Renderotica

Originally Posted by: TheBitterGent

Black History Month no. I won't acknowledge it. Truthfully you probably don't want me to acknowledge it.
People should just be people, History should just be History, Americans should just be Americans.
The more any group fights to be seen as different, the less they should be surprised when they are seen as different.
No one should be prideful or regretful for things they didn't do.

In a perfect would, this would work... but that's not how any of that works. If not all history is celebrated then coupled with comments from people either accepting the status quo or thinks saying "we should be like this" is the equivalent of actually doing something to ensure that happens... then nothing gets done. 

So that's kind of why things like black history month exists. Because folks are talking, but not actually doing the work.

Just saying.

People SHOULD just be people. That is unfortunately not the case. We live in a society where Oklahoma is trying to get through a bill that would fine teachers for anything non-religious (specifically Christian), were Texas has already passed a bill (bill 3979) which clearly states that teachers are NOT allowed to discuss anything to do with racism, and which Toth, the writer of the bill, when pressed, went on record saying that he refused to add an amendment saying white supremacy is wrong. Critical race theory is unallowed in the majority of republican run states.  There is no reason to believe that if there was no black history month that ANY history about the African Americans in this country would be taught. That is in stark relief to the fact that it ISN'T required to be taught at all, or even mentioned - ever - during Febuary. It is not getting done.

Injustices are still happening, on a yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly basis. They can be very large or very small. They happen all the same. We have a day to celebrate Italians (Columbus Day was originally formed to celebrate them by President Benjamin Harrison), Irish celebratory days (St. Paddy's), and Oktoberfest (a two-week celebration of Germans). All three of these holidays - for the States - were started to combat the racial injustices against those ethnic groups and honor what they've done for the country. Why not the largest minority population in the country?

History is told by the winners, true. Laws are also passed by them. Laws that have gone out of their way to try to stifle minorities - Black, latino, native American, asian, middle eastern - in as many ways as possible. I've gotten jobs literally only because I was white, while the other person applying was latino. They were better qualified. I know, we compared resumes while waiting for the interviews. People can say that's just a one-off, but it ACTUALLY happens all the time. People cannot expect others to pull themselves up by the bootstraps when the boots themselves have been taken away and their toes are on the fire.

Once again I find myself having to place a warning shot across the bow in the forums. Be cautious how you use your language and don't get yourself caught by breaking one of the Member Conduct rules in the Community Policies. There is a button at the top left of this page, right under the Logo, "Renderotica", where you can find the Community Policies at any time. 

As a reminder, we are an artist community. There are much better forums/platforms to voice your political beliefs on. I, for one, don't want to see this website being used to fight political battles. Make art, not war.