Huntington Beach California Nixes Black History Month, Other Ethnic Celebrations
Huntington Beach California Nixes Black History Month, Other Ethnic Celebrations
A majority of Surf City officials are moving to create a calendar of monthly history themed celebrations that is “free of identity politics.”
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Very smart move, surprised to see it happen over there in California. All these things do is divide, period.
If you consider black history month divisive that says more about you than black history month.
Black history month is not just for black people.
All these things do is divide, period.
Out of curiosity, do Christmas decorations/advertising divide?
But muh happy holidays
Celebrating a minority class that has been persecuted for generations by the peoples and states of this nation… all that does is divide?
By that logic we should just deport every black person, would that make you feel better? You’re essentially trying to advocate for the state to pander to these white nationalists and bigots, THEY’RE the ONLY ones that would feel divided by something like black history month
You disgust me, no surprise you’re also a Zionist going by your comments
Huntington Beach is swinging red hard in recent history. I'd call their current changes 'questionable'.
They ignored COVID19 vaccine and mask mandates, sued California for trying to make them zone their share of more housing due to the lack of affordable housing crisis, dissolved the long-standing human relations committee (created essentially to ensure everyone is treated equal regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation and disabilities), is trying to make IDs are voter polls mandatory even though it is against California law, have been removing books from the city's libraries involving se LGBTQ+ themes as well as sex education 'to protect the children!!' and of course to withdraw from the Orange County Power Authority -- a renewable-energy focused provider for some reason.
Moser (D), a council member, asked Van Der Mark (R), another council member if they were a holocaust denier and if she had any association with the Proud Boys. The Republican side of the council (the majority) censured Moser due to this.
The context of this was due to Van Der Mark's publicly posted playlisted on YouTube titled "Holocaust Hoax?" and 'accidentally' posted it. Van Der Mark claims it was simply for research purposes. Also of note, there is a segment of Proud Boys and others that held a "White Lives Matter" protest in recent years at Huntington Beach and Van Der Mark was in a picture with Kyle Chapman, a leader of the Proud Boys, on a FB post. She also attended an anti-Islam event and was pictured standing just behind Johnn Benitez wearing a Proud Boys uniform and posed for pictures with other Proud Boys.
According to the ADL, she also referred to black people in YouTube comments as "colored people" as well as that they "dutifully did the bidding of Jews" at a white privilege workshop in Santa Minica.
Of note, she has said that she is not a holocaust denier but as far as I know hasn't specifically said that she has no ties to the Proud Boys.
This is already too long but this could also include her predecessor, Tito Ortiz (R). Ortiz named her their successor after quitting due to 'media pressure' due to their support of the Jan 6 Capital Attack, boycott of a burger place that wanted him to wear a mask (and as I recall a really cringy video that he recorded during it) and same again at a library.
That's not directly relevant to the above but just to be clear they are both (Van Der Mark and Ortiz) a shitshow.
Regardless of the issues above, Huntington Beach seems to be signaling that they are essentially a California MAGA stronghold in regards to how the GOP council members campaign and in their political agenda that they've been pushing forward.
Lol that burger place was TK Burgers, best burgers on So Cal. My brother worked there for years, and I got to know the owner pretty well. Everyone that tried to "enforce" that boycott was laughed off the street.
HB has always had a sizable population of whackos and morons. There was a full on riot on Main and PCH years ago during the US Open when some dinguses got into a fight, and bunch more decided to pile on and started knocking over portajohns. Skin heads wander about unopposed. The locals that surf the pier are some of the biggest territorial douchebags I've ever met. I can keep going, but fuck HB, place is a cesspool of room temp IQ nitwits.
I don't mind history months separating the racists from the rest of us. I don't like to let em blend into society if possible.
Every year I read interesting articles that spring up online and also are put out by my employer during black history month. It exposes me to viewpoints I might not chase down and expose myself to on my own. I come away from it feeling like I have a bit of a deeper understanding about how our country's past continues to impact the experiences of black people today in the US.
At no point have I felt excluded for being white, nor threatened by what has been shared. If you have been, that says way more about you than it does about black history month.
At no point have I felt excluded for being white, nor threatened by what has been shared.
Right. Of course not. That's not the issue. The issue is that minority history months treat the minority history as something separate from 'normal' history. Instead minority histories should be taught as an indistinguishable part of the respective time period.
The fact that you didn't learn those new things in history when you were in school is the problem. That's where the solution and proper equity is to be found.
And this is an argument to fundamentally sacrifice the good on the altar of the perfect. Would it be better that minority positions, accomplishments, and experiences were taught as part of broader curriculums? Of course--but they're not. Doing away with Black History Month doesn't address that, because the alternative isn't a broader solution, but to simply do nothing. BHM is a bandaid, but if you rip off the bandaid, it's still a wound. With the bandaid there at least we're forced to acknowledge the wound.
Similarly, giving away cash in the form of loan forgiveness doesn't solve the problem of greed in upper education, but it does alleviate pain felt by an entire generation of working Americans. This is a perfect example of the problem: the fascists blocked the relief, and then what happened? Did we muscle down as a society and get to work on the difficult problems of moving higher education away from the current profit-motivated model? No, of course not. What happened instead? Right: Nothing happened. Tuition is still reprehensibly high. The only difference is that the last generation of borrowers continue to suffer, just like the next will.
The point is, BHM is not an alternative to systemic policy changes to address historic racism and other discrimination: it's a stopgap, and lobbying for its abandonment isn't lobbying for a societal pivot to more effective ways to address the problem. It's lobbying that black history not be taught at all.
Since that problem has not been fixed and is actively getting worse in recent years, I'm going to continue supporting Black History Month (and Pride Month, and and and...)
That's fine on it's own.
As long as it doesn't take away from fixing the actual problem. The way student loan forgiveness eclipsed trying to actually control higher education prices.You come up with a solution to fixing the actual problem, I'm all ears.
Though if I'm completely candid, I find it a bit annoying that you've taken the time to wag your finger at me for this entire conversation over a problem that is arguably decades or even centuries old because I say I support and will continue to support black history month.
That’s a similar argument as “but ALL lives matter”. Nobody is saying black/queer/women history is separate from history. The month is there to highlight parts of history that would be forgotten otherwise, or that people feel convenient to ignore. We need to celebrate our differences, and adding a day/week/month to the calendar does it.
So you want schools... teaching.... "critical race theory"?
Yes? Probably? It depends a little on why you're using quotes. I assume you don't mean the literal academic theory. And instead mean some kind of more reasonable version, of what Republicans and conservatives seem to mean (and irrationally fear) when they use the term.