Opinions from around the country

The study of black history shouldn’t end with the month that celebrates it. It is commonplace for Americans to remind each other of that around Feb. 28, and in many ways Americans of every race already do acknowledge that truth. While VH1 may focus on black musicians in February, it doesn’t ignore them the rest of the year.

Schools may spend extra time studying the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during this month, but they also note his importance in American history in other months as well. That is part of the success of Black History Month. Each year, Americans continue to leave Black History Month with a better understanding that black history is American history.

A further, and necessary, step is for Americans of all racial backgrounds to recognize that black issues are American issues. In 2002, racial injustice persists in America.

While this statement cannot be entirely illustrated with mere numbers, the available statistics stand solidly behind it. Nearly twice as many blacks as whites were victims of violent crimes in 2000. Though blacks made up 12.3 percent of the U.S. population in the 2000 census, in 1999 they accounted for 33 percent of the children living in poverty.

lacks represent a disproportionately high number of America’s death row prisoners and a disproportionately low number of America’s wealthy.

Despite these facts, issues of equality among the races rarely receive public attention, except for those instances in which white plaintiffs successfully force the end of an affirmative action program. Public opinion polls often ask voters to rate the importance of education, national security and many other issues, but rarely will the moral question of racial inequality appear on a pollster’s question list. Public opinion silently validates the view that black issues are not American issues, just as history textbooks that were blind to the achievements of black Americans once validated the view that black history was not American history.

The problems blacks face are the problems the United States faces. Failure to realize this will mean that Black History Month has failed in its mission. It means little to recognize the accomplishments of a group of people if doing so lets a nation off the hook for helping remedy its present injustices.

This editorial comes from The Daily Cardinal at the University of Wisconsin.
This column was distributed by U-Wire.

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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002