Black History Month

[JPS]

Re: Black History Month

Or maybe the Canadians refuse to accept the proper American term and saying caker makes them feel more independant?

[Seraph]

Re: Black History Month

I'm a cracker where I live. I'm on the border though, so maybe it's spill over.

[Sezjeuric]

Re: Black History Month

Or maybe the Canadians refuse to accept the proper American term and saying caker makes them feel more independant?

Who's to say Cracker is the right word anyway?

Where DID that term originate?

I think I get called caker because I am so pasty white, and it makes them think of flour.

[gray]

Re: Black History Month

MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP GIVING PEOPLE CAKES

[Seraph]

Re: Black History Month

I think it's because Saltine Crackers are really really white. And Salty. That's why black people call us that.

[JPS]

Re: Black History Month

Where DID that term originate?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28pejorative%29

The term "cracker" was in use during Elizabethan times to describe braggarts.

[Maijo]

Re: Black History Month

There would be no racism left in the world if someone came up with a really offensive term for a white person.

Then we'd all be even and could laugh about it.

But cracker just doesn't do anything...

[Red Dragon]

Re: Black History Month

I think it's because Saltine Crackers are really really white. And Salty. That's why black people call us that.

Err, it's because of the whip. Y'know, the "cracking" sound of it.

[Seraph]

Re: Black History Month

Ugh...

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Black History Month

It's because white people like soup.

[Ms. Porkchop]

Re: Black History Month

It's because white people like soup.

It's true! I do enjoy soup.

and here's something we can all enjoy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs

[Sampson]

Re: Black History Month

It's like those people who say 'I don't mind gay people as long as they aren't flamboyant, or rock the boat too much'. Whatever.

Should there be a 'gay history month'? DAMN STRAIGHT. (hush) But taking away black history month won't improve that situation. Speaking as a gay man, I know how it feels to have your entire history ignored at best, and warped or completely erased at worst. It makes you feel invisible...like a ghost.

You brought this up, so I feel that it is appropriate to address.

On the order of flamboyant gay people...I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with flamboyant homosexuals if they have acted like that from a young age. HOWEVER, those who come out of the closet and drastically modify their behavior from standard male conduct to over the top flamboyant-ness drive me mad. (I know some people like this first hand) Basically, what it looks like to everyone else is a shallow plea for attention. You're a homosexual, you came out of the closet, I'm glad you had the courage. But no one cares.

Race, sexual orientation, whatever-pointless-categorization-of-people-you-want-to-fill-in-here should not be allowed to define a person. By creating "XYZ" month and then lecturing about people who happened to be born with such a characteristic (key here is born, not chose to) you are perpetuating exactly that.

You may have been born white or black, hetero or homosexual but if you let that insignificant part of your entire being make you what you are, then you're a tool.

[Stormy]

Re: Black History Month

I don't think their should be a Black History Month, not anymore. Or any kind of special month or such thing for a perticular group. By having such things you basically 'acknowledge' that that perticular group is different from everyone else, that they don't belong, which is bull****.

A better idea would be to just pick out lots of important figures from across the whole spectrum of the HUMAN race. As far as i'm concerned that is the only place the term race belongs, we are not seperate races, ethnicities yes, but races no.

And as for homosexuals, as long as they don't make a pass at me I'm fine. I'm uncomfortable with people touching me, no matter the gender/orientation. Unless I have very specific feelings towards them, but we won't get into that.

And another thing, nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to make me feel guilty for being born a straight white male. It ****** me off to no end when people try that. I didn't enslave anyone, I didn't deny you your rights, I didn't give you a speach impedement, I didn't keep your people from immigrating, I didn't put your people in internment camps, I didn't force you from your homes. GET OFF MY BACK!

[Bon]

Re: Black History Month

I don't think their should be a Black History Month, not anymore. Or any kind of special month or such thing for a perticular group. By having such things you basically 'acknowledge' that that perticular group is different from everyone else, that they don't belong, which is bull****.

A better idea would be to just pick out lots of important figures from across the whole spectrum of the HUMAN race. As far as i'm concerned that is the only place the term race belongs, we are not seperate races, ethnicities yes, but races no.

And as for homosexuals, as long as they don't make a pass at me I'm fine. I'm uncomfortable with people touching me, no matter the gender/orientation. Unless I have very specific feelings towards them, but we won't get into that.

And another thing, nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to make me feel guilty for being born a straight white male. It ****** me off to no end when people try that. I didn't enslave anyone, I didn't deny you your rights, I didn't give you a speach impedement, I didn't keep your people from immigrating, I didn't put your people in internment camps, I didn't force you from your homes. GET OFF MY BACK!

Indeed, you didn't. It doesn't mean my people are going to try to make out that you "oppressed" them. Too many ****-ups in the '07 because the white man said something us Blacks declared "out of line," you dig?

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: Black History Month

let me just play a flip card from my usual and say that the law finds those guilty who may never of fired the shot that killed, may not of disposed of the body, but are still every bit as guilty because without them the crime would not of been done.

i think the blacks are mad because the white peoples of the past built a great deal of their own wealth and standing from the enslavement of the black people. even though no one alive today has been a slave to the former system, they still feel cheated out of a presumed brighter future.

this argument has little ground since most successful people today have built their wealth from current world ideologies, not the past wealth drawn from slavery.

i suppose that part of the problem is that we can never change what has happened in the past, nor are we guilty or have to pay for crimes our fathers committed. people sometimes rather play the victim because its easier to accept then realize that its themselves who have chosen to stay on the road to poverty. the road out of poverty is extremely difficult, yet it is navigable, and that first step is realizing you dont need to blame anyone for where you are.


the single thing we can take from the past is knowledge. we can never change the past, only understand why it happened and work to ensure that the future remembers it. isnt that the whole purpose of a black history month? to remind us of where our society has been, to show us how far we have traveled from those darker days? you look at this from a racist view, that a history month devoted to a skin color is about "difference." the goal of black history month is not to elevate one skin color over another, but to point out the great achievements of the past, a past that belongs to everyone regardless of skin color, and to remind us more strongly, of the blacks struggle to gain rightful equality.

its no different then earth week (a reminder to treat the earth right), no different then commercial holidays like thanksgiving (a historical reminder to give thanks), valentines day (another reminder to think of your loved ones), or the 4th of july (the big reminder and celebration of freedom).

a month does seam long, but it is the shortest month, and there is a lot of history to cover, not to mention its historical significance. its quite ironic that we argue the need for such a month yet no one here understands its importance beyond race. of course there is no white history month, its covered in other events throughout the year.

black history isnt about skin color, its about the road from being crushed underfoot by the civilized world to having an equal standing inside of it. that is a struggle worth telling, that is a struggle worthy of a simple month of our time. a shame no realizes it.