Black History Month

[HopliteElite]

Well, as we all know, February, which is fast approaching, is black history month in America; a time when we are supposed to reflect upon all the achievements of blacks. Now, when held at face value, black history month is not a bad thing, after all, blacks have achieved much and are responsible for many great things but to dedicate an entire month to the achievements of a single race of people seems like reverse discrimination.

I believe in the total equality of man, as all Americans are supposed to (but many don't) and I think when an entire month is put aside to celebrate a race, it just makes men seem less equal. During February, it could be said, that every black person is encouraged to feel "different" such as they feel pride in being a good black person as compared to pride in being just a good person. I don't like the encouragement of feeling different, whether you feel proud to be different or ashamed, based solely upon race. I believe we should celebrate the achievements of black men, like Martin Luther King Jr., as we do, by giving his memory a holiday but that holiday is not necessarily a celebration of what it is to be black, as black history month is, but rather a celebration of a great man who fought for equality.

In essence, I'm saying that no race or nationality should have a day or month designed to celebrate it, unless EVERY race and nationality has a day or month to celebrate it. I would advocate first, though, that no race or nationality be officially celebrated or denounced, as both create feelings of being different, when we should all be celebrating the achievements of great men as just that, "men", not "black men", "Asian men", "White men", etc... Am I wrong?

[Dayman]

I completely agree with you.

[KingDesra]

I see Black History month as a racist thing, I mean as a black guy myself, all I hear is what the white man did and what they didn't do and what they should do. I myself am not racist and I don't hold anything against people who didn't do anything. I consider stuff that happened in the past happened by the hands of those people not us. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted us all to live equally not hold one over the other, rarely do you hear about the white and jews that helped the blacks get their rights. If they are going to portray this right, they should embrace all people not just one group.

[Richard]

So, when's White History Month?

This sort of thing fosters racial seperatism, or at least racialism itself (racism might be a bit of a stretch, but can result from both), which is not good unless you WANT an "us and them" mentality based solely on the continent where your ancestors originated.

[Fianóglach]

Yeah, I get some American Channels here and I always have to giggle at the obligatory public service commericals each network puts on. It's like they want people to go hug black people and apologise for that whole slavery and racism thing. Not good at all I say, all it can do it make a larger hill to climb to reach equality. An entire month is a bit much for my taste, well even one day meant to reflect the achievements of a 'race' is retarded in my mind.

[totalwar junkie]

Yeah, I get some American Channels here and I always have to giggle at the obligatory public service commericals each network puts on. It's like they want people to go hug black people and apologise for that whole slavery and racism thing. Not good at all I say, all it can do it make a larger hill to climb to reach equality. An entire month is a bit much for my taste, well even one day meant to reflect the achievements of a 'race' is retarded in my mind.

"In 1926 Dr. Carter G. Woodson instituted the first week-long celebration to raise awareness of African Americans’ contributions to history. Prior to this time, little information could be found regarding African American history. Important achievements were left out of history books, and there was a general misconception that African Americans had made little contribution to U.S. society or history. 50 years later, the week became a month, and today February is celebrated as African American History Month."

http://www.diversitycentral.com/heritage_month.html

Yeah, I think we were better off before when our history books had major gaps. Who needs the whole truth anyway.

[Gunslinger-52]

To OP - I wish i could give rep cause that was spot on.

[HopliteElite]

I'm glad that this board, which I know to be a meeting ground of very intelligent people, seems to agree with me. I raised this topic because as I was discussing it with a fellow student in the halls of my campus, a man walked by, heard us, and remarked "racists" without backing himself up, as he kept walking. I'm glad to see that at least those who have posted here believe as I do in that all men are equal and capable of the same things and dedicating days or months to celebrate certain races is just as bad as diminishing certain races, as both create feelings of inequality.

[totalwar junkie]

I'm glad that this board, which I know to be a meeting ground of very intelligent people, seems to agree with me. I raised this topic because as I was discussing it with a fellow student in the halls of my campus, a man walked by, heard us, and remarked "racists" without backing himself up, as he kept walking. I'm glad to see that at least those who have posted here believe as I doin that all men are equal and capable of the same things and dedicating days or months to celebrate certain races is just as bad as diminishing certain races, as both create feelings of inequality.

http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/multi/asi...ue/index_e.cfm
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aihmorigins1.html
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/multi/asi...ue/index_e.cfm

You do realize, there is a heritage month for many other cultures do you not? Are those OK, or its just black history month you dont like?

PS Kinda funny though how May is supposed to be Asian and Jewish American heritage month.

[HopliteElite]

Black history month has nothing to do with superiority, if people feel this way they must be quite insecure.

I never once claimed black history month encouraged feelings of superiority in the black community. I say that black history month encourages feelings of "pride" in being black, which is wrongheaded. Men should have pride as "men" not "black" men or "asian" men or "white" men. Celebration of race is no better than the shaming of race as both create feelings of inequality.

White history month? In most schools every month is white history month. Who do you think writes the text books that are used in schools? Who's version of history do you think your studying every day? Thats right, white peoples.

This is the unfortunate belief of many in America. There is still a bitterness that America was founded as a white country and engaged in slavery. I want to get past this, for lack of a better word, past and truly accept that ALL men are equal. We need not look to race at all, as race is completely unimportant. Black, white, hell, green, it all means nothing as a man should be defined by his deeds not his skin color.

If you dont like it, dont celebrate it, dont participate, dont learn. The rest of us who do care, can learn about the arts, culture and history of black Americans.

I encourage you to learn of the accomplishments of black men. As I said, there have been many great black men but I hope you focus on their deeds, not their skin color. I fully embrace the celebration of the great deeds of black men just as I fully embrace the celebration of the great deeds of ANY man. Try, if you can, to look past skin color and just accept great black men as great men. When we can all do this, we can eliminate these rediculous celebrations of race, as if race matters. We all are Homo Sapiens, regardless of our skin color, so lets try to live like it.

You do realize, there is a heritage month for many other cultures do you not? Are those OK, or its just black history month you dont like?

You didn't read my entire post obviously.

"I would advocate first, though, that no race or nationality be officially celebrated or denounced"

Do not take the route of trying to paint me as a racist as that closed minded individual at my campus did.

[totalwar junkie]

I never once claimed black history month encouraged feelings of superiority in the black community. I say that black history month encourages feelings of "pride" in being black, which is wrongheaded. Men should have pride as "men" not "black" men or "asian" men or "white" men. Celebration of race is no better than the shaming of race as both create feelings of inequality.



This is the unfortunate belief of many in America. There is still a bitterness that America was founded as a white country and engaged in slavery. I want to get past this, for lack of a better word, past and truly accept that ALL men are equal. We need not look to race at all, as race is completely unimportant. Black, white, hell, green, it all means nothing as a man should be defined by his deeds not his skin color.



I encourage you to learn of the accomplishments of black men. As I said, there have been many great black men but I hope you focus on their deeds, not their skin color. I fully embrace the celebration of the great deeds of black men just as I full embrace the celebration of the great deeds of ANY man. Try, if you can, to look past skin color and just accept great black men as great men. When we can all do this, we can eliminate these rediculous celebrations of race, as if race matters. We all are Homo Sapiens, regardless of our skin color, so lets try to live like it.



You didn't read my entire post obviously.

"I would advocate first, though, that no race or nationality be officially celebrated or denounced"

Do not take the route of trying to paint me as a racist as that closed minded individual at my campus did.

I have no intention of painting you as a racist, nor do I care one way or another. It does seem however, that there is quite a misconception of what black history month is all about. You are drawing your own conclusions into something, and your conclusions I don't agree with. If you think I'm trying to paint you as a racist by disagreeing with you, perhaps you have some insecurities you need to work out with a counselor or something.

There is nothing wrong in my opinion with taking pride in being black. In your own world, its wrong to take pride in your heritage, forunately for most other people this is not the reality. If a person has no sense of pride in their culture, their ancestors, their heritage, they've lost touch with such. Which is sad. I think all people should take pride in being men/women as well as taking pride in their heritage and where they've come from. I have yet to be given any substantial reason why this is a negative. Just because you say it creates feelings of inequality doenst make it so. If this is what you believe, wheres the evidence that this creates feelings of inequality? You've provided none.

The very fact that the only time this topic ever comes up is with regards to black history month proves my point. Its quite obvious people have problem with black history month specifically even though you claim you dont think we should have a month dedicated to any culture. While that may be true, if we didnt have black history month, we wouldnt even be discussing it as many in this thread agreeing with you seem to be completely unaware of other months for other cultures, obviously those ones are not offensive. So its something about black history specifically that bothers people, possibly guilt/insecurities.

Of course a person should be defined by who they are as a person and not their skin color. Unfortunately there is quite a lot of history, history of people feeling subhuman and having been treated as such. I understand your meaning and agree with you wholeheartidly, but the majority of Americans do not have the luxory of being color blind especially not lower class minorities.

"I would advocate first, though, that no race or nationality be officially celebrated or denounced"

I did read this, however your thread is titled "Black History Month" and you are generally discussing black history month. If you wanted this advocation of yours to be taken seriously perhaps you should have titled your post differently and altered the content and context of your posts as I'm sure you can understand why it seems you have a problem with black history month specifically as none of the others are being discussed here, in fact I was the only one to bring it to anyones attention of other heritage months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...l_proclamation

Scroll down to the months.

[LSJ]

What is said in the first post describes my feelings exactly.
And Hoplite's last post too.

I hate the concept of race and the idea of "racial pride". Just like how I dislike the concept of "national pride". Pride should not be based on how you are born or where, but on your own achievements. And when someone does something great you celebrate it as their achievement, not "black achievements", "American achievements" or whatever.

While the textbooks focus on what white men did, there is a reason for that: the wars were led and fought by white men, the countries we are speaking of were founded by white men and run by white men. Until the late 1800s there were no significant events to be attributed to a black man, because they had no rights. If we were to learn about some small things done by black citizens a hundred years ago, then we are being unfair to the white, Asian, etc people who did similar things. History class is unbalanced because history WAS unbalanced.

Rather than being unfair to everyone who did small things, we should just learn about the horrible laws and treatment of the slaves as well as cover the civil rights movements in depth, and teach everyone WHY there are no major black historical figures until the late 1800s.

But freaking out over history for only teaching achievements of white people is silly; its like getting mad at your politics teacher for not teaching you about black presidents of the USA. There were none, until perhaps the upcoming election.

[HopliteElite]

If you think I'm trying to paint you as a racist by disagreeing with you, perhaps you have some insecurities you need to work out with a counselor or something.

You did imply that perhaps I had a problem with "only" black history month, which is a clear accusation of racism. I need no counselor as I believe in equality, which I hope will catch on more with time. I am glad though that you don't think me a racist, as I am not.

There is nothing wrong in my opinion with taking pride in being black.

Actually there is. You taking pride in being "black" is tantamount to a white man taking pride in being "white". You both believe that your skin color should be a source of pride when only your deeds should be a source of pride.

In your own world, its wrong to take pride in your heritage, forunately for most other people this is not the reality.

Actually this is unfortunate as it fosters racism and discrimination. We are all human. Who cares what region of the planet we hail from. The fact is we all share the same lineage as homo sapiens.

Its quite obvious people have problem with black history month specifically even though you claim you dont think we should have a month dedicated to any culture.

It is sad and I'm sorry you feel that way but blacks are nothing special; they should not be hated or favored as they are just humans that have a darker pigmentation skin. A black man is no different than a white man. They are both humans and deserve respect but that respect should never be given because of something so trivial as skin color.

The prior poster addressed your stance on history rather well, so I will leave that one alone. All I can hope is that people like yourself realize that a human's worth is not in their skin color but their deeds and I also hope you are able to get past your beliefs that men like myself are somehow "insecure". I am secure in that fact that I am a human, just as you are. I don't care if you are black or white or green, I just care that you are human. Racial bitterness is a sad fact but I hope that someday in the future we can remove race entirely and just view each other as men, plain and simple.

[totalwar junkie]

What is said in the first post describes my feelings exactly.
And Hoplite's last post too.

I hate the concept of race and the idea of "racial pride". Just like how I dislike the concept of "national pride". Pride should not be based on how you are born or where, but on your own achievements. And when someone does something great you celebrate it as their achievement, not "black achievements", "American achievements" or whatever.

While the textbooks focus on what white men did, there is a reason for that: the wars were led and fought by white men, the countries we are speaking of were founded by white men and run by white men. Until the late 1800s there were no significant events to be attributed to a black man, because they had no rights. If we were to learn about some small things done by black citizens a hundred years ago, then we are being unfair to the white, Asian, etc people who did similar things. History class is unbalanced because history WAS unbalanced.

Rather than being unfair to everyone who did small things, we should just learn about the horrible laws and treatment of the slaves as well as cover the civil rights movements in depth, and teach everyone WHY there are no major black historical figures until the late 1800s.

But freaking out over history for only teaching achievements of white people is silly; its like getting mad at your politics teacher for not teaching you about black presidents of the USA. There were none, until perhaps the upcoming election.

Again, there are heritage months for other cultures, the very fact people keep ignoring this proves my point over and over again.

Your conception of history or possibly what is historically important is quite sad as there are plenty of important events throughout history besides wars.

Also, history does not mean pre-late 1800's much of what is celebrated during black history month is related to events that took place after 1900.

Small things people did? Like how slaves built the roads people drive on, and built the cities people live in? Yeah so small.

[totalwar junkie]

Personally I disagree with the sentiments here.

All my black friends dont need a month to feel different. With or without black history month, they will still feel different simply because of the connotations of being black.

Black history month has nothing to do with superiority, if people feel this way they must be quite insecure. Black history month is there to honor the history and culture of black Americans. Nothing more, if your taking it any other way you have no one to blame but your own insecurities.

White history month? In most schools every month is white history month. Who do you think writes the text books that are used in schools? Who's version of history do you think your studying every day? Thats right, white peoples.

Black history month came about as a way to include black American studies in schools because for years there was a complete lack of this.

If you dont like it, dont celebrate it, dont participate, dont learn. The rest of us who do care, can learn about the arts, culture and history of black Americans.

[Sephynos]

Personally I disagree with the sentiments here.

All my black friends dont need a month to feel different. With or without black history month, they will still feel different simply because of the connotations of being black.

Black history month has nothing to do with superiority, if people feel this way they must be quite insecure. Black history month is there to honor the history and culture of black Americans. Nothing more, if your taking it any other way you have no one to blame but your own insecurities.

White history month? In most schools every month is white history month. Who do you think writes the text books that are used in schools? Who's version of history do you think your studying every day? Thats right, white peoples.

Black history month came about as a way to include black American studies in schools because for years there was a complete lack of this.

If you dont like it, dont celebrate it, dont participate, dont learn. The rest of us who do care, can learn about the arts, culture and history of black Americans.

TRUE,

[removeduser_426582376423734]

People like this man are the real problems, they seem to think saying anything negative to ethnic minorities is inherently racist, and this doesn't lead to hatred of these politically correct people, it leads to racial hatred to those minorities that political correctness tries to protect.

[wilpuri]

Black History month sounds hilarious.

[IndianPrince]

I agree too. Why dedicate a month to ONLY one race. Why not celebrate every Human achievement. Of every nationality, religion & ethnicity. It is really racist to celebrate that of one. Agreed that slavery is something that several Africans had suffered but others have suffered other calamities too. The Native tribes of the Americas had their homes usurped & their culture completely destroyed. Several Europeans/North Africans/Middle Easterners were taken slaves by the Roman Empire, Several Indians were shipped all over the British Empire & became "indentured" labourers who lived pretty much like slaves. Glorifying the achievements & hardships of one culture is nonsense & racist. It is not only insulting to everyone else but to black people as well, for they are insulting the very equality which they are celebrating.

Prince

[totalwar junkie]

I agree too. Why dedicate a month to ONLY one race. Why not celebrate every Human achievement. Of every nationality, religion & ethnicity. It is really racist to celebrate that of one. Agreed that slavery is something that several Africans had suffered but others have suffered other calamities too. The Native tribes of the Americas had their homes usurped & their culture completely destroyed. Several Europeans/North Africans/Middle Easterners were taken slaves by the Roman Empire, Several Indians were shipped all over the British Empire & became "indentured" labourers who lived pretty much like slaves. Glorifying the achievements & hardships of one culture is nonsense & racist. It is not only insulting to everyone else but to black people as well, for they are insulting the very equality which they are celebrating.

Prince

So American Indian Heritage Month is racist too?

Funny how the only time people get upset about any holiday, its black history month, which is more of a academic celebration than anything else. Yet people are still offended, but you never hear anyone saying anything about any of the other heritage months etc... hmmmmm....

http://www.diversitycentral.com/heritage_month.html