Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v4

Black History Month

It feels like 80F outside. Thought it was supposed to be winter? Couldn’t sleep in cause I was sweating so much.

These are some thoughts in response to a comment to my last post:

“on another note i spent almost all day arguing with a friend about why there should be a black history month and not a white history month”
AlanaNightingale

Not sure I agree with just a Black History Month. There is also a Hispanic History Month, but it does not get nearly the acknowledgement of Black History Month. It is good to encourage people to look into the history of people whose accomplishments and impact on the society of the United States are sorely under-appreciated. Yet, there should also be Native and Asian-American history months for the impact people whom are members of these cultures are also indeed very strong to the society in the United States.

One could make similar arguments for appreciation of Arab, Asian, African, American, and European cultures. Immigrants into the United States have come from every country in the world. We frequently are content just to try their food and look at their art. Appreciation of their history and their contributions to our own history can only enrich us.

In my opinion, knowledge of history is extremely important. Understandings based on learning the points of view from those who participated or were impacted by events is the only way to reach an understanding of the importance of the event. Nothing that happens in history does not somehow great or small impact everything else. Appreciation of how apparently small events at the time formed a cascade to cause something great shows why we must learn to pay attention to these small events.

My fear is that resistance to Black History Month has more to do with feelings that Blacks are unfairly being given preference. In some respects this is very true. Why have a Black History Month and not a Hispanic History Month (or an Asian-, Arab-, or Native History Month)? All of these cultures deserve this acknowledgement.

Should there be a White History Month? Yes. People of European descent are very much so a part of society in the United States. It would be wonderful for there to be a focus on the trials they had when they got here beyond just the people on the Mayflower.

Most TV, radio, or theatre programs I have seen associated Black History Month look at specific individuals and how those individuals shaped society in the United States. Most general history classes focus on broad events. Very rarely do they go into depth about people. General history books are good about getting us a general understanding of the way things work. However, I would hope that such books would inspire people to seek out information on specific individuals that seem interesting and learn more about them.

Is Black History Month a bad thing? I think not. People in support of it encourage others to learn about the accomplishments of an underappreciated segment of our society.


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