Aaron Moe, The Spectrum (University at Buffalo), February 23, 2009
{snip}
I am aware that some of [my teachers] feel that I have been slacking over the past month, not putting 100 percent into all of my schoolwork.
{snip}
With this being Black History Month, I have chosen to relax a little and enjoy our accomplishments, rather than indulge in all that schoolwork.
Enjoying and recognizing the accomplishments of black people who have shaped America is the main objective of honoring this month.
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How is it possible to talk about America emerging into a great nation without mentioning the fact that they accomplished this by implementing 200 years of slavery?
Or how can you boast about our country being equal opportunity providers, when the truth of the matter remains that if the Civil Rights Movement was not spearheaded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we might still be a segregated society?
{snip}
In an article entitled “Time to end black history month,” published on the American Renaissance Web site, many people expressed their dislike of the month.
According to Yemesi Oyeniy, Black History Month is something exclusively for black people, and “therefore fails to educate the masses of non-blacks.”
I can understand why she might feel that this is exclusively for blacks, but it’s not. It’s no secret that for every accomplishment that a black person has achieved, there were people of other races supporting that person. Slavery wouldn’t have ended without Abraham Lincoln and other abolitionists.
However, if this woman thinks that setting aside one month to honor blacks is taking away from the educating of non-blacks, then she is naive.
In all my years of schooling, all I can remember is learning about non-blacks. Even during Black History Month, the teachers would only set aside one or two days to tell us about it.
Honestly, one month is not enough time to even scratch the surface of all the things blacks have done in American history.
{snip}
Aaron Moe, assistant sports editor, University at Buffalo
[Editor’s Note: The AP story, “Time to End Black History Month?” can be read here.
Original article
(Posted on February 24, 2009)
Comments
I’m glad I’m not a regular reader of the sports page of THE SPECTRUM. I would feel like I’m getting the short shrift this month, with their key personnel taking the month off.
Why only February? Many people with a mentality like Mr. Moe now think they don’t have to work at all, because Obama’s going to make their mortgage and car payments, and pay their bills for them.
And where does he get off saying that BHM is for everyone, like it isn’t forced on whites already? (I remember during middle school the Black National Anthem was played every morning during February on the school’s PA system.) Or sometimes denied to whites — He might do well to read the occasional story here on AR and elsewhere that the white mother or father of a biracial child who wants to go to BHM ceremonies isn’t let in because they’re not black.
Who cares what the main objective of black history month is? Does anyone listen to these politically correct announcements expecting to seriously learn something? Will someone pay closer attention to this than the political ramblings on Oscar night?Are there really that many fools left in America?
Well, Mr. Moe, if blacks have done so much for this society, why didn’t you make a list of all those things they’ve done? Were you afraid it might be embarrassingly short? As opposed to, say, a list of the things that Euro-Americans have done for blacks, during the past 50 years?
And do you really think that if Martin Luther King hadn’t happened along, your “civil rights movement” would never have occurred? Did you ever hear of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling called “Brown vs. Board of Education”? It was passed by a court composed exclusively of White males. Ever hear of Harry S Truman? He ordered the integration of the U.S. armed forces in 1948. Landmark civil rights bills of the 1960s? Pushed through an overwhelmingly White Congress by Lyndon Johnson. The Civil War? Fought, ultimately, to end slavery — and fought mostly by White men.
Maybe you folks would be on firmer ground if you celebrated Black Gratitude Month.
Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King JR helped end government sanctioned segregation. So what? Eric Dyson could probably lecture me on the ‘vitalness’ of the subject but I, like 90% of other whites AND blacks, could care less. Blacks were slaves, now they aren’t. How does knowing this impact anything? Will blacks try harder in school? Will black on black violence drop to record low levels? Will blacks stop nitpicky workplace lawsuits? Someone has to explain to me the mechanism by which talking about black history has a transforming impact on blacks and whites.
I will give the author credit for one thing. He knew that Carter G. Woodson, a black man, was responsible for choosing February as black history month. It’s still amazing that the people who rave about the importance and significance of BHM are the ones who complain that ‘the white man’ gave them the shortest month. Most of the blacks who promote black history don’t seem to know black history.
The sad fact is that the overwhelming majority of black history is to be found in police blotters and court criminal case files.
“Honestly, one month is not enough time to even scratch the surface of all the things blacks have done in American history.”
Of course that’s absolutely true. In order to get a true picture, it’s necessary to spend literally hours every day for quite a long time searching through the US Dept. of Justice’s web site to get the full effect of what blacks have done.
Of course, if one were to Google “black male” lots of news stories would pop up describing thousands of roberies, rapes and murders, a large percentage of them black on white.
Also, a search of school records would reveal the number of incidents where trouble-making blacks constantly start trouble, instigate riots, and harass and berate whites, Hispanics, Indians, Middle Easterners and Asians. Researching these incidents would be almost impossible for any one person to undertake and complete, if he wanted to complete them within a couple of years.
Blacks have given America a 70% illegitimate rate, a 50% drop out rate in high school, despite the fact all they have to do is show up for class for four years to get a diploma. College is almost the same, but a bit more effort is required there, although affirmative action guarantees them a slot, plus a passing grade and a degree no matter how inept they might be.
I could go on and on and on and on, with the same deteriorating factors against America that blacks are responsible for, and it would take quite a long time, so I guess I have to agree with the above writer. One month just isn’t enough to list all the things blacks have done in American history.
Hey, how about this Mr. Moe, you can go to the library and study black history ALL YEAR ROUND. Go ahead, do it, I promise it won’t kill you.
I want to apologize to the African-American community for thinking they were lazy.
It turns out, just like the author, they were taking the entire month off to celebrate Black History Month.
Without the support of the government and the Main Stream Media (MSM)there would be no Black History Month.
It is really quite a remarkable contrast. We Irish-Americans just do our thing, celebrate our heritage, and the government and the MSM have no choice but to follow our lead. Check the InterNet, and you will find that, in every part of the U.S where there are even a few Irish, we have already planned our celebrations. We have never needed the government or the MSM to promote us. They make a big deal of us not because they are leading, but because they are trying to catch up.
Very few ethnic groups can legitimately claim that their home country would truly be stronger and better off if they didn’t exist. African-Americans are unique in that respect. Take away black crime, for example, and the law enforcement and criminal justice systems would be manageable. We could focus on locking up Latinos and the occasional low-grade white.
Long as they’re around, though, I think the original idea behind Black History Month wasn’t a bad one. Until it was specifically pointed out, I hadn’t been aware that a good number of very proficient cowboys, cavalry soldiers, and even fighter pilots in the second world war were black. You don’t normally think of a horseman or a pilot being black, so it doesn’t hurt to point out that some of them were.
All the accomplishments of such historical figures, though, have Z-E-R-O to do with the average ghetto dwelling half-wit with his pants falling off, obsessed with his hatred of whitey. And this guy Moe, taking the month off to celebrate, doesn’t much impress me either.
I’d like to ask that guffawing buffoon in the picture- WHAT EXACTLY CAN BHM DO FOR ME?
How is it possible to talk about America emerging into a great nation without mentioning the fact that they accomplished this by implementing 200 years of slavery?
Does America also have a ‘John Deer Tractor History’ month?
The preferrable aspect of man-made machines and tools to biological/ organic ones, is that they require less pandering and self esteem building gestures. And demand no credit for their deeds.
“In all my years of schooling, all I can remember is learning about non-blacks. Even during Black History Month, the teachers would only set aside one or two days to tell us about it.”
Why bother learning about “Black History”? Just to go Africa or the ghetto, and you can see Blacks living in the same state they have been in since the continents divided.
“Honestly, one month is not enough time to even scratch the surface of all the things blacks have done in American history.”
Well, that’s certainly true. But history classes only teach you about the important things, and Blacks haven’t done anything important for America. It’s easy to forget in today’s political climate, but this country was almost entirely White for most of its national history. Jim the slave was not “making history” when he picked cotton any more than an ox makes history when he plows a field. History documents the White man’s agency in harnessing the power of these beasts of burden, and his mercy in creating the technology that frees them from their bondage. However, like the oxen these Blacks are struggling to find a productive role in the modern world.
I should add that I think it’s great that this young man is at least aware of AmRen. I doubt he will ever become a race realist, but maybe someday he will start to question some of the things that have been presented to him as “universal truths”.
Ever notice how Bantus are stone silent on the role of African tribes in selling their enemies to slave traders?
On a lighter note, my Black History knowledge is confined to knowing Tupac Shakur died on September 13, 1996. A day that is celebrated in my household.
There is no “black history” apart from what the white man gave them,since a morning would suffice to relate black “achievements”and this too was written by a white man,funded by a white man,and invented by a white man,and there will be much more of this nonsense now that the American people have elected a luo tribesman to the presidency,illigitimately.
I suspect that Mr. Moe’s scholastic achievement wasn’t stellar to begin with so probably no one noticed that he was ‘slacking off’ in February.
I also suspect that Yemesi Oyeniy, the woman who questioned the validity of the “month” is an African. They tend to value education more than their American counterparts.
Help me on this one. I heard on the History Channel that the first person to reach the Arctic Circle was Black. True?
I can see how the writer feels that one month isn’t long enough to tell all of the contributions Blacks have made to the US.
3 more days and White Guilt Month will be over.
Black history began in Africa, but you never hear a word about black on black slavery or the fact that African blacks never even discovered the wheel…
Black History Month or Black History MYTH?
I keep forgetting (early senility?) about those magnificent Black intellectuals fanning out of interior Africa and across the width and breadth of early Europe. Carrying their burdens of knowledge and learning. Lovingly disguised in Whiteface makeup so as not to embarass the primitive skin-clad Greeks as they taught. The Greek thinkers and savants being taught to delve into the sciences, learn the finer points and use of mathematics. How to apply the gifts of geometry, anatomy, chemistry, even engineering knowledge from their African visitors. How in the 18th Century, visiting, well-disguised Blacks launched England and Europe into the Industrial Revolution. How every invention since then was by Blacks, not, as falsely claimed, by Whites.
Wonder if Aaron Moe is also honest enough to teach another facet of Black History? That automatic predisposition of Blacks to crime and violence, for example. Their parastic mentality; that being on perpetual welfare is more desirable than (shudder)… WORKING FOR A LIVING!
Hey Aaron, The reason you can only remember hearing about white accomplishments during your years of schooling is that western civilization is the product of whites, not blacks. If you want to know the facts study history, not “black history”. The revisionist nonsense that has given us the “black” Cleopatra, “black” higher mathematics, and the “black contributions” that were so crucial to the very existence of the United States. Two things Aaron. One, it’s non-white, always has been, always will be.”Non-black” is part of your delusion. Two, Black history begins with the Portugese exploration of the western coast of Africa in the late 15th century. Prior to that the European civilization knew little of the continent or it’s people. As far as I know African blacks at that time or any time in their past were incapable of sea travel, were unaware of any other people or places in the world, and were centuries behind whites in every way. I’ll give you some examples to think about. The photo shows you wearing a necktie, not a “black” development. Your eyeglasses were not developed by the “black” cultures. The university you attend is not the product of blacks. Your bright smile is hardly the product of the “black” development of dentistry. Every aspect of your life is due to western, white culture. And virtually every negative in American society is the result of the introduction of “blacks” to the continent. The next time you read anything in print ( a “black” development? ) or post on a website ( a “black” development? ) to comment on the value of “black” contributions to our society, first take a moment to reflect on what a fool you are.
I’m reminded of my experience with blacks in college.
On the FIRST day of class, blacks would show up and get the syllabus. After that, you’d barely ever see them except when there was a test. On the LAST day of class, all the blacks would hang back as the students were leaving and form a line. Each one would give their ‘song and dance’ routine to the professor as to why they didn’t show up for class and why they missed turning in assignments.
Purhaps Mr. Moe can use the excuse of Black History Month to lecture his teachers as to why he didn’t turn in any assignments and missed lectures for the month of February. He was just expressing black pride.
I was about to write an “exception proves the rule” piece about how the first heart transplant was done by a South African doctor. But a little fact checking shot that one down:
Dr. Christiaan Barnard
I can now say with all honesty that I learned something about Africans during Black History Month: A black didn’t do the first heart transplant. I knew his name, I didn’t know his race.
There is a small area between two streets that I have to pass on my way to my girlfriends apartment from the bus stop.
Pretty much describes my take on Black History Month.
Moe misses the point.
Well, Mr Moe should try doing something that would make a difference.
BHM is pointless.
Why not spend that time devoted to BHM on things that matter like money management, science and mathematics?
That’ll truly benefit black and white children.
There are good blacks and bad ones. To be honest with you I’m glad they are here. Of course people here will nit pick at their every problem. I dont celebrate that month nor do I think it should exist but our loving attitude towards them should be enough, especially if we are trying to create a post racial society.
Lapplanders have been living north of the artic circle since prehistoric times. I know one black accompanied Peary to the North Pole. That is the only black I can think of.
What cracks me up is blacks claiming that more whites are on welfare.
It’s a matter of percentages.
Say you have 100 whites and 10 blacks. You have 20 whites on welfare and 6 blacks on welfare. That’s 20% of whites and 60% of blacks.
Seems they can’t do math either….
Did he give one example of black achievement?
“The Civil War? Fought, ultimately, to end slavery…”
I’m sorry to keep harping on this, but I keep seeing this myth in almost every other post I read on AmRen.
The “Civil War” was NOT fought to end slavery. Emancipation occurred during the war—true—but the war had nothing to do with emancipation or race. Lincoln invaded the south to force them back into the Union. Period. The vast majority of Confederate soldiers had never owned slaves. They were fighting for their homes and families and freedom from a tyrannical Federal government. Slavery, specifically the extension of slavery to the new territories, was one of many precipating factors in the SECESSION, but the war had nothing to do with slavery. Furthermore, it wasn’t a “Civil War.” A civil war happens when two factions fight for control of the central government. That wasn’t the case here.
Anonymous wrote: 3 more days and White Guilt Month will be over.
Sadly, for leftists and their puppets in government the entire year is “White Guilt Month”.
I remember being in high school and noticing that nothing was taught about Jewish history. I asked my history teacher about it and he replied “Jews are not a civilization and our course focuses on civilizations”. Over time it became clear to me that the ethnic focus of high school history courses is not based on actual accomplishments of the various races/ethnic groups. Instead it’s based on how much political clout each group has. However, even though Jews have a lot of political clout, the Jews with power worship “people of color” which (in their minds) excludes ethnic Jews.
Robert Kelley,
Don’t be so harsh on our brown brothers. If it weren’t for them and their “colorful” behavior, housing prices wouldn’t be so affordable in Detroit!
Click on Wayne County:
http://www.rechrealtyreo.com/
Posted by WbuMongo at 9:30 AM on February 25
Clearly you lack no knowledge of history and you base all your facts on out dated sterotypes that have been disproven by on this website and others.
First of all in the RUINS of Zimbabwe there are numberous artifacts that suggest that Chinese had been there. Also Axumities, Nubians, Mali, and people in Mauritiania had written languages thats how we know their history. They are all undoubtly black. Many artifacts found in Haiti, Panama, and Mali suggest that there was some contact at some point between these groups of people.
Looking at one part of Africa and saying this black African history is just as stupid as looking at one part of Eastern Europe and saying “Oh those Europeans were inferior to us Arabs.”
“How is it possible to talk about America emerging into a great nation without mentioning the fact that they accomplished this by implementing 200 years of slavery?”
200 years of slavery?
Didn’t America came into being in 1776 and slavery was abolished around 1854?
Also Axumities, Nubians, Mali, and people in Mauritiania had written languages thats how we know their history.
If they wrote anything it was because they were Muslims and they wrote in Arabic. As far as I know, no sub-Saharan Black nation or tribe ever invented a written language. If you know of any great documents of, say, 11th century Black civilization in southern Africa, please direct us to them. There is a reason they call it the Dark Continent.
I remember being in high school and noticing that nothing was taught about Jewish history.
If you’re younger than I am (60) and around my daughter’s age, your history books also had nothing on WWII, Korea or the Viet-Nam war but page after page on MLK! and of course the black peanut guy.
Blacks are bigots and supremacists. They want everything for themselves and nothing for whites.
Aaron Moe, assistant sports editor, University at Buffalo