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So there should be no Black History Month?
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Learning and preserving history is a different thing from taking "pride" in your association with the past. If the people you are taking "pride" in did shameful things as well as good things, you should feel that shame to the same extent you feel pride. But that's not what I see people doing. I hear people linking themselves to honor, and sacrifice, and other noble qualities their ancestors had, but when it comes to filthy, hateful things their ancestors did, the same people say, well, they were just doing what was typical in their historical context, and I'm not responsible for the things they did, so I am not really associated with the filth and hate. Well, how can you be linked to one and not the other?
If you're German, you can learn and preserve of all the great things Germany and Germans have done throughout history. But if you tell me you feel personally proud of your association with Beethoven, you should also feel personally ashamed of your association with Goebbels. To pretend that your heritage is all about the good stuff is to sanitize history. It's dishonest.
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