Black History Month Ireland, why?

I just find this so completely absurd. Living in Asia has taught me it's incredibly annoying for your skin colour or nationality to be a constant thing you're reminded of.

Where I work, there is a staff room for local people, and a staff room for foreigners. They used to be together and it was great. Now with it split, it's a constant reminder that I'm segregated away because of who I am. Literally a different floor. It's non-stop every single day. Even though I can speak the language pretty well, people don't expect it so they try to listen for English initially and don't even hear you speak their own language. You walk into a shop and you can hear the staff say to each other oh shlt I can't speak English and start trying to work out who has the best chance of understanding me. I choose this life and can leave it whenever I want so it's not a big deal, but you never ever feel like you belong.

It really makes sense that America is so split when everything is about your race and heritage. No one is just American. It's hammered into everyone every single day that if your great grandparents came over from Ireland say in 1890, you're Irish American. If you're black, you're African American. But what if you're Caribbean and don't want to be called African American? What if you just want to be called American and not have your "experience" defined by your ancestors? Why on Earth Ireland is adopting this toxic horseshlt is completely beyond me. There is not one positive that comes from applying unnecessary adjectives to a person.

"Make them feel more welcome." is what 50-year-old Irish parents say the first year they get some Spanish students over to stay during the summer. They're children.. We better help them out. That's fine. But it's straight-up condescending fukery to do it to adults or entire races of people as if they have no agency of their own.

If you want to make people feel welcome, you treat them like everyone else. I go to the same small shops where people know me, speak to me in Vietnamese, and don't make a fuss when I go in. It allows me to get my groceries without feeling like an outsider, or like my skin colour matters. Same if I want to go for beers. We go to places that treat us like we're human beings and not exotic animals. I'm a human being. I'm not a white human being.

Black history month for a race of people which has had frankly no impact on Irish history is a mockery. We have had no impact on their histories either. We have co-existed on this planet without raping and pillaging either other and that should be enough.

Well in the context of this thread, it wouldn't be about Irish people; It would be about white people. They already have museums documenting that, and frankly, I'd prefer to not be associated with agent orange just because I happen to be white.

I've been in some of those museums, I didn't feel like I was associated with agent orange, not did anyone make me feel that way. Maybe you're getting paranoid.......

I'm not putting anyone in any baskets?

somebody in RTE has decided to show a number of programs about black people. Some people (of any.colour) may be interested in watching those programs, other people may not. There are a number of black people living in irish society now, I don't believe anyone thinks they are all the same, anymore then all white people are the same.

There are programs about Irish people, does that mean all Irish people are the same? Obviously not.

People in Ireland may be interested in watching programs about non native people who have either had influence here or have chosen to make their lives here.

maybe we should wait to see what the programs are about before we decide that RTE are patronizing all black people, eh?