Black History Month Perspective: ‘People Have to Get Beyond the Surface Level’

While he was growing up in Shreveport, La., Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Kevin Osby only saw negative news about his neighborhood.

“Our neighborhood wasn’t known for anything really positive,” said Osby, the Exchange’s senior enlisted advisor. “There was a lot of craziness going on. You had to grow up in survival mode.”

Black History Month helped him focus on positives.

“It was a way to see some goodness and accomplishments by people who look like me,” he said. “It was one month where I would learn more about Black history in general and the trailblazers who literally sacrificed it all for me to be accepted in a successful position or environment.

“Just knowing what my grandmother and grandfather and what their parents went through—what I go through is probably not even a quarter of what they had to deal with—just knowing that they dealt with that to make life better for me,” he continued, “I really appreciate having a point in time during the year where I can focus on paying homage, learning and understanding that this is my history and it’s something we should be proud of and we should keep that legacy alive for generations after me.”

Osby provides further perspective in this Q&A.

Is there a story of accomplishment that affected you particularly?

Martin Luther King is probably the most influential Black man I didn’t know personally. In my younger days, I knew about Malcolm X, but the general public wasn’t a fan of Malcolm X. When I was around 10 years old, Spike Lee had Malcolm X gear on, and during that time, we started wearing X hats and stuff, not really knowing the history at 10 or 11. We just thought it looked cool. As I got older, I did more research. Lee’s Malcolm X movie with Denzel Washington came out when I was about 12 or 13.

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, those two stories intrigued me the most growing up and probably had the most impact, seeing what they did for our generation and generations to come, seeing that we are treated as equals and not just one-third of a person.

Being an Airman, I got an opportunity to learn about the Tuskegee Airmen. “Red Tails” was an awesome movie, and it paid homage to our Nation’s first all-Black military aviator squadron. In my professional career, the Tuskegee Airmen were a huge influence. You already have a bond, as a military member, with other military members. Our Black history curriculum in school was not that robust. You learned about Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King or maybe Malcolm X or a few others’ accomplishments. But as I got older, and especially joining the military, I got a chance to do some research on the Tuskegee Airmen and see what they brought to the fight. They did so much for our country but weren’t necessarily celebrated when they got back home. It makes me proud that we’ve come such a long way that we can really honor and celebrate them appropriately.

In your travels, how have you seen stores honoring Black History Month?

I just came back from Colorado Springs and got to see some awesome displays. The signing, as well as the focus on merchandising of, and concessionaires with, products specific to Black History Month makes it clear that the Exchange places a priority on diversity. It makes me feel good to be part of this organization. I’ve seen associates wearing African garments. It’s good to give customers a history lesson because it’s not all about Black people celebrating Black people. It’s about all of us knowing the history of celebrating everybody within the United States of America.

How should we think about Black history beyond Black History Month?

I think people have to really want to understand their fellow human beings. We’ve probably had friends from many different nationalities without truly understanding who they are as a person. When everything came to a head with George Floyd and racial tensions were the highest they’d been in years, that seemed to be the time for everybody to start doing their research, to understand the pain and emotions behind what’s going on.

People have to get beyond the surface level to understand why other people think and act the way they do. You’d be surprised how much you can understand someone if you put forth the effort. Once you develop a relationship with someone, try to understand them and their background. Questions about what people know about their families are deep-rooted questions that make people think. We normally keep things at a surface level and don’t let people do a deep dive into our lives. We need to open up individually and ask those deep questions.

What do you know about your own family’s history?

I’ve heard stories from my mother, aunts and uncles. I know that my great-great-great grandfather was a slave master. He was white. My great-great grandfather was the son of a slave master. I heard that he was abandoned in the woods, and my family heard him crying and they took him in and raised him. I think we picked up the last name of the family that informally adopted my great-great grandfather.

My grandmother is from Shreveport, La. My grandfather’s from Ringgold, La. My grandfather was in the military. He was in the Navy, which I just found out recently. My grandmother grew up in Shreveport and met him after he got out of the Service.

I don’t know much about the history on my dad’s side. I did not formally meet him till I was 22 years old. Within the last year and a half, my family did some research on Ancestry.com and someone on there matched close to me. It ended up being my niece on my dad’s side. She reconnected me with my dad. I just found out I have two older sisters and one older brother who passed away in high school. So I’m just now uncovering a bunch of stuff about my family recently and learning more about myself in the process.