I rarely use this space to voice political issues but I feel compelled to on the topic of Civil Rights; especially, on this last day of Black History Month. Black leaders and Black History Month are synonymous with Civil Rights as they should but certainly Civil Rights shouldn’t be relegated to the month of February. Or, exclusively to the fight of Black leaders.

Civil Rights and the continued struggle for equality for ALL people is an everyday occurrence. Yet, it never seems more evident than in February that we are overwhelmed with teaching moments for our “tween” daughter. It’s exhausting to explain away why she as a brown skinned little girl has to carry the mantle in being “honored” (singled out because of the color of her skin) to be lined up with the other African-American children in a class to read a poem in recognition of Black History Month.

Honoring Civil Rights Leaders is an honor for all of us regardless of our skin color even during Black History month.

The poem should be a privilege for all to read.

Many of us are a product of institutional biases. We don’t even know that we carry these prejudices forward and exhibit it daily with what we say and do. We all do it but we have to recognize this and just stop.

All of us should carry this struggle of creating a country that is based on the reality that there is equality regardless of fill in the blank.

Isn’t Civil Rights, Human Rights? My answer is yes. What’s yours?

Sonya Ruff Jarvis, is the Managing Member of Jarvis Consultants and the Founder of the eRetailer Summit and JC Event Group. Sonya has extensive experience in creating original innovative solutions to overcome major business challenges. Sonya has spent most of her career visiting headquarters across global industries and has built strong business relationships across diverse brands. An expert in the field, Sonya has been published in numerous retail industry b-to-b publications.

Sonya has a M.B.A. in Marketing. She is married and has a daughter and they live in Fairfield County Connecticut.

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