Sinful, that was actually a valuable and insightful statement. I agree with you fully. In fact, you’re in good company:
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
I do not know (nor do I care) what color you skin is, but since you and I and Dr. King are all in agreement, well then… you won’t mind my saying that your character apparently sucks.
Or for that matter a ‘Women’s History Month’. (Oops, there is one… it’s called March.) Or a “Gay History Month” (oops, there is one… October.)
You’re right though, it is a total double standard. If, I’m just going out on a limb here, but let’s say Irish people wanted to celebrate THEIR heritage on, I dunno, let’s say St. Patrick’s Day, or if Latinos wanted to take like let’s say the fifth of May and celebrate their heritage or if whites wanted to celebrate the birthday of white heroes, like let’s say Washington and Lincoln, then it’d never be allowed.
Now, that’s the kind of Black History lesson that might actually stick in people’s minds! 
What’s the bean-pie-eating reference? Was it in the movie…?
There’s a big difference in not being judged by the color of your skin (i.e. blacks are shiftless horny melon eaters of limited intellect worth 3/5 of a white person in the original Constitution) and not NOTICING the color of somebody’s skin. I’ll be honest: along with gender, age and other obvious demographics it’s the first thing I notice about somebody and I don’t think that makes me remotely racist. There is plenty of room to acknowledge who and what you are and still belong to a larger group.
I’m very interested in my Irish, Creek Indian, German, Jewish and other ancestry and love to read and watch documentaries about all of these groups- it’s my genetic biography and a vital comonent of who I am and why I’m here. For blacks I would argue it’s even more a vital component because of the incredible recentness of the struggle. It would be like telling WW2 veterans to “get over it, Hitler’s dead and so is Yamamoto… we’re fighting in Iraq now”.
I have absolutely no personal guilt whatever for the racism of my ancestors but I most definitely acknowledge it and am appalled by their actions. I see Black History Month as something like a unit in an education for people no longer in school so that we will never forget just what has been survived and what has been accomplished. (I won’t quote Santayana but I’m seriously thinking about him.)
Besides, it’s not as if Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee are kidnapping white motorists from rest areas and forcing them to watch ROOTS and NO WAY OUT in an underground headquarters where they’re reeducated with urban legends about Bessie Smith and Charles Drew. If you don’t want to participate in Black History Month then watch Who Wants to Marry a Gay Midget or whatever else is on that night or pick up a copy of Ann Coulter’s newest screed or just play with the dog and blow away some Pleidean invaders on SEGA Genesis.
Muslims (more correctly Nation of Islam types) make, sell and eat ean pies. Ask one of those guys in the bowties, the ones who’ll walk around you to sell one of those papers. On second thought maybe not. Speaking of which anyone ever tasted one?
They are yummy. I don’t care for The Final Call (the rag NOI publishes), but I sure do like those pies!
I don’t believe I said “fuck it in your big black ass.” I also never said we don’t celebrate white accomplishments.
I’ll thank you kindly to not put words in my mouth.
Oh, boy. Where do I begin?
We have White History Month. It’s called “World History I”. At my uni, we’ve covered 30,000+ years of human civilization and are just now getting to Africa. In the context of the slave trade. (To be completely fair, we have gotten a fair amount of Asian history, however.) There has been this HUGE hole in the map that hasn’t been addressed until now. It’s quite interesting to finally find out that black history isn’t all about civil rights and slavery.
As to your second point, well, others have covered this, but I’m going to reiterate. We didn’t “give” them anything. They fought for their freedom. Black equality in this country came at a pretty high price. Cities burned; innocent people were brutally murdered at the hands of the white establishment, including children; court battles were fought; need I say more?
Considering how much these people have been shit all over by white America, I’d say they are entitled to feel proud of their heritage and their accomplishments. So, shut the fuck up and listen. You might learn something, God forbid.
Robin
On behalf of white people, thank you. We were getting pretty sick of working to make you equal to us without any acknowledgement. What we need is some sort of White History Month to celebrate the unsung heroes of the “Making Blacks As Good As Whites” struggle. Sinful will be featured prominently, I’m sure.
She’s talking about the OP, genius.
As for Black History Month, this cracker doesn’t much care one way or another. But, if some black people feel it makes up in some small measure for all the shit that’s been heaped on them throughout the history of this country, I say go for it. It doesn’t cost me a damn thing.
Well, actually, it does serve one useful purpose, at least from my POV. It’s a great stalking horse to draw assholes like Sinful out of the woodwork. If it weren’t for Black History Month, he would never have posted this OP, and I might have mistaken him for someone intelligent or insightful. Thank you, Black America, for helping me to identify and thereby avoid one more time-wasting idiot.
Bloomie’s has a white sale.
This is kinda what bugs me about the whole ‘celibration’ of heritage. I don’t feel glad for the accomplishments of any of my ‘fellow’ white people. I don’t really care, if I do feel glad, I feel glad for the accomplishments of humans. Why should we reflect on the contributions of a group based on their skin color? Can’t we have Jamaican history month, European history month? If we’re being proud of something, why not the actual country of our origin, or heritage? Why group people together just because they look black, white, yellow, or whatever?
This is why I have a slight problem with “celebrating heritage”. I don’t celebrate having white skin, I don’t really celebrate much at all, but were I to, I would celebrate my german roots.
Black Americans have a heritage that can be distinguished from mainstream culture. “Black History Month” isn’t a celebration of people with dark skin. It’s a celebration of the heritage created by the descendants of African slaves.
You have German roots. Great. But if you’re the descendant of African slaves and you want to celebrate that, what else could you celebrate but “black history”? You’re fortunate that you can pinpoint a nation of origin. For black folk–African Americans–we do not have that.
If it makes you feel better, call the month African American history. Or better yet, just understand what “Black” means and move on.
There are already people campaigning for a white history month and the ZOG hasn’t assassinated them yet.
You can join them if you want. Nobody’s stopping you.
Thanks monstro I was just wondering. I could go down the street and buy one but I refuse to support NOI in any fashion.
She was quoting me when she said that. Thanks anyway, Sparky.
Celebrate “African History”, or “African American History”. All ‘blacks’ in America are NOT African.
Why the term “black”? Black is a description of skin color, so is white, its ridiculous to say these represent an actual group of people who identify with certain customs and other cultural things. Yes, they may share some things because they have similar origins, but they don’t all.
My SO is black, or Jamaican rather. She doesn’t come from Africa, yet is still represented as black.
Stuffy, find a soul food restaurant. I’m talking about one on the sketchy side of town, with walls so saturated with grease that you could eat them. You can find them there and not have to support NOI.
The Pathmark down the street from me used to sell bean pies. The bakery that made them also made sweet potato pie and banana nut bread. But sadly, that Pathmark doesn’t sell them anymore.
Now I have a hankering for bean pies. Thanks a lot!
(Bean pies do not taste like beans, in case you’re wondering. If they did, I would not let a slice touch my lips.)
Say this with me:
Black history = black American history = African American history
Black history = black American history = African American history
Black history = black American history = African American history
Repeat about a million times, if need be.
Sheesh. If it was called “African American history”, then people would be complaining that “true” Africans are being neglected in the celebration. Or that black Americans are trying to dilute their Americanness by claiming something they are not. And it’s not African history since it’s clearly American.
“My SO is black, or Jamaican rather. She doesn’t come from Africa, yet is still represented as black.”
Her ancestors were from Africa…I thought that was what Black History Month was all about. Celebrating one’s heritage…
Some of my ancestors are black, some are Irish. I celebrate the achievements of blacks with as much relish as I drink lots of Guinness in mid-March. 