A few years ago Morgan Freeman stated that Black History Month was " ridiculous" on live TV. After hearing this a film maker by the name of Shukree Hassan Tilghman had an idea of producing a documentary that would capture different peoples opinions about possibly ending Black History Month. The film was produced and is called "More Than a Month." His strongest opinion began with why is February the month of honoring their history, it is the shortest and one of the coldest months of the year.
Many petitioners agreed with Tilghman and had many things to say about ending Black History Month, such as an unknown petitioner "We exist 24-7, 365, and in a leap year, 366. So should our history." while others completely disagreed with Tilghman like a professor Daryl Michael Scott, called Tilghman naive and asked him to "stop playing post-racial identity games."
Being African-American, Tilghman had grown up with celebrating this month as one of the greatest things, so this came as a shock to everyone.
In your opinion would you agree with Tilghman or would you want to keep Black History Month? Why or why not?
http://whtc.com/news/articles/2012/feb/15/documentary-explores-ending-black-history-month/
I think that black history month is very important in our modern day society. It celebrates the horrible struggles that blacks had gone through, but have overcome over the years. I definitely understand where Shukree Hassan Tilghman is coming from. I perceived that he thought that it was an honor to be celebrated in a specific month, but now it seems that its ONLY one month to honor all of the courageous black leaders and that one month is not nearly enough time. I do agree with him that one month is not enough time to honor all of the important black leaders, but I do not think we should get rid of Black History Month. Black history should be honored everyday in the year because it has shaped our nation, and has allowed us to overcome slavery and most racism. I think we should keep Black History Month because it is a devoted period of time for "devoted" celebration of the amazing people before us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tilghman saying that February is one of the shortest and coldest months of the year so I'm not sure why Black History Month is in February. On the other hand, I don't see how getting rid of Black History Month would help anything at all. I think it would allow people to forget about black history even more than people already do. I realize that it should always be Black History Month but I'm not too sure how we could create that or make everyone agree, it's just not realistic. Therefore, I think we should keep Black History Month and maybe just move it to a longer and warmer month to satisfy more people. That way, the amazing history of black people won't be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tilghman regarding the fact that there should be no Black History Month. I deem it unnecessary to have a month for a particular race. If the general consensus among people is that Black's are not represented equally in history, than something more should be done to make a change. By deeming February Black History Month, it says to me that after February is over, I can stop thinking about Black's and how they impacted our country's History. If real change was desired, I think that Black History Month should be rid of and there should be more representation of Black's in general. I agree with Crystal when she makes a statement about how Black's should be honored every day, not just for one month. I think that ideally Black's should be represented i the say way that white's are. It will take some time and some willingness of educational systems, but in the end, it will make for a more well rounded understanding of how our country came to be.
ReplyDeleteI think black history month is really important in today’s society because it helps us remember all the hard times the blacks have gone through. Although, I understand and agree with Shukree Hassan Tilghman and his position; he believes that it was honorable to celebrate in a specific month but now he thinks one month is not enough time to honor and remember all the blacks and the devoted black leaders who took a stand. I also agree that one month is not enough time to remember all the important events, but I do not think it’s sufficient to get rid of Black History Month all together. Blacks and Black history should be honored everyday of the year, because they have made history and allowed us to become stronger as a nation and overcome slavery and racism as a whole. I think it’s essential to keep Black History month because it’s shaped our society, and It would be wrong without the recognition of the devoted leaders
ReplyDeleteWow, I have really missed these blog posts. So let's get this thing started again! I see Tilghman's point that since they exist every day, they should be celebrated every day. But that can't be possible to do. Not even white people are celebrated every day. There is no AMC special where they show movies that celebrated white actors every day. I think that the government implemented "Black History Month" as a way to somehow make-up for the years of mistreatment. Even though there is no way to completely "make-up" for those many years of horrible treatment, the government just wanted something for their celebration and maybe they didn't think of every little minor detail about it. They probably thought it was a good idea and didn't know that people now would be against it. For why February was picked as the month with it being one of the coldest and shortest month is questionable. I do agree that it should have been a different month. But one could argue that it reflects their treatment because it was cold. With it being the shortest, I don't have an argument for that. So there are two sides for that decision. Besides that, I really agree with Nate that when they deemed February as the month to celebrate African-Americans, afterwards people just stop thinking about it. After reading that, I honestly feel like I myself do that too. It's just how it feels to me when the month is dedicated to that. I still think that Black History Month should still be a thing. It is right that we celebrate African-Americans all over the country because of the unfair treatment done to them in the past. There are good arguments for both sides of this case and I think the class will be split, but my opinion is that it is a good idea. And before I end this, I would just like to remind everyone that May is Asian-Pacific American month. So heads-up on that.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the fact that it is in february matters at all. There IS a Black History Month, and that is the controversial part. I think the problem is not with Black History Month, it is with our society itself. I think that, if, as a country, we starting being more aware and knowledgeable about black history, then Black History Month would be stupid and redundant, almost insulting. But, because many people feel that white people are in general ignorant of black history, it does have its uses. So, it depends on a person's point of view to make their decision.
ReplyDeleteAs Matt Dang stated above this is a very complicated issue; just like racism and inequality are still issues today, I believe that this will continue to be an issue in the future because there is no easy fix. After reading the previous posts above, it is evident that everyone will have different opinions about this issue and both sides of this argument are very strong. In my opinion, I believe that black history month was a way to recognize leaders that had never been recognized before due to the problems of segregation and inequality in the past. I understand how Tilghman could be upset at the fact that Black leaders are only recognized twenty-eight days of the year, but I think that this was a great improvement to society when it was first established. I can also understand why he would be upset that black history month was held during the shortest and coldest month of the year, but we all have our own views and opinions; when I think of February, I think of it as a loving month because Valentine’s Day is also during February. The fact that we all have our own views and ideas about life makes me believe that this issue will not be easily resolved. I agree with Alex that getting rid of black history month would do no good because there is a possibility black history could be less recognized than it is today.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Tilghman, as I think that Black History Month is very important to many African-Americans and is a special month devoted to the works and accomplishments of black people. Although I disagree with him, I see how he could have formed his ideas about Black History Month. I think that the accomplishments black people have made should be celebrated every day, and should not be "forgotten" for the other eleven months of the year. I think that getting rid of Black History Month would actually hurt Tilghman's cause because then there would be no special time put aside to remember the contributions African-Americans have made to our society. I think that Tilghman should be trying to raise awareness about black history everyday, but keep Black History Month. I do not think that it matters much that February is chilly or slightly shorter than other months, as I do no think that the creators of it spitefully made it February and not some other warm month like June. To sum up my view on the topic, I do no think we should get rid of Black History Month, but more awareness should be raised about black people's contributions to society.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that black history month should be celebrated, and it should be more known. But i agree with david that the black peoples accomplishments shouldn't be celebrated in one month, but year round. And i do believe that there really isnt a problem with it being in February, although it is the shortest month of the year it is still a month dedicated to them. I mean, you never hear about white history month, because there isnt one.
ReplyDeleteI do not see any reason as to why black history month should be stopped, therefor I disagree with Tilghman. I think the fact that Black History month is celebrated during the shortest month of the year (February) is irrelevant. Just because one month is dedicated to Black History, doesn't mean we, as a country, ignore and are ignorant toward the topic every other month of the year. There are other months dedicated to certain issues, such as October being breast cancer awareness month, certainly not meaning we only care about the disease in October. In my opinion, Black History Month is celebrated once a month every year to honor and remind our country of the importance of their history. As many others have stated above, Tilghman should work to raise more awareness of this month, and then maybe he would be more satisfied with this month dedicated to black history.
ReplyDeleteI believe that black history month should stay because they are being recognized more than other races. For example, there is no white history month and I have never heard of a native american history month. There are history pieces of all races that have been made into holidays and events. There is Thanksgiving which represents only a small portion of other races in history. If one was to get rid.of black history month they would be depriving the people of essential history because there is no way of educating all of the history fairly within a year, it's much easier to keep the month.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Alex. I believe that we should have a Black History Month but, just maybe we could change it to another month. I want to know why is it in February. Is it a symbolic thing. Was it the exact month that we gained the Emancipation Proclamation or the end of the Jim Crow laws? If not I think that we should just change it to a longer and less cold month. I also, think that we have this month as a remembrance of the people that fought and died for black peoples rights in our nation just like Veterans day or the 4th of July. But, maybe Alex is right when he says that others should have a month but, that is a different topic. In my opinion, we should not eliminate Black History Month but instead move it.
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