Why do some people feel threatened that we (black people) celebrate our history?

Question

I keep reading all this bull about how we should celebrate history in general as a whole society but that is not the way our society works. We have always been singled out and portrayed negatively and thats been okay. But when we chose to educate our people and children, then there seems to be a problem. We are not the only people with a month dedicated to our history. We are however one of the few cultures whose history has been conveniently hidden from us over the decades.

Answer 1

Our history has been hidden from us, schools sure don't teach enough of it... I learned all about white people in my history classes and then february rolls around and they talk about the same people every year and have a cermony. If you really want to know about black history you have to research yourself... it is not that way with history involving white folks because we learn all about that in school... ALL YEAR and some folks are complaining about one month smdh

Answer 2

It sounds more like you have a chip on your shoulder than an actual question or concern. And how was your history hidden from YOU? Todays generation had no part of slavery that was between the older generations. Get over it ! Nobody is complaining because blacks have a month dedicated to their history. I think I speak for all Micks when I say " I'm only complaing because I don't have my own !"

Answer 3

I think that other cultures or races are just jealous that nobody on their team has created a specific history month for them. Also, I don't think that Blacks history has been purposefully hidden from anyone. By nature (at least in America) black history is scarce and obscure among the well documented histories of other cultures and races (with no fault to themselves for obvious reasons). Also, until recently blacks did not have the resources (and many did not have the desire, due to lack of education) to obtain such knowledge. I think that the black culture in America has had a major positive influence on what America has become today, and other cultures need to respect, embrace and appreciate that for what it is worth.

Go black history month!!!

Answer 4

I don’t know why anyone would feel threatened by black people specifically, but I understand why they would be annoyed at minorities doing it. This is because people would rather view history as a whole and celebrate it by time and relevance rather than by skin color or sex. There’s often the same aversion to women celebrating their unique history. It is certainly your right to be proud of people who you share something with, but I think people frequently feel that in doing so the history of others is overlooked by the peripheral vision of the focusing. I have many philosophers from the past I admire. (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., etc.) and none of them are women. Women have not played a very large role in the philosophical history of any area compared to men, though admittedly not by their own fault to a greater extent. To focus on women of history could cause the overlooking of the brilliant men of history, even those whose own hearts fought for the liberty of the women who were forced to be silent by their cultures. My point is, sometimes even though there are great people in the history of a minority, even those people themselves would have preferred to have been placed alongside the majority else they had not accomplished what they wished. I have no problem with black people celebrating their history or women celebrating theirs, and I celebrate both regardless of my race or sex. BUT I also celebrate the history of white males in America. I do not hold anything against them for being born as they were any more than I hold grudges against other irrelevant biological characteristics. It’s good to know about the history of blacks in America and the history of women in America. I suppose the fear is, as I said before, that the history of the men born by no fault of their own to the majority will be diminished. There are great people of all biologies, and I appreciate them. That is the only explanation I can think of. I hope that helps.

P.S. Obviously, racism is the alternative. If it is not for preservation of history, then they are racist.

Answer 5

I was raised and educated before there was Black History Month.

Still, we were taught about all sorts of positive and important contributions by Americans who just happened to be black, from Crispus Atikus to (then still living) Dr. King. We learned about the amazing work of George Washington Carver, and the courage of the Tuskegee Airmen.

We learned about these people as part of our normal curriculum, in logical historical order.

I fail to see how this is a negative portrayal of black Americans, and I STILL question the need to separate blacks out for a distinct and segregated month of their own.

I thought we had finished with that kind of thing in the early 60s.

Answer 6

We're really not threatened...we're just trying to change society be it fruitless and all.
This will all be in the history books too!
Celebrate whatever it is you fancy...as long as you, your children and the rest of your family are happy. That is all that counts anyway.
We have white pride, history and so on a so forth....it is called living in America...it is all around us.
Another thought.....
There are a lot of mixed children today (my son is) and soon enough we'll all be one big American family anyway, slowly we're building a new race.
Happy Friday!

Answer 7

Because this country is designed to hold anybody down that is not white. We have celebrations here at work for every holiday...things that mean nothing to me...yet when Black History Month rolls around nothing at all is mentioned about it. I'm not bitter about it, but it just shows me how much the world hasn't changed...

We are still being shot dead in the street...lynched...enslaved...jailed...segregated...and it will continue to be that way until the country as a whole changes....we can't expect one person to change the world...

You can just look at some of the questions that are asked on Yahoo and see how narrow minded alot of people still are and will continue to be.

Black History is important to me and my family and will continue to be no matter the next man or woman thinks.

Just watch how many racists hop on this question and spew out racist, negative comments.

Answer 8

Because there is no such thing as black history, just like there is no white history. Do you think that black people live in a vacuum? It is just one more attempt to divide people. Just like that ridiculous synthetic holiday "Kwanzaa", that was invented by a black college professor, to replace Christmas.

There is no women's history. There is no men's history. There is only history. Why don't you people wake up? Start thinking for yourselves. You are so easy to manipulate!

Answer 9

I have often wondered why only February is black history month. It's really not enough time to cover everything that we can learn from it. As a caucasian, I always enjoyed February in school because there was always something new to learn that was not covered the rest of the year. It's a shame that it has to be separated, but I fear that if it wasn't, the schools just wouldn't cover it at all. And that would be a real shame.

Answer 10

I don't think most people feel threatened, I think they feel their racial anger bubbling up. I'm white and married to a woman of color, and I feel the eyes on us when we walk together. But the eyes belong to several groups of people, white and people of color. I worked for an all-black community-based organzation as a director and I truly believe that blacks (from my limited experience) are a lot more tolerant that others when it comes to equality. I hope that you're wrong about your statement because I think people are slowly coming out of their caves into the world of people and equality. But you may, of course, be correct, assessing these reactions as feeling threatened.
Peace and love.