Not just because of the reruns of Roots and classic black film marathons that only happen during the shortest month of the year.
No, I'm excited because I have taken a personal inventory and decided it's time to say thanks to some of the people who have made it possible for me to continue to grow and learn at the ripe old age of 42.
I was raised by a woman who was born in the south in 1894
I obviously didn't have to endure many of the challenges my grandmother and others endured and for that I'm thankful.
One reason for that was her strong love of reading.
She taught me to read out of the biggest Bible anyone has ever seen.
I 'm pretty sure her Bible was the first off the press.
This thing is bigger than a phone book, which I'm sure made sense to her.
I can hear her saying.. "Boy laugh if you want to... How else am I going to call on the Lord if I don't have a Big Bible? Now haul that heavy good book on over here and let's get to learning."
Especially for the mothers and fathers who took the time to try and encourage me and correct me when they saw me heading down the wrong path.
I didn't always listen, but I am thankful for the lessons.
I'm thankful to the elders who put their lives on the line so that my generation could vote, go to school, start business and basically have a future with choices.
Every year I post this video I put together from a film about Dr Martin Luther King Jr, with Alecia Keys singing Someday We'll All Be Free. You should watch it and share it.
I'm not going to get into a discussion on the state of black America, or gun crime or poverty.
However, with all the murders this year in Chicago so far, it does make me wonder sometimes if the KKK and other hate groups are cutting back staffing and funding because we're doing all the work for them!
Growing up with a wise grandmother in the 70's who lived in the south long before the civil rights era was a wonderful, challenging and exciting experience.
Even though things were changing in America socially, she still had legitimate concerns and fears.
Plus I know at a very young age I expressed my fondness for big booty white girls.
It all started with this poster. It was in a cereal box. Seriously...
SHE BEAT MY ASS LIKE I STOLE SOMETHING.
She broke a pure sweat wearing me out.
I think she got a nose bleed too.
That was also the day my grandmother told me the story of Emmet Till's murder.
She also vowed that I would certainly die the exact same way and she'd be there to say
"I told that hard headed boy bout whistlin at white women".
Lil Wayne, is not my favorite rapper ..really for one reason, I can't understand what he's saying.
They call him Weezy.
That's fitting because he sounds like he has chronic asthma to me.
Don't give him a Grammy, give his scrawny ass an inhaler.
So recently I learned that Weezing..I mean Weezy has a verse on a song where he makes a vulgar reference to Till's death.
You can read about the article by George E. Curry here.
Sometimes I wish everyone could have the opportunity to be raised by much older family members.
I think if they heard the story told at the knee of someone who really truly didn't want them to die, they would understand.
I can't knock any artist's hustle.
Keeping your name in the news is what it's all about.
When people stop talking about you, you're done and the only thing left to do is either get cast on Celebrity Rehab or Dancing With the Stars Season 55.
I understand that times have changed a great deal.
But after the murder of Trayvon Martin and countless others , I still fear for my children's safety in a violent and ever changing world just like my grandmother.
