I recently mentioned to a friend and fellow Odyssey writer my plan to compose an article about the idea of a White History Month. My friend, a man of color, frowned at me, concerned.
“People want there to be a White History Month?” he asked.
I snorted. “I’m glad that you’ve managed to avoid this part of the Internet,” I replied.
And indeed, there is a movement demanding a White History Month to “balance out” the existence of a Black History Month. My suspicion is that these are the same people who want to march in Straight Pride Parades, who hang the Confederate Flag across the ceiling of their bedroom, who tag their Facebook posts with things like #notallmen.
If any of these descriptors apply to you, I offer this analogy for your consideration:
Imagine a world where meatloaf is served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day. Forever. It is a boring world, and there is not a lot of flavors. There is good meatloaf and there is bad meatloaf, but it is still 21 meals a week of meatloaf.
Now imagine that an enterprising individual suggests Taco Tuesdays. After extended debate over the merits of tacos, the populous accepts this proposition. Now meatloaf is served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week except for Tuesdays.
“But wait!” cry avid meatloaf proponents. “Why do we have a Taco Tuesday but not a Meatloaf Monday! It isn’t fair!”
Do you see why it doesn’t make sense to celebrate Meatloaf Monday?
Because six out of seven days of the week are already dedicated to meatloaf.
This is what I hear when you cry out, indignant, demanding that White History Month be recognized and celebrated. The history that is taught in America is white history. It is the history that you see in textbooks, in classrooms, and on the television screen. The purpose of Black History Month is to bring to light the stories that have otherwise gone unrecognized, to appreciate Black historical figures who have been tamped down and buried under veritable mountains of whiteness. In light of recent events, I would say we need this time of recognition and appreciation more than ever before.
The same logic applies to “Straight Pride Parades.” Heterosexual couples do not have to worry about discriminatory laws, about policies that deny their right to love or their right to exist. Heterosexual couples do not have to worry about facing violence simply for holding their partner’s hand. You are more than welcome to be proud of your heterosexual relationship, but you do not need “Straight Pride.”
I can only assume that arguments like these come from a place of fear— a fear of losing power, a fear of losing privilege. “They made Meatloaf Tuesday into Taco Tuesday— what’s next? Watermelon Wednesday? Sushi Saturday? What if there’s no more meatloaf when all is said and done?”
This represents a (frankly irrational) fear that diversity will erase the status quo, leaving privileged demographics without all of the power they are accustomed to. Very few will admit it, of course, because to admit this fear would be to admit that their power comes from a system of institutional oppression.
So what can we do? We can celebrate and bring into the spotlight things that have been otherwise pushed into the shadows. Pay attention during Black History Month. Learn things about people you should have heard of, like the inventor of the refrigerator John Standard, or the incredible author Alice Walker. Shut down white supremacy in all its forms, whether it be overt violence or demands for a wall.
And when someone hiding behind a screen name whines to you about White History Month? First, reassure them that diversity isn’t the big, scary monster that they seem to think it is. And if that doesn’t work? You take their white history and tell them where to shove it.
