Three reasons why we need a EuroAmerican male month

First, simply for equal time. February is Black History Month. March is Women's History Month. April is Black Women's History Month. May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. June is LGBT Pride Month. September is Hispanic Heritage Month. October is LGBT History Month. November is Native American Heritage Month. Most or all of these history-heritage months have been celebrated by American presidents, including President Trump, with annual presidential proclamations for decades. The one group conspicuously missing? EuroAmerican men, who as a group have made foundational contributions to Western and global civilization. It's fitting that the many achievements and contributions of EuroAmerican men be similarly recognized and celebrated with a dedicated month and a corresponding proclamation.

Which month? Black History Month grounds itself in the February birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, author of the Emancipation Proclamation. Women's History Month developed from International Women's Day, first celebrated in March 1911. Hispanic Heritage Month derives from the September independence days of nine Latin American countries. And so on for other history-heritage months and their founding touchstones. By analogy, July would be the perfect month to dedicate as EuroAmerican Male Celebration Month. Not only is July unclaimed (a plus) as a history-heritage month, but it also commemorates two notable achievements of EuroAmerican men: the United States' birth on July 4 and Bastille Day on July 14. On July 4, 1776, fifty-six delegates to the Second Continental Congress – all EuroAmerican men now remembered as the Founders – ratified the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Ever since, Americans have celebrated July 4 as our nation's birthday. Thirteen years later, on July 14, 1789, Parisian republicans stoked the French Revolution and its ideals of liberté, egalité, fraternité by overthrowing King Louis XVI's Bastille fortress. The French celebrate July 14 as their nation's birthday. Both events commend July as the ideal month to dedicate to celebrating the myriad contributions of EuroAmerican men to Western and global history, culture, knowledge, science, and technology. Second, the nation needs a EuroAmerican Male Celebration Month to counter the clear monopoly the left holds on establishing and commemorating history-heritage months. These months are not gratuitous, as the left knows. They appear every year with calendrical certainty throughout the nation in workplaces and schools, K-12 through college, where they're used for training and instruction. They generate presidential proclamations. They're influential cultural and political vehicles. Conservative citizens and parents, especially of school-age boys from EuroAmerican backgrounds, merit a EuroAmerican Male Celebration Month to offset the left's pedagogical monopoly and to fill a glaring gap: there is no comparable month for celebrating the valuable contributions of EuroAmerican men. Third, the nation needs a EuroAmerican Male Celebration Month to highlight, celebrate, and defend the distinctive achievements of Western civilization – as contributed by EuroAmerican men – from the left's resolve to tear them down as "white patriarchal oppression." America's established heroes (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, many others), its founding documents (the Declaration, the Constitution), Christianity as the West's religious heritage – these are a few of our cultural hallmarks the left vows to jettison and replace. Likewise, the Western canon of enduring art, literature, and music is repudiated as "white male oppression," as are the STEM skills and methods that enable scientific and technological progress. A EuroAmerican Male Celebration Month would in its way oppose the left's cultural razing and uphold the estimable hallmarks of Western civilization. As with other history-heritage months, a presidential proclamation would be the appropriate action for marking EuroAmerican Male Celebration Month as a national observance and for honoring the substantial contributions of an omitted, though significant American heritage. EuroAmerican men and their allies everywhere can work from this moment forward to achieve a celebratory month equal to those celebrating the heritages of other Americans. In the absence of a presidential proclamation this July, proponents can still dedicate the month to celebrating the extraordinary achievements and contributions of EuroAmerican men to U.S., Western, and global civilization. At the same time, they can continue to work for a formal proclamation in the future – if not this year, perhaps next. Dr. James Young is an independent conservative commentator. His academic affiliations include Wisconsin and Yale.