“Letter to the Editor: Elimination of BHM Is Myopic Whitewashing.” The Hofstra Chronicle, The Hofstra Chronicle, 12 Mar. 2016, www.thehofstrachronicle.com/archive-2016/letter-to-the-editor-elimination-of-bhm-is-myopic-whitewashing.

In this Letter to the Editor, the author talks about certain issues that the African American communities are suffering from. The author starts by talking about how the Amazonian rainforests and what is happening to them now and talks about how many people try to not pay any mind to it and how they try to relate other things to it in order to make that issue seem smaller than it actually is. Then the author says that the same thing is happening to the black communities except that their issues are way more serious and what is happening to them is very cruel. African Americans have been suffering since the beginning of this country’s existence and they still do. The author points out the existence of systematic racism by displaying different statistics in which black people are treated worse or neglected and these tragedies are usually whitewashed to seem less significant. The author talks about the stonewall riots and how that was largely thanks to the efforts of black trans women, yet this event is also whitewashed and the accomplishments are credited to white men. The author closes off by saying that Black History Month is a reminder to everyone, and it is not only a reminder of the tragedies they went through and still go through to this day, it is also a reminder of the many accomplishments they have achieved and their efforts to improve their lives which in turn improved our lives to.

I agree with what the author says, it is truly a shame how much pain black people have to suffer and their screams are continuously silenced by corporations and organizations whitewashing the events and spreading misinformation. “People of color are still in many ways second-class citizens in the United States, and the country still has a long way to go in recognizing both the forms of systematic racism that exist today.” This was the statement I agreed with the most, there are many incidents in which black people were done wrong and nothing is done about it. If I can ask the author anything I would ask them, what inspired them to write this? I want to do some research on the stonewall riots, I have not got the chance to learn about that yet.

“Pre-American history itself as taught in schools is also largely whitewashed, with little focus on African civilizations and their accomplishments.”

“Black History Month serves as a reminder to the white people of the United States such as myself that we owe an infinite debt to those that were and still are being subjugated at our benefit.”