The Hacker Manifesto pointed us years ago to the Internet's greatest power:
We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias...
That is, if we
choose to dispense with such labels. In the real world, we seldom do. Cultural diversity is often heralded as a bulwark against the onset of conformity and social blandness. Yet our human weaknesses blunt this well-meaning ideal; in practice cultural diversity often decays into cultural barriers, and cultural barriers yield nothing but strife. And that brings me to the subject of Black History Month. To put it simply: Yea or Nay?
Ah, it is the classic liberal dilemma! Do we fight social injustice by promoting diversity, or by promoting equality?
Both arguments have their merits, and it seem the worst of shames that, in this case, they are mutually exclusive from one another. But that's how the world--the
real world--sometimes is. Many problems have no single elegant explanation, and sometimes good ideas will come into serious conflict. Right off the bat, therefore, I'd have to tell you that I am unsure whether Black History Month is a good idea or a bad one. As Rimjob noted
in this compelling diary, Morgan Freeman thinks it's a bad one. Rimjob writes:
Morgan Freeman gave an interview to 60 Minutes last sunday that seemed to stir an argument. In the interview, he said he found designating February as Black History Month "ridiculous"...How can we get rid of racism?
"Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man," Freeman says to Wallace. "And I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. You wouldn't say, `Well, I know this white guy named Mike Wallace.' You know what I'm sayin'?"
The proponents of Black History Month would argue that "Black History" is a part of American History, but it's a part that is often overlooked in textbooks. The purpose of designating the month of February, is to highlight African-American achievements that people wouldn't hear about otherwise.
However, the other side would argue, like Morgan Freeman did, that by seperating "Black History" from American History, that you're doing more harm than good. In that way, it can be seen as offensive & somewhat patronizing that you would relegate an entire race's history to a month on the calendar.
Ironically, Freeman's being black is seen as somehow validating that point of view, whereas if a white person had said the same thing it would be labeled inherently racist. This is how contorted our society truly is when it comes to racism. If racism were less of a problem, Freeman's opinion would count the same regardless of his skin color.
But that's merely a curious aside. Is his point of view the better one, or the worse? Like I said, I don't know. What I do know is that, if we were talking about women's rights, I would take Freeman's position and argue (and I do) that women and men ought to be treated indistinguishably, and gender roles destroyed. I've made up my mind on that front. But a successful fight against sexism does not necessarily apply to a successful fight against racism--and particularly the anti-black racism in the United States.
So do we educate people about the differences between "Americans" and "African Americans," shining a positive light on all? Or do we downplay those differences from the very start, and hope that people do not inherit their parents' racist ideologies? Both solutions seem workable, and at the same time both also seem to retain some trace of racism in and of themselves. Where is the absolute solution that will solve the problem forever?
The fact of the matter is that people are inherently discriminatory. In a scientific lab, discrimination is a neutral word, but in a living and breathing culture it almost always takes on a negative connotation, because that's how people have evolved to behave. We seek out the familiar; we seek out ourselves in others...to the exclusion of those who are too starkly different. As a kid I was blissfully unaware of racism proper; society forced this controversy upon me. Yet my innate predisposition to discrimination was always there, and thus as an adult I have felt like I have a lifelong case of cancer in remission: I strive to become completely free of all prejudice, but most of the time when I see someone of a different ethnicity, that ethnicity--or skin color, if you like--is one of the top descriptive words I associate with them. It is a physical response, unstoppable. It has been instilled into me, and can probably never be undone. The best I can ever do is try resolutely, and I do, to see that it never harms my judgment or perverts my behavior. And I do succeed, more or less, in living a colorblind life, but the predisposition to discrimination never really goes away.
So as it is with me, most likely it also is with you. And that's regardless of your color. People bring their biases into conflict with one another, and, hence, racism thrives. The fact of the matter is that, because people are inherently discriminatory in general, and because many Americans are racist against blacks in particular, we live in a society of Harlem versus Midtown. Most people, whether or not they are interested in ending racism, end up promoting it through their behaviors. This is so subtle as to be inextricable from the social fabric. It's all just another way of saying that racism in our society is going to continue for a long while...which brings us back to the question of how to deal with it. To sum it up, should we have Black History Month, or no?
I can look to myself for guidance. Five years ago I was a moderate liberal. Today I am probably more liberal than 99 out of 100 of you. Five years ago I agreed with Morgan Freeman. But five years ago, as less of a liberal, I was also unknowingly--and without meaning to be--far more racially prejudiced than I am today. Does that mean my old opinion is the incorrect one, and that we do need a Black History Month after all? Not necessarily, but it does point in that direction.
Therefore, if we were to embrace Black History Month, how might we do it so that it achieves its intended goal, of educating everybody about this treasured ethnicity within our national identity? Or is this even its intended goal anymore? Some people perhaps see it as a wedge. Others--maybe the ones who originally decided that February of all months is the best-suited to highlight black culture--would use Black History Month as a front to advance their racist agendas as a so-called counterstroke to the "assault" of political correctness.
Things were so much easier when I was in kindergarten. This problem simply did not exist; we were all too young to have elaborate ideologies, and our school values were straight out of PBS and Sesame Street. (Does anyone remember "We All Sing with the Same Voice"?) But, then again, there weren't many blacks in my class.
I have listened over the years to what people have to say on the issue of anti-black racism. One of my best friends in high school was a black activist, you might even say almost a supremacist. Her insights were priceless...and her actually being black and having grown up in a black culture, right down to that distinctive verbal twang, certainly gave me a point of view sorely lacking in the whitewashed conservative community of my upbringing. One of the reasons I liked her so much is that she was a lot like me, yet so obviously different at the same time. I felt like I was part of a bigger world--bigger, but no less familiar. I liked it.
Maybe that's a good way to bring us towards the day when racism no longer exists: Build friendships in strange places. Seek out cultures that contrast one's own. This is the true power of diversity, which in these times has sadly become a media buzzword that helps preserve the cultural barriers I mentioned earlier. And I fully believe that, if only we could integrate these disparate cultures better, our so-called "melting pot" would take over, and black and white would become just like the Irish and the Italians are today. I don't subscribe to the "salad bowl" theory. I don't believe in the artificial preservation of cultural barriers. Division is not diversity, at least according to me. If white and black are ever going to reconcile, we have to let our cultures overlap. It's that simple. Human behavior--human nature--leaves us with no alternative.
So, much in the fashion my friend and I came together as friends, if Black History Month could be used to introduce non-blacks to the African American culture--which by social tradition and lingering prejudice has remained remarkably distinct from mainstream American culture--then I think I would support it as a sort of early-step in the ultimate triumph over racism. But, pragmatically, I do not see any straightforward way to put the month to such a positive use. I would think that reaching children with the message is more important than reaching adults, but most kids simply do not care about this sort of thing. To them a holiday is an excuse for a day out of school. Black History Month is little more than a curio pasted on the classroom bulletin board, featuring articles they won't read about people who mean nothing to them. How can we change that without cramming diversity down their precious little throats? It really stops being "diversity" if you enforce it with a gun.
A lot of people worked very hard to get African Americans special recognition. They certainly deserve it; their fate in our nation's history has been nearly the most cruel of any non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual, non-Christian minority--and it continues to be. And yet they gave us everything from Louis Armstrong to Bill Cosby. They helped make America great. But to all of us, black and white alike, they are still a "they." And Black History Month is not likely to change that.
So do we fight this social injustice by promoting diversity at the expense of cultural union, or by promoting equality at the expense of cultural distinction? Like I said, it is the classic liberal dilemma. Republicans face no such dilemma; theirs is a world of walls and barriers. This undertaking is solely in our keeping liberals. We must respect that. My wish is for progress. And if progress comes sooner rather than later, even better. Yes?
~~~
This turns out to be my first diary for Daily Kos. I lurked for a very long time. Then I joined and started posting comments. I never dreamt my first diary would be on racism, but I guess we cannot design our futures with impunity. Let me know what you think. Racism--and discrimination in all its forms--is one of our biggest sources of national shame. We simply must strive with much ado to overcome them in our lifetimes. And if we fail, as we certainly shall, our children must follow suit. In that regard, I look forward to the day when I can make up my mind on Black History Month. Perhaps your thoughtful comments will help.