It seems like Stacey Dash just can’t live down her embarrassing comments about BET, the BET Awards and Image Awards, and Black History Month since fans and celebrities alike have continued to roast her for saying they promote segregation and need to be abolished. And it seems like Dash won’t let us forget about her comments either because this week she penned a letter clarifying her thoughts about Black History Month.
In the open letter, which she posted on her blog yesterday, Dash explains that she doesn’t want to get rid of Black History Month and have no acknowledgement of the history of our people in America. Instead, she says Black history should be taught year-round as part of American history.
“It’s hard to cut through the hysterical reactions to my comments the other day about Black History Month.
“I feel like many of your reactions — saying that I’ve sold out to white people, that I’m ‘coonin’ etc — show you aren’t hearing me.
“I’m not saying we as Black people deserve LESS respect. I’m saying we deserve MORE.
“Black History should be a part of social studies and history curriculum EVERYDAY OF EVERY MONTH OF EVERY YEAR. not just 28 days out of 365!!!!
“In a hundred years, do you really want the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr, Frederick Douglass, and even Barack Obama to be discussed only in the month of February?!
“Black history IS American history. We are not a category or a special interest group. We are Americans.
“Our accomplishments cannot be limited to 28 days. Do not listen to liberals who try to limit you, to put you into a box, to tell you that you MUST believe one way or another, that you cannot think for yourselves, and that the government can ‘give’ you a ‘special month’ ”
However, Dash takes yet another dig at the Black community and claims that Black people are the one and only problem in their own lives.
“No. I am sick of settling for breadcrumbs.
“I am an American and I cannot be categorized or limited by anyone else’s definition of me. I can tell by the hysterical reactions that it’s not WHITE PEOPLE who are trying to keep black Americans in their place. It’s BLACK people.
“We need to stop doing this to ourselves, to our brothers and sisters. We need to swipe the breadcrumbs on the floor and eat of the wonderful, rich food this nation offers.”
Dash may have a valid point that Black history should be acknowledged and taught year-round, but she seems to refuse to acknowledge the reality that the Black community has only created spaces and programs like BET, Black History Month, the NAACP Image Awards, etc. because we still, a century after being given freedom and decades still after the Civil Rights Movement, are having our culture and experiences ignored, exploited or erased by mainstream America. And the fact that she believes that White America and racism have no part at all in the issues still plaguing the Black community just further proves the point that she’s blind to the realities of American life for Black people.
