An Opinion Article By Staff Writer: Kate Bauer
At this age in my life, I have some mixed feelings about Black History Month. Americans have dedicated one month out of the year, February, to celebrate the history, inventions, and achievements of America’s African ancestors. This month is to remind us of how far African Americans have come in their fight for equal rights and liberties, but I feel it does more harm than good. I believe Black History Month enforces racism in society by continuing to single out African Americans.
The first problem with this tradition is the title itself. Calling it Black History Month puts direct emphasis on skin color. The whole point of the month is to teach students that no matter what a person’s race, they are still important and can benefit society for the better. The least society could do is refer to them as African Americans or just simply Americans, especially since this month is mostly celebrated at the elementary school level. I think that labeling it as black is disrespectful to African Americans and teaches kids that addressing people by the color of their skin is okay.
Another problem I have is the actual history that is celebrated. We are living in a country that recently celebrated an African American president take his second term in office and the first African American gymnast to take home gold in the women’s all-around competition in the Olympics. Yet, year after year we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, and Thurgood Marshall. Of course, these people accomplished tasks that seemed impossible during their time, but there is so much more to celebrate. I’ve noticed a pattern with black history and have come to the conclusion that America is apparently the only country where Africans make history. Have we forgotten about Nelson Mandela already? And Usain Bolt? It’s not “Ancient Black Civil Rights Month”; however, we revisit the same lessons every year. With these lessons being taught, not only does African American history seem ancient, but also our attention is drawn to specific individuals and not the entire population. I bet kids can list off a timeline of facts about MLK Jr. but I don’t think they can really grasp what exactly he did for the African American race as a whole. Instead of stressing his speech, teachers should focus their lessons on how the civil rights movement was groundbreaking to our society and helped improve society for everyone, including Caucasian Americans.
African American history goes far beyond just civil rights and suppression. There are groundbreaking athletes, presidents, and world leaders who aren’t even celebrated during Black History Month because we are too busy re-learning the morals of slavery. At this point, I think we can all agree that slavery is wrong and we can finally move past this and focus on current issues.
In all honesty, I don’t believe there should be a Black History Month at all. I think that, even though it is a way to teach kids to embrace the differences in people, it also enforces the idea of segregation. The annual question, “Where’s White History Month?” makes me question why we don’t just have an American History Month where we celebrate the accomplishments our country has made as a whole. Even is it is meant as a way of celebration, segregation is harmful to society. Dedicating a month to a single race to encourage equality seems like a nice idea until you realize it excludes every other race in our society. Hardly seems equal, right?
I think we have come far enough in the fight for civil rights that my generation doesn’t really see race as a factor anymore. While we should celebrate our ancestry and reflect on the lessons history has taught us, we shouldn’t segregate our society for the sake of learning. We should be able to look at the people around us and not see blacks, whites, Latinas, Asians, etc. We should see each other as equal – as Americans.
