Do We Need Black History Month?
Let's hear it: What do you think?
http://boards.live.com/MensLifestyleboards/thread.aspx?ThreadID=192971
What % said deep annoyance. Thats the camp im in.
It's wrong. No one should get any special privileges. Either there's a Jewish History Month, A Christian, a Polish, a French, an Italian, etc, or there is nothing.
Once you've heard who invented peanut butter, that's about it. Do we really need that year in and year out?
Segregating a month's observances along racial lines. It worked so well in the past... /s
Bravo, Mr. Freeman.
It would be fun to see just how many people would even know what month is Black History Month. I suspect more people could find Iraq on a map that would know what month is involved.
I think it's funny when the Jazz station on XM radio does their "black history month." As if blacks are underrepresented in Jazz.
How about a special tribute to under-appreciated black players of the NBA?
Black History Month is a flaming poster child for racial double standards.
Black History Minute
Shabazz K. Morton.....Eddie Murphy
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84iminute.phtml
Shabazz K. Morton: Hello, my name is Professor Shabazz K. Morton. In 1895, at the Tuskagee Institute in Alabama, a black man named George Washington Carver developed a new method of soul.. soil.. improvement through crop rotation.. [ a couple of audience members snicker at Murphy's blooper, causing him to break character ] So I messed up - SHUT UP! [ adjusting his shades so he can read the cue cards ] Stop clapping before y'all make me smile! [ back in character ] ..to end the South African cultural dependence on cotton alone. As a result, Carver came up with hundreds of industrial uses for the peanut. Sure, industrial uses.
Meanwhile, one night, he's having a few friends over to his house for dinner. And one of them leans over and says to Dr. Carver, "Excuse me, George? What's that your putting on your bread?" Carver says, "Oh, that's nothing but a butter substitute that I made from peanuts. I can't digest all that animal fat, you know." So the other fellow tasted it, and he says, "Hmm.. this pastes pretty.. this tastes.." [ the audience again laughs at Murphy's blooper, causing him to break character again ] Yeah? Keep on smiling. [ back in character ] "This tastes pretty good, man. Mind if we take a peek at the recipe?" And Dr. Carver says, "Take a peek? Man, you can have it. Who's gonna eat butter made out of peanuts? No, I'm working on a method to compress peanuts into phonograph needles."
So, Professor Carver's two dinner guests.. [ Murphy removes his shades for better cue card reading ] ..Edward "Skippy" Williamson and Frederick "Jif" Armstrong - two white men - stole George Washington Carver's recipe for peanut butter, copyrighted it, and reaped untold fortunes from it. While Dr. Carver died penniless and insane, still trying to play a phonograph record with a peanut.
This has been "Black History Minute". I'm Professor Shabazz K. Morton. Good night.
I better stay off this one I can only get myself in trouble.
Just let me say Black History Month is a boatload of horse Hockey.
"It's February, and the annual debate has begun. The subject of Black History Month becomes the centerpiece of many a water-cooler conversation."
No, not really. The companies where I worked were always populated by all races and religions, etc., and I never heard anyone, Black, White, or otherwise, ever mention it at all.
Kind of like Kwanzaa.
Real people, working real jobs and leading productive lives, raising children, making contributions, and paying taxes, have no time for that nonsense. They are BUSY. As a Black neighbor of mine used to say, "There is ONE color that matters in this country: GREEN".
The people who do have time to be so concerned are just desperately trying to create issues with which to fill their dying newspapers and time slots- That, or they are growing moss at their desks in Cambridge and other such places.
I think there should be something to remember what the folks who suffered went through as it was a painful time in our country- but a whole month? Have a day to remember it, teach why it was wrong in scools, perhaps have a day of teaching tolorance for EVERYONE to our kids- .
The following link is a signature link and does not relate to this thread http://sacredscoop.com
It has been my experience that the black children in our public schools are tired of being reminded that they came from slaves. I once proposed a Black Future Month at my school - have black professionals come in and talk to the students about how they reached their goals. Nobody was interested.
Hear the Words of General Leonard Wood, 1919
the text is below:
Americanization must be taken up earnestly and systematically. America first must be stamped upon every heart. There should be but one language in the public grade schools --the language of the Declaration of Independence, of Abraham Lincoln, of Theodore Roosevelt. A common language is one of the strongest influences for building up a spirit of national solidarity.
We must emphasize that hand in hand, with equality of privilege and opportunity, goes equality of obligation in war and in peace, in fair weather and in storm.
There is no room in this country for any flag except our own. There is no room for the Red flag. It is opposed to everything our government stands for. It stands for anarchy, chaos, and ruin. Smash it!
True liberty is found within the law. Law and order are the foundation on which rests business, confidence, and prosperity, without which there cannot be prosperous labor conditions, and without these we cannot have increased efficiency, and that increased production which is a great remedy for the high cost of living.
The war is over. We are confronted with the problems of peace, and organization for the extension of our trade. We must spread the war burden over a longer period of years. We must relieve business of any taxation, which strangles enterprise. We must look to the establishment of a merchant marine, the maintenance of a small but highly efficient army and a first-class, every-ready navy, and the development of a sound policy of national defense -- a policy which places the obligation of service in war squarely upon all classes of our citizens.
This country must never be allowed to fall into such a condition of helplessness that it cannot immediately become a force for right. We want peace. We believe in arbitration. We shall have more of peace, and more successful arbitration, if we are not only just and righteous, but also strong. We must be prepared to meet the organized strength of wrong with a [desperate] strength of right.
We must cultivate the spirit of service and sacrifice. The motto of every American should be: I serve. In considering the questions of labor and property, we should remember the words of Abraham Lincoln: "Let not him who hath no house pull down the house of his neighbor, but rather let him industriously strive to build one for himself, thus by example, showing confidence that his own, when built, shall stand.
"Let us do all we can to help labor. Give it a square deal -- an honest and generous wage for an honest day's work. Labor is neither a commodity or a chapel; it's human. Let us inject more of the human element into our dealings with labor and with those of others. Remember, you cannot legislate this into the souls of men. Without it, there never can be harmony, cooperation, and the progress we want.
Let us build up an intense American spirit -- not selfish, but helpful to a world in trouble, backed for the right kind of an American conscience. Avoid loose-fibered internationalism as you avoid death, for it means national death. America has a great mission in the world, one, which she can only perform by being a strong, united, upstanding people.
No. In my kids' school, it just provides a month long opportunity for racist black teachers to snipe at U.S. history.
I guess I'm missing the point, as well. I recall learning about Frederick Douglas and George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, and Washington D.C.'s Dunbar High School of the early 20th century whose graduates were considered to be at least on par with white students.
I know that there were other black contributors to history that we learned about, I just can't recall them all at the moment. Also, it is interesting to note that many young blacks have rejected these very same people and institutions because they weren't black enough.
What is history?
It is a racist policy. Do a simple check. Simply replace the word white with anything black, and see if it's ok with a jesse Jackson type. If it's not, neither the black nor version should be allowed, because they are racist.
NOTE! This is NOT to say i want a jesse jackson type to determine policy! It's just a test method.