“White History Month”
February 24, 2011
Today I had the honor of giving my first chapel talk at Wabash College, entitled “White History Month.” In it I talk about the imagination, race, and make a proposal that our college institute “White History Month.”
If you’re interested, you can watch it on YouTube.
Advertisement
9 Comments
Comments are closed.
Beautiful. I wish that your video had been force fed into every American household about 30 years ago. That said may it find it’s way to viral status. We are for the most part, already shackled down as a people, only we lack the advantage that comes from being aware of your bonds.
I will say it is not the day we attach to Dr. King that is the culprit. It is the cult of celebrity and the culture of the superficial that cheapens his biography.
I took the liberty of dumping the link for you video into my Twitter stream. I hope it swims very far downstream.
How about 2 black history months? One for blacks darker than a paper bag. After all, they had more to overcome. As for the ones lighter than a brown bag, not as much to overcome, but I hear they had better parties.
Black history Month started for a reason. Prior to the Civil Rights Movement, it was a given that blacks had no history and no culture. We only showed up in textbooks as slaves, and nothing else. Black History Week was started by Carter G. Woodson in 1926 to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. This was at a time when the KKK had a nation-wide membership of 4-5 million men. Before the 1960s, Black History Week was limited to high-minded black institutions, and certainly wasn’t mainstream. Even today, the average American knows more about some non-entity in the rap industry than about figures like Benjamin Banneker, A. Phillip Randolph, or Arturo Schomburg.
And really, who exactly would you propose to replace Martin Luther King in the black community? There’s no Catholic equivalent. And no, St. Martin de Porres doesn’t count. I love St. Martin de Porres as much as the next girl, but he didn’t do anything to end Jim Crow. If the history of Cuba and Brazil are any indication, if Americans had to wait for the bishops to do anything about race relations, slavery wouldn’t have been abolished until the 1880s. Why do Catholic blogs, regardless of political or liturgical orientation, always discuss blacks like we aren’t in the room?
LM,
The week was named “Negro History Week” and was replaced by “Black History Month” in 1976. Your comment makes it apparent that you did not watch the talk itself, or that you failed to understand it entirely. If you want to launch accusations, you had better engage the content. After all, your question has no relevance to my talk, especially as it is not, primarily, a Catholic address—Wabash is not religiously affiliated.
Sam
My previous comment was actually more directed to Matt, although I failed to attribute such when I pressed reply. Likewise, my referring to Negro History Week as Black History Week was an anachronistic error on my part.
Personally, I felt Matt’s remarks were not the brightest bulb to hang on the tree, but in the best spirit of Sam’s speech, I let it slide. It was most likely benign, but I digress.
I personally think one of the worst things we can do is to attack anyone who utters any insensitive remark.
I think this teaches them, and others who see it, that they are to hide their true feelings lest they be publicly crucified.
That then takes a problem that we need to address with love and enlightenment and hides it away in dark corners, where it all too often turns into a malignancy that silently spreads throughout the fabric of society.
I enjoyed that Sam. We should catch up soon.
Well done Sam!
A couple things. Have you ever looked at anything by Bryan Massingale? He gave the final plenary at the CTSA annual conference last year in Cleveland on related issues, especially (racial) slavery of the mind.
Also, have you heard of this blog?
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/full-list-of-stuff-white-people-like/
White people do so have culture!
A friend of mine who grew up in rural South Dakota and suburban Toronto has spent much of her adult life working in Africa. One night she was over for dinner and my iTunes random function picked Guns’n'Roses Paradise City. Seeing how much I was enjoying it my friend exclaimed, “White people love this song!”
I gotta say, you’ve got a pair. From what I understand, you’re on a temp contract that has been extended for one year and you propose to your college to undertake a policy that will make headlines all over the English-speaking world. I hope they take you up on it, but I’d never dream of trying that. Good on you.
Did you guys beat Wittenberg?
Thanks, Brett. I’ll have to look him up. And no: we didn’t beat Witt. this time.
Sam