Of black hairstyles and black fashion

Of black inventors

Of black lifestyles

Of black life

The only time black people get attention

Is when we are killed

Is when we are working

To prove we are deserving

To prove we belong

When we speak out against issues

We are often pushed aside

For we are being “too radical”

As if we are not to talk about our own race

Our own rights

Our own lives

Being black is not easy

It leaves you constantly vigilant

Even something as simple as a driving a car

As paying for groceries

As walking down the street

Even sleeping in your own home

Can easily become an matter of race

Can easily get you killed

No matter what we do

One day we are heroes

The next day a threat

We are not “queens”

We do not need to be idolized

We just want to be seen

For our history to be understood

We do not want to be subjected to a month

To a 28 days in which you cram

As much knowledge into your brain

About the history the world wants you to know

Black people have so much more to offer

So much beautiful melanin enriched history

Told by black people themselves