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It’s Black History Month in the United States and Canada but did you even notice? Should you notice? This month is designed for us to remember the history specific to Afro-American culture but how many people even pay it any attention? There are a lot of flaws with Black History Month. I think it is great that African-Americans reflect on their history and remember their great achievements along the way but do we really need to provide an entire month?

I saw a local spot on television this morning reminding me that it was Black History Month and was surprised that it was the first time I had heard mention of it. After all, we are twelve days into the month. Before sitting down to write this article, I called an African-American friend of mine that I grew up with to ask him if he knew. His response shocked me–”Oh yeah, it is February. I just didn’t realize. Normally they make a big deal out of it.”

This is a month for African-Americans and my friend provided an example of how it may be an irrelevant highlight on our calendars already.

Why Is The Month Unimportant For So Many Of Us?

The problem with Black History Month is that we’re becoming detached from the history of black people because it is irrelevant to the vast majority of Americans–even black Americans. Whenever we think of black history, we inevitably think of slavery. We must ask though, how many people are affected by slavery? I would argue that it is only a very minute portion of the population that is affected any longer.

Slavery happened so long ago that descendents of slaves aren’t affected any more. People argue that the effects of this deplorable era are present but I would argue the opposite side. If your grandmother’s grandmother died of cancer, could you say that you are affected by cancer? Sure, you have a family history of cancer but you’re not affected unless you actually get the disease. You did not suffer alongside and it is unlikely that any of your immediate family did either.

Segregation is a different story. There are a large number of African-Americans still alive that do remember segregation and were directly affected by it. Do we need a full month to remember the tragedy?

I really don’t know the answer to this question. I would love to poll the older portion of the African-American population to ask their opinion on Black History Month. What do they do to celebrate their own history and reflect on their power to overcome such adversity?

Is Black History Month A Form Of Self-Segregation? Does “Equal” Mean “Same?”

Martin Luther King, Jr. argued that African-Americans are equal. I agree with him. However, I have always looked at “equal” being synonymous with “same” and I must be incorrect. African-Americans have been practicing self-segregation for quite some time now which really baffles my mind. We have a Miss Black America pageant that only African-Americans can enter and it was established to protest the lack of African-Americans in the Miss America pageant. Is this an effective way to show equality? Let’s get this straight–you’re protesting your exclusion to an event by creating an event and excluding others? After all, there are African-Americans in the Miss America pageant; just not as many as you may like.

We also see a number of magazines on the shelves that are created by black people to segregate themselves from the population. Black Enterprise is a magazine geared towards African-Americans in business. Why does this exist? If Business Week created a “White Enterprise” magazine, most of us would look down upon it as excluding the African-Americans. This double standard is ridiculous and needs to be examined by African-Americans everywhere that work to establish equality.

So What’s All Of This About?

That brings me to the point of this post. I don’t think we need a Black History Month. In no way am I against it but I see it as another form of self-segregation. I would love to be proved wrong on this topic so I need my African-American readers to chime in. How are you affected by the history of your people? How do you feel about self-segregation? Should there be a Miss Black America pageant? Similarly, would you be offended if I started a magazine just for white people? I have a ton of questions that I think are very interesting and I would love to get a discussion going in the comments section.

Please share your knowledge, insights and unique experiences with me in the comments section so we can start a valuable dialogue. Please show me how Black History Month is beneficial to your culture and how I can appreciate it more.

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