York students and faculty believe Black History Month is necessary to celebrate the achievements of African-Americans throughout history, but think the celebration should be all year around.
York English Professor Matthew Garley said he believes honoring Black history should not be limited to one month.
“Black History Month is a time to reflect on the immense contributions that African Americans have made to America and the world.” Garley said.
“A month is not enough to honor African American heroes and contributions made to the world,” Garley added. “There isn’t a white history month, because every month is white history month, so it should be the same for all races.”
Garley said he believes one of the positive aspects of Black History Month is that people can focus on important historical events and the people who were involved in these events, such as Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.
Freshman Matthew Robinson, an 18-year-old Computer Science major at York said, “Blacks who made an impact should be honored for more than a month. I feel like it’s a bit downgrading that Black history isn’t celebrated for the whole year.”
Adornal Dennis, an International student at York and a liberal arts major, said Black History Month should be a time to celebrate Black culture.
“If we don’t celebrate it, there’s no hope for future generations to know their history,” Dennis said. “We should celebrate who we are every single second we breathe, though.”
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