Genesis 16 12
(?)Community Member
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- Posted: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:02:39 +0000
Black History Month only serves to further alienate ethnicities. By setting aside special times for special races, it's like saying "No, you're different from those kids, here's your free month."
As an African-American woman, I for one resent this. I traced my family roots back to Kenya, and I visited, last year. I know where I came from, and I'm thankful for the rich, amazing heritage that I have. But it's not like I go around, every day, constantly reminding myself "Hey, I'm black. I descended from Kenyans. The levels of melanin in my skin make me much darker than those 'normal' white kids." because, let's be honest, no one thinks about that sort of thing. (Except maybe Neo-Nazis, Black Panthers, KKKers, etc.)
Because I call America home. And as lame as it may sound, America is a diverse place. It's a place where I can honestly say that to the majority of my friends, my skin-tone has never so much as been a passing thought.
I'm black, yeah, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't be culturally aware, in fact I think that my trip to Kenya was the best thing that ever happened to me. But I'm saying that, let's be honest, how often does our skin-color actually change anything? I like video games, cheesy b-movies, and awful stage-magic. The majority of my day, I'm either thinking about schoolwork, or one of the three aforementioned topics. Rarely does my race even factor into any of my decisions or thoughts. So why are we still trying to separate ourselves into categories? Is it some weird sense of belonging? Some messed up internal need to catalogue? Leave a post below, saying how you weigh in.
As an African-American woman, I for one resent this. I traced my family roots back to Kenya, and I visited, last year. I know where I came from, and I'm thankful for the rich, amazing heritage that I have. But it's not like I go around, every day, constantly reminding myself "Hey, I'm black. I descended from Kenyans. The levels of melanin in my skin make me much darker than those 'normal' white kids." because, let's be honest, no one thinks about that sort of thing. (Except maybe Neo-Nazis, Black Panthers, KKKers, etc.)
Because I call America home. And as lame as it may sound, America is a diverse place. It's a place where I can honestly say that to the majority of my friends, my skin-tone has never so much as been a passing thought.
I'm black, yeah, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't be culturally aware, in fact I think that my trip to Kenya was the best thing that ever happened to me. But I'm saying that, let's be honest, how often does our skin-color actually change anything? I like video games, cheesy b-movies, and awful stage-magic. The majority of my day, I'm either thinking about schoolwork, or one of the three aforementioned topics. Rarely does my race even factor into any of my decisions or thoughts. So why are we still trying to separate ourselves into categories? Is it some weird sense of belonging? Some messed up internal need to catalogue? Leave a post below, saying how you weigh in.
