Note: This post is based on “We Talk, You Listen” (1970) by Vine Deloria, Jr (pictured), a Native American (Sioux) writer. His ideas, my words:
By 1970 it was clear to most people that American history was too white as commonly taught at schools and universities. There were two main schools of thought about how to set it right:
- The cameo theory of history – or tokenism. Throw in some worthy people of colour, like Crispus Attucks. Attucks was the first person to die in the American Revolution and, as it turns out, he was black. Yet the American Revolution was about the freedom of white people, not blacks, something made crystal clear by the fact that many of its top figures were white slave owners. Adding black, brown, yellow and red faces to the framework of white history – the Pilgrims, the American Revolution, the Alamo, Manifest Destiny, the California Gold Rush, etc – does not make it any less white. It is just window dressing.
- The contributions school – This is where we value people of colour because they have made life more comfortable and enjoyable for present-day middle-class White Americans. We should love Native Americans because they “gave” “us” squash, tobacco, potatoes, chocolate and maple syrup. Royalty-free, no less. It is where we learn about George Washington Carver because of his work on peanuts.
In both cases people of colour are valued only to the degree that they have helped (or hurt) white interests. That is still white history – even if people of colour appear in demographically correct proportions. It is just like those Black Best Friends in Hollywood films whose love life, family, house and goldfish we never see. Like them, people of colour are not fleshed out – they have no history or interests or value of their own. Their only value is in service to white people.
Nor does it help us to understand history that much better. Deloria:
Certainly there is more to the story of the American Indian than providing cocoa and popcorn for Columbus’s landing party. When the clashes of history are smoothed over in favor of a mushy togetherness feeling, then people begin to wonder what has happened in the recent past that has created the conditions of today.
It means people of colour are fed the delusions of white people.
It means white people are fed a narrow view of humanity.
Deloria:
There must be a drive within each minority group to understand its own uniqueness. This can only be done by examining what experiences were relevant to the group, not what experiences of white America the group wishes itself to be represented in.
Each group has to write its own American history. To fully understand America you have to understand its main histories, plural – Black, Native, Chicano, etc – not just the White American one. You must understand them from the inside, on their own terms, not as a flat stereotype viewed from the outside.
See also:
- Books on American history
- The voice of colour
- The diseased host model of American society
- Other thoughts on the whiteness of history:
- The history of black history
- Aisha Muharrar: Black Best Friend (video)
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Thank you for sharing the thoughts of Mr. Deloria, Jr. I have been bothered by the limited perspectives of history that have been taught for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and “people of color” in general.
As a Black American, the knowledge I gained in my early years about history was extremely limited. There might be a paragraph or two about an ancient African kingdom, then slavery, then Civil Rights with some discussion on people like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr. This was repeated almost exactly from Kindergarten all the way until high school.
Only in my late teens did I begin to pick up on the history lessons that were denied to me.
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This is an excellent idea for a post.
The thing is, if only white educators try.to “de-white” US history, the only thing that comes to mind are those 2 schools of thought.
Even if we formulate alternative schools of thought, how do we convince educators to teach other versions?
I also noticed a 3rd school of thought in some post-90s history textbooks. Let’s call it “cultural enlightenment”, whereby brief descriptions of non-Anglo cultural traditions were presented as though they were exotic or foreign.
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Abagond,
This is just like what you wrote in regards to a post that regards American schools teaching their version of history not to educate, but to make people be proud of their country. If those behind those books want the people to docile enough to love this nation no matter what, they have to remove all of the dark truths from America’s past. With that done, people who are taught the whitewashed history of America will see any and all problems facing PoC as their own defects of culture, not symptoms of a racist, oppressive, murderous past.
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Continued…
At the same time, white people will take all of the propaganda in as the truth because they see many accomplishments and victories as evidence of the inherent superiority of whites. They will see themselves as natural born achievers. Even the ones who aren’t greatly successful will latch on to those “great” moments, true or otherwise, and will attribute that of not only America’s “greatness” but the “greatness” of the White American.
Yet, since they will see a few PoC written in this version of history, they will either compare them to the PoC today and wonder what’s wrong with them, or they will reduce their moments to insignificant levels and place white accomplishments on a much higher pedestal.
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Mr. Deloria Jr’s writings are a masterpiece, he wrote what every minority group, has thought about for 100’s of years.
Yet, white supremacy reigns and minority history still isn’t taught from their own, prospective view point in America schools.
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Continued still…
PoC, on the other hand, will hardly see any great moments. Sometimes stories of rebellion against the oppressive system will be reverted to acts of terrorism. I remember a teacher from a while back saying that the Black Panther Party is equivalent to the KKK. And I believed it until a few years ago when I actually did some research.
Yet, this has an effect on the self esteem of PoC. I recall asking a group of black kids if they knew where their history. They all said they all came from slaves. And that was it. Now, given the lie that not only black people haven’t done much of anything since the beginning of time and add to today’s constant bombardment of negative images coming from everywhere they turn, is there no surprise how so many young people get the impression that black is bad and white is good? And as such, should anyone be surprised that it’s being taken by black people and can have damaging effects that can manifest in dangerous ways?
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Reblogged this on donatelloturtle.
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Brothawolf:
This is exactly the reason, why black people don’t have self esteem, being feed this negative images and have no reference to point to anything good about ourselves as black people in the present and history.
Look at what they did, here in my own state of Connecticut, in the capital of CT no less! Hartford,CT.!!!!
Nature’s Classroom(Connecticut) Using ‘Slavery Reenactments’ as Education tools
(http://youtu.be/xUIS5R9knvk)
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Let’s all keep in mind one very important idea. Not only does the North American history of other entities exist apart from North American white history. There is establishment history and then there is white history. The two are not the same thing. Nor are establishment institutions white institutions even though they still largely under the ultimate control of whites. The mainstream media and major universities, for example, are not white media. They are establishment media and the establishment educational system. American whites, people of white European descent, along with a very few non-European adjuncts, that is to say, to do not control and are not represented by these establishment institutions. Increasingly, most white American cannot even aspire to work or study in the major establishment controlled institutions.
The idea of treating the mainstream of whites as privileged is getting a little old and tired. More to the point, whites, apart from those for whom specific arrangements have been made to provide for their education and careers, are a socioeconomically disadvantaged group. Not as much so in the aggregate as the major non-white minorities, but still so. That people might in their private recesses harbor racist thoughts is not an argument against their inclusion. A better measure would be whether or not they intend to interfere with the ability of other people to work and study. Worse yet is the idea that the willingness to support or at least subordinate one’s self to what could be termed the “leftist”, “progressive”, “liberationist” or “Popular Frontist” agenda is the appropriate measure of whether an individual is desirable or not.
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Great post and AmeriKKKlan is based on Whiteness, racism and White supremacy. That is how this country operates and will always operate. We minorities can’t do anything about it than watch this racist system unravel.
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Anonymike,
I agree with your point and I believe it is important to point out. However, most white Americans support and identify with the establishment. That is the very reason whiteness was created.
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Well, this seems to be the on going theme of white washing in American history.
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@Adeen: “We minorities can’t do anything about it than watch this racist system unravel.”
I disagree that we can’t do anything. We must unite for a common goal and force those who don’t respect by hurting them in their pockets to serve our interests plain and simple.
The only way we as blacks can write our own history books is to have our own communities, schools, and economic power base. I believe all heck would break loose if history books were rewritten to portray the truths of how whites behaved not just here in America but globally. This country only understands “dead presidents” and it’s sad we as blacks are only useful if we are 1) entertaining, 2) spending our money with others and not our own, and 3) in prison.
p.s. Here’s what the state of Texas is doing with their history books…a disgusting whitewash -> http://blog.sfgate.com/ybenjamin/2010/05/21/texas-approves-renaming-slave-trade-as-atlantic-triangular-trade/
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@ Jefe, I hated the 90’s approach to teaching cultural heritage. They basically got away with teaching as little as possible with windowing dressing on top. As if it wasn’t for the nice white person helping this person of color they would have never gotten it done. Which in most cases, I said isn’t that life it isn’t always what you know but who you know. (Full on Detention for almost 3 months.)
History can get down right ugly and dirty but few have the guts to really look at it. The first thing I get when you try to tell history is revisionist Like by naming something you can ridicule it. I usually have to tell the person the revision work was done a long time ago now we are just aligning the facts.
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sondis
This is exactly the reason, why black people don’t have self esteem, being feed this negative images and have no reference to point to anything good about ourselves as black people in the present and history.
Dr. Joy DeGruy, author of the book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, mentioned this, only she referred to it as vacant esteem, which pretty much means the same thing.
Black folks struggle to survive in a system that doesn’t largely kill them directly, but kills them softly in other psychological and emotional ways. Yet, the denial of this obvious truth is staggering, mostly because certain people don’t want to change or dismantle the system.
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Solesearch: Being white myself, but definitely a contrarian, I am well aware of the issue of whiteness and would say I came upon of my own accord and for my own reasons. What began to trouble me was the idea that American whites seemed not to think that they had any characteristics and did not need to define or be aware of their characteristics, not exactly because they were white, but because they believed that they were the way people were supposed to be and therefore did need to define or be aware of their own characteristics. On the other hand, they were able to observe and define the characteristics of other people with a sharp and highly critical eye. Even whites who had or seemed to have distinct characteristics, like Jews, Italians and Irish. The problems of white people in America, of most white people, that is to say, cannot be addressed because the characteristics of white people are not defined. I would say further that the whites who might need some ministrations and outreach therefore end up being treated as recalcitrant and undeserving simply because they show or exhibit visible characteristics.
In the end, I think, what we call “whiteness” then is a residue of the Calvinsist idea of the elect, the Freudian theory that individuals must have a certain type of upbringing to be successful in higher pursuits, and just plain Social Darwinism. When the advantaged class of whites provide ministrations and outreach to non whites, as they in fact do, the whites who complain about the inequity of it are treated as particularly morally bereft and obtuse. Almost all whites who complain about minority outreach, however, end up taking the self-abnegating position that they want to nothing for themselves and nothing for everyone else too, meaning nothing for minorities either. Aside from the practical consideration that “nothing for everyone” does not often succeed as a political agenda, you would think that people would be more interested in looking at what happens to them than what happens to someone else. But not is this case, and the question why is itself an important topic. Not that non-white minorities do not come under scrutiny in this matter.
They have gone along with this arrangement for more than 40 years without themselves ever expressing reservations about any aspect of it except for those few people who, like the self-abnegating whites, advocate a system of strict meritocracy. Whatever that means. I suppose it means, whomever has the the most “whiteness”, in a deracialized meaning of that term, in the meaning that they are most like the way people are supposed to be, regardless of their color or origins, deserves to get ahead. While everyone else deserve to be kept back. Of course, there also are many people who do not aspire to any career requiring higher education. What happens to them also is a big issue, but that is for another time.
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@KOT
What is the approach now?
So we had
0. Non-white people absent from US history (appear only as challenging white authority, manifest destiny, etc.)
1. Cameo / token approach (insert non-white historical figures even if they were irrelevant or incidental to the white history being studied)
2. Contribution approach (insert non-white historical figures which made life better, easier and happier for white people)
3. Cultural Enlightenment approach (introducing non-white cultures in the USA as though they were foreign or exotic so that white people can learn more about other people in the USA)
When I look at Texas and Arizona, looks like it is moving back to approach 0.
Is realistic history being taught in those “ethnic studies” classes? I really want to know the current situation as they did not have that when I was in High School.
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@ kiwi
Interesting it does seem they focus a lot on the food poc eat and have contributed but not what they did or invented. I guess they look at poc as cooks and nothing more. its a compare and contrast like look at us we discovered America and the natives just knew about squash, tobacco, popcorn, etc. Like look at our huge achievements compared to the poc small food contributions. I can’t stand mcdonalds, their commercials annoy me have somebody rapping about mcdonalds in their commercial, what’s next a dam gospel choir singing about the nuggets. smh then with the native americans the first thing we learn about them is thanksgiving, again involving some food smh.
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This is exactly the reason, why black people don’t have self esteem, being feed this negative images and have no reference to point to anything good about ourselves as black people in the present and history.
Not true. Studies show blacks have the highest self esteem of any group. Not surprising. Studies also show the least competent are most likely to over estimate their performance.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3263756/
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Da Jokah
“Not true. Studies show blacks have the highest self esteem of any group. Not surprising. Studies also show the least competent are most likely to over estimate their performance.”
I’m 100% positive, that a white agency, found those, “studies” and posted those results. nothing more than white washing by whites, to make it seem like black people are happy, despite white supremacy, racism and white privilege.
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^ yep and these the same ppl that portrayed blacks as being happy tap dancing co_0ns during jim crow.
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As for the blacks having higher self esteem, um that says high schoolers. Of course ppl in high school will say yes I’m happy and confident. when ppl in high school they think they can conquer the world and everything is about popularity. So I wonder how many of the black kids were considered popular and what the school demographics were . I would love to see where those kids self esteem is when they face the real world. There are kids that go through he11 at home yet are the funniest happiest ppl at school and u would never know. imo the best comedians were the ones that had a tough time.
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@Sondis
@Da Jokah is out of cards. However,
Is that the only study you have @DaJokah?Can you pull up two more studies consistent with that one?
And I think you always need to be cautious of experts in society. WHITE & BLACK. YMMV
It is not hard to pay an expert somebody a 100 grand to fabricate a study to satisfy an agenda.
Does not mean that all studies are fabricated.
For example, if you are the FOOD company & your food is low quality, but you are doing your own study to prove otherwise, well, obviously that will be a conflict of interest.
I am not saying your study is BS. I am going to ask you from now on, when you do research, start using that legendary white intelligence of yours and FOLLOW THE MONEY & always think about MOTIVE.
What does this person has to gain by lying to me? You love the IQ test so much, so I am assuming you have a triple digit IQ.
Use your noggin to inspect some of these shady white folks.
@DaJokah, you are going to have to come to the sad reality, that you & millions of whites have been HAD/HUSTLED/BAMBOOZLED/HOODWINKED/SUCKERED by your own.
LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES.
If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON, 1960, remark to Bill Moyers, “What a Real President Was Like,” Washington Post, 13 November 1988
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mstoogood4yall:
That’s a great point to add onto what i said. When and if these people, ask black teens, that live home with mom and dad or even one parent, its biased on the basis that a young black teen, hasn’t explored the world and been out there, by themselves to see what white folks are really like.
When you’re out the house, from up under your parents, then the pressure is high to get a job and pay the bills.
This is where, job discrimination hits a young black person, they start to see for themselves that black people are the last hired and first fired.
Then if that doesn’t change their whole view of being a black person, being treated like dirt on the job by white co-workers and your white boss/supervisor will, being pigeon held on your job, hitting the glass ceiling.
I’ve said this before, i love to see young black children and teenagers, happy and carefree, it reminds me of when i was there age. I thought the world was my oyster and i could do anything i wanted to do, without anyone obstruction, boy was i wrong. lol
I’m not saying a black person can’t be anything they want to be, I’m just saying the road is harder than the average white person or any other minority group for that matter. For a black person to be successful, they would have to doge so many hurdles. They would have to have both parents or at least 1 that is there for them in every way. No drugs,no crime, no bad influences, not be effected by poverty, not have been sexually molested.
The list goes on and on…
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[…] See on abagond.wordpress.com […]
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I completely agree with the fact that it is useless to rely on mainstream America to contribute the true history of the making of North America (in fact, the entire Western world. In fact, world history); but still, I don’t understand why there are still such shortcomings in correcting academic discourse and the inclusion of the roles those of the African diaspora and all POC played in building the world around us. Why are these corrections still yet to be made?
Tell me, did anyone see the Lincoln movie? Was it accurate in portraying Lincoln as a man who did not even begin to consider the fact that slavery was POSSIBLY immoral until he was on his death-bed, and that he assured everyone that his fight to abolish slavery was about the fact that it had consumed job opportunities for working class Whites and no other reason? Lincoln didn’t even consider African Americans human, that’s why it didn’t occur to him that it was cruel to have Black men fighting in the civil war bare footed, as he considered us animals. I refused to watch that movie out of fear that they would make this racist, hateful character of American history, out to be a “White hero/hope story,” which would be far too upsetting to watch.
I have no problem celebrating Whites who contributed to the world/the Western world/America, and those who contributed to the liberty of my people, like Thomas Jefferson and the early Republicans who were some of the first victims of the KKK, for demanding that slavery be abolished because they felt it was disgusting and ungodly. I do, however, have a problem with celebrating the likes of Lincoln and Columbus..
If I have no problem acknowledging said heroes who happened to be White, I can’t understand why White America, or the colonialized world at large, rather, has a problem with including minority heroes in its narrative. What is the problem?
This was a great read, thanks Abagond. I was not aware of any of the Black heroes mentioned in this piece. I’m from the UK and we’re not taught anything about our history over here. I think we are all educated to see ourselves as descendants of slaves, nothing before, just after, and certainly not as Africans. There was a study a few years ago that found that Black children gain low self esteem from images of themselves in the media, whereas White children gain a greater sense of pride. I’m pretty sure the same results would be found if they were to test the impact that the one sided narrative of the education system has on minorities compared to White children.
I can assure you, I am not one for playing the victim and I’m not one for sitting around venting for the sake of a-feel-good-pick-me-up-circle-gathering, but things like this really always puts things in perspective: you are essentially fed a narrative that you do not exist, your face is nameless, your voice is faceless, and you do not matter; to and by the entire world around you. Couple that with the story that you were stolen, beaten, boiled alive, raped, and completely undone for many a life time, but you sang some songs and were given some humanity on paper, and then add…“the end” to that, and it becomes clear it’s a recipe for continued oppression that is still as dangerous as it ever was.
The only way I can see things changing is by us being organised and proactive in progressing into spheres of influence to make changes for ourselves: academia, politics, law, etc. That’s the only way things are ever going to change. It’s pretty clear they are not going to give us the dignity of being honest and just…ever.
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Lone ranger was black…. Until they made a movie about it. Then he became white, like Egyptians, and apparently Ethiopians are white now too..lol because I don’t think they were told that here in Boston. I even read Somali are dark skinned white folks. Lol it has to be a whitewashing if the people washed don’t even know they’re “white” tell one of these Somali goons that they are dark skinned Caucasians. Lol. I literally dare somebody
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^^^ “deathbed” + “working class Whites, and for no other reason?”
Just look at the voting restrictions. I think, in many ways, we’ve become a little passive in a false sense of security, a sense of security that’s grossly inaccurate to what is really going on behind the scenes, even in 2013. There’s no two ways about it, there’s still A LOT to be desired. If we continue to be complacent, choosing instead to reserve being united until it comes to jumping up and down to “Superman that h0,” we’re gonna lose ground, and much quicker than we think. (And I’m talking to my early-twenty-something-generation here.) Don’t get too comfortable!
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[…] "Note: This post is based on “We Talk, You Listen” (1970) by Vine Deloria, Jr (pictured), a Native American (Sioux) writer. His ideas, my words: By 1970 it was clear to most people that American history was too white as commonly taught at schools and universities. There were two main schools of thought about how to set it right:" […]
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I know a guy from the US; he’s only in his 30’s; he was made to watch “Birth of a nation” in school. I couldn’t believe it when he said it. Imagine that, young Black kids, in a mixed school environment, forced to sit and watch “Birth of a nation” with their classmates for “education purposes.” I’m still shocked by that.
If “Gone with the wind” gives me an uneasy feeling as an adult, from the confines of my own home, whenever it’s applauded with a little too much enthusiasm, (like at one of the recent Oscar ceremonies), I can’t imagine what having to sit through “Birth of a nation” would do to a little brotha.
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I am hoping that by the time my toddlers reach high school at least, that white washed history will be regulated to the fairy-tale section, and be replaced with a factually based American History inclusive of all the pertinent details of African Americans, Native Americans and Asian Americans contributions flowing through it’s pages. Oh, and I guess we can include some history of those upstart, greedy Europeans.
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Whiteness as history is global
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Ebonymonroe,
I know a guy from the US; he’s only in his 30′s; he was made to watch “Birth of a nation” in school. I couldn’t believe it when he said it. Imagine that, young Black kids, in a mixed school environment, forced to sit and watch “Birth of a nation” with their classmates for “education purposes.” I’m still shocked by that.
I kinda believe it. Shocked, but it doesn’t escape strong possibility, especially after reading about this:
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/24/a_school_officials_unbelievably_racist_texts/
http://www.blackyouthproject.com/2013/09/12-year-old-forced-to-pick-cotton/
Overt racism seems to be on the warpath.
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@ Adeen
“We minorities can’t do anything about it than watch this racist system unravel.”
No. Fuck that. I’d rather help the system unravel, and destroy those who seek to keep it alive and well. That’s what I’d rather do.
As for the post itself, I’ve learned long ago that there is no reason to assume anything about history taught in any school in the US or it’s raped lands–er–“possessions” is true. I don’t give a damn about what a bunch of whites claim happened throughout the history of this terrorist nation. The veneration of terrorists like George Washington and other slave owning cunts is enough for me to know what the deal is.
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@Average Bee and Moe and everyone
You guys all have a great point but you have to realize that us Blacks are the oppressed minorities with little power. We can’t actually unravel the system, it is up to the White people to do that because they have the power in this country and plus they are the ones who made the system. But they would never unravel the system even if us Black people get together to unravel it because White people benefit from the racist system that was put in place for them.
I think it is better for us to live apart from White people and just build our own communities. when we have our own hospitals, schools, etc. I am sick of living among Whites and being around them so I think ALL Black communities with equal funding from the government is the best thing for us right now
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Yes I do believe in Black separatism because I think us Black people are better off living without White and non Black people interfering in our lives and businesses. It is much better for us to live apart from Whites because it is better for our mental and emotional well being and because we don’t need White people to make it in life. We can do without them. Malcolm X was right when he said that integration doesn’t work and he was right. Most of all, they need us more than we need them.
We are a strong and beautiful race and we are envied because of that reason. And that is the reason why I am proud of being Black.
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@ Jefe, I am not sure how it is taught now. I do know that the last history book I picked up I saw a small section on ethnic groups. I did see better coverage of Native Americans. They at least tried to let us in on some of the tribal areas of continent. Still overlooking wars that we lost, like the few skirmishes we had with Canada. Still almost not Asian coverage at all not surprising me there. Very low coverage on Hispanic Americans not surprising as I still get people talking about how they are taking over the country.
Yawn, history is so wonder bread it bounces. The 90’s angered me a lot with it’s every person of color I have to mention the white person who helped. In fact I always thought it was a way to bring in more about another European American. Why does history have to be so shame faced? Why not just be honest? Still very few Americans I know can name more then 7 presidents especially if you say before FDR.
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@KOT
sorry, found this confusing. Who is “we”?
BTW, are you looking to teach history again, or are you staying clear away with a 10 foot pole?
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@Adeen, so true, but I would like selling them the Brooklyn Bridge, every now and again.
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@Adeen: You can forget about “equal funding” for our the black communities it will NEVER happen. The only equal funding we will have is if we do for self and our own people financially. I do agree it will take white people to unravel this racist system but not solely them because if they don’t have our money the system will eventually break down in my opinion.
Imagine if we funneled our black people back into black colleges across all sports, only took on black sports agents/financial advisers, did a media blackout when they came into our communities i.e. crime, churches divested their money from these predatory banks, we invested in black only investment firms and the like…white folks would go bananas. As someone said earlier, whites as whole hate us but need us….only if we would understand the power we have to better our situations without constant interference from them and Negropeans.
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Hey everyone, if you aim to separate black people out and educate them separately, it might help fix some of this issue.
But it will do nothing to address this issue:
Not only that, it would funnel away even more money from black communities which will make it more difficult to achieve high educational success in other academic areas. I am not sure it is the best win-win solution.
Now, you might think the 2nd issue is unimportant, but it also is important. We have to change the present 3 paradigms used to include POC in the American History narrative fabric. I am talking about these 3 models:
1. Cameo / tokenism
2. Contributionism (from POC for the benefit of middle / upper class whites)
3. Cultural Enlightenmentism (the purpose of which is to make white people think their society is multicultural because it has all these Exotic and foreign cultures).
What I think we should be working for? Make it required for all Americans, including whites, to study and pass subjects in
– African-American and black studies
– Latino and Hispanic American studies
– Asian American studies
– Native American studies
on top of the white American studies that they have been learning from primary / elementary school and the “ethnic European” American studies that most of them learned also. And each of the subjects will have required reading and educational material from non-Anglo American authors who have some expertise in those areas.
This is a *my* first draft rough sample syllabus to the African-American studies course:
1. Ethnic origins of African-Americans in Africa (5-10%)
2. Interaction between the various African peoples and Europeans in the 16th-17th centuries (5%)
3. Transatlantic middle passage (1600s-1800s) (5-10%)
4. Development of the institution of slavery in the USA, both indentured and chattel, including the legal framework and the effect on African-Americans (10%).
5. Development of African-American pre-civil war culture in the USA (5-10%)
6. pre-civil war abolitionism, manumission and Free Persons of colour (5-10%)
7. Civil War and its impact on black Americans (5%)
8. Post-war Reconstruction and its impact on black Americans (5-10%)
9. Development of Sharecropping and Jim Crow (10%) and its effect on US society – include things like KKK and lynching
10. Schools of thought to deal with African-American disenfranchisment, eg, Niagara Movement, Booker T. vs. W.EB. Dubois, NAACP, etc. (5%)
11. The Great migrations and their impacts on the South and North (5-10%)
12.Nadir of US Race Relations and Pre-50s African-American Civil rights activity (1895 – 1954), eg, work done by NAACP in the courts, riots, protests, and “Back to Africa” movements, etc.(5%)
13. African-American civil rights movement 1955-1968 (10%)
14. Affirmative Action and Desegregation (1965 – 1980s) 5-10% – also includes “Black is Beautiful” campaigns, black panthers and adoption of African cultural elements into black American culture (eg, history of Kwanzaa and the study of African languages and cultures in the USA)
15. Civil Rights backlash, Colour-blindism, redisenfrachisment and interracial relationships 1980s – 2010s (5%)
16. Evolution of African-American stereotypes throughout history and depiction of African-Americans in the media (5%)
17. Impact and relationships of post-20th century immigration from the Caribbean and Africa (5-10%)
18. Sociological interrelationships with other ethnic groups throughout history (eg, with Native Americans, Asians and Latinos as well as impact of African-Americans on white American culture) 5%
This would require daily class time for a full semester. Latino, Asian and Native American history and ethnic studies courses would also require a full semester and all Americans, regardless of their ethnic or racial origins, would be required to attend and pass the courses.
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^ sounds good to me
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^ I forgot something, but it is probably another course – African-American literature and film. There can be a 5% introduction to it in the general syllabus, but it probably needs its own course and would include a piece on African-American historians.
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@Moe
You have a great point but the best thing for us right now is to live separately from White people and build our own hospitals, grocery stores, shopping malls, restaurants and businesses that cater to Black people in our own communities. We don’t need White people at all! I am the one who said that Whites need us more than we need them.
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Yo adeen, I’m for it.
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@Brothawolf
“Ebonymonroe,
I know a guy from the US; he’s only in his 30′s; he was made to watch “Birth of a nation” in school. I couldn’t believe it when he said it. Imagine that, young Black kids, in a mixed school environment, forced to sit and watch “Birth of a nation” with their classmates for “education purposes.” I’m still shocked by that.
I kinda believe it. Shocked, but it doesn’t escape strong possibility, especially after reading about this:
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/24/a_school_officials_unbelievably_racist_texts/
http://www.blackyouthproject.com/2013/09/12-year-old-forced-to-pick-cotton/
Overt racism seems to be on the warpath”
………………………………………………………………..
Oh, no doubt, I believe him. He didn’t have any reason to lie and he didn’t strike me as the kind of person who would, about such a thing. Sadly, the reason behind him and his classmates having to watch “Birth of a nation” seemed to be strictly about entertainment, which makes it all the more disturbing.
As for the links you posted, the first one doesn’t shock me, my mother is a teacher, and as one of the few women of color there, she said it is pretty pervasive. My mother is not a Black woman, so she cannot be accused of being biased. She has told me that it is very obvious how differently Black children are treated to their White peers. She said she has seen numerous occasions where Black children are harassed by their White teachers, humiliated in front of their classmates for no reason, and often blamed for things their White classmates are actually responsible for. She finds it upsetting, and stepping in to protect Black students has basically become her full time job.
As far as the second link, that is unacceptable, they’re just children, the school has no right to overtake parents and subject children to such an experience. It’s interesting that this is being done in a predominantly Black school, it would be interesting to see them try it at a mixed or White school. I would be livid if I was the parent.
Is it me, or has Obama being elected, sent the whole world into a frenzy? It seems like everything that appeared to have died down through tolerance progression, was actually just hidden, and completely let loose once he got in. Lol.
And I agree, for the most part I believe in the application of the idealology of Black nationalism. We should be building our own institutions for our community, not waiting to be let in. That’s like what Stax records tried to do, but they were shut down by the government. They had their own Black owned banks, stores, etc. It was also attempted in the early 1900’s by the new negro movement, where the aim was to build a Black metropolis. It has been tried before, but it has never lasted for one reason or another. But with that said, we should dust ourselves off and go for it again.
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@Jefe,
I don’t want to touch history with a 100 foot pole. All of my teacher friends recommend that I stay away from history now. They begged me when I was looking for a job to stay away from history. Which makes me think that history has gotten worst not better. A lot parents couldn’t take history as a serious course so when I failed some their parents were down right evil. (As you are not a real teacher that matter. When is my child every going to really need history to get ahead in this world. You are failing me child because of history and history doesn’t matter.) Just a few things parents use to say to me.
I still love history but I keep it to myself and I don’t bother the masses about it. If some people want to wallow in dirt I just say ok now.
When I say we I mean the U.S. ( Many Americans get schooled by Canadians in US history none more pointed in the fact that Americans don’t know about the skirmishes with Canada.)
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Still overlooking wars that we lost, like the few skirmishes we had with Canada.
These weren’t skirmishes, Washington was burnt down!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Washington
Who knows, had the Americans lost, you may have had universal health care already!
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Herneith, this country was gouged out of the hands of other Western countries. Most of America would either be speaking French or Spanish if those pesky British in mainly the US had not kept advancing for more land. The French and Indian War (confusing name since it should be The French and Indians vs. The Brits, which includes a young George Washington.
Map of the 1700’s territorial claims and disputes:
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We need black people to voluntarily return to slavery. As Robert E Lee put it, the race is in a harsh discipline and I do not know at what time they can be released from it. The Union has released them to vagrancy and post-writing other forms of agitation and supposed literacy. The sort of agitation seems likely from not identifying with their British history and Anglican faith. God bless.
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I think white people should volunteer to become slaves, and see how they like it.
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I have put some thought into delineating the similarities and differences between feudalism and Black African chattel slavery in the Americas. This is important because white Americans (and Asians as well) have feudal serfdom as part of their ancestral experience.
One similarity is that feudalism consigned the laboring and peasant class to perpetual illiteracy For another thing, feudalism could be ethnically based. That is to say, the ruling class, the nobility, could be of a different ethnic group than the serfs and might speak a different language.
Serfdom, however, offered a few regular channels of social mobility though there was no certainty than any individual who aspired to mobility would achieve it. Primarily, male mobility came through the church or through military service. An exceptional individual might achieve knighthood and perhaps be able to marry into, or see their children marry into the lower nobility. A person who went into the church might achieve individual mobility, but at the price of leaving behind no recognized progeny.
An attractive female might be recruited into the lord’s household, and then bear children fathered by the lord or his sons. These might receive preferment. William the Conqueror was the product of such a union, and he became the king of England. More common forms of preferment could include knighthood or the conferment of a hereditary title. For female children, preferment could take the form of a socially and economically advantageous marriage.
Black African chattel slaves had no regular avenues of mobility. All opportunities came either at the will of the master or through illegal means, i.e. escape. When there was mobility, it came within the confines of a separate black society.
Black African chattel slaves lacked certain critical rights that European serfs, as serfs, possessed. Serfs had the right to get married. Serfs had the right to be on the land on which they were born. Unlike chattel slaves, they could not be sold, moved, transferred or otherwise evicted or removed from the land. If the overlordship changed hands, the serfs came with the land. The new lord had the same duties to the serfs as the previous lord had. Nor did the serf’s duties change.
The serf sometimes may have been of a different cultural ethnicity and of a different type in terms of typical stature and build, skin tone, hair and eye color and other physical characteristics than the overlord caste. But Medieval society just was not into the nuances of color caste and ethnic separation. So the descendants of a serf who had achieved social mobility would not be regarded as the “other” in the same way that the racially mixed descendants of a Black African chattel slavery are.
Anybody who says blacks should return to slavery is an idiot. We do not know if in the long run if our electromechanical, cybernetic and biotechnic civilization will survive. If it does not, feudalism may return. It is hard to imagine how anything worse than chattel slavery could arise, without family rights, the right to be on the land, the right to practice religion and the right to even very limited regular mean of social mobility.
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We should have Native American History, Black History, Mexican American History, and Asian American History classes taught for free in public high schools as electives instead of the system we have now in which those classes are only accessible to those who get to attend community college (now inaccessible to many because of fee hikes) or university. It seems that the majority of people of color support our getting to learn our own histories in school. In California people of color are the majority of the population now and we should be demanding stuff like this.
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