February 1st marks the start of one of America’s greatest holiday traditions. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the Superbowl. Now, now — I’m sure that the Superbowl has a few fans out there. But if you must have a Superbowl tie-in, the month-long celebration that I’m describing happens to be directly relevant to Steelers’ coach Mike Tomlin, the vast majority of professional American football players and those who hope to learn from and honor history. That’s right, February 1st is the start of Black History Month.
As part of Black History Month, I offer the following disturbing video (with my commentary following):
For me, it was a struggle to get through this. I think it’s an important piece because it demonstrates (in the tradition of the famous Fail Blog), a clear visualization of a Black History Month FAIL. Since this happened about three months ago, it is technically black history. I would hope that we have moved on from this type of thing since then, but human nature and history being what it is, I doubt that we have really moved past this yet.
My problems with this video are as follows:
- It’s okay to be happy about your candidate winning. It’s also okay if you value the historical significance in acknowledging the first black president. The person in the video is getting a little overboard. I’ve been told that the language used in this video (and the history and intentions behind it) is inappropriate and has absolutely no place in our society today. I mean, you’re not making a rap video.
- Ultimately, the job of president has nothing to do with race. Maybe the international audience (and yes, the international Muslim community) will see America in a more positive light. I don’t know if this will be the case, but let’s hope so. However, being president is really about your decision making abilities, the content of your character and other non-physical, non-racially defined characteristics. You know — what you think of if you are trying to think of an idealized definition of the term “presidential”.
- Being factually wrong is not a virtue in any case. Scared (or ignorant) white people have perpetuated a number of rumors that Obama was a closet Muslim and in league with terrorists. The person in this video seems to want to perpetuate these false allegations. Since she’s told that these aren’t true (in the video even) and continues to stand by them, she is no longer ignorant. She has clearly moved to into stupid territory.
- Her last comment is that every channel will be Black Entertainment Television (BET). Having watched more than enough BET in my days, this would be unfortunate. BET spends all day perpetuating black stereotypes into the minds of black viewers. And I’m not all alone in this, there has been a great deal of criticism toward BET’s place in the black community. For the most part, it’s all mindless drivel in the same way that mainstream entertainment has been to white audiences. Entertainment can simply be there to entertain, but you’ll be in trouble in this world if that’s all you have left at the end of the day.
- Aside from the video itself and the presenters use of race as a factor for judgment (thus racism), look at the comments made by viewers of the video on YouTube. References to derogatory racial claims and that stereotypes are being reinforced. Instead of coming together, the divide is furthered.
The point of this discussion is that we need to make real progress, and we need to evolve. If we are held back because we are not together on issues of minor differences like race, we will never come to achieve anything greater as a society. In such cases, a step forward here will be met with two steps backward there.
So to my readers, I ask this: take a few minutes out of your schedule to understand what black history and culture has to really do with anything. While there’s criticism of the reason for having only one month out of the year to devote to black history (and the shortest month at that), make an extra effort to learn something new. To my black friends, ask yourself how an understanding of your racial history can positively impact your future. To my non-white friends, find at least one good reason why this is important and then how your knowledge can help to bring about better racial understanding. While I’m asking you to do your own homework, you can be sure this won’t be the last post I make on this issue this month (or this year for that matter).
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