Black History Month

[Opinionated]

That's comparing chalk and cheese. You didn't have specific and highly publicised months which emphasised the racial nature of those people did you?

Isn't that because there doesn't need to be a highly publicised month bringing attention to those those people, and their colour is irrelevant because their acheivments are universally recognised in their own right?

That's the issue here, not whether black history is as valid as any other kind of history, which of course it is.

Well I'm very glad we agree there!

No one race, regardless of who they are, should receive such undue attention in a society where we're all supposed to be equal and where we're supposed to be colour-blind.

Now I quite agree with that statement, but the truth of the matter is that we are not yet colour-blind and so there is a necessity for black history month.
Also back in October did anyone actually notice any greater emphasis on "black culture" at all, can't say I did.

[pauli007001]

Isn't that because there doesn't need to be a highly publicised month bringing attention to those those people, and their colour is irrelevant because their acheivments are universally recognised in their own right?
Well I'm very glad we agree there!
Now I quite agree with that statement, but the truth of the matter is that we are not yet colour-blind and so there is a necessity for black history month.
Also back in October did anyone actually notice any greater emphasis on "black culture" at all, can't say I did.

Race is irrelivant, even if we are not colour blind, if you are hoping for a colour blind society i guess you will be happy if soon they ban the use of terms in language that are used to describe race?
A kid goes missing, description goes out, an eight year old in a red sweater has been kidnapped, dosnt tell folk much at all, put down his race and you have a far better Idea, to be colour blind is silly, surely even a nulabbie can see that.
Teach History in history and colours in Art class.

What has October got to do with it? I saw no specific emphasis on white culture either.

[DTE]

Because it's a public idea. They have labled Black History Month as a public event, celebrating one race. I assume you were trying to point out that the white focus of our education is in itself, racist, however I have already rebuffed that point.

No no no no no no no no. Its not racist that I only learnt about white people at school. But it is an imbalance, and again I repeat, for one month of the year in a limited capacity (!!) maybe its a good idea to offer another perspective. Even if all it meant was that kids get some understranding of who Dr Luther King was, or Nelson Mandella, is that a bad thing? Its education, not propaganda

That's comparing chalk and cheese. You didn't have specific and highly publicised months which emphasised the racial nature of those people did you? That's the issue here, not whether black history is as valid as any other kind of history, which of course it is. No one race, regardless of who they are, should receive such undue attention in a society where we're all supposed to be equal and where we're supposed to be colour-blind.

Midas, do really believe that we ARE all treated equal though? What about in the past? If we want the younger generation to see people has equal they need to know WHY, and what came before. All of you naysayers are making a specific connection here, that black history month promotes one race above others, do you really think that is a connection a child would make? Isn't it more likely that they would be interested in a culture of which otherwise they probably know next to nothing?

[Greg Lance-Watkins]

That's comparing chalk and cheese.

Hi,

I see you shop at *****!

Regards,
Greg L-W.

[DC]

No no no no no no no no. Its not racist that I only learnt about white people at school. But it is an imbalance, and again I repeat, for one month of the year in a limited capacity (!!) maybe its a good idea to offer another perspective. Even if all it meant was that kids get some understranding of who Dr Luther King was, or Nelson Mandella, is that a bad thing? Its education, not propaganda

Then they can learn about such things in normal, everyday education. There is no need to publically celebrate one race. Believe me, if there was a 'White People's Day', there would be uproar, yet the same thing is accepted for Blacks. That is racism.

Midas, do really believe that we ARE all treated equal though? What about in the past? If we want the younger generation to see people has equal they need to know WHY, and what came before. All of you naysayers are making a specific connection here, that black history month promotes one race above others, do you really think that is a connection a child would make? Isn't it more likely that they would be interested in a culture of which otherwise they probably know next to nothing?

Although you're replying to Midas, I'd like to make a point.

First of all, you cannot step forward while looking backward. This is something virtually every liberal who promotes 'equality' in the world fails to understand. It is why Aboriginals are in such a shocking state today. We must move forward by making everybody equal, and we can't do that if whites are continually being demonised for wrongs committed centuries ago. It fuels the very hatred that liberals seek to combat. A child is not a moron, if he goes to school and learns about Martin Luther King, the black slavery and whatnot, and what's more he learns that he must feel some guilt for that, he becomes angry, he wonders why he is being blamed for wrongs he was not alive to see. And everytime we say 'Sorry', everytime we celebrate and promote the minorities over whites, everytime we cry racism when someone makes a valid criticism of a minority, then we drum home to that child that because of the actions of his predecessors, he must pay. We should teach the child about the wrongs committed, and about the struggle to change them, but we musn't do what is done almost 100% of the time, teach them that it was the white race that perpetrated these wrongs, rather teach them it was simply white people who committed the wrongs, and in many cases, corrected them. Why is 'White Power' a term so loathed, yet 'Black Power' is the rallying cry for the left? Both are racism, yet one is acceptable and the other is not. Take Rodney King for example, when people hear that name they think of the motorist who was brutally beaten by police. They do not think of the drunken, speeding, wife beater who violently resisted police. If King had been a white man there would have been no such outrage, he wouldn't have been awarded 3.8 million dollars. What about Nelson Mandela? Great man, don't get me wrong, but when I learnt about the Apartheid in school, one page was devoted to the exact nature of Black terrorism, there was one little box devoted to South African Necklacing, the rest of this whole book was devoted to the evils of the Arpartheid, and Mandela was never once reffered to as a terrorist, which he legitimately was. There was outrage, including from many on this forum, when news broke that a Justice had denied an interracial marriage, but where's the outcry over whites being forced out of their farms and homes in Zimbabwe? Or the racist laws being created in South Africa, which is now creating an exodus of whites? We have created a culture where it's considered ok to be racist to a white person, because his great grandad may or may not have had something to do with the oppression of minorities.

[Midas]

Isn't that because there doesn't need to be a highly publicised month bringing attention to those those people, and their colour is irrelevant because their acheivments are universally recognised in their own right?

Exactly, and equally there doesn't need to be a highly publicised month bringing attention to what black people have achieved; it's all recognised in the history books the kids have at school anyway.

Midas, do really believe that we ARE all treated equal though? What about in the past? If we want the younger generation to see people has equal they need to know WHY, and what came before. All of you naysayers are making a specific connection here, that black history month promotes one race above others, do you really think that is a connection a child would make? Isn't it more likely that they would be interested in a culture of which otherwise they probably know next to nothing?

No, we're certainly not all treated equally, there's a great deal of inequality in today's society, much of it in favour of ethnic minorities over and above the indigenous population. But to constantly hark back to the past will constantly keep wounds which should have been closed long ago, open. Even children will be made aware of how things were, not how things are or how they should be, and they in turn will have this concept of divisiveness implanted in them.

[DTE]

It seems we're just going round in circles now with this thread, but what harm is one more round going to do...

First of all, you cannot step forward while looking backward. This is something virtually every liberal who promotes 'equality' in the world fails to understand. It is why Aboriginals are in such a shocking state today. We must move forward by making everybody equal, and we can't do that if whites are continually being demonised for wrongs committed centuries ago. It fuels the very hatred that liberals seek to combat. A child is not a moron, if he goes to school and learns about Martin Luther King, the black slavery and whatnot, and what's more he learns that he must feel some guilt for that, he becomes angry, he wonders why he is being blamed for wrongs he was not alive to see. And everytime we say 'Sorry', everytime we celebrate and promote the minorities over whites, everytime we cry racism when someone makes a valid criticism of a minority, then we drum home to that child that because of the actions of his predecessors, he must pay. We should teach the child about the wrongs committed, and about the struggle to change them, but we musn't do what is done almost 100% of the time, teach them that it was the white race that perpetrated these wrongs, rather teach them it was simply white people who committed the wrongs, and in many cases, corrected them. Why is 'White Power' a term so loathed, yet 'Black Power' is the rallying cry for the left? Both are racism, yet one is acceptable and the other is not.

Sorry for the snip but a large part of that post has nothing whatsoever to do with Black History Month. Its called 'Black History Month' not 'White Guilt Month', there's no need for the two to be the same and it seems many people are projecting their own politics on this issue whereas the purpose is to simply increase awareness. If schools are teaching guilt outside of RE classes then thats a problem. I've never heard Black Power used as a rallying cry for the left either.

No, we're certainly not all treated equally, there's a great deal of inequality in today's society, much of it in favour of ethnic minorities over and above the indigenous population. But to constantly hark back to the past will constantly keep wounds which should have been closed long ago, open. Even children will be made aware of how things were, not how things are or how they should be, and they in turn will have this concept of divisiveness implanted in them.

Midas, I find it interesting that what you suggest here is EXACTLY the type of thing you usually rail against. In short, you propose that race be simply ignored, that the past is the past and that it should stay that way. Thats PC garbage. Doing so denies the reasons for WHY we now consider people to be equal. If you simply say 'we are all equal because' without any context as to why and how we came to this realisation, then you deny the whole purpose of equality. Once again the point of 'projecting one's own politics on this issue' comes up, because how does this represent inequality in favour of ethnic minorities when so few minorities are represented elsewhere on the curriculum?

[DC]

Sorry for the snip but a large part of that post has nothing whatsoever to do with Black History Month. Its called 'Black History Month' not 'White Guilt Month', there's no need for the two to be the same and it seems many people are projecting their own politics on this issue whereas the purpose is to simply increase awareness. If schools are teaching guilt outside of RE classes then thats a problem. I've never heard Black Power used as a rallying cry for the left either.

Then why is there a Black history Month? Who the hell thought it would be a good idea? And why do we need to promote black people? Because that is basically what this is doing. It promotes one race, but not others, and I fail to see how people can't see that as racist.

[Midas]

Midas, I find it interesting that what you suggest here is EXACTLY the type of thing you usually rail against. In short, you propose that race be simply ignored, that the past is the past and that it should stay that way. Thats PC garbage. Doing so denies the reasons for WHY we now consider people to be equal. If you simply say 'we are all equal because' without any context as to why and how we came to this realisation, then you deny the whole purpose of equality. Once again the point of 'projecting one's own politics on this issue' comes up, because how does this represent inequality in favour of ethnic minorities when so few minorities are represented elsewhere on the curriculum?

I've always said that we should have a codified bill of rights ensuring that everyone is equal under the law. My objections to promoting one race over and above another as "Black History Month" does is entirely consistent with this. Why does the context of why we consider all races equal matter? You either want equality or you don't, period.