Tolerance for the Babylon of cultures in the United States has grown tremendously since the days of the civil rights movement, but setting aside weeks and months for cultural and lifestyle groups is not furthering the change.
“I don’t want Black History Month. Black history is American history,” said actor Morgan Freeman in an interview with 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace. “When is white history month?”
Sept. 15 marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month. It has been 35 years since President Ronald Reagan expanded the event to a month, which is ironic, because Reagan’s track record with Latin American countries is horrendous. Glaring examples would be the Iran-Contra affair that involved Nicaragua and the Panama invasion, just to name a couple.
Did Reagan only make Hispanic Heritage Month to reconcile his image with Hispanic Americans? Are these history months just being used to cover up years of injustice? If so, what are they worth?
“I propose that, for the first time in American history, this country has reached a point where we are can stop celebrating separately, stop learning separately, stop being American separately,” wrote Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley.
Roping off time for individual groups drives barriers deeper. Realizing that we’re all fundamentally the same as a human species, and as Americans, creates tolerance and understanding.
But it’s not just racial groups; March is Women’s History Month, and President Obama recently declared June LGBT Pride Month.
Just about the only group not commemorated in the year is straight Caucasian males, but they make up almost a third of the population.
Learning cultural history should never be limited to a month. We are Americans year-round, so we should learn accordingly.
Instead of assigning months, Americans should be focusing on diversifying history curriculum in schools. More than one perspective of the American story needs to be taught to students as basic education.
Pride and understanding should be a way of life, instead of a forced holiday.
