We Have 4 Centuries Of History To Rewrite In Order To Correct The White-Washing Of The Past

Keystone, South Dakota, in the shadow of Mount Rushmore, President Donald Trump on Friday, July 3, 2020, railing against what he called a "merciless campaign" by his political foes to erase history by removing monuments some say are symbols of racial oppression.

"As we meet here tonight there is a growing danger that threatens every blessing our ancestors fought so hard for," Trump warned.  He added, "Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children." 

Seriously, dude? Do you really want future generations or even the current one, to continue to live with the white-washing of the United States?  400 years of slavery, denigration of indigenous peoples, that’s not enough?  Really?? 

Have you not been paying attention to the Black Lives Matter protests in May, June and July 2020?  That’s a rhetorical question, since, of course he doesn’t pay attention to anything not related to Him looking good. 

Just a reminder – Our first President George Washington was a slave owner while in office; Thomas Jefferson was also a slave owner while in office; Theodore Roosevelt believed Asians and ‘colored people’ were immoral, among other things; Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, although committed mass murder of indigenous people. (Yes, it’s a very brief history lesson.)

And for some reason, President Donald Trump wants to remember and celebrate those events. 

He couldn’t understand why fireworks have been banned at the monument for the past two decades.

“It’s all stone.  Where’s the environmental impact?”, he told a radio host recently.

Meanwhile, the entire state of South Dakota is on high alert, firefighters, paramedics and all, just for a few hours of incredibly stupid, arrogant behavior on the part of the leader of the free world and his minions, er, faithful followers.  How does that saying from the Bible go, “Like lambs to the slaughter?” 

Yes, yes it IS pretty re-donk-ulous.

One of the problems here, and there are many, is that with this particular monument (on Indigenous land) it’s description of who our founding fathers were needs a serious edit in order to point out and call attention to the contributions of Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Indigenous peoples.  With other much smaller statues and monuments, most can be removed and replaced with more current people or symbols that represent our current, updated, upgraded history.

That’s a long, local level, state-by-state endeavor that should happen before the end of 2020.  Otherwise, it will absolutely get swept under the rug because that’s what lazy white people do… procrastinate… among other things. 

This one quote in particular stands out as strikingly misinformed:
"Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children."

No. No one is talking about “wiping out history”, only editing it in order to reveal the stark, ugly truth:  Slaves were introduced to America in 1620.  The history books tend to gloss over that part because, again, it’s a painful truth.

“Defaming our heroes”, well, I’m not sure how heroic it is to own slaves in a white controlled government and country. 

“Erase our value”, ugh…. This is becoming repetitive, but necessary.  Slavery, enslavement, etc.  Is that really a value you want to project, protect and own?   No need to answer right now, just maybe take several hundred years to do nothing and think about it. 

“Indoctrinate our children”, again, we’re pretty good at that.  Been doing it for 400 hundred years.  And not only with politics and daily life – what about religion?  Seems pretty tame there, right?  Think about that one for just a moment.  Regardless of which religion you subscribe to, aren’t you learning and passing along those beliefs to your children?  

*loud gasps from the crowd* 

I know. I know.  Yes, that sacrilege.  But is it?  If we’re so afraid to even talk about religion, we need to think about why that’s a bad thing.  Indoctrination is embedded into who we are in America. 

“The American Dream”, two cars in the garage, 2.5 children, a home, a wife and a dog.  A white picket fence, Formica countertops, plastic wrapped sofas… you get the idea.  It’s an antiquated, pipe dream of an idea from the post-World War II era that never included or considered Blacks, Asians, Hispanics or Indigenous people.  It was never their dream.

Right now in 2020, 20% into a new century, those old thought patterns need to change and be replaced with the here and now, reflecting the multi-cultural, multifaceted people we’ve evolved into, for future generations.

And, yes, some of those old antiquated institutions need to go as well:

The KKK, the NRA, White Supremacists, hate speech, and on and on.  (I’d actually love to hear about more groups that you feel belong on that list.)

Inclusion, not exclusion.

Free speech, not hate speech.

Progress, not perfection.

This is not about erasing any history, only correcting and editing history to reflect the facts about how those groups were actually treated by White people.