# Pitting Black History Month **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 18, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806 "2004-02-18T16:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/41 "2004-02-18T19:17:15Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Do black people really feel that this is a token gesture? I can only answer for this black person. I understand the relevance of Black History Month in the past. It was a month in which all people learned that, hey, those pesky darkies aren’t so bad - one of 'em found a thousand uses for the peanut! It was also, more importantly, a month in which black people could remind themselves, hey, we’re not as stupid, useless and lazy as they say we are - one of us found a thousand uses for the peanut! My mother never, ever allowed us to ‘celebrate’ black history month. She sent my brother and me to an almost all white private school. She knew we weren’t going to learn about blacks other than King, Malcolm X, Tubman and Douglass. She routinely made us read (actually study) the lives and works of Bunche, DuBois, Evers, Hughs, Washington, etc. She supplemented my mostly white summer reading list with books by black, asian and middle-eastern authors. She never emphasized that she was doing this because ‘whitey ain’t gonna teach you about your history’ she just took us to the library, helped us select the books and discussed them with us after we read them. I, personally, don’t need Black History Month. I treat it like every other month: I pay the bills when they’re due, go to the grocery store and make sure my boys are getting a well rounded education. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/42 "2004-02-18T19:17:53Z")
> [@jarbabyj](#): > > Thank you captain nit pick. My point is, for a great deal of us we were not a party to learning about African American/Hispanic/Asian culture growing up, and I’m not going to sit around and bitch because a segment of the news or a commercial or a special on the history channel is produced to try and enlighten me. You don’t seem to care so much for enlightenment as much as for “facts” that make you feel good. So, fuck you and your attitude. You don’t want the truth, you just want common perceptions to be wrong. Yeah, I’ve got a toothache and I’m cranky as all hell. Bite me. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/43 "2004-02-18T19:36:35Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > You don’t seem to care so much for enlightenment as much as for “facts” that make you feel good. So, fuck you and your attitude. You don’t want the truth, you just want common perceptions to be wrong. > > Yeah, I’ve got a toothache and I’m cranky as all hell. Bite me. I do care for enlightenment, but this thread wasn’t about the finer details of the lightbulb, I was rattling off quick facts to illustrate a point. Let me guess, you’re the guy at the baseball game who questions if a home run is ACTUALLY 350 feet or not. My attitude is that we should not “fuck black history month in it’s big black ass”, so if you disagree with that, so be it. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/44 "2004-02-18T19:47:39Z")
> [@jarbabyj](#): > > IMy attitude is that we should not “fuck black history month in it’s big black ass”, so if you disagree with that, so be it. Actually, I _do_ agree\*. My point was that Mr. Latimer’s story (did you even read the link?) was quite interesting enough without embellishing it. - I think we could do without it, frankly, but its existence isn’t hurting anyone, except possibly the OP, who is a fucking idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/45 "2004-02-18T20:03:42Z")
Just for the record, among other things, February is also American Heart Month, National Children’s Dental Health Month, National Snack Food Month, and Wise Health Consumer Month. Just because Congress declares a month “National X Month”, doesn’t mean you have to care. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/46 "2004-02-18T20:06:13Z")
> [@Sinful](#): > > It seems to me that black history month is basically just another guilty concession by the same “majority” that allows such double standards as black-only scholarships, the TV network BET, and the word “nigga”. The more we “celebrate” black culture individually, the more the rift between blacks and everyone else will grow. Er… for the record, the FCC doesn’t bar the use of “nigger” (normally I would have \*ed the word, but here I suspect that people can handle non-emphatic use of a word they are familiar with) on radio broadcasts. You can’t say “motherfucker” or “big floppy donkey dick”, but you can say “nigger”. You’re right- that _is_ a double standard. But it’s unfair to black people, not whitey. Also, Florida public schools see to it that I would know George Washington Carver as the inventor of peanut butter, were it not for BHM. Frankly, I can handle a couple extra broadcasts of _the Tuskegee Airmen_ if it means I end up more educated. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/47 "2004-02-18T20:23:46Z")
by **monstro** > [@](#): > > Once you screw black history in its “big black ass”, don’t expect to appreciate white history ever again. You know the saying. Once you go black, you never go back! This bears repeating. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/48 "2004-02-18T20:32:59Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Haha hahaha, we got something you don’t got! We got something you don’t got! Haha hahaha, we got something you don’t got–the REST of the year! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/49 "2004-02-18T20:57:17Z")
> [@JuanitaTech](#): > > Well, yojimbo, it’s like this. Colgate airs its commercials with black people in it (during primetime on NBC, no less!). The black people are brushing their teeth just like their white counterparts except the black people say things like “this toothpaste is phat” and “yo! did you try that new colgate toothpaste?” Showtime airs a black movie (a black movie is just like a white movie except the characters say things like “nigga, please!”), Comedy Central has a Black Stars night with performances by black comics (black comics are like white comics except they say things like “black people don’t ski” and “did you hear about those crazy white people - they tried to pet a bear!”) and BET, well, it just does the same old thing. It’s posts like this that make me love this board. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/50 "2004-02-18T21:01:00Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Haha hahaha, we got something you don’t got–the REST of the year! 😃 You suffer any deja-vu lately? Check post #17. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/51 "2004-02-18T21:42:40Z")
> [@Uncommon Sense](#): > > You suffer any deja-vu lately? > > Check post #17. Yeah? But we have the rest of the thread! ---
**Author:** ![Sinful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Sinful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinful)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/52 "2004-02-18T22:13:57Z")
What if someone decided to start a white history month, how well do you think that’d go over? Another thing I hate is the way blacks continue to act like whites owe them something more than the freedom and equality we’ve given them. We can’t help what our ancestors did to their ancestors. It’s history and we’ve been working very hard to make blacks and other minoritys equal with whites. I just wish we could all look at each other and not see the race but the person. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/53 "2004-02-18T22:21:37Z")
> [@Sinful](#): > > Another thing I hate is the way blacks continue to act like whites owe them something more than the freedom and equality we’ve given them. Amen. I make it a point to thank at least one white person a day for my freedom and equality. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/54 "2004-02-18T22:22:38Z")
> [@Sinful](#): > > Another thing I hate is the way blacks continue to act like whites owe them something more than the freedom and equality we’ve given them. OK. Just for the record, **this** pasty white boy would like to disavow ANY connection with **Sinful** in ANY way. When the Revolution comes, please remember this. “Freedom and equality we’ve given them”… Jesus wept. “Given” my ass! Black Americans had to TAKE what God and Constitution-given rights they have. Could you BE more condescending? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/55 "2004-02-18T22:24:21Z")
> [@](#): > > What if someone decided to start a white history month, how well do you think that’d go over? About as well as a “World History” curriculum that [only covers the last five hundred years](http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0104/25history.html)? > [@](#): > > Another thing I hate is the way blacks continue to act like whites owe them something more than the freedom and equality we’ve given them. That sentence is like one of those “How many things are wrong with this picture” cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/56 "2004-02-18T22:32:24Z")
Everything about this post is FAN TASTIC. > [@Sinful](#): > > What if someone decided to start a white history month, how well do you think that’d go over? When I was growing up and i used to whine that there was mother’s day and father’s day but no kid’s day, my mom said “Everyday is Kid’s Day”. > [@](#): > > Another thing I hate is the way blacks continue to act like whites owe them something more than the freedom and equality we’ve given them. THANK YOU MASSA’ THANK YOU FO’ THE FREEDOM AN’ EQUALITY. WHAT MORE CAN I ASK OF MY BENEVOLENT GOD! > [@](#): > > We can’t help what our ancestors did to their ancestors. It’s history and we’ve been working very hard to make blacks and other minoritys equal with whites. Yeah, black people. I work really hard to try and make you people equal and you just won’t budge! COME ON! It’s ALL DUE TO ME WORKIN’ MY FLABBY WHITE ASS OUT THERE ON THE STREETS that you have your freedom and equality. Why can’t you just BE EQUAL? > [@](#): > > I just wish we could all look at each other and not see the race but the person. I don’t care what color you are. I see an asshole. T minus 30 for “Some of my best friends are black” ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/57 "2004-02-18T22:51:04Z")
> [@jarbabyj](#): > > And because of this, we say “fuck it in your big black ass?” There IS a Hispanic Heritage Month or Week I believe ( I can’t remember when it is, Chicago celebrates it heavily) and as for White Heritage, you can’t honestly tell me we never celebrate the accomplishments of white folk. Hispanic Heritage month actually stretches from the 16th of September (Mexican Independence Day) to Columbus Day (October 12th). The point being “Hispanics” are (from people such as Columbus and the ‘conquistadors’) of European or ‘white’ heritage as well as Indian, Mestizo, African and so on. It isn’t a message of racial ‘separatism’; though it seems to be seen that way by some. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/58 "2004-02-18T23:16:21Z")
> [@London\_Calling](#): > > Okay, so you’re saying it’s playing catch-up; educating white folks about black folks. Sounds reasonable, assuming white people are listening, or not already such a product of their white education that prejudice is ingrained so they don’t care. White boy here that has been educated by black history month. For instance, did you know that the first successful open heart surgery was performed by a black American surgeon in 1893? I didn’t, until I learned about it during black history month while attending an HBU law school (HBU=historically black university). It’s a fun fact to trot out in conversation when someone is denigrating black intellectual achivements. There are always going to be people whose predjudice is so ingrained that they just won’t listen, but at least I have something for them not to listen to. Might as well make their ignorance deliberate. Schoolhouse Rock was right; Knowledge is Power. If having black history month increases knowledge and dispels ignorance even a little bit, I’m all for it. If that means that I am unworthy of the respect of some kook on the internet, I can live with that. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/59 "2004-02-18T23:26:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Sinful > Another thing I hate is the way blacks continue to act like whites owe them something more than the freedom and equality we’ve given them. If you actually knew _your_ history, you’d know that black people were not given freedom and equality. They had to _fight_ for it. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/60 "2004-02-18T23:34:59Z")
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