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

[Cavan]

I personally have no problem with it, if anybody wants to honour their history that's fine.

Although I do feel that anybody who refers to me in any sense regarding being white and what I may or may not have done as a prejudiced white person, I will reserve the right to punch them in the face for being full of it..

 

[P0RTAL]

I don't mind Black History month. What I do mind is some people telling me that I should feel sorry for slavery and that I as a white person bear some guilt. Half my family didn't even come over here until 1920, and the other half lived in the north. Furthermore, part of my family is Irish, and it's not as if THEY suffered anything ever in the states.

This is so true. My family came from Ugoslavia and immediately moved into the northern states when they moved to the US. Slavery was wrong but I shouldn't get the stink eye because of what of what older generations did. I also agree with the OP that other cultures should get some of the spotlight. I don't think half the people I know even know what Ugoslavia is

 

[Arsen]

Where's Jewish History Month then? Slavery was quite some time ago, and we're talking people like "my grandmother's grandermother". There's still people living from the holocaust.

Not trying to sound like a dick, but everyone from their own cultures always have this implied belief that their own history is of such a painful relevance to human society. Usually to such a degree that we all need to hear of it.

Sacking of Baghdad? Dresden? Nagasaki? Ottoman conquests? The War of the Roses? The Crusades...and on and on. Does the fact that certain tragic events happen within human society, which are of a closer timeperiod, necessarily make them of greater relevance than any other time? I don't think so. I see history as history, without any need to choose to highlight anyones suffering over anothers. To me it's just being one-sided in deciding who earns sympathy throughout the course of history.

 

[AdumbroDeus]

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

EDIT: (To add some sort of content to my post) I agree, Black History month is basically reverse racism. It, from what I've seen, does more harm than good.

What you are trying to describe as reverse racism is just racism, why is buzzword needed to differentiate it.


Regardless, Black (and other ethnic) history months have a legitimate purpose in that they remind us of the mistakes of the past and debunks the idea that the african-american community is sub-human. The fundamental message of showing the accomplishments of african-americans within the context of our general cultural knowledge of the accomplishments of various people of european descent is that the african-americans are their equal, the implication being that we are all equally capable of greatness regardless of race. The reminders of the past show that if we don't guard against institutionalized racism, it can happen again.

 

[Vakz]

Not trying to sound like a dick, but everyone from their own cultures always have this implied belief that their own history is of such a painful relevance to human society. Usually to such a degree that we all need to hear of it.

Then again, I'm a Scandinavian Caucasian atheist, so I don't really apply to "their own cultures (as in, the Jewish culture)". What I wrote was really just an example on how "Black History Month" to me is like saying "this tragedy is more important than the others, even one where millions were killed, and still even has people with memories of it.

 

[Retronana]

I honestly couldn't care less, black history month feels like a desperate attempt to apologize for the struggles african americans faced in the 19th and 20th century. People just need to accept that it's over and done with and that end of the day everyone is a citizen of america and as such should hold no unfounded grudges due to race/religon/sexuality.

Besides imagine the shitstorm that would arise if, god forbid, america created "White history month".

 

[Nouw]

Snipped for Morgan Freeman

Not only is he awesome in film, but he's also awesome in real life. That's a great video which shows how a great deal of people feel.

 

[Kryzantine]

How is celebrating equality by hosting a month celebrating a specific group of people equal in any way?

It isn't. Believe it or not, every group that chooses to celebrate or spotlight its history is not responsible for "celebrating equality."

Nor does the US government "sponsor" BHM particularly. It's a community-driven initiative and was from the beginning. Of course, black history is fairly intimately tied up with the forward march of equality in America, given that said community was the definitive recipient of previous inequality and took a prominent place in the Civil Rights movement as a result. That is just history. Trying to avoid it, again, is just falsification.

To address specific points, in the first quote, I was arguing that African Americans have not been the last group of people to suffer the burdens they faced in America, and I pointed to the example of Asian and Mexican immigrants up until around 1950.

The high watermark of Jim Crow. My objection stands. You're playing a foolish game of derailing and avoidance.

On the 2nd point surrounding Native Americans, there likely is such a month. It's just that it's widely undocumented compared to BHM

No. It isn't. Gets its own PBS specials and everything. BHM of course has a larger community driving it.

On the 3rd point concerning the achievements of black people, again, that is anti-equality.

Again, it is not the black community's job to be avatars of "equality." Irrelevant.

What I meant was, there is absolutely no reason to mention racial difference.

Of course there fucking is. If racial difference is part of the history and of what exists now, there is reason to mention it, and avoiding doing so is wilful blindness.

Look, there are two kinds of color-blindness. One of them is the willingness to see people as they are, and the good and bad qualities they have, regardless of race. The other is a demand that people not mention how race has shaped their lives and who they are. One of these is a good thing. The other is a contemptible lie, an attempt to avoid dealing with the ugly realities of life and to shut people up if they happen to mention them. It does not do to confuse them.

I'm sorry if you find my pointing this out "personal", but guess what? It's personal issue for a great many of the people involved. Welcome to the world.

If it's such a personal issue for many people involved... well, that's just idiotic. Social equality is the goal that blacks have been striving for all this time, but BHM is an impediment to overall social equality.

And if we're going to argue history, then BHM started as a week in an attempt to educate whites on the history of blacks in America. It was a completely private initiative and at the time, a noble cause, considering how gullible a lot of Americans honestly were, and the lack of public education. But in this day and age, public schools teach kids about slavery, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement. Every damned one of them. The goal of BHW, and later BHM, has essentially been fulfilled. What is it doing now? What tangible, positive effect is this month having on the American people as a whole? I don't know one person that benefits from BHM.

 

[Saltyk]

I don't even think about it. Not even on my radar. Color me neutral I guess.

I don't mind Black History month. What I do mind is some people telling me that I should feel sorry for slavery and that I as a white person bear some guilt. Half my family didn't even come over here until 1920, and the other half lived in the north. Furthermore, part of my family is Irish, and it's not as if THEY suffered anything ever in the states.

Yeah I know I'm late to the party, but still...

I'm about the only white person in the country who can't claim that my family probably didn't even own slaves. Because I know that they did. They even owned a plantation. There's no way they didn't. I'm related to someone who was kinda famous in the Confederacy. And I'll leave that at that as I'm not proud of it.

If it makes anyone feel better, I'm pretty sure my family got screwed out of their land after the war.

 

[Kryzantine]

If it's such a personal issue for many people involved... well, that's just idiotic.

It's "idiotic" for people to have personal feelings about their lives? What? You should maybe not be using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Social equality is the goal that blacks have been striving for all this time, but BHM is an impediment to overall social equality.

See, the word "idiotic" would seem to me to apply to something like this. This is essentially like saying that St. Patrick's Day is betraying the noble political heritage of the Irish, or that Oktoberfest is "anti-equality" because it comes from one culture and not all of them at once, or that Hanukkah is antisocial because it celebrates a specific religion. Blacks have not been striving for all this time to be an anonymous, inoffensive and unnoticed part of an undifferentiated background noise, and have not been striving for all this time for the privilege of being sniffily told by rubes not ever to talk about themselves because acknowledging their existence would be "racist" or "reverse-racist" or "anti-equality."

What the black community strove for all this time was EMANCIPATION, the right to speak up and do and live like other groups, which was historically denied. Has BHM's job been done because public schools now teach some of the absolute basics? Given what I just had to finish explaining to you, obviously not. Here's a better guess as to when BHM will be done its work: when the mention of the word "black" on a thread like this, on a site like this, does not bring ignorant trolls boiling out of the woodwork to lecture blacks about how they should strive to be invisible or they're being "reverse-racist" -- the kind of lecture, spawned by the kind of defensiveness, that would be applied to virtually no other group.

So I'm the troll that wants to silence blacks now?

How can any relationship be positively affected if we constantly take note of skin colour? I have a love, an Asian woman, and I can guarantee we would not have such strong feelings for each other if I kept telling her she was Chinese, and she kept telling me I was Russian. Both of us consider each other humans; nothing more, nothing less. This is the kind of ideal our society should be striving for. To judge others by their race is racist, but apparently, not judging others by their race is putting them down. Which one is it? I'd much rather live in a world where not judging others by physical feature is considered fair and just.

And I had already expressly stated in a prior post that blacks have the opportunity to speak about themselves and their people 12 months a year, and that they did not need a month devoted to them exclusively. How is this putting them down, in any conceivable definition of that phrase? I would understand, of course, if there was some sentimental value behind February in black history, but there isn't! As it is now, it is artificially assigned. I'm saying blacks should speak up more often if they wish to speak, and that they don't need a month to do it for them. If they don't speak up more often, then it is their own choice, and it should not be blamed on some artificial racism against them.

And I believe that there is no such thing as "reverse-racism". There is only racism. Blacks can be racist against whites, whites can be racist against blacks. Blacks can get along with whites, whites can get along with blacks. I thought the world we were striving for was the second one, but I must have missed some memo which said we should emphasize our cultural barriers, not just preserve them.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Black History Month?
Never heard of it before.
But after reading the OP I can only ask "Why?".

We're gonna need more months (in a year) if we're gonna do stuff like that.
Unless maybe if you do it once every 10 years or so...

 

[Vangaurd227]

I live in a country that doesn't celebrate Black History Month so i haven't really ever thought about this before...come to think of it..it does seem a bit racist

 

[NerdElf]

What is a black history month?

 

[Seives-Sliver]

I don't care for it all that much, mostly because I'm not black, and my family isn't made of racists, what I do care for are the self-entitled morons that walk around trying to make everything seem racist just because of a century of what one race did to another. Honestly, just about every race has, at one point or another, been subjugated to slavery, and just about all of them came out for the better, sure the times were tough, but it builds character, and should be a bit humbling in the sense of 'Let's not put anyone under that'. Anyway, rambling.

 

[Kryzantine]

How can any relationship be positively affected if we constantly take note of skin colour? I have a love, an Asian woman, and I can guarantee we would not have such strong feelings for each other if I kept telling her she was Chinese, and she kept telling me I was Russian.

Uhhhh... so when Chinese holidays come around, what happens? Does she speak her language at home, or with her family? Do you? Do the two of you just not ever mention anything about your personal histories that might be specific to China or Russia, or to Chinese or Russian upbringings? Sorry, I find this totally bizarre.

Believe it or not, it's possible to acknowledge reality and cultural difference without making it a negative. I find it incredible to even have to say this. I mean, if with your girlfriend you constantly brought up that you were dating her despite her being a "slope," that would be negative. If she constantly told you that she loves you because you're "not like most drunken Russians," that would be negative. But it is actually possible and even common for people to simply talk about these things without their being derogatory or negative. I've never dated a woman with whom I declared the subject of our respective backgrounds and life experiences off-limits in conversation, there would be no reason to, in fact that would be noticeably weird and off-putting.

And I had already expressly stated in a prior post that blacks have the opportunity to speak about themselves and their people 12 months a year,

So do natives, so does the National Cherry Association, so does everybody else. In fact, nobody needs to celebrate any anniversaries, days, weeks or months whatsoever. Obviously, what those anniversaries provide is a useful hook, a spur to the conversation... which shouldn't threaten anybody who's genuinely non-racist.

I would understand, of course, if there was some sentimental value behind February in black history, but there isn't!

There is, it might occur to you, some sentimental value behind the fact of Black History Month itself, and that such a thing is even able to exist in a country that used to torture, burn alive and hang from lampposts black men who even looked at a white woman the wrong way.

What is so important about February, then, to create this sentiment? Were most major lynchings in February? Did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 get passed in February? Was the Emancipation Proclamation declared in February? (Hint: the Civil Rights Act was enacted in July and the Emancipation Proclamation was on January 1st)

Why must it be a month long? If Puerto Ricans take a day to celebrate their heritage, and the Irish need only St. Patrick's Day as you claim, then why must blacks need a month to talk about "emancipation"?

It used to be that blacks couldn't or had too much trouble voting, certainly. It used to be that they were lynched publically, certainly. But those days are over. The army was desegregated in 1950. Public facilities and private institutions were desegregated throughout the 60s. Then the 80s brought in minority-majority districts and subsequent congressional representation. Now the President himself is black. Yet you act as if the larger society is against blacks, that you are still under-represented, and that you need this month to talk about "emancipation" (which came about 140 years ago) or "civil rights" (which came slowly over the last 60 years) or "representation" (of which you have had more than any other "minority" group in the last 30 years, by far). Go ahead and quote that last sentence out of context, as you have done to my previous posts just to spin me as a belligerent. Claim I'm a racist or a troll. I honestly don't give a damn any more for this now-pointless argument, and I won't respond any further, because I know myself to be true in this matter, and I know I will be unable to convince you or further this debate meaningfully. I have not had your experiences, and you have not had mine. In my experience, BHM has been meaningless and pointless, and I see no reason to continue it.

That's all I'm going to say.

 

[D Builder]

Honor/Fight for/Die for what is important to you. Black History month is important to me, so I fight for it....

If wales/Irish history/Scottish history/Vikings/game of thrones/trees are important to you...then fight for it.

It is not an either or proposition to me. I assure you, if there was a (Input Culture) month to celebrate, and it honors the positive, I would celebrate it...and not be upset that they have the month.

JDude...Fight ignorance with ignoring? I am not an advocate...I want to learn about other cultures, so ignoring someones cultural difference is not the route to success for me.

@ TWolf Ahh yes...wait for it...wait for it...ahh yes...there it is..."Try having a white blah blah blah, and (insert black group) will get mad." Want in on a little secret? NAACP does not represent the black collective...we are not a monolith...nor are whites...right? I am sure I can't go to the Tea Party to find the link to all things white. I give whites much much more credit than that...won't you do the same for blacks?

As for wanting whites to feel guilty for slavery. Oh get over yourselves...it is as if you think blacks sit around the dinner table thinking of ways to make whites feel guilty....not so. Really, what successful blacks talk about, is strikingly similarly to what successful whites, Asians, Latinos...and probably every other culture talsk about...how to attain success, feed our families, pay less taxes, and enjoy life.