Those symbolic gestures DO wear thin
Many black speakers shun February spotlight
By Associated Press | February 5, 2005
NEW YORK -- The only black county commissioner in Dallas, John Wiley Price spoke Monday to 100 mostly black middle school students about history, responsibility and their futures. If he had been invited the following day -- Feb. 1 -- he would have refused.
That's not because of a scheduling conflict. Price no longer makes public appearances during Black History Month. Like some other top speakers, Price has grown weary of being in high demand for just a few weeks and then often ignored.
''I'm not going to be, as the kids say, 'pimped' during the month of February," Price said.
A few years ago, Price said, he was inundated with speaking requests. Then he said he realized that ''black people were visible during February, but the other 11 months of the year we became the invisible people."
