February Book Pick

Anthony you kinda unintentionally explained the real reason why so few people are critical of black history month: because if anyone tries to have an honest debate they will be automatically labelled a racist by someone like you. This is sad that its come to this. Especially when most of your arguments are either outright false or misleading. About half a million slaves were brought to the US. About 5 million went to Brazil. About 5 million were bought by Arab slave traders. So your claim about the US being "unprecedented for its era" is plainly false. Also, you don't consider the fact that if it were not for the Republican party, slavery would still be legal all over the world.

Thoko

Just published! Thanks for your patience! :)

The Normies

the more i think about it the more i'm interested. you talked about living with an "other culture". otherness is complicated. i didn't think of it that way. i don't think a french muslim is publicly considered as part of an "other" culture in france (at least in the public or political sense, as racism is very much present in the subtexts everywhere), and that may be where the gap is. I didn't consider that what could be called "black culture" may be an "other culture" in the eye of the policy-maker or the collective unconscious in the US... well i'm definitely joining the discussion this month. grasping the nuances of race relations in a different place of the world is very interesting.

adnene guessoum

veils in school for underaged girls, yes (not in public, even though some people consider it, it would be very much uncnstitutional). what i'm pointing out however is the way it was done. in the process, and because you can't single out one culture or ethnic group, it also banned the jewish kippa or the sikh turban or cross necklaces (it has an underlying hint of xenophobia for sure, mixed with the national disdain for religions)... as the "living with other culture" part, keep in mind outside the US there are other ways of understanding what it means, that may seem strange to you the same way it seem strange to me to have a month dedicated to "black history" as separated from the rest of the country's history. i'm not saying one is better than the other btw. Marine le pen i agree. but she's not in power and hopefully won't be. blanket statements on "the french" are also a weird formulation to me, i must add.

adnene guessoum

Don't you guys ban muslim girls from wearing veils in public? I don't think the French really know how to live with other cultures. The institutional level of slavery in the US was unprecedented for that era and fucked over a large portion of the black population for centuries to come. One month to reflect on that isn't weird. The only people in the US that don't care for it are either racist old white people or "iconoclast" millionaires like Bill Cosby. Donald Trump is a dumbass but I firmly believe Marine Le Pen is a worse cunt of the highest order.

Anthony

it is from a different perspective. i'm french, so not foreign at all to the realities of a troubled history (slavery, colonialism...) the contribution of an entire ethnic group is strange idea on its own, so a month singled out for a minority would sound both patronizing from the state/governments perspective and a vector of division of the national unity with different histories for different communities. doesn't prevent every french student from encountering dumas or cesaire at some point in school, nor the study of the algerian war. cultural differences i suppose. fun to discuss.

adnene guessoum

ideally every month would be black history month, as every month should be all history month, but in a nation that was built off the back of black slaves, one month out of the year to focus particularly on the contributions black Americans have made is not all that much of a "weird concept."

Jay Aniakor

Where's the fourth episode of black mirror?

yep, i searched it out of curiosity. bit of a weird concept but to each its own i guess. a pretext to read toni morrison is always good.

adnene guessoum

Morgan Freeman doesn't want a black history month.

Taliesin Martos

It's an American thing.

Anthony

what's black history month? i very much enjoyed toni morrison, already read sula and song of solomon. i'm tempted to join you all this month ;)

adnene guessoum

oh boy, keen on those avatar months

Vincent Nguyen

Plan to jump in on this :)

Dangerzone