Black History Month 2003

by sableindian 90 Replies latest forum announcements

• 

  LDH

  Derek,

  Quid pro quo. This includes getting rid of Historically BLACK universities. Why, you ask? These universities, fine institutions that they are, were built during the time a black American could not get a college education from white America.

  So they built their own schools.

  Well, that time has passed. While there is DEFINITELY still racism which affects college admissions, the only way to beat it is to confront it head on.

  We need to open those black universities to all students. Their professors are JUST as qualified as their white counterparts. It would do some good to expose non-blacks to black culture, too.

  They are a great accomplishment, but in my opinion, an idea whose time has come and gone.

  Now, we have *black* kids who grew up in *black* neighborhoods and listen to *black* music and go to *black* colleges and then graduate only to try to get a job in WHITE AMERICA .

  Yah Right.The dynamics of this diaspora truly don't bode well for the unity of the US.

  Lisa

  You won't catch my kid in Grambling Class
• 

  ashitaka

  Being of polish descent, I let things bounce off me more. (Remember, Polish jokes are the last kind of "racist" joke that is acceptable.) There is no Polack history month, or an in depth history of our potato famines. It's nice for people to learn about their culture, but I really don't care about any celebrations that are separated by race. Each person who makes a contribution to the world made themselves valuable because of the deeds they themselves worked hard for, not just because they were a certain race.

  But, if it must be, I designate the first week of April (april fools included) as Polack history week, where people will celebrate....Polska Kelbasi. that is all.

  ash
• 

  funkyderek

  Willie Lynch's Speech On His Methods For Controlling Slaves

  Sable, is that the best you can come up with for Black History Month? Instead of focusing on the atrocities some black people were subjected to 300 years ago, why not - if you must separate your "race" - focus on the black achievers, pioneers like Jean-Baptist-Point Du Sable, freedom fighters like Denmark Vesey, David Walker and Marcus Garvey, writers like William Wells Brown, Frederick Douglas, Booker T. Washington, Phillis Wheatley and Paul Laurence Dunbar, statesmen like Joseph Jenkins Roberts and John Mercer Langston, inventors like Jan Ernst Matzeliger, scientists like George Washington Carver, architects like Paul Williams, performers like Louis Armstrong and Sammy Davis Jr., athletes like Jesse Owens and Sugar Ray Robinson...

  If you must focus on skin colour rather than individual merit, then at least try to present black history as the long and fascinating tale that it is, complete with diverse individual acheivements that black people who share your race-based views can be proud of and learn from, not something that perpetuates the notion of black victimhood and drives a wedge between black and white.

  Edited by - funkyderek on 3 February 2003 12:37:43
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  ashitaka

  Country GIrl, You are comparing the struggles of African Americans to those of pickles??

  Dude, relax, seriously. She was making a cute comment about different weeks that are commemorated during the year. I think there is a week or month dedicated to everything. She wasn't disparaging Black History month. Take it easy, have a beer. Guinness always does the trick for me.

  ash
• 

  jst_me

  Ashitaka,
  1. I am not a dude.

  2. I was trying to bring to her attention that even though she thought it was a "cute" comment, it was distasteful. It reminds me of hearing students say that if Georgia's mascot could be a bulldog, why couldn't FSU's be a Seminole? You have to understand that is degrading.

  3. My grandfather came to this country from Poland, and I have always hated that my father accepted the Polish jokes. I know that is how people dealt with things, by ignoring them with humour, but I can tell you that I am completely clueless as to that side of my heritage, and I think allowing people to poke fun at my grandgather's ethnicity played a role in that. Because of their skin color, they knew that as long as they accepted the taunts and laughed them off they would make it in America. Alot of them have lost the customs from the old country. And I find that really sad.

  4. I have learned it is very dangerous to use alcohol as a way to escape things. I dont do that anymore. I have also learned that it is very, very dangerous to sit in silence when you observe racism.

  And LDH,

  Anyone can go to a historically black college. I know white people who actually got scholarships for being the minority there.

  It kills me when these things, hbcs, Black History Month, American Indian History Month (Novemeber), Asian History Month, Hispanic History Month, etc, etc, are seen as ways to seperate and divide. No one is stopping you from participating in any of them. They help all of us see the differences between the cultures, and that is a good thing.
  <P> ;</P>
  <P> ;</P>

  Edited by - jst_me on 3 February 2003 13:49:49
• 

  Crazy151drinker

  Ash,

  We call the Raiders Janikowski the polish sausage cause he kicks the ball with his 3rd leg! That dude is my favorite kicker!!

  I think they need bare boobies month...........

  Edited by - crazy151drinker on 3 February 2003 19:39:46
• 

  LDH

  Anyone can go to a historically black college. I know white people who actually got scholarships for being the minority there.

  Where they are lovingly welcomed with open arms, right? LOL.

  Lisa
• 

  Faraon

  Sableindian,

  Thanks for the link. It will enlighten my students.

  Animal,

  Question: Why is there no White Caucus in Washington DC?

  Because they already are Caucusian?
• 

  animal

  Whites-Only Scholarship At Black College, Alabama State, Stirs Controversy

  Several Black students at the predominantly Black Alabama State University (ASU) in Montgomery, AL, say a Whites-only scholarship program is unfair and unnecessary.

  It has been a heated topic at the university since 1995 when a federal court ordered the Whites- only scholarships. The first class of White students recently graduated along with their Black classmates.

  Since 1995, the university has been reimbursed up to $ 1 million a year for scholarships for Whites.

  The scholarship program is the result of a settlement reached in a race discrimination case filed by ASU and Alabama A&M University, also a Black college.

  A federal judge ordered the state to increase funding after the two Black colleges accused the state of operating two systems of higher education, one for Blacks and one for Whites. The judge also ordered the two Black colleges to start programs to enroll more White students.

  One Black student, Rhonda Turner, recently told "60 Minutes" that she finds the subsidizing of White students at ASU offensive.

  Turner said what the court order is "saying is that we need White students here in order to eliminate the perception of inferiority. As if they are going to go back home and tell their parents and other members of their community, 'Hey, this is a good school.' We don't need that. We don't need White students here in order to say we are a qualified school."

  Jessie Tompkins, a Black graduate student at ASU, has filed a suit in federal court challenging the scholarship program. Tompkins maintains that any scholarship program that excludes Blacks is unfair.

  Some Black leaders feel, however, that the conservative Washington, D.C.-based organization, Center for Individual Rights, which is representing Tompkins, actually wants to eliminate affirmative action.

  Elaine Jones, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, told "60 Minutes," "I believe that the Center for Individual Rights has an agenda that is going to move us back toward separate and unequal."

  Several Black students also maintain that the White students on the scholarship are less qualified than they are and that the university is only lowering its academic standards.

  Meanwhile, one White student, Karen Heiss, who is receiving the scholarship, said on "60 Minutes" that the Whites-only scholarship program is unfair.

  "I think it is definitely unfair that we're here based on the fact that we're White and we are given money to be here because we are White," she said.

  "However, I wasn't going to pass up the chance to have a free education. I am not stupid, I just don't think it is fair."
• 

  back2dafront

  Dang. That's crazy.

  Now that I think about this, I'm not sure I feel there should be black colleges. Public schools aren't segregated, so why should it be any different for colleges?

  I don't think there should be any scholarships for any particular race. I don't know...I mean, if there happens to be a majority of a particular race at a school because of the location or whatever, that's okay. But having a school just for a particular race...don't think I'm in favor of that. Seems like a step backwards - we fought to integrate schools, and now we're segregating.

  I just wish there wasn't a black/white issue in America. It's really depressing. That's why I enjoyed visiting Amsterdam and Paris so much - color wasn't an issue there at all, at least from what I noticed. I'm sure it exists to a degree, but it can't be nearly as big an issue there as it is here.

  Interesting article, Animal.

  Edited by - back2dafront on 3 February 2003 23:3:10