Lecrae has Both ‘Joy’ and ‘Pain’ for Black History Month

The always socially aware Lecrae, wrote a guest post on Billboard to talk about Black History Month, and the shunning of African American’s in U.S. history.

The emcee takes a little trip down history lane detailing some of swept under the rug stories of how America became America. He includes the “discovery” of the New World and the true story of Thanksgiving as examples.

“As Americans we have seen how our history has had its lion’s share of overlooked errors and left out facts,” he wrote.

He continued, “There is of course a difference between documenting history and using the past to shame people. I’m sure no one on God’s green earth enjoys hearing his past failures and transgressions glorified.”

Lecrae wrote about his “mixed emotions” for Black history. He takes pride in the perseverance and progress, but also shutters at the “pain” and “ugliness.”

The rapper said while it is great Black History month emerged through the acknowledgment of prominent Black figures throughout the Nation’s history, he is also saddened by what it has become. What he means is that it has almost become a trivial, commercialized holiday just like all of the others.

There are so many other people that can get attention other than George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, and Harriet Tubman. “Dig deeper, however, and you will find that by and large contributions to this country by blacks have been left out or manipulated for various reasons.”

Lecrae believes Black people were never given a chance to be a part of the main history, but rather a subplot or side bar. It is this feeling of being “less than” that makes their story feel less important.

Two examples he cites are Daniel Hale and Jim Beckworth. Hale as not just the first Black man to perform open heart surgery; he was the first person to do it, period. Beckworth was a frontiersman in the same spirit of Daniel Boone. He may even be of equal importance to America’s story, but for whatever reason these two have been brushed to the side.

“Black history is a rich one that all Americans need to know and embrace. It’s our collective history,” said Lecrae. “Our past shouldn’t be a weapon of shame but a tool to help us learn, heal and progress.”

Take a look at the complete article on Billboard here.

What do you think of Lecrae’s commentary about Black History Month?

Justin Sarachik
Justin Sarachik
Justin is the Editor-in-Chief of Rapzilla.com. He has been a journalist for over a decade and has written or edited for Relevant, Christian Post, BREATHEcast, CCM, Broken Records Magazine, & more. He's written over 10,000 articles, done over 1,000 interviews, and is in post-production for documentaries on Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez & Mario "Machete" Perez. He's the project manager of the upcoming video game Run the Court and of the media brand Crimefaces. Justin likes to work with indie artists to develop their brands & marketing strategies. Catch him interviewing artists on Survival of the Artist Podcast & creating videos on his social media channels.
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