Your History Month

[busker]

By setting one group apart, basically.  The victim/avenger option is just human nature once that's established - part of the human tool kit.  Should it be resisted, or valorized?

The purpose of the month is to recognise black achievers, who have been historically overlooked*.  Particularly relevant for the colonies, which have been comparatively less enlightened than Europe. For instance, Aborigines gained the right to vote in Australia only in 1967, and the civil rights bill was passed in the US only in 1964 or thereabouts. Which means that blacks were enshrined in law as being inferior to whites a generation ago, and not hundreds of years in the past. Having an event of this nature also cuts through the clutter that children growing up in bigoted households (much of the American south, apparently) get shoved in front of their faces.

In an ideal world, where everyone was a rational man of science, well educated, well travelled and good at geometry, a Black History Month would be superfluous, as would be a VE day, a July 4, or Christmas. 



*Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-his...tory-month

That's the "beautiful" option.  Would that it were consistently chosen.

Part of the reason why the other option is still a valid one is that white settlers still honour genocidal maniacs in the name of 'heritage' and 'tradition'. 
For instance, James Whyte, the sixth premier of Tasmania, killed 40-80 aborigines (who knows what the actual number was....maybe higher) in 1840 as reprisals for the theft of sheep. This man still has a street named after him in the (mercifully) nondescript town of Coleraine in Victoria.
There would be similar cases in the United States
It will remain difficult for the other party to 'move on' under the circumstances.