a history of colour

[the_siobhan]

Feburary is Black History Month in Canada. I have the vague idea that it might also be Black History Month in the US, but only because of something I saw on The Daily Show.

My workplace prides itself on being very pro-diversity. So now when we walk onto my floor from the elevators we pass right by a display that talks about black Canadians of note. I stopped to read it the other day, and realized that all the plaques are titled "Contributions of African-Canadians".

And if my lily-white Celtic self spotted this, you can bet it did not escape the notice of all the Carribbean-Canadians who work there, and who probably outnumber the employees of African birth or descent by a ratio of about 80 to one.

Now I know why every time somebody mentions the subject of Black History Month the Jamaican guy who sits next to me yells, "You mean African-Canadian History Month" and then falls over laughing.

Comments

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... it is Black History Month in the US. Images of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks are dutifully being trotted out. At the end of the month, they'll be put back in mothballs.

I don't mean to downplay the contributions of either to US society, but I do get tired of so many people treating the contributions of different ethnic and racial groups as something to be trotted out for one month a year... and none of the more challening issues get discussed.

And... how DARE you leave out your Nordic, pre-Celtic, and other selves? Sheesh.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I just discovered that March is Irish-Canadian month.

Like. What?