I was watching the History Channel today and saw a commercial for some of their special Black History Month Programming. This got me thinking because racism and other racial issues always get me fired up. Not because I'm upset about racism itself, but the perpetuation of racism. Allow me to explain.
Is there a White History Month? What about a Chinese History Month? Or a Hispanic History Month? What about a Women's, Men's, European, Arabic, or Jewish History Month? There isn't obviously, but to drive home that point you need to understand that nowhere else in the world does any other people group get a "History Month". Yet in America, Canada, and the UK we have a Black History Month.
Now, before I continue I am not trying to be racist in this topic. I think that as a whole racism is bad, inhuman, and degrading. Nothing about the color of your skin, the way you talk, or where you are from makes you a better or worse person than anyone else. The kind of person you are is what sets that apart. What I'm saying is that Black History month Promotes Racism.
Racism itself is a complicated issue, but typically the roots of Racism come from some sort of hatred caused by mistreatment in the past, and are perpetuated by inequality or the perception of inequality between racial groups. For example most racial issues between Blacks and Whites comes from slavery in the United States. The roots of racism in Europe is most commonly associated with their view and treatment of their neighbors like Barbarians, and Asia's Racial problems are often associated with the treatment of people groups like sub humans by their neighbors. Most notably Feudal Japan, leading all the way to the Japanese attitude of Racial Superiority in both World Wars. Now, none of these issues are that simple, but I would need a whole book to even begin to explain what issues lead to racism and bigotry in just one of those situations.
So on that basis how does Black History Month promote racism? Well it almost solely focuses on great black leaders of that past like Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. It also focuses on their "movements", what they did, and how they changed the world. Sometimes you get some modern black history that focuses on modern day scientists, activists, and more recently the President. There is nothing wrong with learning about the importance of these people, but it is inconsequential that they are black. Thousands of White, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, and other scientists activists, and leaders have and do exist in the world. Nothing makes these any more special than the others except the achievements they have that may or may not be better than each others. By singling out the Black ones each year for a special time you promote racism by ignoring the contributions of other races, nationalities, and people groups. Doing this makes those other contributions seem less important, despite the fact that many of them are exactly the same level of importance, and sometimes more important. Conversely it makes the Black Achievements seem better and more important than their counterparts around the world. The combinations of these two things is a key element of Racism. It makes black people feel superior, and other races feel left out.
That thinking is very prevalent elsewhere as well. Companies, universities, non profits, and even government agencies will often times hire/accept or promote a Black or other "minority" employee/student over a person of another race simply to have a better image in some way or another. Usually to appear more diverse or equal, when that behavior promotes racism. Anyone applying for anything who has any brains at all knows that if they are a part of a system that promotes racism, and sometimes that can be discouraging. Even if you stand to benefit from racist practices.
Is there a solution? Kind of. Racism will probably never ever go away. People are biased, and when uninformed or uneducated, they often turn simple/normal human bias into hatred. There are ways to help with racism though. Typically educated people are less prone to racism because they understand what racism really is and how to avoid it. On top of that if everyone was only hired based on merit, then racism in the workplace would be reduced. People would no longer be able to either skirt by because of their skin color, or feel like they are treated unfairly because of their skin color (that's for both ways. Statistically White and Asian employees are given more leeway in corporate positions to fail or take risks, but Blacks and Hispanics are more quickly promoted and hired). Instead people would know that they would only be judged on their merit, and therefore a more equal and productive workplace would be developed. The same goes to schools that have preferential treatment for minority groups. I know I personally felt a bit of resentment when I saw the vast number of Black and Native American scholarships, while White people had no specific ones.
Will this ever happen? I'm hopeful, but realistically doubt it. Unless there is a major shift in the educational system, the major corporations, and the government, lasting change is unlikely. Racism has been around since at least recorded history, and sadly it will probably continue long into the future. Programming like Black history month and racial work practices are only two types of racial encouraging activity. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of racist cultural biases around the world. Some big, and others small. Education and human decency are the only things that stand in the way of them, and sadly there isn't enough of it going around right now. Again, I'm hopeful because we can never predict the future. Realistically though, human kind is not perfect, and so racism will probably always exist.
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