American History without slavery? Say what?
A school board in Texas succeeded in whitewashing slavery in students' textbooks last year.
[Among other revisions were the replacement of the term 'trans-Atlantic slave trade' with 'Atlantic triangular trade.']
Now, Tea Partyers in Tennessee are attempting to accomplish the same goal. The group wants to remove references to slavery altogether and, you know, the fact that the 'founding fathers' owned slaves.
Spokesperson for the group, Hal Rounds, says that textbooks should focus more on the 'revolutionary' nature of the founders instead of any hypocrisy that might have taken place.
The Tennessee group handed out leaflets that said:
Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.
'Truth regarding the history of our nation' includes mass murder, smallpox blankets, and, oh yeah, slavery. There's no need to clean it up or make it more appealing.
I think that's impossible. When I was in secondary school, the pictures of slaves in books featured them smiling and dancing in colorful garb. Textbooks have progressed a bit in less than 10 years and now is not the time to take steps back.
More on the nonsense here.
