Celebrating is teaching diversity

During a recent broadcast of “60 Minutes,” Academy
Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman expressed his distaste for Black
History Month, the United States’ observation of the
contributions blacks have made to this country.

“You’re going to relegate my history to a
month?” Freeman said, denouncing Black History Month as
“ridiculous” and implying that the identification of a
person as black or white breeds racism.

“I don’t want a Black History Month,” Freeman
said. “Black history is American history.”

Although his sentiments are understandable considering there is
no month for white history, as Freeman himself noted, his
statements are idealistic.

The history of African descendants in America has been
marginalized ““ if not completely ignored ““ since their
arrival to the eastern seaboard as slaves.

Whereas standard public school textbooks document the philosophy
of the Greeks, the empire of the Romans and the industry of the
British as precursors to the establishment of American colonialism,
little attention is given to the ancestors of the American
slaves.

The average American, black or white, is ignorant of the
achievements of the Ashanti, Dahomey, Wolof and Denkyira kingdoms
of Africa. American history traditionally follows the stories and
lives of the colonizers and their ancestors.

Black history has been excluded by the American government,
which deemed them subhuman for over three centuries.

In 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson presumably had the answer
when he introduced Negro History Week during the second week of
February for the purpose of celebrating the progressive
accomplishments of blacks and commemorating the birthdays of two of
America’s greatest abolitionists: Frederick Douglass and
Abraham Lincoln.

Interestingly, Woodson’s long-term goal for Negro History
Week was to integrate black history into understanding standard
American history.

Nonetheless, Negro History Week became Black History Month
““ a month when corporations produce commercials that
highlight black innovation, schools celebrate blacks’
conspicuous contributions to society, and major television networks
program around black motifs.

The need for Black History Month stems from the lack of
representation in educational institutions and the media throughout
the rest of the year.

Therefore, for Freeman to attack the imperfect solution to an
unjust infrastructure rather than the infrastructure itself is
foolish.

Freeman is correct in saying that black history is American
history. Yet for the dominant society that creates the standard
history books and media images, most of that history ““
outside the plantation and Martin Luther King Jr. ““ is
superfluous.

Furthermore, Freeman’s belief that labeling a person black
or white signifies racism is another example of Black History
Month’s importance.

The extraordinary saga of the black ethnicity, like any other
ethnicity, should be celebrated and preserved rather than discarded
into the “melting pot” of assimilation.

Suggesting that the key to ending racism is ending Black History
Month ““ and pretending America is a monolith ““ presents
a disturbing paradox that reinforces the necessity of Black History
Month.

Acknowledging diversity does not divide America, it makes
America unique.

Crawford is a third-year English student and a writer for
Nommo.