I never know what to think about Black History Month.
It's a good thing that America is reminded of the generous and often unpaid contributions of a maligned segment of our society. It's a bad thing that it's only one month and the shortest to boot! And does it mean that the other 11 months belong to the celebration of white history? Hmmm… like Alice says curiouser and curiouser.
What does it all mean? Are we to remember only a certain Black History? What about the history no one bothered to write down in the popular books? There's Howard Zinn's 'A People's History of the United States', popular among academics and intellectuals, but do high schoolers and primary school children and their teachers know what's in it?
Are we asked to remember Malcolm X and not Stokely Carmichael? Rosa Parks insults, and not the real horrors or real name of the Hottentot Venus (it's Sarah Baartman by the way). What of the nameless and faceless many who built the nation's capital? Are we asked to remember them in our history month? Or is it a history that's taking for granted that everything before the 1800's was built with slave, indentured and prison labour?
What is black history (in lowercase) if not American History? We should know more history period. Happy History Year folks! Go learn something about something you don't know…
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