["The other poster was born in America, into a society that to this day does not recognize him as an equal. While I don't always agree with him, I can understand his anger."]
What?? speak for yourself, but i think we overcompensate in our "recognition" of their equality. Look at black holidays and affirmative action, no sir they aren't equal, but they are unequal in that they favor blacks over whites!
22 comments
Is he talking about Kwanzaa and MLK Day?
Also, last I checked, affirmative action was needed. Because, you know, people were favoring whites over blacks.
Sadly no. One unfortunate area where blacks do not get equal care is in the medical and hospital care field.
Look it up on JAMA online. Heck, google it.
"Look at black holidays and affirmative action, no sir they aren't equal, but they are unequal in that they favor blacks over whites!"
Er... citation needed. (Yawn...)
Unfortunately, visibly race-centric programs and 'holidays' don't really seem to DO much for anyone. They just make the issue seem all lopsided and awkward, and give racists something to point at and claim that minority is getting 'special' and 'preferential' treatment.
And at the same time, things like affirmative action, which is meant to help, wind up a focus of mockery and scorn, hindering everywhere except the one place it directly affects.
Doesn't matter who benefits, it's still discrimination, I thought the idea was to stop discriminating against people based on arbitrary conditions like race and gender?
Black Valentine's Day would be an awesome name for an emo band. I'm copyrighting it. Black Christmas will be their goth counterpart.
Kwanzaa is the only black holiday I know of (I'm not a big fan of it for the record; it's not African and it was made up by some crackpot college professor with virulently racist views). I don't consider MLK day a "black" holiday any more than Washington's birthday is a "white" holiday. It's simply the recognition of a great American who brought tremendous value not only to black Americans, but to Americans of all races and backgrounds.
African American culture gets one unspectacular holiday with MLK Jr. Day and a month to reflect upon their history and struggle because like it or not it's a major part of our cultural identity.
Whites get the rest of the year and somehow they still find away to complain.
@Vox
Yes, but how often do you learn the circumstances of Kwanzaa's invention in school or on television shows about the holiday? It is usually presented (from what I've seen) as a holiday with African roots. It's not.
I do celebrate (as a white American) MLK day, though; he's a man I certainly admire.
SeekerLancer, I agree with you, re: cultural identity. I only wish that all of these "months" we have now - black history month, women's history month, indigenous history month, etc. - could be folded into one grand tapestry of American history that forms that shared identity of our country, rather than treated as seperate compartments or specialized areas of study.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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