White House says slavery is being taught wrong, should not be so negative
Special Assistant to the President Lindsey Halligan said the Smithsonian museums had become "laboratories for political experiments."
Should not be so negative?
No no no. My Good'ole'Boy high school curriculum told me the slaves were forced off the Plantation by the mean Union thugs in their War Of Northern Aggression.
Clearly, this picture is just out of context or propaganda or idk he was clearly doing drugs and the police were just trying to help him out but he wouldn't stop resisting.
Slavery was such an ingrained institution that there was for sure some disruption brought by ending it - even some disruption for the enslaved.
People can mine this for evidence that the Union harmed people by ending slavery, but that’s a bad faith outlet for slavery apologists, and nothing more.
Good change can be disruptive. I guess we can always count on Conservatives to place “no change” above all other priorities though. It’s kind of right there in their name.
Robert E. Lee, the hero of the south, tortured his slaves so savagely that his own slave overseer was disgusted and refused to participate. Which leads me to believe that the scars seen in this photo should be considered "within reason."
See? Bright side to everything if you're enough of a monster.
and that's not even getting into lynching picnics for the whole family, or community, cannibalism, using hair and other body parts of slaves to make medical devices, furniture, or decoration, and who can forget sexual slavery, raping slaves and selling the resulting children into slavery, many first hand accounts from slaves talk about constant sexual abuse. so it's not ALL just torture and mutilation of living people, or dehumanizing them in every way imaginable.
and one of the big fat myths of slavery, the docile happy slave. Never happened, slaves were very frequently rebelling, trying to organize to over throw their masters, and creating a whole systems of escape. There was no happiness in slavery, it a daily power struggle to suppress slave revolts and uprisings, and keep slaves in a constant state of fear and terror.
Slavery is negative for a reason.
Are you forgetting how good it was for all those slave owners though? They liked it a whole lot.
Epstein files
after 200 years, the house finally lives up to its name.
Priceless
Idk if you seen prageru, basically had a cartoon where Christopher Columbus said how "being slave was better than being dead"
(this ignores the thousands of taihno who committed suicide, choosing death over servitude, and how much work Colombus' men put into preventing others from choosing the same path)
Ngl, I've seen the same argument on other social networks whenever the spanish conquest on México comes up and they add how mexican society wouldn't be how it is today without the conquest and... Really? Do they think the state of things is worth of praise?
I feel like the only way to teach them that slavery is wrong is to enslave them. I will personally volunteer to recreate the whipping scene from Roots for everyone who thinks slavery wasn't so bad. Starting with the orange.
Exposure therapy one crack at a time
Don’t forget the rape.
Pass
Oh I think they're familiar with that one, they're just always on the other end
They would just claim your form of slavery is not what slavery was actually like back then. These people don’t want to learn or improve themselves. They want to be able to say “I win” without having to actually do anything.
I still think I would have a good time whipping them to death.
museums should start showcasing trumps epstein and russian collusions in thier exhibits.
Conservative idiots like Trump want to white (heh) wash slavery because they want to bring slavery back. Not just for black people, but of course especially for black people first, but also for all the other poors they think they can exploit to make themselves richer. Somehow they think everyone should be on board with this, and alas probably some subset of idiots will be even after they're already wearing the manacles themselves.
Stupid racist white people would be slaves and be saying, "I may be a slave, but at least I'm not a black slave."
Slavery still exists in the US, it just now only mostly focused on African Americans. The Prison Industrial Complex is an abomination.
Yes, it still exists as the "except as punishment for a crime" loophole in the 13th amendment. And when fascists are in power, they love to make any arbitrary thing a crime so they have a justification to imprison anybody.
Once they run out of farm workers due to having deported them all, expect Trump and his cronies to be super keen to staff those same farms using slave labor -- for profit, of course -- via just rounding up whoever else they don't like on phony charges.
It’s almost as if racism is a core value among American conservatives.
Don't forget pedophilia.
Trump feuding with a history museum. You'd think that would sound the 'fascist' alarm to his supporters, but seems like nothing will.
That's not an alarm to them, it's a theme tune.
They don’t care as long as the fascist is “their” guy.
When I was in middle school, we had to make a list of pros and cons of slavery for classwork. I remember it being homework but I can't see that bullshit flying if the parents knew.
I feel like there are two ways that list could go.
The first is trying to whitewash slavery. The second is trying to help students understand why horrible things like this happen; why did entire economic systems get built for such a horrific practice.
why did entire economic systems get built for such a horrific practice.
Lol we are still under oppressive economic systems meant to strip us of our identities and leave us as worker slaves barely making ends meet but still deciding between medication or food. We live in the greatest country in the world /s
Pros: Removes any ambiguity about who the shitbags are.
Cons: Now good people have to kill the shitbags to free the slaves.
The JohnBrowncoats vs the Brownshirts
I like it honestly. Remove the idiocratic "Because it's bad, duh".
No. Make your research. Understand the problem. Feel the problem. See how far it gone, and why people used that, and what was the price to pay.
wtf ?
Pro: Less work for me
Con: More work for them
Southern state?
So, teaching the horrors of slavery is woke now? They are just telling on themselves now.
People sang more back then. There were hardly any workers comp claims. And it kept kids off their dang iPhones.
And their great great grandchildren will get 40 acres and a mule.
The logic:
400 years of slavery but your great great grand grand kids have been taught 1 or 2 farming skills a piece.
Oh, and we will be generous and only charge half price for those 400 years of your food and lodging.
You owe us really...
Did you even say thank you?
There we go.
Oh no!! Maybe he should go back in time and prevent the developement of chatel slavery, if he's so worked up about the historical representation of slavery in-general.
That said, chatel slavery seems alive and well in the US Prison system. Maybe some of us really are too distracted by the history to bother fixing things in the present. Mr. Mangione allegedly might have something to say about it. Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention at that cookout, back on December 4th.
chatel slavery seems alive and well in the US Prison system
You think so, and you're right, but ask yourself why TACO want would want to reframe slavery as "not that bad."
Its because they're going to start renting out the detainees of the concentration camps for labor.
chatel slavery seems alive and well in the US Prison system.
Considering the thirteenth amendment literally enshrined slavery into our Constitution... Yeah, it's alive and well.
Y’all know he’s demented as fuck, right?
It's amazing how all these dumbasses look exactly the same. I knew exactly what she'd look like even before watching the video.
Fun fact I overheard! This is a thing in cults. It's something about a uniform appearance plus appearance policing (either overt or to fit in).
Bruh
Black people loved slavery. There. I cut out all the euphemisms and just got us to the end goal to save us some time.
Controversial, but efficient. I appreciate your work.
We have to keep drilling in that slavery is bad because there are still so many fucking racists in this country.
You need to take the bad with the good, otherwise you'll never understand how far we've come. We hold on to slavery to remind us what it took, how efforts were not in vain, and to continue work on pushing for the things we believe in. We are here today because of the hardships we have endured yesterday. It's not "white guilt", it's to remind the world that slavery is bad no matter who does it, to teach us what it looks like, and that we all benefit from eliminating slavery, no matter the form it takes.
When we forget those things, we have things like the anti-vacc movement. People who have their own beliefs that fly in the face of reality, who've never had the experiences first hand, and to bend the notion of what is good. It rewrites the legacy of people's efforts, obscures the lessons used to fight, and trivializes the problems of the time. It manipulates both people and purpose and turns it against each.
My own opinion: Nobody feels guilty about slavery. There are only those that feel regret it's not still around.
I am so ready to go home and throw it in much trash Mormon mother's face. I hate that she buys into this shit.
time to stomp some Nazi Republicans? please?
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WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
Yes! Are they fucking removed?
I thought they were all about facts not caring about their feelings
No, they were about facts not caring about your feelings. Where their feelings are involved, it's the opposite; their feelings don't care about facts.
Reminds of the video with the confederate idiot that talks about how his family was so poor and couldn't even afford slaves.
Would no one think of the crackers??
Gotta think of the crackers.
They’re the foundation to any meat and cheese platter.
They're very delicate, please refer to them as Porcelain Americans.
Like crackers!
Is it just me or is whitewashing slavery the first step in reinstituting slavery?
just a reminder that Newsweek is a conspiracy-peddling, right-wing rag that we should not be driving traffic to
lol
You can't understand progress without an understanding of historical reality.
The word "negative" doesn't appear once outside the title
And yet the title is still an accurate summary.
Focusing on the "progress" and "hope" while teaching slavery is indeed a form of white washing of history.
In his Truth Social website President Donald Trump described the Smithsonian as "OUT OF CONTROL" and said museums across the United States are "WOKE."
Convicted felon says museums are woke and out of control.
In a statement sent to Newsweek the Smithsonian said: "The Smithsonian's work is grounded in a deep commitment to scholarly excellence, rigorous research, and the accurate, factual presentation of history.
The world's largest museum, education and research complex says they are grounded in accurate presentation of history.
It's pretty clear that the US government is targeting the Smithsonian and other historical archives to rewrite history.
Considering the other articles linked which talk about the removal of trump's impeachments and other pressures on historical facts and accuracy, I'd be worried about the following quote:
"It's not about whitewashing it's about full context, so while slavery is obviously a horrible aspect of our nation's history you can't really talk about slavery honestly unless you also talk about hope and progress and I think we need to be focusing on the progress that we've made then and we need to stop focusing so much on the lack of progress.
So, yeh the Nazis killed a bunch of people. But they also developed the Volkswagen, Porsche and Hugo Boss. And we have all come to appreciate fancy cars and fly shirts. So, let's not focus on what the Nazis did, but instead let's concentrate on the hope that cars bring!
And even if you argue that "things are better now". Sure, somewhat. But, imo, it's not really something to celebrate. Black people can vote, but shitty racist people in power still suppress the fuck out of them.
Germany recognises it's history. It teaches it in school, it's made memorials & museums of historically abhorrent places, and it's outlawed everything related.
US still celebrates Thanksgiving.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maiahoskin/2022/11/24/the-real-history-behind-thanksgiving/
So yeh, here is the directive:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-restores-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history/
to work to eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.
So, eliminate some history.
But - depending on how carefully that scalpel is wielded - it could cut away the bad parts and leave the "good" parts. Cherry picking, if you will.
Leaves a generally positive vibe of slavery.
Divisive and anti-american to whip/hang/rape slaves. So, leave that part out.
But provide the American dream for a slave by impregnating them and giving them a less crowded room and easier slave labour, or elevating them to a house position, or whatever... THATS the American dream!
Slaves that behaved were treated well.
But, just leave out the thousands of slaves that were beaten for sensless reasons because they were considered barbaric and sub-human.
Just... Ignore the fact that they were kidnapped from their home, transported for weeks in horrendous conditions, then auctioned off to rich white men.
The lack of quotation marks around any part of the title indicates it’s not a direct quote.
Is there something you feel is inaccurate about it?
White House official Lindsey Halligan: "While slavery is obviously a horrible aspect of our nation's history, you can't really talk about slavery honestly unless you also talk about hope and progress ... we need to stop focusing so much on the lack of progress."
where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was
'Bad' and 'negative' are synonyms here.
Jfc. If this administration rewrites anymore history the US is going to just up and disappear. First it's oh slavery wasn't that bad, then its what slaves? We didn't have slaves. Then we go full circle and have slaves again
Who wants to buy Trump and put him to work cleaning gutter drains with his teeth?
Well, yes? The US has this strange fixation on slavery. It is a horrible practice that is believed to traumatize people for generations. While in reality the slavery was almost everywhere these times (if we don't focus on Europe). Maybe it's time to ask yourself, has the slavery really left this deep wound or maybe it was something else?
The problem is, this country is filled with slavery apologists like you. The only reason we have to keep reminding people how terrible slavery was is because people like you keep trying to normalize it, and it's fucking gross.
slavery apologists like you
I am not from the US and have never been there. Sorry for not making this clear, but it's my impression as a bystander. Also slavery is horrible, we should never return to it, as if it wasn't that straightforward from the message.
because people like you keep trying to normalize it
In no way do I try to normalize it for today's reality. It used to be normal back then and we should never return there.
what on earth ? get lost bro
Or rather, learn some history, meet some people... rectify this awful stance, please
Let's not trivialize slavery by saying that everyone else was doing it.
As far as the deeper cuts go, it was about overt racism as well. Slavery in the US was justified by saying that the slaves were less than people (or even human) because they weren't white. Slavery may have been abolished, but that justification is still strong if you go to the wrong parts of the US today.
Yikes.
