The Woke Assault on History Continues

At issue is whether this history defines America fundamentally as a nation today and whether the country is still systemically racist. Progressives say yes; conservatives say no. This is the real debate dominating the culture wars. By Aaron Kliegman This time last year, following George Floyd’s death, the hard left went on a literal rampage. Across the country, rioters looted stores, burned buildings, destroyed cars, and attacked police officers. All in the name of social justice, we were told, to atone for America’s racist past. To that end, the rioters also demolished countless historical monuments. Among them were statues of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Confederate generals. Watching the woke mob deface and destroy these statues with such ferocious enthusiasm, it was clear they didn’t just want to remove physical objects. They wanted to remove any trace of the historical figures’ memories from existence. This assault on historical memory didn’t end with last year’s summer of chaos. In the following months, straight through this year, school boards in progressive cities such as Portland and San Francisco voted to rename schools named after the likes of George Washington, James Madison, and Abraham Lincoln. The purpose of all this was — and remains — to uproot from history what wokeness deems racist. The goal is for America to “progress” beyond its oppressive past toward a just future. In other words, to erase history, move on, and begin anew. To make matters worse, this campaign is being supported by Democrats and journalists — elites with large platforms who have either acted as bystanders or cheerleaders. As a result, the agenda of a radical few has come to dominate the progressive left. It therefore seems strange — and more than a tad hypocritical — to see progressives now expressing concern about erasing history. Indeed, in recent weeks, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other prominent publications have published countless opinion pieces by commentators and intellectuals making three related arguments. First, America hasn’t yet confronted its racist past and doesn’t teach slavery and Jim Crow in its schools. Second, conservatives want to suppress this history because it undermines their preferred narrative of America as the land of opportunity. And third, teaching critical race theory (CRT) is the same as teaching about racism and slavery, so opposing CRT means being a racist. The overarching theme is that Americans, especially conservatives, want to ignore their country’s history of slavery and racism, hoping it just goes away. What nonsense. Every American of sound mind knows about slavery, segregation, and their country’s history of racism. Sure, most people probably can’t detail all the horrors a slave endured or explain the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. But they have a basic understanding and appreciation that slavery and Jim Crow were real, despicable, and a scar on American history. No one debates this. No one tries to hide this. At issue is whether this history defines America fundamentally as a nation today and whether the country is still systemically racist. Progressives say yes; conservatives say no. This is the real debate dominating the culture wars. Ironically, the woke voices accusing the right of quashing history are the ones doing the quashing. Through CRT and the 1619 Project, they seek to show that systemic racism is rampant in America, and one way of doing so is to portray the American founding as a racist enterprise. But look at what the Founders did. They wrote a Declaration of Independence saying we’re all created equal and have a God-given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They created a constitution, which, according to none other than Frederick Douglass, “was purposely so framed as to give no claim, no sanction to the claim, of property in a man. If in its origin slavery had any relation to the government, it was only as the scaffolding to the magnificent structure, to be removed as soon as the building was completed.” Or, as Lincoln said, the US Constitution deals with slavery “just as an afflicted man hides away a wen or a cancer, which he dares not cut out at once, lest he bleed to death; with the promise, nevertheless, that the cutting may begin at the end of a given time.” Once the government was established, the Founders went to work. They enacted the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banning slavery from the vast Northwest Territory. In 1794 they prohibited an out-going slave trade from the US to sell abroad. In 1798 they prohibited bringing slaves from Africa to the Mississippi territory. In 1800 they prohibited American citizens from trading slaves between foreign countries. In 1807 they prohibited the African slave trade. (The law took effect in 1808, the earliest date permitted by the Constitution.) Meanwhile, some of the original slave states had implemented gradual emancipation. This is the history that actually doesn’t get taught in school, that the woke left wants to ignore because it undermines their preferred narrative of America the terrible. The truth is one can recognize both America’s unique greatness and its history of racism simultaneously. This shouldn’t be that hard. But for the woke, facts always finish second to narrative. And the narrative animating them most of all is that America was — and remains — racist to the core. Newt hosts monthly virtual events in which he discusses news of the day and why it matters to you and your community. These Newt Live events are your opportunity to communicate directly with Newt. 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