I read an editorial in a Chattanooga newspaper written by GianCarlo Canaparo of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. Canaparo recounts an 1845 voyage across the Atlantic by Mr. Frederick Douglass and others. Mr. Douglas, who had freed himself from slavery and self educated at risk of severe punishment and death, had become a publisher, orator, and author of some renown in the anti-slavery movement of his day. He had written a book about his life as an American slave and was traveling to the British Islands to speak to audiences about his book.
From the start of the voyage there were arguments aboard the ship about slavery that became progressively more heated as the days passed by.
Mr. Douglas recounted arguments between slavery supporters and anti-slavery proponents at various locations on the ship. The anti-slavery arguments were winning the day.
“It was a great time for antislavery and a hard time for slavery - the one delighting in the sunshine of free discussion, and the other horror stricken at its God-like approach.” (F. Douglass). “Defenders of slavery became enraged when they couldn’t win the debate. They were ‘convinced that reason, morality, common honesty, humanity, and Christianity, were all against them … .’ And so, they ‘abandoned their post in debate, and resorted to their old and natural mode of defending their morality by brute force.’”
A slavery advocacy mob then began shouting down further anti-slavery speech. Moreover, this mob physically threatened Mr. Douglas when he attempted to speak at the request of the ship’s captain. The proslavery mob was so vocal and disruptive to the point of rioting on the ship that Mr. Douglas was kept from making his speech.
Reading the account of this voyage in 1845 brought to my mind the racism-based fury that is loudly proclaimed by anti-critical race theory advocates today. My father often told me there is nothing new under the sun. Certainly that adage applies to dealing with racism in the United States. Rather than allow education and discussion about the history of racism in this country, a very vocal right wing segment of our population advocates, and is often successful in implementing, laws disallowing such education and discussion. They present arguments that learning about our history of deplorable adherence to racist ideologies creates divisiveness and feelings of discomfort amongst their children.
This is exactly the tactic used in 1845 aboard a steam ship transiting the Atlantic carrying Mr. Frederick Douglass. Do not honestly address the situation, do not even speak of the situation. We will not allow any speech against our long held prejudices.
Now, in the first quarter of the 21st century, this “mob“ is vocal enough in some parts of our country to get laws passed making it illegal to tell the story of racism in America to our children. My father was absolutely right, there is nothing new under the sun. But as well, hope springs eternal.
Robert Landry, M.D.
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The mobs shouting down campus speakers are overwhelmingly leftist.
The narrative that's been protected by tech company censorship is overwhelmingly leftist.
Critical Theory is merely an extension of Marxist onanism - an attempt by 20th century academics from the Frankfurt School to explain why The Revolution never occurred in the West, and to expand conflict beyond class - to race, gender, and the like - in hopes of convincing enough people that they're oppressed that they finally get their revolution.
And, using the legislative process to create law is the pretty much the opposite of the heckler's veto Douglass experienced from those he called "mobocrats."
Kevin Hargis
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Spare us your sanctimony, Mr. Landry, and your twisting of facts regarding Critical Race Theory. It is not about teaching students the history of slavery or racism in America, but rather a means to create further racial division in our current society by defining some citizens as oppressors and some as oppressed using race as the primary factor. In case you didn't realize it, CRT has its roots in Critical Theory which is derived from a Marxist-inspired philosophy.
Tennessee law, which bans CRT and similar propaganda, does allow schools to teach about racism and slavery in America in a historical context. As such, hopefully, students will learn that the Democrat Party has been the party of slavery and racism throughout history. Jim Crow laws were schemes invented by Democrats and the Ku Klux Klan members were proud Democrats such as Robert Byrd, Democrat senator of West Virginia who our current President extravagantly praised at Byrd's funeral in 2010. CRT is a blatantly racist philosophy of the far left, so not much has changed.
By the way, Frederick Douglass was a Republican and I am sure he would have agreed with Dr. King's desire for all of us to be judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin. CRT takes this concept and turns it on its head.
There are good reasons for preventing CRT from being taught to impressionable students, but teaching the history of slavery and racism are not part of it. History, regardless if it tells of past successes or failures of America, deserves to be taught, but indoctrination and Marxist propaganda do not.
James Nelson