The world has been in a daze of happiness ever since Obama has been elected president, and there is nothing wrong with being hopeful about the face of racism in America. However, people seen ti have taken it a step to far, suggesting that we stop having Black History Month. Phillip Morris, a columnist from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, wonders: "At what juncture, then, does Black History Month run the risk of becoming a pointless exercise in race chest-bumping?" He represents all of those who believe that at this point, Black History Month is only reminding us of racial tensions and increasing separation.
While I see the logic in Morris' point, I must strongly disagree. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, "students still learn more about white achievers than they do about black ones." Yes, Obama's win was a huge step, it will surely continue to produce this much excitement for years to come. However, I could never truthfully say that there's no racism left in the world. Steps still need to be taken in order to achieve complete equality, and I think Black History Month is a great aid in this task, and should definitely not be cancelled. Even Obama himself has said that Black History Month is "a chance to examine the evolution of our country and how African Americans helped draw us ever closer to becoming a more perfect union."
Yes, America has made leaps and bounds in decreasing racism since reconstruction, but we can't get so full of ourselves that we get rid of the very things that help us continue to do so.
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Although as a nation we have made obvious strides in our understanding that we are all fundamentally equal and the pigment of our skin does not signify some sort of inferiority to others, eliminating racism completely is a lofty goal. This is why Black History Month should never be eradicated, because complete equality is not going to happen.
As people we often define ourselves by what we are not. The color of our skin is really only a more apparent form of how others are different from us. The way our hair is cut, our financial status, the way we look or dress are all ways of casting some out and making the other group feel better about themselves.
In past fifty years we have made a vast improvement on our cruel ways of looking at race, but eliminating racism entirely will always be an ambitious goal when it is inherent in human nature to look down on others irrationally, no matter what the reason.
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