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Comment by H0n3sty | Hacker News Reader

Blacks can't get away from the various hells of the world

I believe this is known as the racism of lowered expectations.

There is a line between "acknowledging reality and the lingering effects of institutionalized racism" and "the racism of lowered expectations," but it is not drawn at "blacks can't get away from the various hells of the world." The former is what I think the GP is getting at.

Implying that one race cannot do what other races can is racist.

I don't believe in that particular form of racism. I think it's a rhetorical trick employed in defense of the status quo, like people who say we're being racist for not having a white history month.

I believe that segregating history for blacks into a single month is also a form of racism. A single month implies that there is ~1/12th as much history.

I disagree. You're not offering a better alternative. That's the difference between a real political argument and rhetorical noise.

Let's say you ran for office on the platform of eliminating Black History Month. How far do you think you'd get? Do you think your message that Black History Month is racist would resonate with the people you're trying to help?

The political platform would not be eliminating Black History Month, it would be fully integrating Black History into our classrooms in every month. Changing the lessons and more adequately representing the history of black achievement in America. My message would not be that Black History Month is racist, but that it's time we integrated our history. Do you think this could resonate with voters? We integrated our schools, communities, military, etc,... why not our history?

Ok, now you need to distill those wishes into a policy proposal. How would "integrating our history" look on a piece of legislation? On an executive order?

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