Celebration of cultures limited to minorities?
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Volunteers flooded the steps of DeMoss Hall, enthusiastically offering free chips and salsa accompanied by rousing Mariachi music Monday, Sept. 17. Students flocked to the free food, discovering the kickoff event of Liberty University’s Hispanic Heritage Month. Although the event highlighted Hispanic Heritage Month, it also revealed an underlying issue: which heritages should be nationally celebrated, and which can be overlooked?
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Appropriate — Do cultural celebrations do more harm than good? Photo credit: Max Kingensmith, Creative Commons
America is a multicultural blend of colors, languages and cultures. National heritage months are designed to spotlight heritages within this melting pot, but they ultimately create division rather than celebration. Observing Hispanic Heritage Month reveals two inconsistencies: picking-and-choosing which heritages deserve celebration and allowing other heritages to be lost in the past.
American authorities began singling out cultural contributions in the 1970s, using language such as “overlooked” or “neglected” in their selection of minorities with culture worth celebrating. Black History Month began in 1976 when President Gerald Ford encouraged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments” of African Americans. Similarly, the Law Library of Congress traces Women’s History Month to 1981 as President Ronald Reagan moved to “celebrate the struggles and achievements of American women.”
President Reagan continued the trend of honoring minorities by expanding Hispanic Heritage Week to a month running from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 in 1988. President Obama said that Hispanic Heritage Month 2012 should be seen as a way to “widen the circle of opportunity” for Hispanic Americans. American Indian Heritage Month and Asian Pacific Heritage Month were recognized in 1990 and 1992.
While each heritage mentioned has added uniquely to the history of American achievement, the celebrations are rooted in overturning years of neglect.
But historic wrongs cannot be blotted out by a month of recognition.
Moreover, there are not enough months in the year to celebrate every minority heritage that makes up America. Multiple heritage groups claim the same month, such as Italian Heritage Month and Filipino American Heritage Month in October. May covers three heritages: Jewish, Haitian and South Asian. Each group requests congressional and presidential recognition, but few receive that honor.
Equally important, celebrating only neglected minorities de-emphasizes the efforts of majority heritages. It seems that European heritage is largely denied recognition by the higher powers because it is more politically correct to saddle Caucasian Americans with blame rather than praise. Mere days celebrate the men who led our infant nation, forged trails to the West and fought bloody wars to maintain freedom.
Every heritage deserves celebration for its backbreaking efforts to grow and preserve our nation. The intention of heritage months may be positive, but the outcome is divisive.
While Hispanic Heritage Month at Liberty University may come complete with chips, salsa and Hispanic culture events, do not let it distract you from celebrating other heritages worthy of our involvement.