We should celebrate our culture every day
In the world today, calling someone “black” is almost an insult. “Black” is only a label we put on people, just like “white.” We use “black” to describe a person with a deeper skin tone, a darker complexion, and also if their racial classification fits. We use “black” because calling someone with a dark skin color “African-American” is not always accurate. In any month other than February, we make it seem like being black is something to be ashamed of.
However, since The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial discrimination, you can look around and usually see people of all different skin tones. You would think that today, in 2016, that people would not mind this.
I was never raised to believe that “black” and “white” were insults, or that one person was better because of their skin color. Your skin color is as much of a choice as your hair color or your eye color!
Maybe I do not understand, because I am not black. I am an ally, though. As an ally, I will fight for every person’s rights and support them. As allies, we should unite together and get rid of discrimination completely.
Racial discrimination has been a part of our lives as long as history can tell. As an ally, and a friend, I believe that Black History Month just amplifies segregation. In 1926, the precursor to Black History Month was Negro History Week. Even as a person who is not black, I can tell you that as Americans, we do not confine our knowledge and respect for black history into 28 to 29 days. For example, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January. For a more complex example, and maybe I am wrong, for I am only an ally, but I believe that those who are black do not celebrate their culture and heritage only in the month of February. Like everyone else, they probably celebrate birthdays, holidays, and special events all year.
Why do people of every race except blacks get every month except February? Why is February the only month that we can recognize black history? Why can’t we just do what everyone else does and celebrate our culture every day, regardless of the color of our skin?
This isn’t coming from me as an ally, but from me as a person: people of color have fought for equal rights almost forever. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, was passed by Congress in 1865. Brown vs. Board of Education ended the segregation in schools when the Supreme Court ruled on the case on May 17, 1954. People of color have fought for integration, and we allies have helped them become accepted and respected. It is 2016, and people of color are in schools with everyone else, have the same jobs as everyone else, have the same rights and freedoms of everyone else, because we are all people. We all deserve the same treatment, the same respect, and the same liberties.
For true, genuine equality, we shouldn’t have Black History Month. We don’t have a “White History Month,” so why do we need a Black History Month? Can we not all agree that we should celebrate our culture, no matter our race, every day? Why can’t we accept that, as Americans, we are going to be more than just “white?”
No matter our skin color, black or white, we are all people. We are all Americans. We should all be proud of our heritage, and we should be able to express that at any time of the year.
Toni Maurer is a 10th grade student at Washington High School. This essay was tied for second place in an essay contest for Black History Month sponsored by Washington Health System Teen Outreach. The first-place essay will appear next week.