I think it's weird. Of course we don't need a White History Month, because we don't categorize events or eras as white-centric. It's a lot like the isolation of black authors in book stores and libraries. We're still a nation of segregationists : the non-white stuff needs a label and a shelf off to the side.
Black History Month must be some form of reparation. Acknowledgment. A big guilt band-aid. Band-aids help the healing, it's true. But when every theater, every school, radio station, TV network, book store - everyone takes a Black History moment in February, it doesn't feel good. The shortest month of the year, right? It's an old joke: Give the black folks the month nobody wants. Why is Black History Month celebrated in February, the shortest, coldest month of the year?
In two minutes, I found some useful answers in a Google search. Black History Month was initially Negro History Week, beginning February 12, 1926. The week was chosen because it encompasses the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. In 1976, as part of the nation's bicentennial celebration, it was expanded and was renamed Black History Month. My search yielded a lot of interesting points about Black History Month, and the many ways people celebrate and honor black history. I expected my bad attitude to be uplifted, to a higher ground. Black is beautiful!
My little research project left me feeling embarrassed and ashamed. I could write on this for days, but I'm trying to keep it brief. My rant for post-racial America: This is not 1926. Or 1976. If in 2011 we still need a month in which to focus national attention on black history, then something has gone horribly wrong in our education system, and in the national discourse. The labels and the categorizations are self-perpetuating. Don't you see?
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