NOTHSTINE: Should Winstin-Salem Parents Be Concerned About Revisionist Curriculum?

WINSTON-SALEM – The Left’s effort to shape the theme and narrative of our children’s education is unceasing. One of it’s latest manifestations is deemed the ‘1619 project’ which is an effort to rebrand that year as America’s true founding as it coincides with the first slaves arriving. The rest of the project frames all of American history through the lens of slavery and, as you might expect, leads students to preordained Leftist positions that ooze resentment for the American idea and associate capitalism with the slave trade for instance.

Ray Nothstine of the Civitas Institute warns of a North Carolina school system that has signed on to the 1619 project, and the dangers of revisionist history infecting our education systems. It is one of the many reasons that choice in education is paramount.

From Civitas Institute:

“[…] Reimagining or reframing American history is nothing new. Scholars and educators do it all the time. After all, revisionist history is the process of looking back and gleaning something new. But what about the 1619 Project and should parents be concerned that this project is in the Winston-Salem / Forsyth County schools? 1619 is the year cited for African slaves were introduced to the colonies. […]

Byron York penned a piece in August noting that one of the goals of the 1619 Project is to introduce it into the schools. He also describes the effort to link slavery and capitalism. His title: “New goal for New York Times: ‘Reframe’ American history, and target Trump, too.” 

Slavery is a tremendous sin and stain on American history, just as it is throughout so much of world history and up to today. But is 1619 our true founding or is it 1776? Arthur Milikh brilliantly answers that question in a recent piece for City Journal.  Along with York’s piece, it’s a must read.

There are a lot of layers to this project and it may not be deserving of outright flame-throwing or bombastic opposition. Learning about the black experience, particularly the American Civil Rights Movement played a prominent role in my own education and calling to seminary. Learning more about slavery and the American experience to abolish it are good things. It should never be ignored. Particularly when it brings to light truth about human dignity and the struggle for liberty.

In college, reading figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., Andrew Young, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Ralph Abernathy offered me a deeper understanding of the Declaration of Independence and natural law. In fact, most of the American Civil Rights leaders borrowed heavily from America’s founding documents to extend freedoms to our fellow Americans suffering under racism and segregation.

However, linking slavery to modern free markets is clearly problematic. […]”

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