I love black history month, but a lot of the vignettes feature historical figures doing things that the average student can’t relate to. Sure, George Washinton Carver did a lot with peanuts, and Madam C.J. Walker was a cosmetics pioneer, but do those facts have immediate impact. However, the fact a black guy, Lonnie G. Johnson, invented the Super Soaker, now there is something kids can grasp from everyday life. Of course someone like me who thinks too much must put aside the idea that the Super Soaker, fun though it may be is a weapon, a gun even, and that celebrating a black male for inventing a new kind of gun leads to possible negative stereotypes.
Should one celebrate a black man inventing a new kind of gun?
