“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Walter Isaacson called it “the greatest sentence ever written.” He equally well could have called it “the most oblivious sentence ever written.” When written, those lofty words applied to almost nobody. Thomas Jefferson, the author, never would have had the leisure time to read John Locke or attend the Second Continental Congress if he hadn’t denied those unalienable rights to hundreds of human beings enslaved on his plantation.
There facts are just as true as the heroism of the “Greatest Generation;” Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg, JFK’S “ich bin ein Berliner” or Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbachev …;” or technological accomplishments like the transcontinental railroad, the Wright brothers, or the Apollo missions:
- Slavery was a brutal institution that led directly to the almost equally brutal Jim Crow. White people, north and south, violently resisted efforts to desegregate schools and housing.
- We locked up thousands of Japanese, most of them U.S. citizens, in WWII.
- Besides creating opportunities for thousands, the westward movement resulted in acts of genocide against the original population.
- Women were denied the right to vote for the next 144 years after Jefferson’s sentence and for many years couldn’t have a bank account or own property.
So, does this mean the U.S. is evil? That students who learn this are being taught to “hate America?” that they should be “ashamed that they’re white?”
What utter nonsense!
A few years ago, EXACTLY the people now trying to protect their children from history that will make them uncomfortable were arguing that removal of Confederate monuments was “destroying history” and that people who were uncomfortable should “get over it.” Apparently, only certain peoples’ history should be taught.
There is no reason why white students should be uncomfortable or “feel guilty” or “hate America” because of slavery or Jim Crow. Why wouldn’t they associate with the Quakers and other white farmers who at great risk staffed the Underground Railroad? Or why wouldn’t they applaud that a man like Frederick Douglass could be born into slavery and rise to the point of advising presidents? Far from causing shame, America’s story says we don’t always get it right the first time but we keep trying to do better.
The patriotic history the Trump administration wants to force students (and national park and museum visitors) to learn is creating a generation as historically illiterate as our current president is.
And this warped view of our history threatens to pervert our national celebrations of our 250th birthday. Congress created a bipartisan “America250” initiative to coordinate a national celebration. But President Trump has created his own “Freedom 250” that seems to be a vehicle for more grift, Trump self-glorification, and gawdy events like a UFC fight and an auto race in the streets of Washington, DC.
Though they have nothing to do with the 250th, tacky events like UFC fights seem harmless enough. The corporate solicitations that promise access to the President, the plans for a 250 foot triumphal arch that will tower over the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump coins, and the pervasive Trump imagery seem more questionable.
Other privately-funded, oversight-proof “Freedom250” events include traveling “Freedom trucks” that “tell America’s story” as interpreted by ultra-conservative Prager University and Hillsdale College and a 1st amendment busting “National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise, and Thanksgiving” that will give participants a chance to give “thanks and praise to God for 250 years of His Providence for the United States … and in solemnly rededicating our country as One Nation under God.”
Public Citizen’s Lisa Gilbert said, “Donald Trump and his henchmen have sabotaged what should be a unifying moment and appear intent on instead creating a highly divisive, corporate-funded, ideologically extremist exercise. Once again, nothing is sacred in the Trump administration, not even the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Everything is for sale to corporate and potentially foreign interests.”
Leon Reed is a former US Senate staff member, defense consultant, and history teacher. He is a 10 year resident of Gettysburg, where he writes military history and explores the park and the Adams County countryside. He is the publisher at Little Falls Books, chaired the Adams County 2020 Census Complete Count Committee and is on the board of SCCAP. He and his wife, Lois, have 3 children, 3 cats, and 5 grandchildren.