The question here is not so much whether blacks have disproportionately suffered historically — they have — or whether we still feel the legacy of that — we do — as it is whether the correct response to that suffering is to segregate black history into a separate branch of the curriculum or a single month on the school-year calendar. On most indicators — income, employment, education, incarceration, homeownership, etc. — black Americans still do worse than white Americans. But the notion that Black History Month must remain in force because there are still racial problems in America is a non sequitur. If there is still too little “black history” taught in America’s schools — or if “black history” is being taught incorrectly — then we should change the curriculum. If black Americans remain unfairly in the shadows, then the solution is to bring them out, not to sort and concentrate them by color.
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Why can't African American history be taught alongside the rest of American history, instead of being sectioned off? And, why not focus on blacks like Booker T. Washington and Phyllis Wheatly instead of figures like Malcolm X?
ReplyDelete(I an African American, by the way.)