Is Black History Month getting diluted?

Black History Month: Come February, the now-familiar observance seems to inspire ever more — and ever more random — celebrations.

The players are both big and small. Multinational corporations mount billboard campaigns, while community centers hold fashion shows and tourist spots highlight their connection to black history.

While the concept of Black History Month has been widely embraced in pop culture, it means some of the nation's most bitter history also is getting watered down into cliches or irrelevance. Some events have no historical tie-in at all — they're merely topics of interest to African-Americans. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, black history is used as a kind of commercial brand, which can feel off-key.

"It has become very mainstream," said Sheri Parks, a professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland. "I do think it's been diluted. Some of this seems like an excuse to put things on sale."

At Drexel University in Philadelphia, February events range from panel discussions about affirmative action and self-segregation on campus to a black art sale and an African American Down-Home Soul Food Dinner.

In Maryland's Prince George's County, there's Black History Magic, African Jewelry Making and a Black History Cheerleading Show.

A new-age center in Oakland, Calif., offered Mindful Drumming for Opening Minds and Healing Hearts and the University of Cincinnati's United Black Student Association has planned an event about online privacy titled "Has Facebook gone too far?"

Though well-intentioned, the events are probably not what historian Carter G. Woodson had in mind when he created Negro History Week in 1926. He taught for decades that blacks must know their past before they could envision a brighter future.

By 1976, his organization, now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, had turned the week into Black History Month.

"The resistance was tremendous all over the country," said Maurice Thornton, a historian at the State University of New York at Albany. "There was a countervailing group who were doing their best to erase black history from the general public."

This month, Thornton said he gave a black history speech at the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. "They're reaching out and want to let the world know that they're not just the old folks who tap your phones like they did during the civil rights era," he said.

Each night this month, there are several black history television programs to choose from — from BET's "Tupac: Thug Angel" to "Inside the Actors Studio" featuring two-hour interviews with Diana Ross and Eddie Murphy.

President Bush marked the month by holding a ceremony honoring modern-day black heroes including a New York City construction worker who saved a man from an oncoming subway train and an Olympic skier who lost her leg.

Black History Month "does caricature itself at times," said Linda Symcox, author of "Whose History?: The Struggle for National Standards in American Classrooms," about revising American history to include minority groups. Though she believes the month is a good thing overall, she said some events cross the line.

"If I were an African-American, I would be offended by having the month of February be some kind of palliative," she said.

Proof that corporate America has discovered Black History Month came Feb. 4, when the Super Bowl for the first time featured two African-American coaches, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith.

Both the broadcast of the game itself and ads between the action featured numerous references to the NFL first. Frito Lay had a commercial showing black families bonding over a football game with an announcer's voice saying, "We've got more than a game here. We've got history." One Coca-Cola commercial played a blues piano melody and listed key moments in black history alongside a soda bottle, ending with: "Coca-Cola celebrates Black History. Especially today."

Some viewers said it was a fitting nod to Black History Month. "It was done well — it was subtle," said Lawrence C. Ross, a consumer strategist for Iconoculture, a consumer trend research company in Los Angeles. Other commercials, however, tended to be "ham-handed."

Parks felt there were too many ads highlighting black history. "With the first one, I smiled," she said. "By the third one, I wasn't smiling anymore. I wondered if they were exploiting (black history) and why."

But, she added, commercialism is inevitable in American culture. "It's unrealistic in this culture to say that Black History Month should be noncommercial. This is how we do it."

At Christopher's B&B in Bellevue, Ky., tourists can pay $137 per night for their National Underground Railroad Freedom Center package, which includes a stay in a "junior jacuzzi room" and two adult tickets to the nearby museum.

The promotion is part of a push by Bedandbreakfast.com to steer visitors toward 14 historic homes that have connections to the secret network that once helped slaves escape to freedom, said Sandy Soule, editor of the Web site.

"This is the first year we've done this," Soule said. "I think we're going to make this a tradition."

I think we have Months designated for Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian-Pacific, due to our past. In the past, Slavery, Jim Crow Laws and treatment of Hispanics and Asians have created a need by minorities to seek to highlight their contributions to our country. Affirmative Action has included policies that encouraged a modified quota system or specifically designed programs such as minority set-aside contracting programs.
Our EEO system allows individuals to claim discrimination but requires management to show its decision was not discriminatory, thereby creating huge numbers of frivolous claims.
Socialists policies have created entitlements in many areas, which has lead to an entitlement mentality by some (minorities and others).
Multiculturalism has been rammed down our throats (particularly in our schools) to the point of degrading Western Civilization (falsely claiming that all cultures are equal).
America should be proud of all its citizens, regardless of race or origin.
My question is at what point in time do we stop HIGHLIGHTING those minority groups that once were not treated as equal. In other words, payback will go on until those groups are satisfied that they have been compensated for the past.
When I read about the slavery reparations movement, I causes me to believe that payback will be enduring. I do not see the elimination of payback policies for decades. Slavery ended one and a half centuries ago and people are still talking about reparations.
Should my Irish ancestors seek reparations from my English/Welsh ancestors? The Irish were treated on a level equal to Black Americans for a longer period than Black Americans.

Assuming you are talking about lesbian. They do not lift shirts. You may know a few faggots who have managed to impregnate a woman, but they are few and far between. Not many of them have interest.

No, I am talking about men, not dykes. There are many men who are married and have kids - but do the "nasty" on the side.

No - they are not "few and far between". There are a whole lot more than you might want to admit. They number in the millions. Conservative estimates say as many as 2-3% of married men (other studies say as much as 10% of married men). Either of those figures add up to millions.

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