#BlackHistoryMonth is, unfortunately, the shortest month of the year, especially in view of the fact that there's so very much more of it than can be done justice to. It's a good opportunity for white folk to learn what they don't get taught in whatever public school they went to. IF they make up their minds to learn, that is.

So I now draw attention to one particular whitefolk now being celebrated on HBO that apparently learned important lessons, in the form of Blazing Saddles--yep, "The 99 Year Old Man", Mel Brooks. In that movie, Brooks was able to get away with reflecting racist social realities with impunity because those realities were understood by those who recognize them.

And now I'll address an under-appreciated figure in Black History simply because society confined the nature of his performances--without noticing that he took those restrictions and most artfully took skeptical pokes at them without getting lynched, as has happened to Blacks who simply looked at some white folk sideways. This man not only got away with it but got promoted to Ziegfeld Follies fame by being as artful as he was AND served the U. S. military by being a recruiter for The Great War (WWI).

As a self-characterized time traveler, I can always guarantee that I'll get into arguments with historians about this great man--which is why I take exception to ANYONE who will call me an historian. No historian knows the Bert Williams that I know. NONE. #BertWilliams