The longest month

Most people believe February is the shortest month of the year. I used to think so, too. But now that February is Black History Month, it seems like the longest month to me.

For four weeks (plus one day every four years), it’s non-stop America bashing. The history of slavery and Jim Crow is rehearsed ad nauseum.

First-rate black figures are exalted, which is fine. Second-rate figures receive inordinate attention and praise. Third rate figures are dredged up from well-deserved obscurity.

None of which would bother me much if the image of America were not so badly distorted. The distortion is particularly troublesome in schools.

Black History Month, with its exploration of the dark side of America, is observed as early as kindergarten, and certainly by first grade. Regular American history typically isn’t taught until fourth history.

Thus, students get four (or so) courses that denigrate America before they get one that (if we’re lucky) celebrates it, or at least presents it with some perspective. The far-left, BLM view that 1619 is the defining moment in American history is repeatedly reinforced before students hear about the true defining moments — 1776 and 1789.

Black History Month is also a vehicle for inculcating BLM and DEI dogma. Anyone who doubts that it is used for this purpose probably neither has had kids in a typical public school nor understands how left-liberal the typical public school teacher is.

The Trump administration can purge DEI from the federal government and perhaps limit its reach in the private sector. But as long as there’s Black History Month, DEI’s dogma will be alive and well in our public (and many of our private) schools.

It’s important — indeed vital — that students learn all about slavery and Jim Crow. But Black History Month isn’t needed for that purpose. Both shameful institutions feature prominently in the regular American history curriculum, as they should.

Indeed, they dwarf the U.S. Constitution in the AP American History curriculum — and, I suspect, in the regular American History curriculum, as well. In a sense, every month from August until June is Black History Month for many American students.

But February is the longest.

There’s nothing much to be done about Black History Month. It’s here to stay and I don’t expect that even Donald Trump will try to disturb or alter it.

Parents may be able to influence how Black History Month plays out in their local schools, but this, too, seems like an uphill battle.

I’ll conclude with a story about how I fought back years ago.

My older daughter was in sixth grade. After five years of Black History Month, the school district was running out of black historical figures to assign for study to sixth-graders, and had turned to contemporary figures.

From a list provided by the County, the teacher assigned my daughter Mary Frances Berry, but gave her the option of finding a contemporary figure on her own.

Mary Frances Berry is a far-left activist who, at the time of my daughter’s assignment, was chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. A few years later, she would refuse to recognize the appointment by President Bush of Peter Kirsanow, a leading black conservative, to the Commission. Berry said Kirsanow would be seated on the Commission only if done so forcibly by U.S. marshals. (In the end, it took a court order. Peter is still on the Commission, where has served with distinction.)

I suggested that my daughter consider a different contemporary black figure. It happened that Alan Keyes, a candidate for president, was giving a campaign speech that night, and the CSPAN was broadcasting it.

I popped a tape into our VCR and my daughter and I watched Keyes’ speech. We both were entertained and impressed. If you have ever heard Keyes speak, you know what I mean.

My daughter selected Keyes for her project. For her presentation to the class, she played the tape of his campaign speech.

Afterwards, I asked my daughter how the teacher reacted. She said the teacher sat in the back of the classroom and laughed heartily.

Was she laughing at Keyes or laughing at how we trolled Black History Month? From what little I knew about the teacher, I suspected it was the latter. But I’ll never know.

Like I said, Black History Month is here to stay. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun with it.

Doing so might even shorten February.