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What American Schools Should Teach About Race, Racism and Slavery
Townhall.com ^ | November 17, 2020 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 11/17/2020 4:02:27 AM PST by Kaslin

Regarding race and much else, America's students are not taught history. In fact, they are not taught; they are indoctrinated. With anti-Americanism.

The purpose of all teaching about race in American schools is to engender contempt for America. They are, therefore, "taught" the lies of The New York Times' "1619 Project" -- that the United States was founded to preserve and protect slavery -- and of such works as Robin DiAngelo's "White Fragility."

So, then, what should American schools teach about race?

They should, of course, teach students about slavery and racism.

But, if truth and moral clarity are to matter, students must also learn that slavery was universal. They would therefore learn about Muslim-Arab slavery, slavery among Africans, slavery among Native Americans and Native South Americans, and slavery in Asia and India.

They would learn that it was the West, beginning with England and America, that abolished slavery. And they would learn that the abolitionists were overwhelmingly religious Christians, animated by the Bible and Judeo-Christian values.

They would learn that, unlike the slaves under Arab-Muslim rule, most black slaves in America were allowed to have children and form families. They would read Herbert Gutman's "The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925," about which The New York Times wrote when it was published in 1976: "Gutman has performed an immense service in burying the idea that slavery destroyed the black family." For the record, Gutman was a professor of the left and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

They would learn that the tens of millions of African slaves under Islamic-Arab rule were not allowed to form families (most males were castrated). They would learn that while about 340,000 African slaves were transported to America, 12 million were transported to Brazil. They would learn that far more blacks -- about 3 million from Africa and the Caribbean -- have come to America willingly than came as slaves. They would read a 2005 article from The New York Times called "More Africans Enter U.S. Than in Days of Slavery," in which they would also learn how much less racist America is than any other country: "Agba Mangalabou, who arrived from Togo in 2002, recalls his surprise when he moved here from Europe. 'In Germany, everyone knew I was African,' he said. 'Here, nobody knows if I'm African or American.'"

They would learn about white slavery, too, from one of the greatest economists of the last half-century, Thomas Sowell, who wrote: "More whites were brought as slaves to North Africa than blacks brought as slaves to the United States or to the 13 colonies from which it was formed. White slaves were still being bought and sold in the Ottoman Empire, decades after blacks were freed in the United States."

None of that would be taught to diminish the evil of the transatlantic black slave trade, let alone to justify it. America's schoolchildren should, of course, be taught about the horrors of the slave auctions, of the separation of many families, of the rapes, the beatings and the lynchings. But nothing in history is understandable without perspective.

As regards the Arab-Muslim slave trade, students should read Ghanaian professor and minister John Azumah's book "The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa," in which he said:

"While two out of every three slaves shipped across the Atlantic were men, the proportions were reversed in the Islamic slave trade. Two women for every man were enslaved by the Muslims.

"While the mortality rate of the slaves being transported across the Atlantic was as high as 10%, the percentage of the slaves dying in transit in the trans-Saharan and East African slave market was a staggering 80 to 90%.

"While almost all the slaves shipped across the Atlantic were for agricultural work, most of the slaves destined for the Muslim Middle East were for sexual exploitation as concubines in harems and for military service.

"While many children were born to the slaves in the Americas, the millions of their descendants are citizens in Brazil and the United States today, very few descendants of the slaves who ended up in the Middle East survived.

"While most slaves who went to the Americas could marry and have families, most of the male slaves destined for the Middle East were castrated, and most of the children born to the women were killed at birth."

They would read some of the left's favorite "America-is-racist" books, such as the national bestseller "White Fragility." But, unlike any school in America that assigns that book, they would also assign a black professor's review of it. In The Atlantic, John McWhorter, a Columbia University professor of linguistics, wrote that "White Fragility" "is actually a racist tract. ... the book diminishes Black people in the name of dignifying us. ... White guilt and politesse have apparently distracted many readers from the book's numerous obvious flaws. For one, DiAngelo's book is replete with claims that are either plain wrong or bizarrely disconnected from reality."

They would read and listen to a variety of black thinkers and authors, not just those who detest America. Here is a partial list, in alphabetical order, including one of their books:

Larry Elder, "What's Race Got to Do With It?"

Ward Connerly, "Creating Equal"

John McWhorter, "Losing the Race"

Deroy Murdock, any of his many columns

Candace Owens, "Blackout"

Jesse Lee Peterson, "The Antidote"

Jason Riley, "Please Stop Helping Us"

Thomas Sowell, "Intellectuals and Race"

Shelby Steele, "White Guilt"

Carol Swain, "Abduction"

Clarence Thomas, "My Grandfather's Son"

Walter Williams, "Race and Economics"

That these brilliant thinkers are unfamiliar to most Americans is proof of the bias and superficiality that pervades American academic and intellectual life.

If they read these books and are taught the truths about race outlined in this article, it is perfectly acceptable for them to read black and white leftists on race. In fact, it would be advisable.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: dennisprager; education; indoctrination; k12; prager; racism; slavery

1 posted on 11/17/2020 4:02:27 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

What schools should teach is: Reading, Writing, Grammar, Math, Science, History, Geography, Civics, Languages. Everything else is communist propaganda.


2 posted on 11/17/2020 4:22:25 AM PST by BuffaloJack (Neither safety nor security exists in nature. Everything is dangerous and has risk.)
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To: Kaslin

“Shelby Steele, “White Guilt””

Excellent book.


3 posted on 11/17/2020 4:22:27 AM PST by CondorFlight
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To: Kaslin

Wow! I’m saving this one for future reference and use!


4 posted on 11/17/2020 4:31:09 AM PST by cymbeline
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To: Kaslin

Teaching kids to hate themselves if they are white and hate the system that made thier parents and grandparents safe secure and prosperous


5 posted on 11/17/2020 4:38:19 AM PST by ronnie raygun ( Massive mistakes are made by arrogant fools; massive evils are committed by evil people.")
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To: BuffaloJack

within History is; We were we conquered and the enemy continues to remove our advances and stir up trouble amongst the produced ignorant


6 posted on 11/17/2020 4:47:14 AM PST by knarf
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To: Kaslin

Bookmark


7 posted on 11/17/2020 4:50:02 AM PST by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: Kaslin

They should, of course, teach students about slavery and racism.

It depends on what it is they are 'taught' about slavery. Racism? Assuming we teach that it affects all races. That 'racism' is not a white only thing otherwise you can cram it.

8 posted on 11/17/2020 4:59:59 AM PST by Altura Ct.
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To: BuffaloJack

"What schools should teach is: Reading, Writing, Grammar, Math, Science, History, Geography, Civics, Languages. Everything else is communist propaganda."

Exactly. Get our kids out of public schools.

9 posted on 11/17/2020 5:10:18 AM PST by blam
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To: Kaslin

If there are any complaints, take them to the British government. There was no America in 1619. There were only British Crown colonies.

But then again, if they were taught any history, they’d know that.


10 posted on 11/17/2020 5:13:06 AM PST by NTHockey (My rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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To: NTHockey

If there are any complaints, take them to the British government. There was no America in 1619.

A map from 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller was the first to label the New World lands with the name "America".

11 posted on 11/17/2020 5:32:43 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Unlike Jeffery Epstein, George Floyd DID kill himself.)
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To: Kaslin

A voice in the wilderness. The schools have been teaching all sorts of indoctrination for decades. Is it too late to save our children/grandchildren? I don’t know. Maybe.


12 posted on 11/17/2020 5:37:09 AM PST by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell.)
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To: Kaslin

bmp


13 posted on 11/17/2020 5:41:13 AM PST by gattaca ("Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." Ronald Reagan)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

True, but it was not a nation. The central claim of the 1619 Project is that America we were a NATION founded on slavery in 1619. Again, there was no America as a nation in 1619; only British Crown Colonies.

It is true that the Constitution had the 3/5th rule, as a concession to Southern slave holders. Otherwise, the Constitution would never have been ratified. In retrospect, we would have been better off without it. I’m sure some other compromise would have been better. Don’t know what, just saying.


14 posted on 11/17/2020 6:27:49 AM PST by NTHockey (My rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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To: Kaslin

Bookmark


15 posted on 11/17/2020 6:56:00 AM PST by gnickgnack2 ( Another bad day for Trump, he only got seven major things accomplished .)
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To: knarf

“... within History is; We were we conquered and the enemy continues to remove our advances and stir up trouble amongst the produced ignorant ...”

No.
That would be social studies. Social studies is not history, it’s socialist propaganda.


16 posted on 11/17/2020 7:19:53 AM PST by BuffaloJack (Neither safety nor security exists in nature. Everything is dangerous and has risk.)
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To: NTHockey

there was no America as a nation

It still isn't, or we would have a national election.

The name of this place is The United States of America, not "The Nation of America". It is a union, a federation of 50 states existing on the North American Continent, with a common military protection. Each "state" is like a separate country, with its own set of laws and traditions, just like "the states of Europe".

Technically, and whether they like the association or not, all of residents of Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina etc are "Americans" by virtue of the continent they live on.

17 posted on 11/17/2020 9:58:55 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Unlike Jeffery Epstein, George Floyd DID kill himself.)
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To: Kaslin

What Prager is asking for is perspective. These racist leftists take a few anecdotes and facts and blow them all out of proportion. They provide no realistic context. Instead, they use the Saul Alinsky and communist trick of comparing America to a utopian place that has never existed. As a result, they get people angry at America for not being perfect, and so that the people are open to radical change. It is an old trick, but it frequently works, so the communists/leftists keep on using it.


18 posted on 11/17/2020 10:49:12 AM PST by DeweyCA ( )
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