Can we judge the past by the standards of the present? Many seem intent on proving not only that we can, but that we must. Social critic Douglas Murray doesn’t agree, and he explains why in this thought-provoking video.
1619 Project
What’s Wrong With The 1619 Project? (PragerU)
In August of 2019, the New York Times published The 1619 Project. Its goal is to redefine the American experiment as rooted not in liberty but in slavery. In this video, Wilfred Reilly, Associate Professor of Political Science at Kentucky State University, responds to The 1619 Project’s major claims.
1619 Project Author Changes Foundational Claim
Armstrong and Getty go over the recent change via the New York Times’ Nikole Hannah-Jones. Here is a quote from the WORLD SOCIALIST WEBSITE’S article: “The New York Times and Nikole Hannah-Jones abandon key claims of the 1619 Project“:
…It is not entirely clear when the Times deleted its “true founding” claim, but an examination of old cached versions of the 1619 Project text indicates that it probably took place on December 18, 2019.
These deletions are not mere wording changes. The “true founding” claim was the core element of the Project’s assertion that all of American history is rooted in and defined by white racial hatred of blacks….
Another article worth a read is this one
- 1619 Project Author Nikole Hannah-Jones Now Says She Never Implied That Year Was America’s True Founding (REASON-ORG)
The N.E.A. and B.L.M. Promotes Anti-Americanism/Racism
FLASHBACK with “the Hammer”
These two article should be read in union with this post regarding education: “Educayshun (Updated w/White Privilege)“
Two Must Read Articles, the first by THE WASHINGTON TIMES:
(Hat-tip to BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE LIBERTY INSTITUTE)
The National Education Association (NEA) is aggressively promoting an anti-American, polarizing agenda that is the root of the current racial divisions and rioting. They do this using clever messaging and The New York Times’ much-ballyhooed “1619 Project,” which intentionally perverts American history.
Times writers weave a twisted tale in which the evil of slavery so pervades the American experiment that literally nothing about our history isn’t motivated by some racist need to preserve the intentional subjugation, exploitation, marginalization and persecution of enslaved Africans.
Don’t get me wrong; America’s history is undeniably stained by the dark evil of slavery.
But to rewrite American history as if slavery is the defining and motivating factor behind nearly every aspect of our national story is ludicrous. It’s also dangerous and unethical to reframe history this way; especially considering America confronted the immorality of slavery head-on and defeated it.
The 1619 Project claims slave-owning colonists and hateful bigots hell-bent on institutionalizing racism set the tenor for our nation in 1619. It deceptively obliterates our true inspiration — Christian pilgrims who escaped religious persecution in 1620, launching the freest, most God-honoring “love your neighbor” nation in world history.
“1619” is chock-full of revisionist history promoting racial division and white blame, claiming our founding ideals were a lie purposefully told so whites could enslave blacks to get rich from an evil capitalist system. All this slander promoted by activists posing as journalists, educators and scholars is presented 155 years after hundreds of thousands of Americans (most of them white) gave their lives in the Civil War precisely to put an end to slavery.
It’s no wonder so many historians called out the NYT, but it’s revealing that the NEA did not.
Instead, the NEA coordinated directly with The New York Times, the Pulitzer Center, Southern Poverty Law Center and Black Lives Matter to put 1619 into the hands of educators and activists. Their goal? To assert a false but preferred narrative to advance a political agenda.
To legitimize their tales, the author of 1619 won the Pulitzer Prize, and the NEA praised 1619, saying it “informs and challenges us to reframe U.S. history and better understand the hold of institutional racism on our communities.” The NEA also launched “Black Lives Matter Week of Action” in America’s schools to train our K-12 children, college students and educators in their narrative.
Again, don’t get me wrong. Black lives do matter! Indeed, every human life is sacred. But the organization named Black Lives Matter is not what it claims to be. Like the unions, it’s a Trojan horse of anti-American, anti-family beliefs masquerading as defenders of good.
Now Americans are terrorized by rioters who believe these anti-American narratives, while the NEA quietly launches 1619 and its historical distortions into the history curricula of schools nationwide — virtually unchallenged.
America’s students are taught that the American Revolution was fought not to secure freedom from a tyrannical British Empire, but singularly to protect the institution of slavery.
This ignorance of reality and true history is a major weapon in their arsenal, and they’re pushing a raft of new pseudo-realities onto our culture, too.
No longer is gender defined by science or our Creator; it’s “fluid.”
No longer are environmental claims based on strict adherence to the scientific method; weak theories and hysterical “consensus” rule.
No longer are families seen as the center of a strong society, nor are children expected to obey or respect authority; “willful defiance” reigns while adults cower under the rule of child tyrants.
No longer is history determined by fact; instead, it’s reframed to support a constant assault on our Judeo-Christian culture.
That’s why union activists work behind the scenes ensuring this rubbish from The New York Times passes as approved history curriculum; against the will of good teachers. While The Times stirs up conflict, Black Lives Matter protests attract rioters inciting recurring fear and distraction, and the Pulitzer Center legitimizes 1619, the unions and their coalition stealthily indoctrinate our children and flip our nation’s history on its head. ….
The next article should be paired with this recent post as well: “BLM Is Anti-Christian (BONUS: Carol Swain | Larry Elder)“
BLM co-founder confirms what anyone who’s read their work knows: they’re proudly marxists. pic.twitter.com/vvUk5jTp7j
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) June 18, 2020
In a video from 2015, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors confesses to being a “trained organizer” and a “trained Marxist,” validating claims the global group might be a radical left-wing organization designed to pander to modern multicultural permutations of Marxist ideology.
Cullors is one of the Black Lives Matter movement’s co-founders, a queer activist, and has advocated for the abolition of prisons.
In the shortened 2015 clip taken from an interview for The Real News Network, Cullors says, “I think of a lot of things: The first thing I think of is that we actually do have an ideology frame.”
She continues, “Myself and Alicia, in particular, are trained organizers. We are trained Marxists. We are super versed on ideological theories, and I think what we really try to do is build a movement that can be utilized by many, many black folk.”
The second comes from THE FEDERALIST:
Remember that Black Lives Matter BlackLivesMatter Pays Homage to Marxist Cop Killer at Every Event It Holds. Here is the Federalist article:
….One recent derivative of this assertion is, “You can’t be Christian unless you affirm that black lives matter.” On the surface, it seems obvious that to properly represent a position that states all men are created in the image of God you would, indeed, need to affirmatively declare black lives matter.
Our Christian faith requires we believe in the intrinsic value of all life. Love for our fellow man is the motivation for promoting life-affirming culture. If our black brothers and sisters feel they’ve been disenfranchised, addressing this carefully is paramount to getting to the truth and healing wounds. Loving and supporting black people’s goal of equity in opportunity is vital for those who hope to see a universal acceptance of the sanctity of all life. As hashtag advocacy goes, #BlackLivesMatter seems self-evident and as nonpartisan as declaring #MeToo if you’re a sexual assault survivor.
But while BLM the organization declares their movement a “natural phenomenon” and its organization decentralized, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was intentionally marketed to a specific cause. As such, we must be cautious to clarify that affirming “black lives matter” is different than supporting Black Lives Matter, the 501 (c)(3), its chapters, and its partners.
Christians should limit our use of popular hashtags — primarily #BlackLivesMatter and #HandsUpDontShoot — to share messages regarding equality. Hashtag advocacy leads back to the organizations that create the hashtags. In this case, it means directing friends and family to an overt effort to fundamentally remake the world with socialist ideas—ideas that often directly contradict the message of the gospel.
The Origin of Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter began as a social media hashtag intended to bring attention to the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot by George Zimmerman. The words were a desperate cry for justice. As arguments regarding white supremacy and gun control policy dominated the airwaves, black women were burying their sons. In a country that believed it had finally broken the race barrier, electing our first black president just a few years before, this contradiction was unacceptable.
In her famous 2013 “Love Letter to Black People,” Black Lives Matter founder and community organizer Alicia Garza wrote: “I continue to be surprised at how little black lives matter.” Her friend and fellow organizer, Patrisse Kahn Cullors, created the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Another organizer friend, Opal Tometi, saw the marketing potential, purchased the domain name, and created a social media presence. The three formed the official Black Lives Matter Network after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Since July 2013, Black Lives Matter has grown to 40 chapters worldwide, with 16 located in America. Famous faces and influencers like John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, and Beyoncé Knowles openly support and promote BLM. As a movement, it is here to stay. Yet despite its seeming newness, Black Lives Matter is just part of a movement that has been in existence for decades under different names.
BLM Founders Openly Support Socialism
While it’s considered lazy scholarship to declare those who have left politics “socialist,” all three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement have openly shared their desires to end capitalism. In their online articles, videos, and interviews, all three allude to concepts that originate in socialism, communism, or Marxism.
Garza started her organizing career working in abortion advocacy before moving on to groups like NDWA, SOUL, and POWER—which merged with CJJC in 2014, and RTTC—all of which focus on worker and housing activism via anti-capitalist activism.
Cullors works in jail and policing activism as the founder of Dignity and Power Now. Her philosophy rests on the concept of prison abolition and reparations in financial compensation and land redistribution. She promotes BDS—the leftist, antisemitic boycott, divest, and sanction movement—both as a signatory to public statements supporting Palestinians and in articles she’s written. She speaks eloquently about “peoples-led socialist movements” in South America and once was “mentored” by Eric Mann, a former agitator of the Weather Underground domestic terrorism organization.
Opal Tometi focuses almost exclusively on immigration activism. She has spoken at Left Forum events, shared a stage with Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, and helped oversee “fair” elections in Venezuela in 2015.
Virtually all of the spaces Black Lives Matter and its founders inhabit are associated with leftist or openly socialist worker’s movements. All three women have spoken at Left Forum, a think tank for socialists, which engages high-profile communists, socialists, and Marxists as keynote speakers. Speakers include luminaries such as Marxist Silvia Federici and Frances Fox Piven.
Black Lives Matter has sponsored town hall meetings with leftist extremists even the leftist agitation group Southern Poverty Law Center finds objectionable. They’ve written touching eulogies for mass murderers who brutally suppressed Christianity.
They’ve recreated narratives to characterize a law enforcement officer as inherently aggressive and deceptive, even when forensics have shown their position to be inaccurate. While I agree that criminal justice reforms are needed, BLM’s misleading coverage forced the police officer involved in the Brown shooting to go into hiding due to death threats. Although we’re six years removed from 2014, he remains in hiding…..
Quick Summations of the 1619 Project
The Architects of Woke series takes aim at far-left post-modernist and Marxist thinkers and activists responsible for the spread of identity politics from college campuses to society at large. “The 1619 Project’s Fake History”, covers the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project. Directed by Nikole Hannah-Jones, the project attempts to reframe our understanding of American history by alleging the central event in the founding of the United States was the first importation of enslaved Africans to Virginia in 1619 and not the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The project has been notably criticized by esteemed historians for its factual errors. Despite this, schools across the nation have embedded the 1619 Project into their curriculums, perhaps endangering our nation’s understanding of its founding for generations to come…
Allen Guelzo joined The Buck Sexton Show shortly before the Pulitzer Prize Foundation announced that Nikole Hannah-Jones would be receiving the award for her 1619 essay. The NYT’s 1619 Project has been criticized by leading historians for its many factual inaccuracies.
Arthur Milikh joined the Ed Morrissey Show on Hot Air to debunk the myths outlined in the NYT’s 1619 Project and tell the true story about America’s founding.