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Soulbird/BMGAhead of her eighth studio album, Worthy, India.Arie is asking fans to embrace more than just their “hair” this Black History Month — she also wants them to honor their heritage.
“With Black History Month, I feel like my hope is that people are going to have more reverence for what it means to just be black,” Arie tells ABC Radio. “And to be a black person in America specifically.”
The Grammy-award winning singer says that there’s been more reverence as of late with groundbreaking films like Marvel’s Black Panther.
“And I think that Black Panther has a lot to do with that,” she continues. “But, it’s not that Black Panther did it, but Black Panther fed something that we were hungry for and reminded us of our roots.”
However, Arie, who reveals she looks to her ancestors for inspiration and advice, warns that Black History Month shouldn’t just be about remembering the accomplishments of our great civil rights leaders.
“Not just on paper like logistics like, ‘You know Martin Luther King was born January 15th?’ and ‘You know, he fought for us?'” she adds. “But like, ‘No he’s actually your ancestor, he’s actually what you actually come from.’ Everybody in this world was born in a different place on the globe. This is your culture. Dr. Martin Luther King is your culture.”
Yet, even with the expected Black History Month factoids, Arie is confident that this year’s Black History Month will be different, partly because people just simply don’t want to miss out.
My prediction is that people are looking at it that way more,” she says. “So, if you’re not at least in some sense remembering who you are, your lineage… or having reverence for it, you’re missing a whole part of you.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
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