Trump proposes 1776 Commission to “reinstate patriotism” in schools? (op-ed)

 

Photo by bill wegener on Unsplash

Ten days after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd and rioting erupted across the United States, Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, was asked to facilitate a conference call with 184 Democratic members of congress.  DiAngelo told the white office holders, just because you marched in the sixties, or served a diverse district, or had a black roommate in college, doesn’t make you exempt from self-examination.  Until you wrestle with the question: What does it mean to be white?  You will continue to enact policies – intentionally or not – that will harm black lives.

DiAngelo’s lectures are labeled “antiracism consciousness training”, but ever since DiAngelo rose in stature after the George Floyd riots, the federal government noticed their diversity-training programs are inculcated with DiAngelo type ideas.

Therefore, President Trump ordered the director of the Office of Management and Budget to cease and dissent from using taxpayer dollars to fund diversity-training programs across the federal government.   These were training programs that utilized concepts such as “white privilege” and “critical race theory”.  The Trump administration stated the government has wasted millions of dollars “training” workers to believe “virtually all white people contribute to racism” or “benefit from racism”, and the federal government will not accept our employees receiving “training” that seeks to undercut our core values as Americans and drive division within our workforce. 

The Trump administration also canceled a 12-week Center for Disease Control and Prevention training course called: Naming, Measuring, and Addressing the Impacts of Racism on the Health and Well-being of the Nation and World.  This training taught racism was a public health crisis and that systemic racism caused police killings of unarmed people of color.  The Trump administration called the training course “textbook” critical race theory, which concentrates on race rather than individuals when analyzing social issues and history.

Then, at a White House history conference, President Trump denounced The New York Times Magazine’s, Pulitzer prize winning series, the 1619 Project. (The Pulitzer Center adapted the project for use in K-12 schools and teachers are using it in 4,500 classrooms.)  The 1619 Project declared the year 1619, when the first African slaves arrived at Britain’s Jamestown colony in Virginia, as the actual founding date of America and not 1776.  The 1619 Project also claimed that British colonies in America sought independence because Britain decided to abolish the slave trade, concluding that the American Revolutionary war was single-mindedly waged to preserve slavery.  President Trump said, “This project rewrites American history to teach our children that we were founded on the principle of oppression, not freedom.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  America’s founding set in motion the unstoppable chain of events that abolished slavery, secured civil rights, defeated communism and fascism, and built the most fair, equal, and prosperous nation in human history.”

However, President Trump announced the creation of the “1776 commission” to “reinstate patriotism” in schools. Of course, far left critics accused the President of planning to create – Trump Youth – in similar fashion to – Hitler’s Youth – and indoctrinate children with white supremacy.   For once, the far left is on the right track.  They just need to refrain from all the hysteria and make a reasonable argument.

Now, patriotism means love of country, but there’s a popular notion that states “the highest form of patriotism is dissent”.  The President accused the 1619 Project of promoting the latter and he wants public schools to instill the former.  But love and dissent are emotional responses that shouldn’t be targeted for manipulation by school curriculums.  Prioritizing emotional results over the stimulation of thought will hinder the development of deductive reasoning.

Now, the potential conflict between the 1776 commission and the 1619 project will take cancel culture to a different dimension.  The conflict will cancel out the idea that students should be encouraged to draw their own conclusions.  

First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 9/30/2020