This editorial is brought to you by a staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
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On September 6th, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to forewarn schools who were considering using the 1619 Project as part of their curriculum then they “will not be funded”.
The 16919 Project, for those unaware, is something akin to an op-ed from the New York Times that aims to reframe the history of America.
Department of Education is looking at this. If so, they will not be funded! https://t.co/dHsw6Y6Y3M
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2020
In a nutshell, the 1619 Project managed to land a Pulitzer Prize last year. The entirety of the writings allege that America wasn’t founded in 1776, but rather in 1619.
The rationale behind this framing is that 1619 was the first year when slaves were brought into America. Thus, further alleging that America was founded on slavery basically.
The strange tangling of history by the 1619 Project suggests that the Revolutionary War was started due to preserving “capitalism” and thus slavery as well. According to the 1619 Project’s author, protecting slavery was a “critical reason” for the American Revolution:
“One critical reason that the colonists declared their independence from Britain was because they wanted to protect the institution of slavery in the colonies, which had produced tremendous wealth. At the time there were growing calls to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire, which would have badly damaged the economies of colonies in both North and South.”
It’s about time that this twisting of US history has been put to a halt! https://t.co/OT2CAP0xbi
— Jim Murphy (@JimmyCoyoteLoco) September 7, 2020
Leslie M. Harris, a professor of history at Northwestern University, was among those who vehemently denied that slavery was a key focal point for the American Revolution:
“I vigorously disputed the claim. Although slavery was certainly an issue in the American Revolution, the protection of slavery was not one of the main reasons the 13 Colonies went to war.”
In fact, the events leading up to the American Revolution in 1775 were things like numerous taxes enacted by Great Britain. There had also been the Sugar Act of 1764, the Stamp Act of 1765 and the infamous Boston Tea Party just two years prior to the “shot heard round the world.”
The 1619 Project is neo-Marxist propaganda. And it’s already been debunked by serious historians.
Of course it shouldn’t be taught in schools. https://t.co/abRTAoQzu3
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) July 24, 2020
Furthermore, to claim that there were “growing calls to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire” in the time that America “declared their independence” is a lie by several years.
America declared independence in 1776 and the anti-slavery movement didn’t start in the British Empire until 1783.
A group of five historians also contacted the New York Times about the numerous inaccuracies present within the 1619 Project, while also pointing out that the publication treated the piece as indisputable fact rather than the op-ed that it should be treated:
“The 1619 Project has not been presented as the views of individual writers… Instead, the project is offered as an authoritative account that bears the imprimatur and credibility of The New York Times.”
The letter further explained that the errors that were included in the writings behind the 1619 Project are areas that could have been fact checked to show they were either misleading or flat-out false:
“We are dismayed at some of the factual errors in the project and the closed process behind it. These errors, which concern major events, cannot be described as interpretation or ‘framing.’ They are matters of verifiable fact, which are the foundation of both honest scholarship and honest journalism.”
The New York Times’ 1619 project was debunked by nearly all historians but it doesn’t matter now because it won an award which is going to allow it to be laundered into the U.S. education system where it will be used to brain wash kids into hating this country https://t.co/604aWOQ153
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 31, 2020
Believe it or not, the New York Times editor actually responded to the letter penned by the historians, claiming that they “disagree” that the 1619 carried “significant factual errors”:
“We disagree with their claim that our project contains significant factual errors and is driven by ideology rather than historical understanding. While we welcome criticism, we don’t believe that the request for corrections to The 1619 Project is warranted.”
So even when the NYT is called out on some rather large errors – they claim they’re not errors and don’t warrant any correction.
President Trump threatens to defund any institutions that use New York Times’ widely debunked 1619 Project. https://t.co/FV4ttzqI52
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 6, 2020
This is likely why President Trump stepped into the fray when word started going around that schools might be teaching this version of history that places a racial lens on everything that transpired in America forming.
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