White History Month

I'm a freelance writer and have often thought about writing on this very subject.  I find that you've hit the nail on the head in a very charismatic and logical way.  I taught my daughter (who is now a Junior in college), that any group of people who chose to segregate themselves don't want to be part of the mainstream and don't consider all human beings truly equal - which we are.  Let's take away, the concept of, "White history month" and simply mention the words, "White Music Awards."  There would be an outcry of racism throughout the country...as there should be.  However that should apply to the Black Music Awards, or the Hispanic Music Awards as well.  My maiden name is Lopez and I grew up in the Bronx in one of the only white families.  I don't have a biased bone in my body and believe it's time we all lived by the same concept that we're citizens of the world...THANKS FOR YOUR POST.  You took the words right out of my head!!!  Let's all ride in the front of the bus together!

I think it's important to point out that Black History Month did not start as a way for a group to segregate themselves, but out of the need to have their contributions recognized. My argument is that we need to recognize the contributions of all people year-round. When we can all ride at the front of the bus (have equal access to all resources), then we won't need the segregated months, celebrations, etc. My family was locked up during WWII - despite being US citizens and my husband's family is a handful of generations from slavery. Everyone deserves recognition for what they have given.

Excellent, thought provoking piece, Jodene.  You blew my Skirt off! :) xx

Totally digging this. Very eye opening.

While I agree with the fundamentals of what you're saying, I still think we're a long way from being able to let go of those labels. Right now, if the contributions of other groups aren't specifically recognized, they would be re-absorbed and forgotten again. Hopefully someday, the status quo will be an assumption and an acceptance that we're all connected. But for now, while we may not be physically forced to the back of the bus, the underlying tensions that put us there are still being felt. You're right, everyone deserves recognition. But it doesn't (and won't) come without a fight. Yet.

Flickchick- you are so right. While some families are reading "Goodnight Moon" (like last night!), we're talking to our boys about why the residents in the poorest communities are "brown" (like them) and the wealthiest communities tend to be overwhelmingly white. The majority of prisoners are "brown", the least resourced schools serve non-white children, and I could go on and on... No, we're not there yet. Sadly. But that's why we continue to fight. Haiti is a perfect example. We're not there yet.

I agree with you all that everyone should be recognized, but it should be done so equally.  I feel that once we can go to school and learn about all history without having to sign up to take a class to learn about what people of my heritage has done for this country, then we can get rid of Black History Month.  It is shameful that we had to petition the courts to be able to pay homage to what we have done.  The sad thing is so many people will never understand the struggle and the adversity they had to go through to make things happen.  Even to this day we have to work twice as hard to show that we are educated and capable.  Until you have walked in the shows of a Black person you really can not speak on the why we don't get to celebrate the contributions of white people.  That celebration happens everyday and will be taught to every single child in this country that attends a school.  I am about being fair and this entire history thing is a sore spot for me.  A lot of people of all different back grounds have broken their backs for this country to no avail.  My hopes are that as we progress forward that these types of discussions will not need occur.  Thank you for a great topic, very thought provocing....

 Cleo Faucette

5Twenty6 Designs

Jolene, I forgot to add that I loved the Q and A way you wrote your post AWESOME to say the least.. looking forward to reading more or your thoughts... keep them coming..

 

Cleo Faucette

5Twenty6 Designs

great post, jodene - a great conversation starter.

while i understand the desire to move to this american society where race and ethnic origin are no longer 'featured' or separated, i can't say that i agree with it. i, for one, like the idea of celebrating differences without it being deemed as segregationist or offensive.

sure, it would be great if there had never been a need for any of these special 'ethnic history months' to begin with. but the public school system, which americans of all ethnicities fund with their tax dollars, has never given equal representation to all ethnicities in history texts. so we all grow up with a monochrome (and often, unisex) view of history in our country and the world. it wasn't until i got to college that i got educated on american history and world history from a multi-cultural perspective (and i think it may have been because i went to a historically black college).

now, in the 'obama era', there is a growing cry to move to a post-racial america. but if you look at incidents involving don imus, skip gates, and most recently john mayer, we're more confused and uneducated about race than ever before.... why be so quick to rid ourselves of something that was started to equalize an out-of-balance situation? why not ask ourselves 'what more can we do?' how can we get these lessons to be a part of everyday curriculum in schools, so our kids won't have to rely on mcdonald's commercials to tell them about their classmates' cultures? how do we americans take our increased racial awareness abroad, where there is still a lot of backwards thinking and outright racial intolerance?

in my vision of a 'post-racial' society, we don't all have to be homogenized. we can celebrate our differences in a way that invites others to sit at our table and hear our stories, see the world through our eyes for a spell, so that we all walk away having grown a little more wise, and can later recognize each other as different branches from the same family tree.

http://www.bonvivantonline.com/2010/02/04/y-we-remember-current-perspectives-on-the-future-of-black-history/

I LOVE this blog! Thank you Jodene!

 

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Humorous, yet a tastefully written piece.

I also agree about getting rid of those damn boxes.

Can we also extend this to the boxes we must check off on insurance or job application forms?

Personally I always liked writing askimo on mine.

-Mika

I totally get your point, but I don't really feel we're ready to scrap the months...not yet, anyway. I'm optimistic, though, that some day we can.

"History" is just that -- his story. A perspective that derives largely from white males. Even today, our history is told from these perspectives -- women's stories, black stories, latina stories -- weren't recorded until relatively recently in time. If Black History month, or whatever month, helps to recognize this gap in our shared histories -- I'm all for it until we can all arrive at a better place.