I Am Black History
By Lamar Gibbs
I am black history.
I live life on a day to day basis, not realizing in the moment how much my actions are leading me towards the history I’m living out. I do not say that I’m living history from an overinflated sense of self-importance, but rather to reiterate the truth that I was created to live my life in light of eternity. It will be used the way that God intended it to be.
My life started and currently continues in New York City. My new life in Christ started at the young age of five and continues to this day. I live my life on the shoulders of my father and mother, who raised me and impacted my life of faith. All of the family, friends, leaders, and other men and women of impact have revealed their influence on me.
My fears, frustrations, weaknesses, and strengths have led me to all that I’ve experienced. The hip hop I love, the books I crave, and the foods that I desire reveal what I enjoy. Today, I live with the understanding that with every day I’m given, I am also given an opportunity to grow, learn, give, receive. It all paints the history God wants to tell.
The black history that has been made, and is celebrated in February, was not accomplished by individuals who were attempting to be recognized for that history.
Black history was accomplished through individuals who struggled yet persevered, were courageous as they trembled, spoke to the world who wanted them silenced, wrote with ink with the threat of being wiped away.
Frederick Douglass. Carter Woodson. Thurgood Marshall. Martin Luther King Jr.
Names that have become rooted in the consciousness of America, yet at the same time have often escaped the conscience of America. Would they say that they were attempting to make black history month? No. They were seeking to be treated as the image bearers of God that they are.
So as I sit and write, and as you look and read, we celebrate black history because we know how that history contains stories. Stories that must be told, never left to the devices of humanity that can lead us to forget.
I celebrate black history, because I too am living as history is formed in every step I take, every word I write, and every way that God chooses to use me.
Lamar Gibbs
Lamar is an experienced writer, content creator, and all-around creative from Queens, New York who loves Jesus and how He works in our thought lives! Lamar writes to share his thoughts and inspire, challenge, encourage, and transform.
You can connect with Lamar on Facebook at Thoughts Of Redemption, Twitter at @_TORedemption, and Instagram at @thoughtsofredemption.