I grew up in Imperial, Pennsylvania, located about 20 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh.
Imperial is a lot bigger than Huntington. While Huntington mainly looks the same throughout, my hometown is a large mix of farms, highways, suburbs and urban areas.
Despite having diverse geography and locations, Imperial was predominantly white.
I have gone through many instances of racism: indirect or direct, micro and macro-aggressions, slurs and name-calling and discrimination; all these incidents occurred in Imperial.
While extremely hurtful, those instances have shaped me into the person I am today and have only made me prouder of Black history.
I was not always proud. The earliest memory of a thought I had regarding race was in kindergarten. I vividly remember only one or two other kids of color, and one time on the bus, I thought, “What if I got a bucket of white paint to look like everyone else?”
The next earliest instance of racism I can remember is from the second grade. It was during summer or fall, and I was with one of my only Black girl friends outside.
Two older white kids from across the street came up to us and asked if we knew what the Ku Klux Klan was. My friend was a grade above me, and she got visibly tense. I had no idea what the KKK was, though, and I told them that.
The older boy said, “Well, they don’t like people who look like you. They hurt them.” This certainly cemented a fear of the KKK in little second grade me, and I will always remember those words with the smug look on the boy’s face.
If I were to continue with every example of something racist someone has said or done to me, this story would take up every page of this print.
As I grew up, I learned how to deal with these instances. I no longer had the same mindset as I did in kindergarten.
I learned about Black History Month at some point in elementary school. At first, I didn’t take it very seriously, mainly because there weren’t any dedicated, memorable events. I was still happy it existed, though.
Later, I joined a Black student union in high school that was created in response to a racist incident involving a student. We had panels and conversations with Black business leaders from our community.
The union not only changed my view on Black History Month, but we also launched a variety of events and challenges. It helped me begin to celebrate and share the stories of people who look like me.
I was discovering more and more iconic Black figures that I could relate to, like Madam C. J. Walker, the first female self-made millionaire in the U.S., inspiring me to make my own business and Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who cemented my love for all things space.
There once was a time when people of my race were disregarded, enslaved – not even thought of as humans. Black History Month, to me, is a constant reminder to honor these people by sharing their lives and being proud of my similarities to them.
Davina Snyder can be contacted at [email protected].
