Today is Columbus Day. Each year the Nation takes a day to celebrate a man who did horrible things. Christopher Columbus called the people he met in the "New World" Indians, because he was lost and thought he was in India. He never set foot on U.S. Soil. He landed in the Caribbean Islands and raped, robbed, pillaged and destroyed.
How about celebrating Frederick Douglass Day as the first prominent American recovering alcoholic and leader of the Black Temperance Movement or Malcolm X Day? Malcolm had a religious conversion in prison and went from pimp, thief and addict to a leader of millions. While these two men are famous there are other lesser known hero's that are worthy of celebration such as Mother Hale, an African American women who mothered hundreds of children whose parents could not care for them due to cocaine addiction, heroin addiction or Aids. Hale's contribution includes a legacy of service which is so important to recovery.
Most celebrations in the country involve drinking and/or drug use including holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and graduations. Even funerals! African Americans in recovery can create celebrations of our own to reinforce recovery.