Good point. I could see having a Pennsylvania German heritage month, a Scots-Irish Appalachian heritage month, an Italian-American heritage month, a Russian Alaska heritage month, or a Cajun heritage month. All of those groups have had some interesting history that has contributed to the diversity of the country despite being “white”.
John Tesh. Some Chuck Mangione. Maybe a little Pat Boone if we’re feeling wild.
No, YMCA. That is the white people’s anthem.
I’m curious as to what this means: " I take a contemptuous attitude ton [sic] multiculturalism" by Hector St Claire. But being that it is good ol’ Hector, I’m not sure I want to know. Still,
Does it mean I shouldn’t be living in the States (not white here)?
Does it mean I should go to different schools?
Does it mean Indian culture and history shouldn’t be taught in schools?
Does it mean it is silly for companies to try to recruit and develop multicultural and multiracial people?
Does it mean that I cannot have two cultures, that I must only choose one?
(Note: I don’t like a lot of that stuff.)
From reading this thread, I’m pretty sure that it means European culture is super duper special and everyone else should be satisfied basking in it’s holy glow. Plus they should read Proust.
My answer: “That it’s unnecessary.” Keep in mind that I’m half-“white”/half-Latino. Or don’t.
It wouldn’t necessarily be racist, but in practice it would be - the only reason to have it would be pushback against minorities celebrating themselves, not some sort of spontaneous joie de blanche.
I see nothing wrong with it, as long as it wouldn’t be used as a ‘we are better than you’ exercise. I may be in the minority, but I enjoy learing about various groups’ cultural heritage - be they cultures from a Micronesian island with 17 inhabitants or be they Anglo-Saxon protestants. I’m not black, but I enjoy the programming for Black History month. Same thing with the Hispanic efforts. I grew up in a town that was 40% Polish/30% Slavic of some other type and while they didn’t have a dedicated ‘month’ to celebrate their heritage, local museums and historical societies often had programs and exhibits about it. I always learned something when I attended. “White Caucasian” history is a big subject. As seminal as it may be to all things American, I’m certain there are aspects that we don’t know well. Handled as an educational exercise, I would enjoy a white heritage month.
No, in his own lame way, Pat Boone was doing black music. Often with much more commercial success than the original black artists.
double-post
Yeah, for the past century in the US, that’s been the definition of white music.
Yes, you should totally read Proust.
And tell the rest of us about him, because I haven’t.
Yes there should be a “European American” month. Germans, Italians, French, etc. all have worth. Children in schools need to learn the value of this ethnicity to our society just as they learn the value of other ethnicities to our society. That is the opposite of racism. If we fail to include all ethnicities, that is called discrimination. Further, it would cause devaluation of a race of people, just as it did to African Americans when they were excluded in the past.
Since this is back in circulation:
There’s a fundamental difference between celebrating “Black History Month” and celebrating Irish or German or Italian heritage, and that’s that the latter are all about the cultures the various American subcultures came from, whereas the primary focus of Black History Month is on what that culture has done in America. And the opposite of “black history” is just “history” - at least as it has been traditionally taught, in a heavily sanitized version that sidelines much of the individuals and events that BHM seeks to (finally) educate people about.
Yes, there’s often some discussion of Africa but usually as the beginning to the story of slaves in America. Because the culture being celebrated isn’t so much “how our ancestors used to be back in the old country”; it’s the American experience. Which, largely, has been pretty awful. Which is why it’s especially important that it is brought to light at last.
How can they, when the Right Wing keeps blocking attempts to do just that?
Politics make us stupid, angry, and make us hate one another. So I don’t discuss that online or in person. I have friends from the opposing party as well. Anyway, I think that all ethnicities should be equally represented. Otherwise children will not know of their value. We could complete this task by creating a European American Month.
I hate to break it to you, but you’re discussing politics online right now…
I agree that White children need to learn their true value.
I feel Black History Month, Jewish American Heritage Month and Native American History Month are already sufficient for them to get the gist.
As several people, including myself, we already have twelve months each year devoted to European American history and culture.
A white person in America being envious of Black History Month is like Bill Gates being envious of my bank account.
No one is stopping you from trying to create a month for white people. If you want to do it, try it. I think you’ll fail, because it’s a dumb idea, but feel free to go forward with a dumb idea if you wish.
An officially sanctioned “heritage month” should try to advance some valid policy goal or purpose and should be respectful of whatever culture’s heritage is being commemorated. There are a few requirements for such a thing to make sense, one of the chief ones is the culture must actually be a culture.
There is no such thing as “White Caucasian” culture. White people in America did not come from “whiteland” in which there was a shared cultural heritage going back generations. White Americans are English, Scottish, Irish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Swedish etc. These societies had and continue to have distinct cultural histories, languages, cultural practices, some going back thousands of years. There is nothing wrong with celebrating those cultures. But those cultures were not defined by being white, it happens to be the case that due to the geographic location in which those cultures emerged, the people in those cultures were overwhelmingly white. But skin color is not culture. Sweden or Finland’s distinct culture is not based on physical traits like skin color.
I do not know how many current “History Months” we celebrate, but if we do celebrate a Jewish and Hispanic History Month in addition to Black History month, I’ll note that neither of those cultures is defined by skin color either.
Black History month might seem like an outlier, because in its very name it seems to be defined by skin color. But black Americans are actual outliers in this discussion, and for the very reasons that is true, is why they should have a history month and why their culture should be celebrated. Black Americans, just like White Americans, came from many distinct cultures in Africa, many/most in Western Africa. Black Americans unlike White Americans, overwhelmingly came here after being kidnapped by slavers who sold them to slave traders who sold them to white European colonists in colonial America.
Upon their enslavement they were forcibly given new names, prohibited from celebrating their African heritage and culture, their families were routinely broken up, they were prohibited from speaking or perpetuating their native language. Their children were born in chains, and were raised without the culture and heritage that would have been their birthright if not for the vast crime committed against their people. Black Americans had their cultural identity stolen from them by white slaveowners. In large part because of this Black Americans have developed a genuine, distinct culture based in part on that shared negative experience. There is no corresponding situation for white Americans, and thus the idea of having a month to celebrate “White Caucasian Heritage” is stupid.
Now yes, most White Americans have significantly lost the cultural heritage of their family, and with intermarriage they are heavily mixed between various European lineages in any case. The typical Italian American family hasn’t had a living member who spoke Italian in it for probably 25-30 years, and the closest they have to still celebrating their culture is Italian American cuisine in most cases. I point this out because Italian Americans are one of the “last” major waves of white immigration to America, to point out the degree of assimilation and cultural melding that has occurred with the various white cultures.
Does that mean we shouldn’t celebrate Italian-American or Irish-American or German-American heritage? No, I think it’s fine to celebrate those things, but it should also be recognized for most “members” of those cultural groups, their affiliation with the group often extends no further than their last name having an obvious cultural identifier (ending in a vowel, O’Names and McNames, or the various Germanic surnames), and maybe a few favorite family meals that are derived from the originating culture. That is not a terrible thing, it’s not some great tragedy that successive generations of white Americans have melting potted together so that they are no longer strongly Irish or Italian. But it’s worth noting black Americans are still somewhat of an outsider culture in their own country–and this is their country, far more than it is most white Americans. The average black American descendant of slaves actually has roots further back in the country than the typical white American–my first ancestor on either side of the family tree came over in the 1850s, so many black Americans have roots that stretch back 150 years earlier and in some cases more.
Another point may be raised–so if white Americans have become this melting pot “white American” culture, shouldn’t that be celebrated? It already is. That melting pot culture is literally what people mean when they say “American” culture, it is the dominant culture. Celebration of this culture permeates almost all media, all history, our politics, our education etc. Turn on almost any TV show on any channel, watch almost any movie Hollywood puts out, and this culture is front and center. Other cultures that are present in America make appearances sometimes as little more than token representatives.
And even still–that dominant culture, despite being predominantly made up of people with white skin, isn’t “white culture”, there are non-whites who participate in that culture and it is not defined solely by whiteness. Choosing to commemorate it (more than it already is in virtually all avenues of society) with something called “White Caucasian Heritage Month” only would serve to further racial divisions, to say that the dominant culture only welcomes whites, is defined by whiteness etc. Basically it’d be racist asshat behavior.