Will we ever move on???

It blows my mind that has been nearly 50 years since the civil rights movement and racism is STILL a major issue in the United States..

The "Pithissippi Burning" article was an interesting read but nothing to my surprise. The author began by reflecting on a book he had recently read called “The Brigade.” This book is a how-to guide for white separatists.  The idea was for them to move to Washington, Oregon and Idaho and drive out all of the blacks, Jews, and Hispanics. The book’s author shares the same views as many other white supremacist, who believe that our nation is in this awful economic crisis due to our multicultural society.  Even more ridiculous, is the notion that President Obama is the cause of our current status as a nation.  People with this view seem to ignore the horrid situation our country was in when President Obama was elected into office.  These are unrealistic expectations for one man and ignorant people want to attribute it to his brown skin.

Moving right along…

Samuel Taylor’s stance on multiculturalism was very apparent in his journal article “The Challenge of ‘Multiculturalism’ in How Americans View the Past and the Future.”  He believes that minorities only want to teach their own history and completely ignore the great accomplishments of whites.  He even went as far to say, “Just as whites are to step aside to give hiring preferences to minorities, whites are to set aside their own point of view and study those of others.” Regarding slavery, he states that; “Today, it is still the centerpiece of black history, because it excuses failure and can be used to extract benefits from whites.” I was sort of annoyed reading this but we do share one point of view and that is no matter what, everyone will not be happy with the way history is taught in our schools.  It seems easy to just write a History book that includes every single nationality, in the capacity that they would like to be represented in.. however, it’s not.

The “Why Multiculturalism is Wrong” article gave a worthwhile view on this topic.  The author disagrees with the idea of multiculturalism.  One interesting point was that “A multi-cultural society oppresses migrants.”  We welcome immigrants to become citizens of our country, then force them to learn “our” history. 

Throughout my grade school years I attended schools that were extremely diverse.  There was never a clear majority or minority.  We were taught traditional American History.. You know, Christopher Columbus started it all, The pilgrims invited the Indians over to eat for Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King was great, and so forth… I would hate to think of myself as being “shallow minded” but I really don’t see a major issue with this.  I would rather more time be devoted to Math and Science.  As children grow into adults they will dig deeper to learn about their history, if it is important enough to them.

References:

Tobia, P. (2009). Pithissippi Burning: Race, White Nationalism and American Culture. Retrieved on 9-13-11. Retrieved from: https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133306

Why Multiculturalism is Wrong (n.d.) Retrieved on 9-13-11. Retrieved from: https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133307

Taylor, S. (n.d.) The Challenge of “Multiculturalism” In How Americans View the Past and the Future. Retrieved on 9-13-11. Retrieved from: Https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=297445&tld=19133305