SouthernN'Proud
Southern Discomfort
from tonguetied.us...
The New York Post reports this morning that a state panel will soon study whether schoolkids in that state learn enough about the "physical and psychological terrorism" inflicted on Africans during the slave trade and will then recommend changes to text books and curricula based on its findings.
Dubbed the Amistad Commission after the slave ship commandeered by its captives, the 19-member panel will consist of political appointees who don't necessarily have a background in academia.
"Whatever we're doing in our school system right now to teach slavery is not enough," said Manhattan Democratic Assemblyman Keith Wright, who championed the bill creating the panel. "It's America's deep, dark secret, and for too long, it's been swept under the rug."
Others, however, express concern.
Michael Meyers, executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, called the creation of the panel "sheer racial breast-beating.
"I think it's errant nonsense to trust curriculum matters to a blue-ribbon panel of racial grievance," he said.
**end**
Huzzah. I could not agree more, chum. I'll even help ya out a little with your mission.
How about the next editions of them famous yankee-written and edited American history textbooks include a few of these facts that have been swept under the rug:
Every African slave brought to North America was transported on a ship flying the American flag.
Every African brought to this country for sale into slavery was sold by their own people.
At the end of the War for Southern Independence, Robert E. Lee owned zero slaves. Ulysses S. Grant owned slaves until after the end of the war.
Africans were not the only people sold as slaves in America. Native Americans were also sold into slavery (in South America no less), as were whites who could not pay their debts in New England states.
At no time in American history were blacks, regardless of whether they had ever been slaves or not, prohibited from residing in Southern states. In most "free" states, they were not allowed to establish a residence or even to tarry for longer than three days before travelling on. This includes such bastions of freedom as Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and that ever-glowing beacon of independence, Massachusetts.
But who am I kidding? No one wants these facts made common knowledge. Fucks up our right to be smug and continue the long-established tradition of denying the facts, now doesn't it? Kinda makes it difficult to crack them racist Southerner jokes if everybody knows what really happened and is still happening, now don't it. No, much better to use a little more of that tried and true "selective editing" that's served us so well for 170 years. Why mess with a good thing, right?
The New York Post reports this morning that a state panel will soon study whether schoolkids in that state learn enough about the "physical and psychological terrorism" inflicted on Africans during the slave trade and will then recommend changes to text books and curricula based on its findings.
Dubbed the Amistad Commission after the slave ship commandeered by its captives, the 19-member panel will consist of political appointees who don't necessarily have a background in academia.
"Whatever we're doing in our school system right now to teach slavery is not enough," said Manhattan Democratic Assemblyman Keith Wright, who championed the bill creating the panel. "It's America's deep, dark secret, and for too long, it's been swept under the rug."
Others, however, express concern.
Michael Meyers, executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, called the creation of the panel "sheer racial breast-beating.
"I think it's errant nonsense to trust curriculum matters to a blue-ribbon panel of racial grievance," he said.
**end**
Huzzah. I could not agree more, chum. I'll even help ya out a little with your mission.
How about the next editions of them famous yankee-written and edited American history textbooks include a few of these facts that have been swept under the rug:
Every African slave brought to North America was transported on a ship flying the American flag.
Every African brought to this country for sale into slavery was sold by their own people.
At the end of the War for Southern Independence, Robert E. Lee owned zero slaves. Ulysses S. Grant owned slaves until after the end of the war.
Africans were not the only people sold as slaves in America. Native Americans were also sold into slavery (in South America no less), as were whites who could not pay their debts in New England states.
At no time in American history were blacks, regardless of whether they had ever been slaves or not, prohibited from residing in Southern states. In most "free" states, they were not allowed to establish a residence or even to tarry for longer than three days before travelling on. This includes such bastions of freedom as Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and that ever-glowing beacon of independence, Massachusetts.
But who am I kidding? No one wants these facts made common knowledge. Fucks up our right to be smug and continue the long-established tradition of denying the facts, now doesn't it? Kinda makes it difficult to crack them racist Southerner jokes if everybody knows what really happened and is still happening, now don't it. No, much better to use a little more of that tried and true "selective editing" that's served us so well for 170 years. Why mess with a good thing, right?
