rimrocker: I disagree. like i said i think human are deep down pretty much the same. However we ARE responsible for our own actions. I do not think my life is suffering. I think life is as it is, and we should enjoy it. I want to be a good person. I make the standards by which i think i should life(since i'm an atheist). I believe everybody is responsible for their actions, and should be hold accountable for their actions. But you are right what i said was a bit simplistic. SamFisher Of course slavery is the cause for a lot things. Slavery itself was a huge (and terrible), and has had a influence on our society, like you said. However like i said i think that there is a cause for Slavery, and that is the thing we should change. That is the thing what we should remember. Rocket River A rape happened to that person, the child of a person who was raped suffered from it since they experience someone who was raped. But that is closer in the past then Slavery. How many people alive today know someone who was a slave?
Rape is just a Microcosmic example Image the Raping of a people over the course of several CENTURIES that doesn't go away in a few decades Rocket River
I understand your point. And i hope that the people here do not think i Belittle the terrible things Black people had to endure in the past. Maybe it is fresher for people then i thought. In that case i hope i didn't offend anyone. because that was not my intention.
Honest question for the people saying that we are still feeling the effects of slavery: Are you sure that the effects that you are feeling aren't the denial of Civil Rights for the 80+ years after slavery was made illegal? The reason that I ask is that I don't know anything about my ancestors from 6 generations ago. (Other than my grandfather's grandfather's Union Army discharge papers. He was from Arkansas and fought for the USA, that makes me proud.) Even the way my grandparents lived doesn't have that big of an effect on my life. But the way my parents grew up affects me every day. I can understand (and even see in daily life) how being treated as second-class citizens 40 years ago effects life today. I cannot fathom how slavery 140 years ago effects life today.
Slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Civil Rights... they are all one of the same thread. You cannot draw a line in time and say from here back, nothing. The person treated as a second-class citizen 40 years ago could understand how his life was affected by the experience of his parents and grandparents, who grew up during the height of Jim Crow... and they could understand how their lives were affected by the peculiar institution that enslaved the previous generations. Just because you cannot fathom it doesn't make it not so.
Slavery predates writing and evidence for it can be found in almost all cultures and continents. http://innercity.org/holt/slavechron.html There is no line.
Another point... John Quincy Adams watched the Battle of Bunker Hill from the family farm. His grandson, Henry Adams, visited the farm every summer until he was 10, when John Quincy died in 1848. Henry died in Boston in 1918. No doubt there are still people around who were alive when Henry was, maybe even someone in Boston who might have known him as a child. That's the whole of our national history from the Revolution to this minute in just 3 lives... and people continue to argue that history is done? Hell, nobody alive directly studied with Plato or Aristotle, nobody was a member of the Roman Republic, nobody heard Jesus, nobody directly contributed to the Enlightenment or rode with Washington yet we are all affected by all of all these things everyday, in some form. If you agree and we assume that those things I just mentioned were "good," then the logical conclusion is that we are also affected by the bad things that have happened, including slavery, peonage, misogyny, etc. To argue that what has happened in history does not influence us today is ridiculous and to further make that argument about something as recent and pervasive as slavery in America is madness.
I am not offended I think that is why I think Black History Month is so important it is too easy to forget or 'glaze' over these type of events and not feel the full impact of them Rocket River
I think the problem is that too many people are looking at Black History Month as being divisive and that we should treat everyone the same. To me this is a misunderstanding of the nature of an equitable society. Yes everyone should be treated equally but that doesn't mean that we aren't diverse or that diversity shouldn't be celebrated. It is a false proposition that we either have a society where differences are never mentioned or we have a segregated society. What it comes down to is being respectful and tolerant of the differences. So for me as a Chinese-American I have no problem with Black History Month or celebrating St. Patrick's Day. I don't see it as segregating Blacks or Irish but as a chance to learn and enjoy about Black history and Irish culture. At the same time I am happy to invite people of all ethnicities to my Chinese New Year's Party and tell them about some of the New Year's traditions. None of this is saying my Chinese ethnicity is better than someone's Norwegian or Mexican ethnicity its just giving other people a chance to learn and hopefully enjoy it. Black History Month is only divisive if people feel it is divisive. Instead of feel like its somehow dividing African-Americans from the rest of US history why not look at it as seeing how African-Americans added to US history.
Black history month already makes a difference. You're talking about it, kids are learning about it, and the country takes time to recognize the contributions of black Americans. It's not a placation. It's an effort to reconcile the past and educate the ignorant. I'm fine with having classes on discrimination and racism. That's great. Dedicating a time to recognize the contributions of black Americans is great too.
I would imagine, whatever your ancestry, your family had it's native language, native religion, family structure, cultural values, belief systems, etc. when it moved here. How would your family today be different if that was all stripped from them? Then consider the cultural identity that would emerge if self-hatred, fear, murder, rape, brutality, ignorance, etc. were imposed upon them. Would a thousand years, much less 140 years, be enough time to remove all of that influence? It's very easy to fathom how slavery affects life today. It is as much the point from which black people have evolved as every Italian, Irishman, Brit, German, Frenchman, Chinese, etc and their respective ancestries. The impact is quite significant.
The history books should be rewritten so that it isn't a whitewashed jingoistic waste of time. Once that happens, there will be less a need to have ethnic history months. After all, Black History Month was intended to address the gaps in knowledge that aren't credited to African Americans. We think that spending 5 or 6 years on history classes in public education gives us the right to claim that we know our history, but where are these teachers are getting their sources? Culture movements like Black History is only an imperfect situation to the reality at hand. You acknowledge the root causes, and its symptoms won't form other issues.
I'd ditch it, for the sake of African Americans. Honestly, it does African Americans more harm than good b/c it makes them out to be self-centered and overly focused on race.
When did you graduate High School? Just curious because every textbook I ever had devoted about half of each chapter to the contributions of minorities during the specified time period. If you read a modern US History book I'm sure you'd be shocked (with the exception of small towns which probably choose the jingoistic types of books you talk about). Most modern US History books are dedicated to showing how horrible and evil the white Europeans are.
St Paddy's is a single day, not an entire month. Plus it's not a racial holiday, it's based on a nationality. There are plenty of non-white Irish. Just look at Tracy McGrady and Shaquille O'Neal.
Black history month will eventually outlast its usefulness. For the time being, it still serves a slight purpose. But its time is fading fast.
I'm sure T-Mac and Shaq consider themselves Irish. Anyway I have Sri Lanka friends who are darker than most African Americans so perhaps they should participate in Black History Month.
