January 27, 2012

Tea Party Wants to Re-Write History Books to Give Positive Spin on Slavery

Did any of you see the passionate comments by GOP candidate Rick Santorum towards the end of the debate last night? He was answering the question about what impact religion would have on his work as president if he were elected. He talked about the nation's founding fathers and the fact that "God-given rights" were at the heart of the Declaration of Independence.

Santorum noted that 'God-given rights' can't be given away by the government. As he was talking I kept thinking to myself about the Africans in America at the time of the Declaration of Independence. I wondered what Santorum would say about the "God-given rights" of those men and women who were enslaved by our Founding Fathers? Did they have any "God-given rights"?

Now, I learn that there are some in Santorum's Republican Party who no longer want to be troubled by the inconvenience of our nation's history of slavery. There are some GOP (aka, Tea Party) in Tennessee who want to re-write the history books being used in our public schools to give a positive spin on slavery. [SOURCE]

These Republican (or Tea Party) activists say that the way textbooks are worded now can portray out founding fathers in a negative light.
"Slavery is of course portrayed in the textbooks nowadays I'm sure as a totally negative thing. Had there not been slavery in the south, the economy would've fallen," said Tea Party Activist Brian Rieck.
I guess one person's dehumanizing atrocity is another person's economic stimulus agenda.

4 comments:

msladyDeborah said...

The spin is supposed to make the founding fathers look better. But in order to achieve that goal the story of how indigenous and enslaved Africans were treated has to be eliminated.

There is a really interesting article on Alter Net about how this same group of men would be considered unelectable in today's political climate because of their individual beliefs in God. I would suggest that people look it up and read it.

This attempt only indicates that the people who support mythical America and its God given rights are incapable of handling the truth about America as a imperialist nation and ugly things truly were/are for people who were subjected to this form of capitalism.

Dee-Vona said...

What gets me is that they can talk about the Holocaust all day and compare President Obama to Hitler (Glenn Beck)---something that didn't happen on American soil. Yet, they don't want to talk about/discuss/mention/admit to the human right violations that went on and is still going on here in America.

@msladydeborah: I will check out the article on Alter Net. Thanks.

Successisyou said...

Yet another wake-up call to live each moment with our eyes on the prize (especially on Election Day). In Willie's Lynch infamous speech on the banks of the James River, he spoke of a system of division that would insure "slavery" for "at least 300 years. That was in 1712 (plus 300 is . . .)!

Unknown said...

Lady D, Dee-Vona and Henry - Why does it seem that a story similiar to this one seems to pop up on a weekly basis in America? When will folks learn to exist without resorting to racist words, actions and behaviors?