Black History Month

This month, America has the distinct honor of celebrating the rich history of the African American people and also the distinct duty to uphold the teachings and lessons that the past 60 years in African American and American history have taught us.

There are so many opportunities now for African Americans because of the work and dedication-and often sacrifice- of African American (and white-allied) civil rights leaders who worked for equality more than 60 years ago. It is an ignorant belief to hold if one believes that we elected the first Black president in 2008 without the help of Martin Luther King, Jr. We never would have gotten the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act without Bobby and Teddy Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. We never would have been freed from social and economic discrimination without Rosa Parks. We would not be free to walk the streets and be liberated people if not for the hard work of Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center. We owe so much to our past.

And we owe so much more to our future. We can not allow our progress to be unkept; lost. We need to keep those gains and make more. The African American community still suffers from educational discrimination, legal discrimination, and social segregation. We need to work on these issues for everyone's benefit.

I wish you all a Happy Black History Month and do so with the hope that this month reignites a passion and a vigor within you for equal civil rights.

Sincerely,

Joseph Soto

P.S. We will also be fundraising $2,500.00 for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.