I agree; what I meant when I referred to trying to cram all the different Asian histories together, what I meant was that, with African American history, we’re just talking about one ethnic group, but with Asian Americans there are several so if you’re cramming all the various Asian American migration experiences and contributions into a month, then everybody gets less than a week. It would be nice, but it would be even better if that area of study was considered American history and taught alongside all the other important things we learn.

But thanks for the point about the trivia. You’re right that I probably would see it differently if there was no such thing as a black history month. I just think that, to a lot of people, the accomplishments of the black people we celebrate during black history month are great, but they see great black people as exceptions to the rule and still subscribe to stereotypes about the rest of us. Kind of like how, in the early stages of the election, there was so much “My, Barack and Michelle are such together and well-spoken black people. How new!” Like they’re a novelty. It’s like, “Okay, for one month we’ll concede that some of you have done something and then we’ll go right back to only showing you on the TV when you something stupid. And we won’t help you look for your missing kids.”

Also, re: this:
“Black people and white people ask me ‘What are you?’ all the time. That’s what othering means to me.”

Totally; in the schools I went through for K-12 almost all of the Asian students’ families were from Laos and they would get so. fucking. frustrated when people kept asking them questions about being Chinese, Japanese or Korean. People would say to them, “I’ve never heard of that place. You’re making it up. Why are you ashamed of being Chinese?” Seriously. So when I think of Asian History Month, I think of scenarios like Unpossible pointed out where the spotlight is put on a handful of Asian children, and I think of people not taking the time to tailor the lessons to the demographic of their community and a Cambodian American child having the teacher ask them whether anyone in their family was put in camps during WWII. And then them having to explain for an entire month why they aren’t the same.

@rns-I agree with you that American history needs to be integrated all the time, like it was with black history where I went to public school. I was talking about my elementary-middle school years before because I was in public school and I think that’s more relevant to a national dialogue, but I went to a small charter school for H.S. where we used A People’s History among other wholly inclusive texts, which is why I know how simple it could be to teach in a way that includes all Americans.
AHM, in an American classroom wouldn’t need to be the whole history of the continent. It would make a big difference to have learned about Asian American history and highlight historical activists and leaders for even one month in public school and public life. You said above that you don’t care if white people know about black inventors and such if they don’t know understand privilege. I def. agree that most schools could do a better job of teaching about racism and privilege, but it seems like all history in public school is treated like trivia, unconnected to society today.

It is a really big thing to see that people of your own race have accomplished things and shaped history. If you didn’t have that to look to, and if white people were ignorant of all the accomplishments, or even the existence of your race, I think you would wish you had it. Black people and white people ask me “What are you?” all the time. That’s what othering means to me.

@SarahMC-I object to what Renee said because it isn’t the cause of insufficiently integrated history. BHM exists more specifically because it was invented by a black professor as a way of correcting racism. Saying that BHM itself is racist and that *it* makes a mockery of blackness seems as misguided to me as when the self-titled equality feminists say it marginalizes women to talk about our inequality.

The extent to which we still need BHM is a real shame, but setting this month aside, in the meantime, has been a good thing.

I think my school did well with history in general, actually; the 6-year series of courses was pretty strictly chronological, starting with Australopithecus Afarensis. It really countered the “other countries? what other countries?” idea that I found in my public education, and made self-satisfied America-centrism pretty impossible, since we didn’t even make it to American history for several years, and when we did, we spent a semester on the native cultures of the Americas first. The specific ways my teachers taught it also really stressed the idea that history is sort of a continuous intertwining struggle, that the next thing is always in response to the previous thing, etc., which made trying to separate just one group’s history, well, nonsensical. The literature lined up well, too; we read a lot of Yoruba folk tales, and creation stories from a dozen different Native tribes, and we laughed at John Smith’s ridiculous “I totes killed 200 savages! No, wait, 300!” stories, and so on. When we made it to American lit, we read things like Black Boy, the Yellow Wallpaper, and similar feminist and/or anti-racist literature, in addition to our culturally-mandated parade of old white guys.

And WOW, that’s a lot of nostalgia. It proves that it IS possible, though, to teach even young(ish) kids a history that is true and encompassing of all people. There’s no need for this essentialist rubbish.

Oh– and did anyone else notice that in the video, all the people featured in the “White History Month” spoof were women?