Trackbacks & Pings

1. It is safe to desegregate history? at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 17 Feb 2009 at 11:00 am

   [...] Meh, indeed. I’m only moved to comment on Black History Month when some fool is adamant that we’ve outgrown the need for it, despite showing their ignorance in, say, a letter to the editor. [...]

Comments

1. Jay wrote:

   She’s just plain wrong.

   Just because you’re not black doesn’t mean you have no reason to study black history.

   I suppose non-whites don’t have to take history courses anymore, seeing as all of that history is focused on whites?

   There is Asian History Month, it’s in May. English History Month is any month that isn’t February.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 10:00 am ¶

2. Rob wrote:

   Yes.

   Why should we bother to learn something new about minorities that continue to be ignored?

   Don’t be bringing in all that learnin’ and shit.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 10:28 am ¶

3. Toya wrote:

   That letter made me ill.

   I blogged about it (super long post!) at waxpolitical.blogspot.com but I wanted to share a bit of what I wrote:

   Her children are not black, and they should not be “forced” to learn about black history?

   I’m not white – should that exempt me being “forced” to learn about White History? I didn’t see any black people in the pictures of the Boston Tea Party. The Founding Fathers were not black. Am I exempted from learning about Susan B. Anthony? She wasn’t black. There were not many black suffragettes – does that mean that her contributions have no impact on my life, as a woman who exercises her right to vote?

   Why a parent would want to advocate for her children’s ignorance of other cultures is beyond my ken.

   My full post is on the blog. I am sending this to everyone I know – and I hope the Think and all the other bloggers who are regularly featured here weigh in as well.

   American history is not equivalent to white history, not by a long shot.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 10:53 am ¶

4. LW wrote:

   She fails to grasp the obvious, that the other holidays aren’t just regular holidays, they are religious holidays and public schools are secular institutions. That said, there are still activities geared towards Christmas, Easter, and Hanukkah in schools.

   Apparently she also doesn’t believe in raising a well-rounded child who knows about more than just the white founding fathers of the United States. And school programs related to Black History month aren’t perfect. You hear so much about George Washington Carver or Martin Luther King, but there are many other influential African-Americans to learn about.

   In a perfect world African-Americans and other ethnicities would be seamlessly integrated into the year long course of study, but that isn’t so and it has never been so in our public schools. Whiteness is the standard course of study year round, and that doesn’t give a historically accurate picture for children.

   It really comes down to the general purpose of a school being a place where children are exposed to various cultures and ideologies; it’s where you go to learn…period.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 11:11 am ¶

5. Celeste wrote:

   This lady seems to be quite ignorant while at the same time yearning for more ignorance. Why does she think it’s to her children’s advantage to only be aware of history as it pertains to whites? Does she really think that it would behoove other groups to just learn history that pertains to their racial group? Would multiracial children have 2-3-4 times more history to learn? I also like comparing black history to religion. I was unware that there was a black religion, perhaps its called blackism and has it’s high holy month in February. Her argument paradoxically supports the need for children to be taught about the contributions made to history by different races. I don’ t think any group has itself so together that it can afford to live in a vacuum.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 11:14 am ¶

6. Rob wrote:

   Please.

   People don’t even know who George Washington Carver was. As Chris Rock said, the only thing they ever learned was Martin Luther King Jr.

   And if they even know about Luther King Jr., they only know his name and not the details of his life such as his boycotts and speeches.

   Oh, wait. Sorry. They do know one of his speeches comprised of the words, “I havea dream.” That’s about it.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 11:23 am ¶

7. robyn wrote:

   Despite being horribly misguided, she makes one valid point: “I do not want my child to have to listen to stories about Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver every single year during February.”

   There are so many Black leaders to choose from. Why is it that schools only teach about the same few?

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 11:41 am ¶

8. ren wrote:

   I’m with you Lisa,

   For one whole month we are consumed with the realization that black people exist and play a part in our great society. Now we have to give them the month of February all to themselves. Now I can’t turn on the radio without hearing Hip-Hop or turning on the television to watch a show without having to see a black person. I’m horrified.

   Allow me to be the first to call up support and rally for a English History Month. When are we going to start devoting academic time to White Anglo-Saxons? Apart from the whole study of Mesopotamia, Greeks and Romans to the Middle Ages, fiefdoms, Columbus, Reformation to Enlightenment period, the first colonies, and in-depth history of our founding forefathers, manifest destiny, great depression, world wars… when are we seriously going to start focusing on the non-minorities? We’re allowing Anglo-Saxon heritage and culture to fade from memory, this is simply unpardonable. For instance in my school I recall we devoted three whole days of class time to study about China, a maximized use of time considering the 5000 years of history that it encompasses. And the Korean War, the forgotten war? We just simply forgot to study it. In fact we studied Watergate longer than the Vietnam War. To this day it sticks with me, the shock at the body count and emotional turmoil that resulted from Nixon’s resignation.

   Frankly I find Lisa’s argument very reasonable. For instance, I was also the kid that never got a valentines card from anyone in the class at school, so I think since it didn’t hold any obvious benefit to me, we should just wipe Valentine’s day off the calendar. And what the F is about this St. Patrick’s Day, everybody’s Irish on St. Patrick’s day? As an Atheist I think not, dump it. And Christmas? Please, there’s no proof Christ was born on the 25th of December. I celebrate the pagan start of winter solstice with everybody else. So we can dump Christmas as well. And New Years, why should I be forced to celebrate New Years based on your contrived calendar and not by the lunar cycle, like normal people do? Dump New Years.

   Let’s get back to basics, first by doing book reports on religious holidays. We can all pretend we’re in seminary and just think of the ease we’ll have at citing sources for our reports on Easter, Christmas, and Hanukkah. You’ll only ever need to cite one book and you don’t have to worry about footnotes cause I hear these books are the lone authority and practically inerrant.

   /extremely grumpy this morning

   P.S. Wha? There’s no Asian American Month? Some people have been seriously lying to me.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 11:57 am ¶

9. Sylvia wrote:

   I think they teach the same people every year to fuel sentiments like these among white folks.

   I’m mad because she’s embarrassing my state. There’s nothing wrong with having a month that recognizes that other people contribute, live, and exist — especially in a time when people refuse to figure out how people contribute, live, and exist beyond buying baggy pants and black shoe polish.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 12:08 pm ¶

10. Nadia wrote:

    “The whole idea of Black History Month is for black people. There is no Asian History Month or English History Month or Middle East History Month or Russian History Month or Australian History Month.”

    And instead of writing a letter arguing that all ethnicities should be studied and celebrated in school, she concludes that Black History Month should be banned because these other history months don’t exist at schools. This is a real problem. There must be room for all of our histories in public school education, and until there is our schools will continue to be the uninteresting, uncritical patriotic propaganda machines that they have always been. The fact that students at this school only write one report about one black leader in an entire year, and presumably don’t learn anything else that is remotely positive about any other people of color all year long is evidence of this.

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 12:11 pm ¶

11. Minotaar wrote:

    Assuming Ms. Stallings used her actual name, I think we’re fortunate that she is about to get a long, harsh lesson in why we have Black History month.

    Wow. Sometimes I forget that its 2007.

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 12:57 pm ¶

12. Momo wrote:

    wow this chick is lame. As a teacher I can tell you that celebrating Black History month is a wonderful thing. Anything educational is a good thing!!! We also celebrate Hispanic American month (in March I believe) and Native American month (in November) so whats the big deal??? And why was she comparing Black History Month to Religious Holidays?? Its totally seperate…. Oh well…she is wasting her time with that letter because I seriously doubt they will ban Black History Month in her school system. If she doesn’t like it she should home school her kids, but I have a feeling that would be horrible for her children (^_^)

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 12:59 pm ¶

13. kim wrote:

    Carmen-

    The comments here are delicious. I think you ought to feature them somewhere.

    Also, while I’m at it…am I allowed to print up cards with the name of the blog? I’ve been going around, in airports and shopping centers, “inviting” people to visit…hmmm, now that I think about it, these have been Asian women who just “felt right” to me, what does that mean? It washes over me like a wave of …sisterhood/motherhood/consciousnesshood…I don’t know.

    Ren: are you real?

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 1:30 pm ¶

14. B wrote:

    Here’s a page with letters responding to Stallings:
    http://www.somdnews.com/enter/letters/

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 1:34 pm ¶

15. Kyla wrote:

    Well, according to her logic, minority students don’t have to study history in schools at all. (Although, since the history taught in public schools is mostly propaganda, I don’t know that this would necessarily be a bad thing.) We should all write the Enterprise and the St. Mary’s County BOE and propose this.

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 2:43 pm ¶

16. Angel H. wrote:

    Ren, you’re freakin’ awesome!

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 3:00 pm ¶

17. girl stop wrote:

    Now really, why isn’t forced ignorance considered child abuse?

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 3:07 pm ¶

18. Lyonside wrote:

    Thank you, Ren!

    Finally, someone who knows how satire should be done! Consider sending this, actually, to the Leonardtown, MD newspaper editor –
    John Swift would be proud…

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 3:55 pm ¶

19. Kenda wrote:

    Thanks, Ren. That was great.

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 5:24 pm ¶

20. FrancesM wrote:

    And this is why I love this blog. Thank you all for the smart & funny comments!

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 5:46 pm ¶

21. berrybrowne wrote:

    can i just say that in addition to all of the wonderful comments that all of you wonderful people have made – i’m so IRRITATED to be put in a position of having to defend black history month? black history month is insulting and sad, a reminder that we still don’t (and i don’t think ever will) consider black history part of “regular” history. i’m also so sick of the fact that some of the best tv/movie focus on the month is in the form of lovely history vignettes that turn out to be commercials for coke, mcdonalds, etc.. don’t get me started!

    i just remember when i was in 4th grade, i decided i was officially sick of my yearly mlk/george washington carver/harriet tubman reports and asked the librarians for help researching other folks – like malcolm x, sojourner truth and nat turner. the first thing they did was take me to the black history display, full of books about mlk, george washington carver, and harriet tubman!

    pathetic.

    however, since the mainstreaming of the non-white experience appears to be eons away, i’m going to grasp black history month as tightly as possible.

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 10:07 pm ¶

22. kim wrote:

    “….i’m also so sick of the fact that some of the best tv/movie focus on the month is in the form of lovely history vignettes that turn out to be commercials for coke, mcdonalds, etc.”

    I hear you berry. I have always been astounded at the feelings those one-and-a-half minute “stories” could nearly break me down, even after I learned about blatant emotional appeal, and was conscious of corporate practice and the general mood and appraisal of Blacks in this country.

    I always wondered why such evocative pieces could not be the mainstay of the images and ideas portrayed about Blacks, even if they did lean a *bit* too heavily on the aged grandmother-in-the-wig trope.

    Peace.

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 10:26 pm ¶

23. merq wrote:

    Frances M:

    Quick question. Snarkfester?

    Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 10:35 pm ¶

24. Amory wrote:

    Yes,let’s please rid ourselves of the dead weight of the one month out of the year devoted to black history. Which is, of course, completely seperate from say, U.S. history…

    I don’t like the ghettoization of black history, but until people like Ms. Stallings can face their own historical context, it’s important to highlight what would otherwise be completely censored.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 12:46 am ¶

25. Sabrina wrote:

    Humph. Shows how much Ms. Stallings knows. May is Asian Pacific Heritage Month. September is Hispanic Heritage Month, October is Native American Heritage Month…and a growing number people of Celtic hertiage are using March as Irish Heritage Month. Personally, I think the school don’t enough for ANY of those ethnic heritage months…other than putting up posters!

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 8:34 am ¶

26. Sabrina wrote:

    One more thing: for me Black History Month is EVERY month…and we as parents should be sharing our history with our children and not just relying on the schools for everything anyway.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 8:40 am ¶

27. tmk wrote:

    Wow, that is a very very sad letter.

    Contrary to Ms. Lisa Stallings, here is a more pleasant story of how a white teacher at a mostly-white school managed to incorporate Black History Month. I’m sure she encountered many Stallings during her journey.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 10:13 am ¶

28. Angel H. wrote:

    Whenever I had to a school report for Black History month, I sought out lesser-known people like Garret A. Morgan, inventor of the traffic light and gas mask. BTW, did you know that the Super Soaker was invented by a Black man?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Johnson_%28inventor%29

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 10:14 am ¶

29. Lyonside wrote:

    Angel: PROPS for mentioning Morgan! As I’ve said before either here or on ARP, my mom teaches the lesser-known black fgures to her preschoolers. They love stuff like traffic lights, or blood (EEEWWWW), and they are familiar with things like pencil sharpeners, etc., so people like Garrett Morgan, Lee Love, or Charles Drew get their attention.

    She also uses sports figures around this time, but she talks about MLK year round.

    The thing is, we need full integration of EVERY people’s story in our history, english, science lessons – and sometimes we get it, sometimes we don’t. So long as the majority of schools are still Eurocentric, we need special emphasis months. I consider it the lesser of two evils.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 11:24 am ¶

30. Angel H. wrote:

    Lyonside: Exactly! Names of politicians and dates of wars of battles never interested me. When I was younger, we spent weeks on the Battle of the Bulge but there was barely anything covered on the Japanese-American internment camps.

    Also, for anyone interested in Lonnie Johnson, here’s a better bio (some twerp keep adding graffiti to his wiki):
    http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/johnson.html

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 1:10 pm ¶

31. HighJive wrote:

    Sorry to repeat a few points already made, but I’m late to the party.

    It’s easy to label this person as an ignorant racist. And perhaps she is.

    But here are some things she ought to consider.

    First, Black History Month is not a holiday. Damn, the entire country hasn’t even agreed to make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday an official holiday. It’ll be a cold day in hell before we designate a full month as a national holiday saluting Black achievements.

    Somebody clue the woman in to the fact that there are months celebrating non-Black ethnicities. There is Hispanic Heritage Month and Asian Heritage Month. There are days and periods saluting other cultures and lifestyles too. Ms. Stallings needs to familiarize herself with contemporary American society.

    There’s a headline often used in Black History Month advertisements: Black History is American History. And that’s true. So if you want to argue children shouldn’t be forced to learn about Black History, let’s complete the platform by abolishing all American History courses. Kids would probably break into a coast-to-coast cheer over that proposal.

    She also ought to consider that even scholars grudgingly admit the country’s founding fathers were racists and rapists. If anything, their sanitized stories should be banned from the schools.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 9:55 pm ¶

32. Bananas wrote:

    hmmm. Frankly, I’m against Black History Month, Asian History Month, Women’s History Month, etc. etc. It points out that this or that group is “different” and I don’t consider that a positive thing.

    Instead, how about having “Inventors Month”, “Authors Month”, “American Leaders Month”, “Those who have exceeded against the Odds Month”, etc. etc. I’m sure someone could come up with more than enough appropriate categories to fill a school year.

    During the appropriate month, individuals from all the various ethnic groups would be highlighted. Grouping people important to our country’s history by their accomplishments and contributions, rather than by their race makes much more sense to me.

    Sigh. But then, I’ve always believed the American Stew was best when all the ingrediants were in the pot together, not in separate bowls… one for carrots, one for potatos, etc. etc.

    Posted 17 Feb 2007 at 3:02 am ¶

33. Jay wrote:

    It would be the most excellent way of doing it Bananas.

    But we have to come back to reality sometime. Even with a full Black History Month most teachers only talk about one guy (MLK). Most of the teachers themselves don’t even know about how many black leaders there were.

    If you have the setup you proposed against the current teaching system, for 90% of the schools not a single minority will be mentioned ever.

    How do you propose we solve this?

    Posted 17 Feb 2007 at 10:38 am ¶

34. Bananas wrote:

    Of course, if teachers don’t know about someone, they aren’t going to teach about that person.

    That boils down to educating the educators. That truly shouldn’t be that hard. I do think the majority of teachers try to do the best they can to educate our children.

    Don’t most schools have Parent Teacher Associatons? PTAs can do wonderful things and can be a fantastic resource for teachers.

    If a school doesn’t have one – then parents have a responsibility to form one. I’m sure that mentors can be found to encourage and aid any parents who have so far sat on the sidelines.

    Surely there are both local and national organizations who would LEAP at the chance to assemble the necessary information for the various months.

    Perhaps better yet… I suspect that those posting right here could do a bang-up job without input from any national organization!

    It’s just a matter of DOING IT and approaching school districts and/or teachers with the right attitude: We have something to help you teach our children – not we have something here you need to do.

    I feel strongly that any materials presented should include all the historical figures, not just representatives of “this” group or “that” group. Again, inclusive – not divisive.

    Of course the issue can be forced, and that may need to be done, but it should always be the last resort. I’ll say it again: force is divisive.

    In one month there is not time to cover all who contributed to the subject (Art, Literature, Inventions, etc) no matter what their color. However, divided over 5 or 6 years many, many people can be covered.

    For 2nd graders you would cover one set of people – for 5th graders another. I see it as a wonderful way to intertwine those who have all added flavor to our stew.

    Ideas can be endless. )

    Posted 17 Feb 2007 at 3:07 pm ¶

35. Yori Kim wrote:

    Ugh, how can this person be so ignorant? First of all, there is no Australian or middle eastern history month because there was no traumatizing racism concerning the race-black people aren’t the only ones who should celebrate black history month. I fail to see why its so bad to celebrate it, i mean its extreme;y important that for the first time black people had the right to do things independently and that they got respected. It is probably quite obvious this person is racist. I hope people can stop this thing about ’shutting down black history month’ i hope black history month carries on forever for the memory of the black people who finally gained some respect and rights

    i hope i did not offend anyone as to i did not mean to offend.

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 12:34 pm ¶

36. Yori Kim wrote:

    concerning my comment ‘there is no Australian or middle eastern history month because there was no traumatizing racism concerning the race’[ i was wrong there WAS traumatizing racism concerning those races.

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 12:38 pm ¶

37. pd wrote:

    bananas, could you expound for me, what is wrong with acknowledging different heritages and histories with these racial / cultural months? unlike jay, i’m having trouble understanding why this would be “the most excellent way”. why is taking a month to highlight the goings-on of particular groups in the classroom a negative?

    “Frankly, I’m against Black History Month, Asian History Month, Women’s History Month, etc. etc. It points out that this or that group is “different” and I don’t consider that a positive thing.”

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 3:34 pm ¶

38. Lyonside wrote:

    pd: “bananas, could you expound for me, what is wrong with acknowledging different heritages and histories with these racial / cultural months? ”

    I’m not bananas, but I’d like to tackle this one:

    The unintended consequence of sometimes having distinct months for different groups is that the contributions of those groups are then excluded the REST of the year. Instead of having time set aside for different emphases (the original intent), it often becomes the ONLY time set aside, to the detriment of the overall historical and social tapestry. Some of this is intentional, especially if there is internal or subliminal resistance to the concept (seen with individual school teachers and sometimes school boards and districts). Some of this is simply the consequence of a overburdened curriculum and other school stresses.

    In other words, what often happens is that people get the (wrong!) idea that the REST of the (Eurocentric, white) history they learn has no relation to the histories of other groups, or that those other groups are on PARALLEL historical tracks, instead of BOTH groups being ACTIVE and REACTIVE participants.

    Case in point: when I learned about the Spanish-American War, it was decidedly from the POV of the Euro-American government. Was I only supposed to learn about those of Mexican descent already living in the areas fought over during Hispanic History Month? Or could those two stories have been integrated in a better way to show the relationship between Mexico and the southwest as a Spanish colony and the development of the US under Manifest Destiny?

    I actually remember being told that the Native American tribes of the Northeast “went away.” It left the impression that 1) the Trail of Tears and other forced exoduses were a one time event in the south, 2) everything was hunky dory between the European colonists/early Americans and native peoples in the northeast until they “disappeared,” 3) there was no integration/assimilation of the two groups. Why should a student have to wait until October to hear even a smattering of the truth, if they’re lucky?

    And too often the history of APIs in the American History story is shunted to the side – I recall encountering Asians only when talking about railroads in the West, and a throwaway 1/4 lesson on Hawaii, and maybe a little bit about immigration policies of the 1900s. Nothing about the facts that APIs were traders up and down the Pacific Northwest for years before the gold rush OR the railroads, nor about the harsh conditions and outright lies told to immigrants to get them here FOR those labor uses.

    And finally, African-Americans… the usual way history is taught is that things happened TO African-Americans (goes for other groups as well) . It often relegates the entire group to a passive role, and that makes those people we hear about in February (often the same people, over and over again) to seem like anomolies, extraordinary, and unusual, instead of the natural outgrowth of a valid subculture that was always part of the American storyline.

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 7:52 pm ¶

39. Leon wrote:

    This bigot should at least do a little research before makes these ridiculous claims: Asian-Pacific American History Month (May), along with Latino-Hispanic Heritage Month (September), and Women’s History Month (March).

    Her white supremacist, Eurocentric viewpoint is unfortunately shared by many others, both conscientiously and subliminally. God help us.
    _________________

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 8:28 pm ¶

40. db! wrote:

    Someone needs a visit from the bruiser fairy. That’s really…wow, words fail me. Are people just upset that little Timmy and Becky are leaning about a person of a different race than them or something or did this woman have a pole stuck up her ass and felt like complaining about black history month (the entire complaint about the month is getting old in itself. )

    Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 12:54 pm ¶

41. Justin Nault wrote:

    I am a student at leonardtown Middle School and I hate this school and the teachers in it, I have gotten in one fight this year in seventh-grade. Last year I had a teacher whisper in my ear that someone was going to hit me if I did not shut-up. I had a teacher call me strange when he is a dork and should be working at Best Buy for the Geek squad. I had teachers make me cry in front of the hole class for no reason because they constantly yell at me for something that I did not do. Thats why I cant wait to move in with my dad this 2007 summer so I can go to a differnt school. And I forgot to say that this school is in Maryland in Leonard town.

    Love inly Justin William Louis Nault.

    Posted 01 Apr 2007 at 7:09 pm ¶

42. LISA STALLINGS wrote:

    I am the author of the letter published in the newspaper. You all read it wrong. I said I wanted a ban put on the school endorsed “CELEBRATIONS” that were taking away from all of our children’s class time. You can call me whatever names you feel is necessary if it makes you feel any bigger but my point about it is that YES there are other ethnic groups that are celebrated but it is not done in the schools the way it is during February. Equal rights remember? My point was and continues to be that it should be taught at appropriate times. But don’t make my child (whether the child is a boy or a girl, black, white yellow purple or polka dot) listen to a 15 minute story of Harriet Tubman (whom was taught in the 2nd grade) when the child is suppossed to be learning algebra.
    Teach about famous people and people who made contributions AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME. Not just because it is BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

    Posted 27 Apr 2007 at 4:20 pm ¶

43. Joey wrote:

    Omgwtfbbq you guys can’t READD….

    you see this is what happens, everyone thinks everything is racist the moment they see they want something to do with blacks changed….

    I attend leonardtown middle school. I have to tell you, in Feb of the 06-07 year, we had an AT LEAST 15 minute lecture THREE times a day on the SAME african americans…
    I miss 15 minutes of class which means more homework for me… horray? No.

    But the schools did ABOSOLUTLEY NOTHING TO CELEBRATE WOMENS HISTORY MONTH IN MARCH…

    They dont celebrate holidays either…

    we dont learn about them, so why learn about black history month? is it speshul? What gives it more power?

    Oh yes, thats right, because its BLACK history month, and everyone complains when its not glorified.

    You call her ignorant, but you’re all the ones who are ignorant.. you dont understand what she means.

    Posted 27 Apr 2007 at 4:53 pm ¶

44. Latoya Peterson wrote:

    Lisa –

    It sounds like your issue is with your school, and how they choose to implement black history month. So why did you choose to publicly attack Black History Month as an institution, and not the way your school chose to implement it?

    And if everyone “read it wrong,” has it occurred to you that you were not communicating clearly?

    Posted 27 Apr 2007 at 5:59 pm ¶

45. fgs_sfdg wrote:

    “we dont learn about them, so why learn about black history month? is it speshul? What gives it more power?”

    Joey,

    I think you may be speshul.

    Posted 27 Apr 2007 at 7:22 pm ¶

46. Eldon wrote:

    Mrs. Stallings needs to understand that for the theft and useage of Black people to help build this ‘Democracy’, Black history month is the least that can be done. There should be a month for every race used and abused so well that people like her can actually take it for granted. Upon reading her response to some emails, I question whether she ever took the time to teach her child on her own about the plights of our ancestors whether being hers or mines, which would help to solve some of the problems different races face with interaction. The point of Black History month is to defeat the Inferiority/ Superiority complex, so we can all respect each other, that’s the beginning of what she mentions as equal rights. Blessings.

    Posted 10 Jun 2007 at 4:49 pm ¶

47. The DIVA wrote:

    Being Christian is a choice. I was born and will die black. The reason there is a black history month is because the accomplishments of blacks were not recognized by America. The reason it is still celebrated is because we refuse to ignore the contributions of the founders of black history month and those black americans that put forth major contributions to advancement of America. Some children dont even know what black history month is. Religion is not celebrated in school ever. so first lets make that distinction that it is not an option. Eliminating black history month lessons and celebrations will give children the impression that the civil rights movement never happened. That we were always treated as we are treated now. The reason why our children need to know how we were treated is because they need to understand the rights and privileges we didnt have as black people in this country. Now that we have those rights they can not be taken away from us and we have to take full advantage of that.

    Posted 25 Sep 2008 at 7:16 pm ¶

48. jdee wrote:

    Well ,here we are 2009, from the cotten feilds to the white house THAT’S JUST PLAIN HISTORY SORRY MS LISA U LOST THIS ONE

    Posted 11 Jan 2009 at 10:58 pm ¶

49. Trusstar wrote:

    Man, I did not wish to weigh in on this. But, I believe it is time to incorporate ALL history into the American History curriculum. By doing so we can be sure that it will be taught effectively in public schools. Teachers teach those lessons in the curriculum. If the books were written to include ALL history all history would be covered. It would be unneccessary to have any months dedicated to specific racial or social classes. There is a great deal of information that does not get covered because it is not in the books. As a former teacher I know that teachers must cover the information represented in the school district’s curriculum. They will rarely teach beyond that because of time constraints. Black history is important as is Asian history and all the others. It is possible to point to almost any group of immigrants to the US and spend time discussing how badly they were treated. Yes, the Blacks were mostly brought to this country against their will and suffered for years. My belief is that Black History Month has become the last bastian of segregation. Black history has become segregated to one month. If all history becomes part of American History then we will finally fully embrace the great melting pot of America and all races and cultures will be equal.

    Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 6:51 pm ¶

50. Luis wrote:

    Trusstar, we would LIKE for Black History to be incorporated into every month, but it isn’t. If you pick up a standard American history textbook used in most middle and high schools, you’ll find the history of Blacks, Asians and Hispanics in this country generally underrepresented. Black history in most text books looks like this: 1 page on slavery. 1 page on slaver and the Civil War, 1 page on Civil Rights. That’s it. Very rarely are Blacks represented as actors.

    Hispanics rarely rate a mention, not even to talk about how every state from Texas to California south of Colorado has a previous population before being annexed by the US. Asians have been a part of civil rights and legal battles for the last 150 years, and yet you rarely ever hear about the pioneers, the court cases, and the victories.

    No, if we ever want this to get done, it requires special attention at least 3 months out of 12. 1/4 of the time for 1/3 of the population (and growing) isn’t bad.

    Posted 17 Feb 2009 at 6:16 pm ¶

51. Trusstar wrote:

    I think that is what I was saying Luis; rewrite the text and curriculum so that all history is represented.

    Posted 26 Feb 2009 at 10:34 pm ¶

52. Brian wrote:

    It seems to me that ol’ Lisa’s perspective doesn’t reach much further than the end of her nose. It’s foolish to think that black history doesn’t relate to the white people in this nation. We don’t learn these things to make African American kids feel good about themselves, we learn it to understand why our society is what it is, and how to avoid ignorance this deep in the future. The focus of the months studies is on the empowerment of a people to make the painful transition from slave to equal. How many people really give this a thought? It is a truly remarkable thing to grasp and very very inspiring. If we didn’t learn from this, how long would it be before we found our nation in another giant ignorant mess. Before black empowerment, we had such fun laws in our land like it having been illegal for a woman to wear pants and vote. We imprisoned Japanese Americans in WWII. We even ignored the right to free speech and locked up communists and socialists. If not for the very public and dramatic movement of our black citizens, how many of these seemingly unrelated things have changed? Not many I’m sure. Most likely, we would have a lot more problems today! All the laws passed and revised from black history directly effected the examples given above. Look into it and you’ll see I’m right.
    Perhaps we should give Lisa a taste of what she wants and give her the life she would live if not for the contributions of the African Americans in our nations short history. Send her barefoot into the kitchen where she can quietly remain away from those of us who appreciate our fellow human beings.

    Posted 01 Jul 2009 at 8:42 am ¶