GOP efforts to ban critical race theory, anti-racism education, and other efforts to evade America’s racist history are similar to the enactment of ‘memory laws’ in authoritarian states such as Russia, historian Timothy Snyder tells Joy Reid.
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About The ReidOut with Joy Reid: Joy Reid conducts one-on-one conversations with politicians and newsmakers while addressing provocative political issues both inside and outside of the beltway. Reid, who is also a best-selling author and public speaker, joined MSNBC in 2011 as a contributor. Drawing from her decades-long experience in politics, passion for addressing the intersection of race, justice and culture, as well as her signature tenacious interviewing style, Reid kicks off MSNBC’s primetime lineup by delving into American politics as it unfolds.
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Just tell the truth when it comes to American History, talk about it, educate yourself
Nobody is saying we shouldn’t. We are focusing on the race of the people who committed these atrocities instead of the people themselves. Do you think CRT is teaching about all the black slave owners we had or are they just skipping that part?
“memory laws”? rings a bell, hey? “Who controls the past’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’”
They’re not teaching anything to these white kids that black kids don’t already know. We are taught those things at home and in our communities. If the truth offends these children, hurts their fragile feelings, don’t blame the teachers. Blame the parents.
Let’s be for Liberty and JUSTICE for all.
I was just thinking of this earlier while thinking this issue
So let remove conservatives from the planet. Evil, vile people must be opposed
@Omicron-Omicron-Alpha-Yellow-Daystar-2-7-Enable I want Liberty and JUSTICE for all including republicans FYI LOL mostly JUSTICE to take care of their crimes against of HUMANITY
We need a real superman
“Daddy, the 13th Amendment abolished Slavery, what was Slavery?”
@Secret EyeSpot
There is plenty of evidence to show that slavery in Africa was as cruel as anywhere. Some of the most detailed accounts come from white sailors who were enslaved – sometimes through piracy, but generally when their ships went down or got stranded off the coast. Their horror stories rival anything else.
@Pat Doyle Stop. All you’re trying to do is diminish the impact that many argue slavery had here in the Americas.While there were some local regions that had harsh practices on the continent. Here in the Americas there were laws designed to support the slave owner and to dehumanize the slave. No where else in the world was such an atrocity practiced, and it goes to show you how depraved the thinking is of those who try to draw the false comparison of the two.
So lets recap: 1) systemic enslavement is twice as bad as localized brutality
2) comparing a society with a constitution that purports “freedom” yet victimizes its constituents to a society that was indigenous with no constitution is a false equivalence. just get it please!
@Secret EyeSpot EXACTLY!!!!
@Secret EyeSpot
No – I am not. I am merely correcting someone (apparently black) trying to pretend that they were the “nice” slavers. And you seem completely unaware of the slavery instituted by the Spanish (mostly through the church) in Central America – in many ways much worse than here. Of course, at that time the Church was officially against slavery they didn’t CALL it that, nor auction people off. But the ruling class were clergy, supported by the Conquistadors, and rich Patrons who were generous to the Church could get all the free forced labors they wanted. And since they had no large, up front investment in them, and could get more any time, they were less concerned about working them to death or killing the rebellious ones than Americans were.
And it was less than 100 years after that constitution was ratified that we began taking the first steps down the long road to correcting our terrible misdeeds. But institutionalized slavery existed where it was profitable on a large scale. In Mexico, when most of what the Spanish destroyed was rebuilt (plus some) there was little profit in hordes of forced laborers and the institution began dying out. Whenever mass slavery has been profitable in history (which it has not been most places) it has existed. This was one of the arguments against the abolition movement. With the rise of mechanization, it was thought slavery would soon not be economically viable and would die out on its own.
You seem to confuse setting the historical record straight with defending what was done here.
@Pat Doyle If the attempt is to be historically accurate then we can both agree that Slavery was far worse here in the Americas than it was in Africa. I never at anytime said it was “nice” in Africa, but instead indirectly claimed that they didn’t have the resources nor the will to institute the cruelties seen here en masse in the Americas. These are the only claims I am correcting here.
So to play devil’s advocate: what will they do when a Black or Brown student says that the teacher’s lesson makes them uncomfortable? Will they enforce the law? Or is it only if a white student says they’re uncomfortable? I want to see this one challenged in court.
African Americans have been uncomfortable in Americans since 1619!
“Those born into privilege always debate whether those who were not deserves equality and to those accustomed to privilege equality always feels like oppression!”
Black and brown students are also uncomfortable with CRT shaming education.
@Bulleit up your azz how do you know that? Did you ask any black or brown children who attended a CRT class? Why is personal comfort the overriding consideration anyway? When learning about American history, or world history in general, accounting for the facts in context so we get a full understanding of the who what why and when should be the primary goal.
@Bulleit up your azz lol. Is that what your mom told you?
Remember Wounded knee the frozen dead body of the elderly man who died of hunger and was negleted from promised government rations!! Cruel and unusual punishment
History never repeats but it does rhyme. Kids need to learn every piece of history good or bad, we aren’t in 1984…
@Pat Doyle What current events makes black people oppressed in 2021?
@greg j
Because in America, it has been one sided, and the effects of that are still benefiting white people to the detriment of black people. CRT applies to AMERICAN history and the effects of the racism here.
@studyhistory2ctruth people that tend to mislead with half the truth are worse than outright liars. You also tend to get so very quiet when confronted with the full truth. Shame. To be vocal one minute and weak the next.
@Mary Terwiliger During the twenty years of the FDR and Truman administrations, *the Democrats had refused to enact any civil rights legislation.* In contrast, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which had been written by his Attorney General, a former Chairman of the Republican National Committee. The original draft would have permitted the federal government to sue anyone violating another person’s constitutional rights, but this powerful provision would have to wait until the 1964 Civil Rights Act. *The bill had to be weakened considerably to secure enough Democrat votes to pass,* so violations would be civil, not criminal offenses, and penalties were light. Vice President Richard Nixon helped overcome a Democrat filibuster in the Senate. The GOP then strengthened enforcement with its 1960 Civil Rights Act.
@Mary Terwiliger On his deathbed in 1874, Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA) told a Republican colleague: “You must take care of the civil rights bill – my bill, the civil rights bill. Don’t let it fail.” In March 1875, the Republican-controlled 43rd Congress followed up the GOP’s 1866 Civil Rights Act and 1871 Civil Rights Act with the most comprehensive civil rights legislation ever. A Republican president, Ulysses Grant, signed the bill into law that same day.
Among its provisions, the 1875 Civil Rights Act banned racial discrimination in public accommodations. Sound familiar? Though struck down by the Supreme Court eight years later, the 1875 Civil Rights Act would be reborn as the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Timothy Snyder proves that intellectuallism is not dead. CRT is merely another culture war, no more worthy of thought than Dr. Suess or Mr. Potato Head. All critical theories in literature or applied thinking have a place. They are positions from which to view the world, literature. It grows your mind!
Finally!!! Only the second time I’ve ever heard mainstream media even mention the Daughters of the Confederacy and their revisionist history legacy.
I taught ESL in China. The students on Mao: He made mistakes but he was a great man. I said, ‘millions of Chinese starved under Mao’ as in there are starving people in China. They laughed. That’s authoritarian and memory laws, so it does exist and under an authoritarian regime.(a great man where millions of Chinese starved is not a great man, but that’s my opinion I guess).
Authoritarianism is self-censorship because people with authoritarian persuasions want to enact the “memory laws” such as in Russia. The corrupt autocratic regime of Vladimir Putin have enacted those “memory laws” to antagonize the opposition for nothing.
Not to mention Orwell’s 1984: whoever controls history controls the present. By the way, kids of German ancestry have long felt uncomfortable when they learn about Nazi Germany at school. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t teach it! Discomfort is an inevitable aspect of learning. You’re right: we should feel uncomfortable.
I am of German ancestry and have visited Dachau concentration camp. I wept in shame but left more determined then ever not to carry the Nazi ideology into my life. Lessons can be learned if you are open minded and have empathy.
It’s not for teachers to teach people of color, their history. Efforts must be made to learn cultural history. The problem is when whites don’t know the history they will not develop empathy or relate to the experiences of people of color. They will think redlining or profiling is a figment of our imagination.
“Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future.” — George Orwell
The one thing that goads Putin’s historical revisionist senses is Russia’s bilateral agreement of non-aggression and cooperation with Nazi Germany—ofcourse, they used it to occupy and colonialise Eastern Europe under a Soviet system….
Trump suing Twitter & Face book for his 1st amendment rights, while the Slimy selective GOP invades schools to take away their 1st amendment, this party is full of chit!!!
Keep your eyes and ears closed everyone. You won’t feel a thing.
“If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful, ‘brethren!’ Be careful, teachers!” -MLK