Chicago Tribune | Here's why there is no `White History Month':
"Black History Month was never intended to make people uncomfortable--unless maybe they ought to be.

Nevertheless, despite the best of intentions, a misunderstanding of what the month is all about can lead sometimes to a whopper of an embarrassment.

That's sort of what happened recently at Connecticut's Suffield High School when a group of sociology students decided to hang posters around the school to promote April as 'White History Month.'"

…The students had been assigned to "explore the effect of rumors." They decided the posters would be a real nifty way to do that. Needless to say, their experiment triggered a lot of rumors, especially in the school's small but understandably alarmed black student population.

The principal scolded the white students for their insensitivity and turned them over to a teacher who reportedly specializes in civil rights and cultural sensitivity issues. In this way, the school at large was able to turn the incident into what one school board official called a "teachable moment," an opportunity to educate both offenders and the offended about differences in how the world looks through each other's eyes.

Good for them. No long-term harm done, I hope. This particular high school poster flap is the most embarrassing incident related to Black History Month that I can recall since early 2001. That was when then-Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore revoked a proclamation declaring May to be "European Heritage and History Month." The governor had learned to his deep dismay that the request for the commemoration had come from a white separatist group headed by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Such an embarrassment.

…"Why don't we have a White History Month?" I've heard that question quite a few times over the years. So have other black people I know. Some of us have come up with a list of appropriate responses to it, such as:

1."Because every month is white history month."

2."Because white history has not been lost, stolen or suppressed over the years as much as black history has."

3."Yo' mama!"

4."History is taught so poorly in our schools these days that maybe we should have a white history month."

5."That's right. I said, `Yo' mama'!!!"

Now, now. We should all try to manage our anger at such moments. Such encounters reveal precisely what Black History Month was intended to remedy: an ignorance about history--black and otherwise. That's why I oppose so-called "political correctness." We need more dialogue, not less.

For example, when someone asks "Why is there a Black Entertainment Television network? Wouldn't all hell break loose if somebody started a White Entertainment Television?," simply respond, "There is. It is called ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox ..."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0402250120feb25,1,5901589.column