The 1619 Project
The 1619 Project was published in the New York Times magazine in 2019 and ever since it saw the light it became a lighting rod for white grievance. Never mind that its creator, Nikole Hannah-Jones won the Pulitzer for it. The thing is, the project, which puts the spotlight on how American history whitewashes history to perpetuate white supremacy is being maligned by the Rethugs left and right. Well, mostly right, but you get my drift.
Want some proof? How about this:
Republican lawmakers in Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri and South Dakota filed bills last month that, if enacted, would cut funding to K-12 schools and colleges that provide lessons derived from the award-winning project.
Some historians say the bills are part of a larger effort by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, to glorify a more White and patriarchal view of American history that downplays the ugly legacy of slavery and the contributions of Black people, Native Americans, women and others present during the nation’s founding.
The plot is simple: the Repugs are threatening to cut funding to public schools that somehow are not sticking to the whitewashing that goes along with the Nationalist view they espouse: they want a 'patriotic' education that erases BIPOC and women. It's white patriarchy in a bottle. Of course, the Project is not without critics and some parts of it have received some pushback. But I, for one, think that the Project having flaws does not detract from the fact that it shines light on events and facts that white supremacists do not want to be discussed. They allege that by learning things from this project students will 'lose their love for America'. A racist, nationalist, white America, of course. White fragility at its best.
It's not the first time that the Repugs and the Right Wingers have cried wolf about anything that denies their version of history. I have posted about that here before many times. All you have to do is put 'racism' in the search box. But this time, given that Repugs consider that children are being 'brainwashed' and are incensed about 'revisionist' history lessons, they're threatening to withdraw funding from schools that use the Project's 'revisionist' and 'racially divisive' framing of history. Talk about gaslighting. And it's not only politicians. If you google 'the 1619 Project', you'll get a myriad takes from white nationalists and racists decrying the culture of 'woke' people who allow shining a light on racism. How dare we!
So, if you have time (this is your assignment, remember it's Black History Month and being anti-racist is a struggle for people who are not Black) take a look at the whole document. Some of the essays are brilliant and very much worth your time and some are very accessible to students (there are fantastic lesson plans to go with them, if you are homeschooling anybody or if you like detailed reading guides, natch) and they will make you think about the topics they touch and some will push you to do your own research, which is the foundation of knowledge. We don't have to take what they say at face value. That's why we have books and Google, dearest.
Celebrating Black History Month is the perfect occasion to check our privilege and learn something new. I invite you to become more aware about how race works in this country. If that gives you ammunition to deal with your racist friends and relatives, well, this is one of those two-birds-one-stone deals.
Happy reading!
And yes, there'll be a test.
XOXO
The Republicans are going to be the new south......whinning crying and bitching because they will lose the war....and not get their picture painted in a beautiful portrait. Fuck em!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile...my newest show I'm watching on Masterpiece on PBS is a show called The Long Song. Boy is that a well done show. Takes place in slavery times and follows the life of July a female slave. It's a moving show.
It's incredibly how whiny and how much of a sore loser they all are. We gave in the pain when Cheeto 'won', but they take defeat really badly. Especially because they should know they're in the wrong.
DeleteAnd I'm going to have to look for that show. PBS has fantastic programming but I can only watch what they have online... Remember, no cable.
XOXO
The RepubliQanons aren't even trying to hide their racist ideologies any more.
ReplyDeleteOh, they never have. They're the party that 'freed the slaves' and 'gave women vote' and forget to say WHEN was that. They never mention that once integration was suggested they left the party. Gaslighting. It's a RepubliQanon (love that) thing.
DeleteXOXO
yes.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
DeleteAmerica needs a reckoning.
XOXO
the white GQP betta RECOGNIZE that their days are numbered. they are a minority. it's time for the rest of us to take the lead and crush the GQP!
ReplyDeleteOh, Anne Marie.
DeleteThey never will. They will try to gerrymander and restrict voting and disenfranchise Black, Brown , Indigenous and People of Color as long as they breathe.
We do need to do everything we can to stop that from keep happening.
XOXO
There is a great desire among the white conservatives to do more then whitewash our racist past. They had initiated some sort of bullshit saying that slavery was a necessary bad in order for the country to grow. Biden shut that lie up real fast.
ReplyDeleteOh, the good old boys in the good old party will keep whitewashing history because they love power. White supremacy is a cancer. White men will try to keep hegemony as long as they can because they're used to power. It's quite simple.
DeleteXOXO
Those who have benefitted from oppression in the past, or who benefit from it now, never want the truth exposed. They want everyone (including themselves) to mistakenly think their wealth, power and position in society came about from their own efforts and merit and are therefore well-deserved.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
DeleteIt's a case of don't ask, dont' tell. White supremacists have been trying to erase their shameful past for three hundred years. They don't want to accept that it was their racism and ill-gained privilege what gave them wealth and therefore power. Never will.
XOXO
These are very sad times in this country. It's Reconstruction all over again. Really, it is. The one bright spot yesterday was the demise of Rush Limbaugh. As one person Tweeted: "Don't celebrate his death - Mourn his life." Mouthpieces like him need to drop off the earth. XOXO
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, Big.
DeleteReconstruction comes to mind. And I got the news that Rush croaked with some kind of relief. He was one of the architects of the Rise of Cheeto. He was one of the first to use the power of racism, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia to create what today is the right wing disinformation machine. Good riddance. Hope he suffered.
XOXO
Okay. History IS sacred. F Jeebus and all that they hold holy... Do NOT F with History. This is vile. And where are the Dems? Playing nice as usual. Hoping for crumbs if they don't raise a stink. RAISE A STINK. People are awful. But people who don't accept reality and think they can manipulate the truth? They are THE WORST. RAISE A STINK. Wow. I learn so much reading these blogs. Thanks, Sixpence.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Dems really cannot do much, because a national curriculum cannot be installed. It's very state-by-state and the GQP knows that. It's at the local level that their racism and bigotry is most apparent. Also, remember that Cheeto stacked the lower courts with very conservative, Repug judges. It's all done sotto voce.
DeleteLOL and I'm glad I can give you some food for thought!
XOXO
I recently read "Me and White Supremacy" for a book club at work. Very enlightening and I knew I benefited from white privilege but didn't realize how to the extent. Thanks for sharing this, Sixpence. I look forward to learning more about it.
ReplyDeleteOhhh that's Saad's book, right? So good. I highly recommend White Fragility and The New Jim Crow. For kids, The Hate you Give. So many good reads out there about it. One of my favs is How to be an Anti-racist.
DeleteXOXO
Oooo. The Hate U Give is an excellent read!!! (The film was pretty decent, too.) XOXO
DeleteYes, it is! Great for younger readers, too. It's a YA book but it works at many levels. That's why I mentioned it to Mr. Shife.
DeleteXOXO
Knowledge is power. And light can overcome the darkness. This light needs to shine. The repugs are looking for the status quo of the 50s. With voter suppression laws and now this shit they show their desperation. The justice department must start looking into all of this all over again.
ReplyDeleteXOXO 👨❤️💋👨
That's so true, bae.
DeleteFor the repugs, the golden years (after the antebellum) were the fifties, where the colored and the foreigners and the queers knew their place: under the white man's thumb. The justice department can do only so much in four years. They're gonna be busy with Cheeto's fuckery for decades. What needs to be done is to vote to keep the Repugs away from power as long as possible. They cannot be trusted.
XOXO
It would be simpler if you admitted that even the great founding fathers of your United States kept behaviors that are now no more acceptable. Slavery, for example. We all have contradictions, even the greatest men. Leonardo da Vinci, for example, thought (and hoped) that a day would come when killing an animal, also only just to eat it, would be judged as serious as killing a man. But he designed war machines for the Duke of Milan (my city by the way).
ReplyDeleteIn the Middle Ages, handicapped people were considered cursed by God because God could never make himself in his image and likeness with a cripple.
Until the beginning of the twentieth century, deformed people were exhibited in circuses for the pleasure of the monstrous and let earn a lot of money to the holder of that unlucky person.
There will always be behaviors that will go "out of fashion" because sensitivity and society change. Wouldn't it be better and more profitable for everyone to admit that today's culture and sensitivity does not rightly allow more behaviors that were once common?
Do you know that once doctors advised smoking because - they thought lungs are oxygenated and more "open" in that way?
I agree. But you know that people who have held power for long periods of time and who benefit from privilege do not let go of that power and that privilege easily. Progress does count (I was reading Infidel, exhorting the goodness of art and beauty against bigotry and hatred) but it comes slowly because those in power do not like it.
DeleteXOXO