To advertise for the first of the two Black History Month movie nights, I put up a few signs around the school. The signs feature a painting of the four little girls who were killed in the bombing of a church in Birmingham (the focus of the movie "4 Little Girls") and some text.

The signs said:

Tolerant?

Diverse?

Accepting?

Prove It.

As a young child, frolicking through the blissful days of elementary school, Feb. 14 was a day to look forward to, full of glittery construction-paper hearts and chocolate kisses pasted to doilies and stuffed into make-shift mailboxes.

However, in my adolescent years and in those of my approaching adulthood, this once magical holiday has fizzled away into bitter nothingness.