Whitewashing US history with 'patriotic education' -Trump

Status
Not open for further replies.
I tend to agree with much of what you stated here.

I probably should have selected my words more carefully. Thank you!

As I stated elsewhere in this same thread. What does it cost us to listen to the pain and perspective of others? As a society, it’s like we’ve taken sides and our side can do no wrong and the other side can do nothing right. Our country will fall apart unless we learn how to listen to each other’s perspective.
 
That is a case from 1940. The poster was acting as if it still happens in the US. Really, nowadays, they either don’t recite the Pledge in school or, if some kid does not want to recite it, they’d probably just let them sit it out because the possible sh*t storm that would result from compelling them would not be worth it.
 
And, I would venture to guess, most Americans would find the comparison of saying the pledge before a school day or a sports game to brainwashing more than a little offensive.
 
I know that it was not your comparison.

Anyway, I guess it is time to stop derailing this thread.
 
JonNC said:
40.png
Boomster1:
Systemic or institutional racism is a misnomer in my opinion. We certainly do not have a structural apartheid system any longer. However, we are only 5 decades removed from deep systemic and institutional racism in the south. Elements of that system still impact American society today.
Click to expand...
I agree, for the most part. In the last sentence, how?
Click to expand...
One of the glaring failures that I can see is the lack of recognition of just how important the African slaves actually were to the prosperity and superiority that quite quickly came to America. Without them, the ‘greatness’ would not have happened. That’s just an easily recognizable fact. Perhaps if that contribution was properly esteemed and celebrated in history and in conjunction with current national pride, a natural healing could happen?
 
Last edited:
I’m all but certain this perspective won’t bring healing. We stole the lives of these countless human beings.

I wonder what the millions of enslaved men, women, and children would say to this perspective? How many thousands died miserably on their “journey” to America? How many black women were raped by their white slave owners? Here in the U.S., we cling to our individual freedom yet some have the audacity to defend one of the most heinous evils in human history.

Slavery is part of American history but it is not to be lauded. It is a stain upon our country.

I pray for the soul of each and every person who was forcibly held in bondage. I pray they rest in eternal peace and love of our lord.

I pray that we as a nation, learn how to reach out and understand the pain of millions of our fellow citizens.
 
Boomster1 said:
I’m all but certain this perspective won’t bring healing. We stole the lives of these countless human beings.
Click to expand...
Perhaps there is a better way to heal but the divide between wealthy white culture who are very proud of the ‘greatness’ of the US and black culture living below the median, just doesn’t reflect the reality of that original contribution.
 
I see your point. It’s not that I’m not proud of American Culture. We have a lot to be proud of.

We don’t need “patriotic education”. We need to teach history the way it really happened…warts and all. My daughters learned nothing about the Japanese-American internment camps during WWII until highschool.

I really believe Americans should learn as much about our shameful past as we do about our triumphs. We learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. Unfortunately, it seems there are some Americans who want to whitewash American history so we only celebrate our greatness.

As a culture, we will move further away from God if we continue to “worship” at the altar of American greatness.
 
Motherwit said:
One of the glaring failures that I can see is the lack of recognition of just how important the African slaves actually were to the prosperity and superiority that quite quickly came to America. Without them, the ‘greatness’ would not have happened. That’s just an easily recognizable fact.
Click to expand...
Wrong. Slavery was a net negative, morally, culturally, politically, and financially.

To put it another way, I had no idea that skyscrapers were made out of cotton.
 
In your version of history, how do you account for America producing 75% of the worlds cotton by the middle of the 19th century and the Confederacy having more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the world?
 
By enslaving millions of God’s sons and daughters and stealing their lives.

It wasn’t ingenuity or honest labor. It was institutionalized slavery. We should all weep for those poor souls. Just imagine for a moment that you and your spouse and children were held in chains by another human being…purchased and sold to others like cheap goods.

It was an inhumane institution and our nation is still suffering in purgatory for our forefather’s sins.

I know you love our country. I love our nation as well. It’s ok to love America and acknowledge our nation’s sins at the same time.
 
The War Between the States pretty much devastated the Southern economy and the British Empire took up the slack.
 
Boomster1 said:
By enslaving millions of God’s sons and daughters and stealing their lives.

It wasn’t ingenuity or honest labor. It was institutionalized slavery. We should all weep for those poor souls. Just imagine for a moment that you and your spouse and children were held in chains by another human being…purchased and sold to others like cheap goods.

It was an inhumane institution and our nation is still suffering in purgatory for our forefather’s sins.

I know you love our country. I love our nation as well. It’s ok to love America and acknowledge our nation’s sins at the same time.
Click to expand...
I agree with everything you stated and have deepest empathy for what happened, but I think there is a proactive way to serve penance for those sins of the white mans ancestors by making a fair distribution of the wealth made off the black persons suffering ancestors as well. It isn’t fair that that ‘contribution’ is not economically/financially recognized properly.
 
Last edited:
Motherwit said:
One of the glaring failures that I can see is the lack of recognition of just how important the African slaves actually were to the prosperity and superiority that quite quickly came to America. Without them, the ‘greatness’ would not have happened. That’s just an easily recognizable fact.
Click to expand...
No. It isn’t. The vast majority of of southerns did not own slaves. While there was clearly an economic impact, the claim that our economic greatness would not have happened is absurd. In fact, the overwhelming level of growth in our economy was the result of the industrial revolution.
Motherwit said:
Perhaps if that contribution was properly esteemed and celebrated in history and in conjunction with current national pride, a natural healing could happen?
Click to expand...
One can indeed point to the contribution of slaves to America’s economic and even cultural growth, despite their oppressors.
 
I always take any debates over how history is taught in school with a grain of salt.

I barely learned any history in school. I cannot remember a US history course that ever got beyond the Civil War. All we ever learned was the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Everything between those two wars was a black hole. Everything after it was a black hole. We all would have liked the classes to cover Vietnam which had just ended…it never even came close, maybe we would rush through the Depression and the New Deal the last week of class (with everything between the CIvil War and the Depression being a black hole).

I don’t remember being taught to love the country or hate the country, it was just a bunch of cramming through eras, famous people and dates.

I learned US history by reading books on my own and watching documentaries and the occasional movie (I learned pretty quick movies weren’t historically accurate). There was a lot of historical fiction around in those days, including plenty of stuff like “Roots” and “Miss Jane Pittman” if you wanted to see the bad side of the USA.

Unless someone is well off and sending their kids to some very good school, I highly doubt the qualify of education on US history at the pre-college level has significantly changed. Tempest in a teapot as usual.
 
Last edited:
Boomster1 said:
We don’t need “patriotic education”. We need to teach history the way it really happened…warts and all. My daughters learned nothing about the Japanese-American internment camps during WWII until highschool.
Click to expand...
Of course we need patriotic education. Truly patriotic education includes honesty about the failures of the past. Recognizing those failures is how we grow.
Is it not possible to teach about our great victory over fascism and yet still teach about the internment? Teach about the evil of slavery and also the great battle against it that took tens of thousands of American lives?

Patriotic education means looking at the entirety of our history, the good and the bad, and coming away with a common pride and allegiance, sobered by its failures, celebratory in its victories, and a common resolve to improve our nation.
 
Last edited:
You’re right in the sense you, me, and everyone alive today had nothing to do with slavery in America. Heck, even the current descendants of the slaveowners aren’t to blame for the sins of their ancestors.

Maybe blame is the wrong word here. Maybe, our goal shouldn’t be to blame but to heal and come together as a nation. The question remains… what is the best way to heal and unite as a nation?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top