History is rarely taught through the eyes of those who lived through the brutal side of it, its taught through the side that maintains the power.
Our society today lacks an understanding of what having privilege really means. I’ve heard remarks such as “I work for everything I have” or “America is a free country, anyone can be where I am” time and time again, so many people get defensive or offended when posed with the question of weather or not they have privilege.
The media paints their feed with powerful and important messages throughout the month of February, politicians suddenly seem to have abig statement to make, and our school districts have a whole lesson directed towards it.
Well, I’m not arguing that the idea of black history month is bad; I’m just wondering why the only time we tend to see a consistent representation of black history in places like our school’s curriculum is during the month of February.
They don’t only teach about the history which is told through the eyes of the middle-class white man during a singular month, so why should any other population only be highlighted for this amount of time?
It’s a privilege to go to school and read a book that features characters who look just like you; it’s a privilege to learn about history through the eyes of your own culture.
You wouldn’t sit at the starting line of a track meet and say that the person next to you has the same oppourntity as you to win if you get a thirty second head start, so why do people think that its fair to say that they don’t have privllage compared to someone who historically were held miles behind you and are still trying to catch up today.
We think this way because we are taught history in ways that highlight growth and transformation; our classes lead us to believe that America has changed for the better, forgetting to mention the parts of it that still prevent equality.
When we limit featuring the truth of black history to just the month of February, we limit kids from learning about people just like them or different than themselves, and we hide the parts of history that make the US look bad.
We need to open the floor up to more conversations, more exposure, and more willingness to understand that America today is not a nation of equality, and America tomorrow cannot be an equal nation unless we start understanding the idea of privilege