This last day of February is a reason for celebration for a lot of people in the community, as it is the last day of Black History Month.
“We close out Black History Month with a celebration of black culture and history,” said Jason Roberst, the son of Sadie Roberts Jospeh, and now in charge of her museum.
At the African American History Museum, formerly run by the late Baton Rouge icon Sadie Roberts Joseph, dozens gathered to soak up different forms of black history in dance, poetry, and music.
“the main takeaway from this program is that history is alive and is very relevant,” said Roberts.
But sometimes history is destined to repeat itself. Friday evening before the event, vandals broke in to the museum to paint racist messages on parts of the exhibits–and it’s not the first time the site has been vandalized.
“For African American people in this country, this is nothing new, but we will casually gloss over that, let them do what they want to do, and we will continue celebrate our history and our culture without pause,” said Roberts.
For some, the graffiti actually proves an important point.
“To see that kind of vandalism, it honestly, especially in this month, give us the reason why–when people ask why black history month, when people ask why are these things important, when people ask why are spaces like this so important, why do we have to donate, why do we have to remember, why do they have to be specific rewards and hbcus–this is why, because this type of mentality persists still today,” said Ms. Sadie’s former mentee, Myra Richardson.
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