White racists couldn’t agree with Morgan more. Blacks shouldn’t have anything, let alone a month. This is a case where some smarts (as Freeman certainly has) gets one on the wrong track. He’s coming to their conclusion, yet from a different angle, of course. First, we’re not relegating it to a month, Morgan. Just because we denote something as belonging in a certain month doesn’t mean that it belongs in that month alone. It’s not relegated to Feb; it’s emphasized in Feb. Big difference. I’ve even heard some people say we need to merge black history into American history. But in fact it’s not separate! Black History Month is not History. It’s a nationwide celebration, acknowledgment and remembrance. The academic subject of History includes everything that’s studied in history, with concentrations in various areas.
Monday was Martin Luther King day. Are we relegating him to just one day? No, we’re making a time to honor his memory and keeping his message alive. In Feb, we are honoring and remembering the history of blacks in this country, since it and black people have not been honored for so long. If anything, every month should be Black History month since must people still don’t know much of it. And it’s not just for or about black people. It’s for everyone, esp whites who shaped black history in a big way. And they need to remember, recognize and acknowledge that past that they were a part of. In fact, since white people had such a big part in shaping the history of blacks in this country, maybe it should be called White History month. Then when little Tommy asks his Mom why it’s called white history month when it’s all about black people, that will really be an education for him.
How’s about we get rid of Women’s History month. We need to stop segregating women and let them join the human race. When we teach our children to identify different people by their gender we basically teach them to separate them from one another. That will always lead to them vs. us. Let’s not celebrate anything because it’s relegating and segregating and perpetuating the separation. Black History month does not perpetuate racism in our society! If anything, it helps keep it away. Instead of taking some time out every year to educate people about one of the most important things about this nation and how we got here, let’s just allow negative images of young black males to define the black community for everyone, as it still mostly does. Instead of black history month, let’s have gangsta rap music month.
Black history month and all the others are about DIVERSIFYING American and world history. It just shouldn’t be called black history. It should be called black heritage. If everyone was the same, we wouldn’t need it. But we’re not all the same. We’re in a world and a nation with diverse people who have a history.
Like Sofi pointed out. You don't get rid of prejudice by underplaying differences. You get rid of it by getting everyone to accept and celebrate differences. Black history month is one small way you do that.
