# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![byter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@byter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/byter)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/121 "2004-02-20T14:32:13Z")
FWIW We have something called Afro-centric schools here. I’m not sure if it is High School or primary or what. I’m not sure what differentiates the curricula either, maybe they use white boards and black chalk. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/122 "2004-02-20T21:58:45Z")
> [@JuanitaTech](#): > > Does it make you feel any better that we got the shortest month of the year? Yeah, but every four years you get a whole extra day! Hey Sinful, you forgot to mention Black Starz! and UPN. ---
**Author:** ![ForumBot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@ForumBot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForumBot)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/123 "2004-02-20T22:49:46Z")
My neighbor has a Labrador. Cute dog and all, but once you get down to it, it’s just a dog. Every now and then, she insists on showing me the neat tricks her dog can do. “Look, it can shake! Play dead! Isn’t it amazing?” “Sure”, I respond, trying to humor her. Somehow this felt like a good analogy to black history month. ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/124 "2004-02-20T23:50:05Z")
> [@gluteus maximus](#): > > Actually, I **had** done just that. Mea culpa. Nevertheless, accusations/intimations of that nature go you-know-where. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/125 "2004-02-21T00:10:18Z")
> [@Sinful](#): > > What if someone decided to start a white history month, how well do you think that’d go over? I’ve always hated this idea. When I told my mother I was taking an ethnic studies course she asked me why SCSU doesn’t offer Swedish studies. I told her that if I wanted to study Sweden I’d go to a different university. What’s wrong, **Sinful**? German-, Italian-, and Polish-American months don’t do it for you? I got tired of digging for more, but I’m sure someone can find a link to a heritage month calendar with all sorts of white ethnic diversity. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/126 "2004-02-21T00:12:31Z")
> [@aaslatten](#): > > Why is there not a Native American History Month? You can’t tell me they didn’t get f\*\*\*ed at least as bad as the African-Americans. Missed this - there **is** a Native-American history month, but now I’ve lost the link. Do the Googley thing, you’ll find it. ---
**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 21, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/127 "2004-02-21T02:05:45Z")
> [@ForumBot](#): > > My neighbor has a Labrador. Cute dog and all, but once you get down to it, it’s just a dog. Every now and then, she insists on showing me the neat tricks her dog can do. “Look, it can shake! Play dead! Isn’t it amazing?” > > “Sure”, I respond, trying to humor her. > > Somehow this felt like a good analogy to black history month. :eek: Boy oh boy do I hope I’m once again misunderstanding someone’s post. ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/128 "2004-02-21T04:39:20Z")
**Juanita** deserves some sort of award for her contributions to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/129 "2004-02-21T16:12:42Z")
**jarbabyj** , you are not alone. The spirit of Stokely Carmichael almost took over my body in response to that post, but I let the spirit of MLK take over instead. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/130 "2004-02-21T17:15:26Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > I haven’t yet found a European History Month or a Mulatto History Month. I doubt you will find the latter, as every person I’ve ever known to whom the term “mulatto” could be applied considered the term at best out-dated and at worst racist. But I’m sure **Sinful** didn’t know that. Since I’m posting anyway, here’s a little anecdote in honor of Black History Month. Just today, one of my English students (a middle-aged Japanese engineer) gave a speech in class about a moment that changed his life. What was that moment? When he heard Martin Luther King, Jr.'s “I Have A Dream” speech. During a particularly dark period in his own life, my student was too depressed to sleep and so happened to catch a late-night special that included the speech. Dr. King’s words inspired him to keep on with the struggle towards his own dreams and never give up no matter how much adversity he faced. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/131 "2004-02-21T17:42:03Z")
> [@ForumBot](#): > > My neighbor has a Labrador. Cute dog and all, but once you get down to it, it’s just a dog. Every now and then, she insists on showing me the neat tricks her dog can do. “Look, it can shake! Play dead! Isn’t it amazing?” > > “Sure”, I respond, trying to humor her. > > Somehow this felt like a good analogy to black history month. Nobody else wants to do it, but fuck it, I’ll have to. Are you fucking serious? You just equated the history of an entire group of human beings to the tricks of a dog. I didn’t want to think that’s what you were doing, but there’s no other way to interpret what you said. It’s not possible to be that ignorant without embracing it. Don’t you know that kind of thinking fell out of popular favor in the 60’s? The FUCKING 1860’s?? In case you didn’t get the newsletter, we’ve accepted blacks as humans now. Yeah, it was a rough decision, but we ended up going with the “They seem to be just like us after all” type of conclusion. Hard to believe, I know. Anyway, keep one eye out of your asshole, and be on the lookout for that- some people might take offense to you talking like some kind of fucking plantation owner now that we’re in the year 2004. Be honest, you’re jealous, aren’t you? YOU want to shake. YOU want to play dead. That fucking dog is always one step ahead of you, isn’t it? That cruel bastard never sleeps- by the time you got the “fetch the tennis ball” trick down pat, he was getting the newspaper, wasn’t he? And you never could learn the difference between the genuine tennis ball throw and the pump fake. You were the one skidding into the wall looking for the ball while that sadist Labrador Hellhound motherfucker stood by his master, pointing to the ball, still in the guy’s hand, and laughing- always laughing. Someday it’ll be your day. They’ll shout your name, when they come home, and rub you behind the ears. You’ll be the one snapping up Milk-Bones and prancing around the living room, life of the party, instead of the one in a crate outside 'cause you can’t stop shitting on the rug. Until then, though, you might want to stay away from saying anything in a public arena. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/132 "2004-02-21T19:04:43Z")
Hmm. I go to another board called Teenspot and this rant was posted, word for word in their World Issues Forum. Thing is, that one was posted almost a whole day before this one was… So…just asking…did you copy it? If so, why? Were you trying to pass this on as your own rant or just posting it as some often to with newspaper clippings? Or maybe this rant is on some site and you BOTH took it to pass it on for your rants… ---
**Author:** ![SCB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@SCB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCB)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/133 "2004-02-21T20:06:23Z")
> [@Idle Thoughts](#): > > Hmm. > > I go to another board called Teenspot and this rant was posted, word for word in their World Issues Forum. Thing is, that one was posted almost a whole day before this one was… > > So…just asking…did you copy it? If so, why? Were you trying to pass this on as your own rant or just posting it as some often to with newspaper clippings? > > Or maybe this rant is on some site and you BOTH took it to pass it on for your rants… no, this was my original creation…found at my hometown [Teenspot](http://www.teenspot.com/boards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68098) …and while i guess it is nice to be so agreed-with that someone takes my words and uses them willy-nilly, i feel that i and my beliefs have been badly misrepresented. i usually dont support any post that i write that warning on, as i dont like explaining my opinions when im not arguing for a specific point, merely expressing a view… but you guys really did me up the poop-chute (by proxy, of course) on this one, so i signed up to this board pretty much to say this: i dont hate black people, im not racist, my biggest beef with black history month is the same beef i have with AA- it reinforces a distinction between two peoples that are working hard to become one. i mean, would it really be that difficult to include these members of society noted in black history month in everyday learning for our children? surely if theyre _that_ important, they should be taught as any other important figure. i feel that singling out “black history month” simply drives another wedge into a society that is already filled with gaps. its like trying to solve a calculus problem with guess-and-check, we might eventually solve the problem, but were going about it the wrong damn way. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/134 "2004-02-22T02:34:29Z")
So this was a _plagiarized rat_? **Sinful** , dude, that’s freakin’ _low_. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806/135 "2004-02-22T02:43:19Z")
**Sinful** , if you post any more plagiarized material, you will find yourself unable to post. In other words, DO NOT POST SOMETHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE WROTE. I’m closing this thread, it’s had more than enough attention. Lynn Bodoni Administrator For the Straight Dope [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-black-history-month/229806.md?page=6)