Jackson Free Press

It was bad enough when Gov. Haley Barbour tried to pretend the Citizens Council were the good guys. It's bad enough when people go around saying that the Civil War and Confederacy had nothing to do with slavery. (Right: read this.) Now, we have the Tea Party up in Tennessee (and probably elsewhere) trying to rewrite the history books to take out the stuff that makes them really uncomfortable. Folks, read Orwell. We can't throw our history down the "memory hole"--if we do, we damn sure are doomed to repeat it.

From The Examiner:

The Tea Party of Tennessee wants to revise American history, cleaning it up so the founding fathers are not implicated in slavery and genocide. Indeed, the Tennessee Tea Party wants to pretend slavery and genocide is not part and parcel of the American experience.

Earlier this week Tea Party activists held a news conference, and met with lawmakers individually to present their list of demands for the 2011 legislative session.

Regarding education, the material they distributed 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."

Oddly enough, the truth for Tea Partiers seems to entail the white washing of American history, including the removal of incidents of slavery and genocide from American textbooks.

And from The Commercial Appeal:

The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that "No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership."

Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group's lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address "an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.

"The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn't existed, to everybody — not all equally instantly — and it was their progress that we need to look at," said Rounds, whose website identifies him as a Vietnam War veteran of the Air Force and FedEx retiree who became a lawyer in 1995.

Previous Comments

ID

161787

Comment

I wonder what they're lacing or mixing that tea with?

Author

Walt

Date

2011-01-24T18:56:37-06:00

ID

161788

Comment

To this thread, this is all I have to say: "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity" - MLK

Author

Duan C.

Date

2011-01-25T08:00:52-06:00

ID

161801

Comment

Let's not call them slaves anymore either. That leaves a bad taste in your mouth. How about compulsory migrant workers? Undocumented indentured laborers? Native Americans are now unsettled nomadic wood dwellers.It doesn't feel right killing a bunch of Native Americans, but I suppose it would be ok to get rid of a few unsettled nomadic wood dwellers.

Author

DrumminD21311

Date

2011-01-25T16:02:21-06:00

ID

161807

Comment

The Tea Party has a point. Why ugly up America's beauty and history with a few necessary evils that had to be committed to make it to the beautiful place America now stands. When you bring up Slavery and Genocide against the Native Americans it makes the stainless founding fathers in particular and Whites in general feel unclean, dirty, soiled, contemptible, and imperfect. This isn't a good way to portray the world's greatest leaders and people. A good, non-racial and neutral organizations of conservative whites with Kim Wade and Bill Marcy can fix this perceived problem. I watched a program on PBS last night about the building of the Panama Canal. The French tried it first and lost over 20,000 people before giving up due to diseases, accidents, etc.. Then the United States of America took over and succeeded at completing it in about 10 years. I was struck by the fact that they hired thousands of black people from the West Indies who they worked like oxen and paid like Slaves while simultaneously providing every amenity and incentive possible under the sun to Whites to do the work less dangerous. And even more insulting and painful was watching the Whites only celebrations and parties commemorating that great achievement with those same Black people not invited. Kind of like the building of our Capital and so many other things. Like they say, that's the past. None of them participated. So why not clean up our ugly history so that our children and theirs won't have to hear things that hurt White people feelings. What the TEA Party wants to do next is create a world where White kids won't have to hear anyone say President Obama. Hearing this really hurts Tea Party members ears. I hope President Obama really puts some hurt on them tonight with his presidential address to the nation. I heard Congress woman Michelle Backward of Minnesota is to do the republican response.

Author

Walt

Date

2011-01-25T18:31:14-06:00

ID

161812

Comment

OMGoodness....this is the most ridiculous thing EVER! Seems to me that the more we make steps toward unification and healing, the more hands that come to push us backwards. Why don't we just erase anyone who has dark skin from American history all together!!!!???? Why not just say that if you ain't white you ain't right! If you black get back! Why not just ACT like nothing else matters; our history, our vote, our voice, our feelings, our futures....nothing matters if you are not white and rich! Good grief....are they ready for life on the moon yet?????????? *sarcasm off*

Author

Queen601

Date

2011-01-26T09:31:59-06:00

ID

161814

Comment

Now that I have cooled off enough to not post anything that I will have to repent for, I must say this: The truth shall not die. I know that the teabaggers' efforts to stifle the truth shall epically fail, but even if there was a remote chance that they would succeed, we still have numerous publications out there that tell all. Most of all, we have "them thar internets" which kids use more than toilet tissue, and they'll read about slavery there if nowhere else. History cannot be whitewashed because someone or something will always be around to spill the beans.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2011-01-26T12:31:05-06:00

ID

161818

Comment

It seems that this movement has inspired internationally renowned historian Michele Bachmann to suggest that the founding fathers pretty much solved that silly slavery problem. That is, she said the founders "worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States." "I think it is high time that we recognize the contribution of our forbearers who worked tirelessly -- men like John Quincy Adams, who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country." Talking Points Memo corrected Bachmann's history lesson by pointing out that Adams wasn't one of the founders and that he died 15 years before the Emancipation Proclamation.

Author

Brian C Johnson

Date

2011-01-26T15:41:58-06:00

ID

161820

Comment

They're both wrong, Brian. John Quincy Adams died in 1829. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed and issued in 1863. That's 34 years, not 15.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2011-01-26T17:27:39-06:00

ID

161822

Comment

The founders did what!?! What is it with these empty-headed women the tea party is propping up to spread their propaganda. Intelligent, educated women everywhere should be offended. Lordy mercy.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2011-01-27T09:15:39-06:00

ID

161823

Comment

They're both wrong, Brian. John Quincy Adams died in 1829. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed and issued in 1863. That's 34 years, not 15. What? John Adams died in 1826. His son, John Quincy Adams, died in 1848 (15 years before the E.P.). [snipe snipped]

Author

Mark Geoffriau

Date

2011-01-27T09:38:46-06:00

ID

161825

Comment

Mark: Please remember the mantra: disagree without being disagreeable. JQA left office in 1829; an honest mistake. Thanks! [Edit from 1929 per a *friendly* email from Mark. :) - TS]

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2011-01-27T10:39:04-06:00