Precedents: Simmer Before You Boil

It’s February, the month nationally recognized as Black History Month in the good ole U.S. of A. Today is Monday, February 13, 2012 – the first day of the work week, when most of us start anew. While some of us are morning people - the early risers always ready to go, others of us dread the return to our business routines, battling our blankets ever so effortlessly, moping to the restroom to freshen and ready ourselves for the work day. Today was one of the latter scenarios for me. Why am I telling you all of this you ask – because this information sets precedence for the mood I was in when I checked my boss’ mail slot for mail delivered over the weekend.

For some odd reason, the February 2012 issue of the ABA Journal(The Lawyer’s Magazine), is just now making its debut. In it, I found the following:

Anyone that knows me probably knows my nostrils flared immediately after reading this – “We just can’t get any credit – hmph.” My first thoughts were negative in that, “Here it is Black History Month of all months, and “they” just can’t let us have ours. WE started the NAACP but in typical fashion, credit is not being given where due.” Hold your horses now . . . fast forward 10 minutes later . . . I immediately pumped the brakes on my ill-warranted emotions . . . nostrils back in sister . . .

After doing a quick Google search, the information is indeed true. According to the NAACP official website, Mary White Ovington indeed answered the challenge of William English Walling to “revive the spirit of the abolitionist movement.” (Hodak, ABA Journal, Feb. 2012, p. 72) After fact checking these two individuals’ names, I digress and have learned something new today. Maybe some or all of you knew and have been privy to this information, for others like me it’s never too late to learn something new. Call me what you want or perhaps I’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere to not have known this but I’m not afraid nor embarrassed to admit that I didn’t.

On another note, the lesson I take away from this and the message to all my blog readers is this – it’s okay to receive a helping hand to help pull you up to where you need to be, no matter the race, creed, color, or ethnicity. Thus the word play in the title of this post – William Walling and Mary Ovington had preceding actions that influenced what evolved into the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Today, my research allowed me to simmer before boiling.  The slow simmer, the emotion that took precedence before fully-surfaced anger.