New Idea: The Judahism

A good friend posts to Facebook a daily “ism” that his youngest son says.

I might steal the idea.

When I posted two of my son’s one-liners on Facebook, they immediately received fifty “Likes” each. Basically, people on Facebook love funny things said by kids. And (almost) three year olds say very funny things.

The most recent might be the best I’ll ever get so the whole experiment might be really short-lived:

Tightening Judah’s car seat straps and he says to me, “Too tight; let my people go!”

So that’ll be my first Judahism … which is particularly great since it works on two levels.

Unpopular Opinion Alert

Easter Egg Hunts are not secular.

This is the #1 response I’ve received to my post from earlier today about how Jewish parents should react to an Easter Egg Hunt at the daycare where they send their kids.

This is same response I got when I made fun of Bill O’Reilly back in December about the War on Christmas. “The Christmas tree doesn’t have anything to do with Christianity.” I didn’t buy that and I don’t buy this about the Easter eggs.

Easter eggs might have been appropriated by Christianity from a pagan spring holiday, but that doesn’t make them secular. It just puts their origin in a different religion.

But that’s mostly beside the point, since Christianity has entirely usurped the concept of bunnies and eggs from the pagans and associated those things, at least on this day, with the holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Christ.

If my child goes around collecting colored eggs with his friends, that’s the holiday he’s participating in. Whether or not you believe in the resurrection, that’s what you’re celebrating today.

Many people have written to tell me that it’s just fun, like Halloween, and that kids should be able to just enjoy it. But this is a privileged position; it comes from being a member of the majority and from not thinking about things from the perspective of the other:

Not surprisingly, this note came from someone who checks off the box next to absolutely every privileged category in American society … and almost certainly denies the existence of privilege.

You might have collected Easter eggs when you were younger and had a great time without caring at all about Jesus. But, as someone who’s at least nominally Christian, that’s your privilege. You can take part in a Christian celebration without really worrying about how it might impact you, your kids, your beliefs, or your identity.

Me? Not so much.

White History Month

Not surprisingly, there’s been a lot of discussion kicked up by my “White History Month” photoset from Friday. I’m guessing that, sadly, this post won’t reach all of the people who helped kick that post around Tumblr some 20,000+ times. Still, this reply seems an important one to make.

A number of people have written to me to demand that I explain why I included one tweet that asked about the lack of months designated for other ethnicities: “Where’s latino history month? Where’s asian history month? Where’s white history month? Where’s native American history month?”

Here’s someone who just cares about equality, many commenters have proclaimed; he’s not a racist!

One thing’s for sure: He’s not much of a researcher.

September 15-October 15 is National Hispanic American Heritage Month.

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.

November is Native American Heritage Month.

These heritage months — and all of the others that exist — have dedicated government websites, filled with information. Many communities around the country put on events to celebrate the distinct history and culture, and to recognize the contributions of its members to our society.

In short, this is a fascinating comment … but only insofar as it shows how many people never visit their public library, where there’s almost always a table set up to showcase authors from particular cultures each month, and how many people are much quicker to complain about Black History Month than to, for example, do a Google search.

It’s also fascinating because it’s a comment — like most White History Month tweets and comments — whose author is intent on masquerading as someone who cares desperately about equality.

Of course, there’s also a strain of commentary whose authors attack Black History Month because it’s racist insofar as it highlights some people based on their skin color. These commenters are mostly white teenagers who claim to be color blind or to live in some sort of post-racial America. They love equality so much that they don’t want Black History Month or White History Month … they just want it all to be history. I have no doubt that they believe these things to be true about themselves, or that they want them to be true. But, alas, they are not true.

These people either can’t or don’t understand that the vast majority of “textbook history,” at least in the United States, is still written by and about white people. And this is a problem that’s particularly relevant for white teens, as they’re currently taking courses in American and European history; they are consuming little information that isn’t white history, even as they complain about the ways in which Black History Month perpetuates racial identification over our common humanity. People of color, women, religious minorities, and the LGBTQ community have been given short shrift in our educational system for as long as it has existed; allowing that this has been the case and attempting to supplement our historical knowledge is a pretty worthwhile idea. If you don’t believe me, maybe you can quickly send me a note with a list of twenty important historical or cultural achievements made by African-Americans.

But they’re also sorely mistaken if they really believe that there’s something inherently problematic with celebrating the distinct histories, cultures, and people who have made the country what it is today. That’s not racism or reverse racism or whatever other kind of nonsense they think it is. That’s a way of encouraging a well-rounded education that might help bring about the utopian future that these commenters think has already arrived. And a video clip of Morgan Freeman from 2005, which has been sent to me dozens of times, isn’t going to convince me otherwise. Unlike some people out there, I don’t think Morgan Freeman speaks for (or happens to be) every African-American.

Now, would it be better if there was magically no further need of specific months dedicated to different minority populations in America? You bet. If it really was the case, as Morgan Freeman wants to claim, that Black history is treated like the part of American history that it is, we’d be in much better shape as a society today than we actually are. But the only way that we won’t need a Black History Month is if we take a good look at the way that history is taught and culture is celebrated in this country with a view to seamlessly integrating the historical and cultural experiences and achievements of minority communities.

Until that time, I’d say it’s a good idea to dial back these inane calls for White History Month and these nonsensical comments about how Black History Month perpetuates racism.