News Story:
This is really not a blog post that covers a news item but in my opinion that was inspired by a Fox News story covering Morgan Freeman’s views on Black History Month and the use of Africa-American. In truth, I have had these same thoughts for a long time.
History Months:
I have never agreed with the fill in “Fill In the Blank” History Month idea. Maybe it is because I truly believe we need to learn the history of all cultures, races, nationalities, etc. to understand better and get along. We need to know the good and the bad of all of our histories to better understand how we got here. I also believe that knowing the true history of each race would also help end discrimination. And let’s face something else, even within a race or nationality there is more than one side of the coin. I mean, there are good and bad events and people in all our own histories to learn from.
Another reason I have an issue with the history months falls into something that Morgan Freeman stated, “Black History Month is an insult. You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” Really you can replace black in that statement with any other race or color, with the exception of white. Is this idea of only spreading the history of a people to one month a way to minimize those people? Is it to appease them? I don’t believe that was the idea, but it was a way to be uplifting. But let’s face it, you can’t reduce any one people’s history to a small box. Then you also would have to understand that making a month for a race of people really is too general because there are sub-groups within each race group.
The biggest reason I dislike the history months is that it does little to bring us together. In fact, I agree with Morgan Freeman on this too, and have said the same thing, it divides us instead. It creates boundaries that only get bigger and bigger. Why couldn’t we actually try to teach the entire year of the Americans from all walks of life, good and bad? Build the people of America’s knowledge of exactly how we all got here.
Hyphenated America
Now this topic, you can break down a number of ways. For me it is simple, if you live in this country you are either American or you’re not. There is no hyphenated America unless you are dual citizens of another country. This means, if you were born in America you are not African-American, Mexican-American, etc-American. If you migrated to America and have gotten your citizenship, you are an American. If you migrated to America but don’t have your citizenship, you are a resident of America and still your former country. And as I stated, if you have dual citizenship you are XXX-American.
Just as a sidebar, I don’t believe America should allow dual citizenship because as such, where is your true alliance standing? Is it with your current or former nation?
Next, in the US there are many people that use their heritage as the blank-American but have never stepped foot in that country. For example, I am of Mexican descent and proud of it, but I won’t use the term Mexican-American when addressing my race. I am an America with a Mexican heritage. How can you claim to be a person from a country you have never lived in? And trust me when I say this, you have no idea what that country is really about unless you lived there. Then you also have the terms, Asian-American and African-American, So what part of those continents are you supposed to be from? Africa has 54 separate countries in Africa and 48 Asian countries in Asia. Not one of those countries are the same in languish, cultures, food, and etc.
But like you may have figured, the biggest issue with the hyphenated nation I have is the fact it breaks us down into groups of separation. It makes it where we are not one nation, but God knowns how many subgroups. When I was in the Navy, I didn’t see race or color but my brother or siste next to me. We counted on each other to live and survive in many cases. So, why I earth do we want to separate ourselves? Creating gaps that really hurt us more and allow the politicians to use us against each other. That is where I find the biggest issue with the hyphenated American standard the goverment placed on us.
In leaving, here is a video I like of John Wayne:
