Caribbean American Heritage Month

College Confidential Community
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<p>Hey folks, I am just wondering if you support the passage for a Caribbean American Heritage Month in June. It has passed through the House and Senate, and President Bush just needs to sign it to become a national celebration. I guess what perplexes me is that what purpose will this month bring when we already have Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month.</p>

<p><a href=“http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.CON.RES.71.RFS:[/url]”>http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.CON.RES.71.RFS:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>this is dumb. :-/</p>

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<p>I am strongly against.</p>

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<p>Black History and Hispanic Heritage are not Carribean Americans.
I see nothing wrong with having a Carribean American month. It’s not as if my freedom will be inhibited by having it, its not as if I’ll be endangered from having it. It’s not as if anything bad will occur from having it. I’m for it.</p>

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<p>I don’t see why not. It don’t think it’s stupid or the most appalling thing in the world. Most likely it won’t happen with all the controversy with Black History Month.</p>

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<p>I don’t see why not either. I don’t see why there’s controversy with Black History Month, there’s nothing wrong with celebrating culture. If there were an Irish history month or Greek history month, I’d support that as well.</p>

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<p>But Jesminder, there are no Greek or Irish heritage months.</p>

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<p>Hence why she said “If there were”.
Hypothetical.</p>

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<p>;)</p>

<p>Darn word minimum crap, made me add more words</p>

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<p>But if we were to have a month for every race in America, what would be the point then?</p>

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<p>“But Jesminder, there are no Greek or Irish heritage months.” </p>

<p>ah good point, people will soon want every sort of celebration for every individual characteristic or birth trait that there is. does it take away the relevancy of the point? i’m not quite sure. in one hand, the whole thing coyld go overboard, but in another, i firmly support our individuality’s being celebrated. </p>

<p>perhaps people should just merely take pride in their culture and heritage every day of the week, rather than force an entire nation to as well?</p>

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<p>I agree Baffled. Black History Month holds a special place in American history because the history of America traces back to slavery, including African Americans. I find the below very irrelevant and stretching…</p>

<p>Why can’t Caribbean culture be celebrated under Black History Month? Why should an entire nation celebrate Caribbean culture when most Americans don’t even know what it is? Why should Americans celebrate a culture that is not even part of the American experience?</p>

<p>*Whereas during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a significant number of slaves from the Caribbean region were brought to the United States; </p>

<p>Whereas since 1820, millions of people have emigrated from the Caribbean region to the United States; </p>

<p>Whereas much like the United States, the countries of the Caribbean faced obstacles of slavery and colonialism and struggled for independence; </p>

<p>Whereas also like the United States, the people of the Caribbean region have diverse racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds (** but this is America, not the Caribbean…**); </p>

<p>Whereas the independence movements in many countries in the Caribbean during the 1960’s and the consequential establishment of independent democratic countries in the Caribbean strengthened ties between the region and the United States (** and how is this relevant to American history? **); </p>

<p>Whereas Alexander Hamilton, a founding father of the United States and the first Secretary of the Treasury, was born in the Caribbean; (** who cares? **)</p>

<p>Whereas there have been many influential Caribbean-Americans in the history of the United States, including Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the pioneer settler of Chicago; Claude McKay, a poet of the Harlem Renaissance; James Weldon Johnson, the writer of the Black National Anthem; Shirley Chisolm, the first African-American Congresswoman and first African-American woman candidate for President; and Celia Cruz, the world renowned queen of Salsa music; </p>

<p>*</p>

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<p>*Whereas the many influential Caribbean-Americans in the history of the United States also include Colin Powell, the first African-American Secretary of State; Sidney Poitier, the first African-American actor to receive the Academy Award for best actor in a leading role; Harry Belafonte, a musician, actor, and activist; Marion Jones, an Olympic gold medalist; Roberto Clemente, the first Latino inducted into the baseball hall of fame; and Al Roker, a meteorologist and television personality; </p>

<p>Whereas Caribbean-Americans have played an active role in the civil rights movement and other social and political movements in the United States; </p>

<p>Whereas Caribbean-Americans have contributed greatly to education, fine arts, business, literature, journalism, sports, fashion, politics, government, the military, music, science, technology, and other areas in the United States; </p>

<p>Whereas Caribbean-Americans share their culture through carnivals, festivals, music, dance, film, and literature that enrich the cultural landscape of the United States; </p>

<p>Whereas the countries of the Caribbean are important economic partners of the United States; </p>

<p>Whereas the countries of the Caribbean represent the United States third border; </p>

<p>Whereas the people of the Caribbean region share the hopes and aspirations of the people of the United States for peace and prosperity throughout the Western Hemisphere and the rest of the world; and </p>

<p>Whereas June is an appropriate month to establish a Caribbean-American Heritage Month: </p>

<p>*</p>

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<p>I don’t support it, even though, I am first-generation American and my parents are African. There are many people of different nationalities who have contributed to the U.S. Why can’t there be a Polish Month, African Month (not African-American, but Africa), or Asian Month? With this passage for Carribean Heritage Month, it’s kind of like the U.S. saying that all the other nationalities that contributed to the U.S.'s melting pot of cultures are not that important enough to get their own month. We have Juneteenth in June (the celebration of when the Emancipation Proclamation came out and the slaves were freed…in a legal sense), think how the Caribbean American Heritage Month is going to conflict with that.</p>

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<p>Where’s White history month? Irish? Native American? Dutch? Danish? French? German? This is dumb.</p>

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<p>Whine about it to the government, not much can be done here.</p>

<p>Also, what’s wrong with having a month for every race in America? It’s not like months are being used for anything else,why not put a positive spin on an everyday event. And the people aren’t exactly forced to celebrate the month, it’s Black History month now; how many people (not including African Americans) have done something voluntarily to celebrate it? If people choose not celebrate it, then it’s not being forced on them.</p>

<p>But of course this will probably never happen. :p</p>

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<p>Let’s have a World Heritage Year!</p>

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<p>neverborn, with the exception of Native Americans, we celebrate white history everyday. The majority of classes in the US are geared towards white accomplishments in North America.</p>

<p>Anyway, I agree with Prepstad…what’s the big deal…unless someone puts a gun to your head and forces you to celebrate it, what’s the problem? If anything, I hope some positive images might come from possibly having this month. It would be nice if people would not automatically assume I smoke ganja, can hook them up with spliffs, or that I practice voodoo when I mention my family is from Jamaica.</p>

<p>Personally, I would hope the accomplishments of minorities are not designated into some time period. It seems ridiculous to just suddenly just push in people’s faces the accomplishments of some minorities for 28 days and then become silent once again. It also isn’t fair to other minorities such as Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans…it makes it seem as if these groups have made no contributions to history. What we have failed to accomplish is to accurately represent minoritiy contributions to this country. That is where the problem lies.</p>

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<p>Earlier this year usna had a lecture about the upcoming events in the school including the celebration of the chinese new year and black history month. Of course the guys were like “Why isn’t there a white history month?” to which I answered like shaddix said, “It’s every f-ing day”. And people use it as an excuse to say “Hey they’re trying to separate themselves” when they don’t put the effort to join in anyways and celebrate along so who’s separating? No one complains about St Patrick’s day.</p>