Why isnt there a White History Month?

[75th]

i would think it has something to do with the notion of community. of group identity. the notion of a black community in america (and in other places) is still a valid one, even if many blacks themselves don't subscribe to such a notion. the segregation originally was forced upon them, and as a means of persevering, many of them probably gained strength from associating themselves with a group. i assume that's common as a part of human nature, especially in the face of great trials and suffering. and i suppose there's still something of value in referring to this concept of group or community, in order to accentuate the positive in individuals (as members of that group). additionally, there may be black groups who sought to promote the notion of a black community, hoping to further their own interests (power and influence, etc...) through the creation of black solidarity.

as for a white history month...have any white people (or white groups) tried to start such a thing? do any of them want to? perhaps they could do so, if they had any incentive to. they may have trouble gaining media support (to disseminate this new idea and make it a reality in the minds of people everywhere).

the notion of a white community, however, does not seem valid to me. is there a sufficient reason for white people to identify themselves as part of a group? certainly, there are some reasons, and white supremacists are a good example. but are there better examples of reasons/principles, which are both more positive in nature and likely to find favour amongst the general white population? i don't know of any, but i haven't thought about it.

in short, i would say it's (at least partially) a matter of the history of whites in america versus the history of blacks in america.

Well, why identify yourself as a group in any case? Why not identify yourselves as people?

Having and/or supporting a "history month" or "entertainment television" sort of confirms you inherit racism in my eyes, and basically proclaim yourself as different than everybody else.

 

[Lestat]

jackangles post is the best so far.

Basically every month in most US schools is white history month. We use black history month as a well to look into the specifics of their rich history, one that is overlooked when history is taught from a mostly "white" perspective.

 

[DJ_UFO]

Don't worry fellas. The world is ruled by whites. Period.

 

[BrothaBill]

Sadly its true that African Americans in this country are prejudicial and view the world through those lenses.
The problem with viewing the group as a whole and ascribing negative patterns to them is often done, but tends to make other groups treat them poorly. They are not of course the innocent little lamb in these problems, they have very poor lack of leadership in their community.
The problem with this type of prejudice is that only works in the macro sense, and breaks down when you meet someone in person. Stereotypes and bigotry do not work with individuals often the case is.
There was an assault near here recently by some Univ football players who saw a black woman dancing in a local college bar and they came up saying she was a disgrace to her race and that why are you dancing with a white guy and other terminology. Long story short they assaulted the white guy. Turns out he was a soldier just got back from Iraq and the black woman was his wife. So racism cuts both ways. We obviously also seen white power marches as well spewing epitaphs.
So the age old question is what to do about it to promote better living in the country with the different groups in the melting pot of the country the US.
Whats the answer?

 

[jackangel]

Well, why identify yourself as a group in any case? Why not identify yourselves as people?

Having and/or supporting a "history month" or "entertainment television" sort of confirms you inherit racism in my eyes, and basically proclaim yourself as different than everybody else.

maybe we have different definitions of racism. mine centers around the idea of racial prejudice and claiming superiority. i'm not aware of a widely-accepted definition of racism which requires only the notion that one group is different from another. what is your definition?

they identified themselves as a group because they were forced to be one. blacks, whether in times of slavery or afterward, occupied very strict social/economic/legal strata. so, in terms of history, of their environment and experiences, they were very different from white people. whether or not they saw themselves as people (and other races as people, for that matter), there was ample reason for them to see themselves as a group of black people, because they shared many things in common. specifically, the experience of being subjugated. encountering these difficulties, it's not easy to imagine that many
black people despaired and lacked in positive self-image. so, maybe they created a group identity as a means of accentuating the positive and showing even the most downtrodden members of that group that they have potential. that they are not inferior.

if nothing else, it was largely practical. did white people have such an incentive to form themselves into a group which was separate from others? in america, i don't think so.

by the way, this is largely conjecture based on my limited understanding of human nature and american history. i don't mean to present anything i say as infallibly correct.

 

[Razorguns]

because a large % of whites are actually hippies who are very anti-white and love to blame the government on everything. A government of "white" people as they would love to term it.

Ask your local hippie liberal about why there isn't a 'white history month' and i'm sure you'll get a mouthfull of an answer.

Not being a white history month has nothing to with other races. That idea or even notion of it would be quenched by white people themselves.

 

[BrothaBill]

jackangles post is the best so far.

Basically every month in most US schools is white history month. We use black history month as a well to look into the specifics of their rich history, one that is overlooked when history is taught from a mostly "white" perspective.

Yup, it is white history month and there really logically isnt wrong with that.
Alot of what this country was built from was western civilizations. The US legal system was taken from the british. Alot of works of important novels and philosophers like dostoyevski, tolstoy, descartes, locke, hume, kant etc... all western. Our sciences were built from the works of western studies and experiments. The major religious organizations also derive from western civilization. Our language. The founding fathers who set up the nation were white and the french philosphers who so influenced them about the meaning of freedom and liberty that was put into the very fabric of the US. The foods that are common in the US diet mostly western although thats changing rapidly. The way you built things, the industrial revolution, early pioneers, businessman, every thing from the first time you land on the continent basically clear up to the 1960s most of what was accomplished was by whites. There are of course courageous examples of blacks overcoming the poor status they were locked into. They did however do much of the backbreaking labor that was necessary, but society rarely let them rise above and play on an even playing field as whites. So they dont have much history to learn.
There are many, many more examples of the history of the US was based on other preceding nations, most of whom were western. There is very little taken from Africa, the slave trade and lost of identity and roots didnt help that any.
But why stop there, we can look back at the greeks and there fine teaching and artwork. Or the Romans. They were a very different peoples indeed. We can hop on a plane and fly from one continent to the other. Those people couldnt, 500miles was terra incognita for them. They had no idea what was going on out there. Most of their societies believed in multiple gods, the idea of polytheism was strange to them. But we take the best of the best of those cultures and integrate them as well. Same with the Romans.
We can go even farther and take what we can from the chinese and their ingenuity and apply it and their philosophies. And the country of India and their teachings which are very enlightening, so in essence we take the best of the best from each country and learned from it, which is good. But still the US history, rightly or wrongly is based on works of western civilation (white peoples and their countries of origin)
This can go on and on with example after example if I wasnt so tired right now. But clearly as I stated almost every month is white history month. Thats just the facts.

 

[@dam]

White Power

 

[biteme]

For all of you conservative whites on this post, you can't hide that fact BTW. Try to put yourself in their shoes. I don't believe you can. And I'm not making excuses for the black community as a whole because they still have a long way to go.

 

[sigweed]

because being proud of being white is called Hate....