Am I the only person who doesn't like Black History Month?

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I think they deserve at least their own day if not a month or Norse Pagans... they got their religion condemned by Christianity and are no longer classed as a religion in the UK or Europe excluding their countries of origin

Druidism has been made an official religion in the UK and given charity status so paganism is still around

As for the topic at hand I think it's silly to designate months to races and even women, A broader range of history should be taught to children overall not the most important rich white guy at the time.

 

[tigermilk]

Tip for Life: You're never the only person.

This should be the first reply to far to many threads on the escapist.

 

[t3h br0th3r]

Black History Month: Because teachers are too lazy and stupid to work black people into the regular curriculum./sarcasm

 

[suitepee7]

i always felt bringing up race is just another way to emphasise that racism exists in some form. learning about history, great. learning about black history just so it is 'correct', no, fuck off. learn about it because it is an important part of history, not so you can say you aren't racist.

the sooner race gets put behind us, and people just accept that everybody is just a person, regardless of skin pigmentation, the better.

 

[Frost27]

Black history month is fine if it's used properly and the lessons of the past are taught in proper context. There is neither a former slave nor former slave owner alive today, even their grandchildren are getting very hard to find. As long as it is taught with a message of "this is where your people have been and this is the road that got us to where we are today" rather than presenting history in a "victim and victimizer" light, then it's fine.

I think black history month certainly has a place due to the fact that it is still recent history and it is a telling of the shaping of the U.S. and how it developed. It is always important to know where you come from either genetically or culturally. The enslavement of generations of a people will surely destroy or warp whatever ancestral history they may have and reshape their identity. Thus, American black people who are descended from slaves have more in common with the culture that developed here vs the cultures of Africa. Since the only chance one has to learn about the period and the people in it would be an African American studies class in junior college, I see no reason they can't observe their heritage during a month.

If the Jewish faith can still hold days of significance in regards to their enslavement in Egypt 2000 years ago, blacks in the U.S. Can still observe a time of learning and reflection about slavery and the civil rights movement that is, in some ways, still going on. Besides, it's not like anyone is required to participate, if you don't like it, ignore it.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I disagree with Black History Month, for the simple fact that if you're not going to give every other race a month of history then, well...

People of every colour have been enslaved or "endentured servants" or some other variation of slave at some point in our race's (the human race) history, slavery that happened to some now-dead people shouldn't define people who are alive now.

 

[peruvianskys]

Black history month exists for a few reasons, mainly 1) because the role of African-Americans in America's development is consistently understated and by dedicating a month to disseminating that history is completely reasonable; in a lot of cases children wouldn't know anything about Black history if it wasn't for the focus February gets.

Secondly, Black =/= white. "Black" is a sociological term that means "descending from Western Africans brought to America by the slave trade." Because most Africans were kidnapped and forcibly denied the ability to impart their history on their offspring, most African-Americans don't know their country/ethnic group of origin. Because dozens of different tribes and groups throughout west Africa were thrown into a giant melting pot over here in America, black culture developed somewhat similarly. On the other hand, Irish people in America know they're Irish and Polish people know they're Polish, etc. etc. Black people don't have that in a lot of cases so it makes sense to celebrate "Black History" because you can't really celebrate "Igbo history" or "Sengalese History"; too few African-Americans know their descent that specifically.

Having a "White History Month" is absurd because white can mean anything from Greek to German to Scandinavian and Russian; all those separate groups have different cultures and impacts on America. To celebrate "White History" is basically to celebrate the history of people who aren't brown-skinned. Black history month makes sens because, due to the barbaric treatment of Africans in America, there really only is "black culture," at least among those who descended from Africans during the slave trade. (That's not to say that black culture is a homogenous mass or anything, but "black culture" is similar to "Irish culture" or "German culture" in specificity, not "white culture.")

 

[LHZA]

I see nothing wrong with Black history month. I'm sorry some people think it's to make white people feel bad about slavery, and I can see why you feel that way, but I always thought it was a means to celebrate black history and culture, but whatever. And as to those who say its reverse racism because where are the other months celebrating other ethnic minorities, November is Native American month, May is Asian Pacific month and Jewish American Heritage month (though being jewish isn't an ethnicity I realize). Black history month just has better P.R.

 

[DSK-]

What is 'Black History Month'?

I'm pretty sure it isn't something we do in the UK because calling someone 'black' is, I believe, is deemed politically incorrect.

 

[Weaver]

I don't think a "month" for anything like this should exist.
To me it's like saing "okay black history month is over, we can all go back to not learning about black people in history."

It's ridiculous; history in schools should teach students a wide gammut of things; african history, asian history, european history, etc. They don't need to go into intricate details (I know india has 10,000 years of incredibly interesting history you couldn't jam into one class) but hit on some big points.

 

[NinjaTigerXIII]

Nope, I think its extremely pandering. Wheres Asian History month? Wheres White History Month? Wheres Native American Month? Yeah Blacks deserve Black History month they most certainly do, but on the issue of fairness everyone else should have a month as well. White Histoy month should be in July!

 

[Kuroneko97]

I'm Hispanic, which I feel I should say before beginning.

I also find it a little ridiculous that blacks have an entire month for themselves, and anyone that's white has to be scolded. Here's a good point I will raise:

IT IS THE PAST.

Yes, I get it. Blacks were segregated, treated like shit, and many black children today had grandparents that were slaves. But guess what? Not that many people today are like that, and if they are, even less will outright show you. Why can't they just understand that segregation and slavery is not such a serious problem anymore and move on? Smell a few flowers, get married and have sex. Why do you have to moan and groan every February about something that happened about eighty years ago?

It also bothers me that they have to enforce it at schools, make us do essays, look up famous black people. What about the Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, and whites? Why don't they matter as much? I agree with a few other people that it is reverse racism. Just like many blacks were treated like a bunch of dogs, whites are now treated like beasts because it was mostly whites that segregated. Why doesn't anyone notice the whites that actually were against segregation? Why is it "If you're white, your parents and grandparents were racist." How the fuck do they know?

But we can't get rid of black history month, can we? Or there will be riot that "Oh, you all want to remove it because you have no respect for us blacks." I'm not racist. I just find this all ridiculous. Why do I have to do a report on George Washington Carver when I never eat peanut butter? Why must I pray to Rosa Parks when I sit at the back of the school bus anyway? That doesn't mean I don't respect them, because I used to love peanut butter. But I don't think they need a whole month dedicated to them. I think a day or two would suffice for each race. A day for whites, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians. Why not do that?

Sorry for the long rant. But this has been pissing me off for a few years now. Plus I'm very cynical.

 

[SilentCom]

Morgan Freeman is awesome. I think Black History month is a little stupid. All it does is cause a separate between black people and the rest of America. The truth is that every race or group or whatever has had some type of difficulty. Why give everyone a month and set them apart when we can acknowledge that we are all human beings first and foremost?

Edit: BTW I'm mixed racial, asian-american.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

As someone who really doesn't care about much at all and hates any sense of "culture" that people's history attaches to them, I will say that I do not like the idea of a black history month. People are to be judged on their own merits, whether they are black, white, asian etc. I do not care if they are British or if they are Chinese. I do not care if their parents served in some form of military unit.

The past is not who they are. The past is who their ancestors were. It's for that same reason I don't like the idea of serving for the military to "protect the country". The country is a land mass, and the country does not actively try to help us. It is history that causes these kinds of things to happen. Prejudices of old coming to light and creating new fires.

In short, bad idea. Me no like Black History Month.

 

[imnot]

Well, I had never even heard of it until now so...

 

[Alphavillain]

People should let their own individual actions dictate how they are seen, not where they come from.

Let's take the Holocaust remembrance movement: it's important to remember, but all the reams of books, documentaries, films, etc. on the subject has not saved one life in former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sudan, etc.

NOT ONE.

 

[robotam]

You know what would be awesome? Poland history month.

It would be a time when all the Polish people point fingers IN EVERY DIRECTION POSSIBLE and say "At one point in the history you guys ganged up on us and took our country apart in 3 to 1 fight. Repeatably. PROUD OF YOURSELF?"

If you get that, we better get a Northern Ireland history month. A whole month of learning about where the Titanic was built, "The Troubles" and Liam Neeson. Hell we should just have a Liam Neeson month.


OT: Sounds kinda silly to me. I thought America is a very diverse place, I say they should just learn history, as in important things from the past. This should include Black history yes, but you don't have to cram the entire history of a race into a month. Take your time, spread it out.

 

[SilverUchiha]

It isn't just black history month, I think America is just a racist country in general (regular and reverse). Then again, most of us are pretty stupid will hate things for the stupidest of reasons.