As Black History Month draws to a close, my mind rests on the topic of race and its place in the United States of America. In recent weeks, this very subject has been on the minds of millions of college students as campuses around the U.S. have hosted Black History Month assemblies, lectures and rallies. No doubt, the victories of the Civil Rights movement deserve remembrance and recognition. As a society, it is important to recognize not only how far we have come but also to remember the mistakes of the past in order to ensure they are not repeated. With all this in mind, I remain troubled by the existence of Black History Month.
In the past year, America has experienced a number of significant events regarding black rights, one of the many being the development of "safe zones." As a society, we are told that the races need to learn more about their heritage and "native" culture. The black community has pushed the black pride movement with even more force. All of this is happening while "white" people are told that the other 11 months of the year are for white history. Whites are told that their opinions on black history month are invalid simply because they are white.
How does any of this solve racism? What are we attempting to do here? We want to talk about race and promote racial pride among those of color, but at the same time, we demand that white people ignore the differences. The flaws to this strategy seem endless. How is it not immensely racist to group so many distinct cultures and heritages under one title, white? If we are going to insist on educating people on black history, why not educate them on white history? Why not talk about the slavery and oppression of the Irish? Why not talk about the struggles between cultures as Europeans immigrated to America? Shouldn't we talk about Chinatown and Japan Town and all the other cultural divides that still exist today?
We have to pick one strategy or another. Either we recognize all races and educate society about them all, or we talk about no races and remind society that we are all Americans and that is our race now. Some of us may have different skin colors and accents, but that is what is so beautiful about humans. In my opinion, Africans and Filipinos have some of the most gorgeous skin ever. German culture is possibly my favorite culture out there. Native Americans have some really cool traditions, and Peruvians have some really great folk lore.
Can we choose to be OK with recognizing people's heritage as a beautiful thing? Can we be one American culture, instead of a loose association of a bunch of different cultures? In the end, we're all human. We all have hearts and brains and eyes and ears. Most importantly, we are all capable of loving one another. Let's make that, not segregation, the primary goal.
