The author of The New York Times’ divisive, anti-American “1619 Project,” Nikole Hannah-Jones, admitted Sunday she’s “not a professional educator.” Meanwhile, expert historians have challenged the accuracy of her work. Given all that, why on Earth is the 1619 Project becoming part of the curriculum in many schools across the nation?
The Times scribe claims decisions about what to teach kids in school should be left to teachers, who — unlike her and everyday parents — have “expertise in the subject area.” The question of whether to include moms and dads in such decisions has become a flash point in school districts where many have complained about critical race theory. When Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe similarly argued that parents should defer to teachers, parents exploded, and it contributed to his loss in his state’s race for governor last month.
But it’s obvious why Hannah-Jones wants to empower school officials over parents: Many of them are progressives like her, have embraced her 1619 nonsense and seek to indoctrinate kids with these lightning-rod ideas — whether parents approve or not.
Again, professional historians on both the left and the right have found fault with the project. For instance, she claims the American Revolution was primarily fought to protect slavery — which a host of experts says is bunk. Do the teachers and administrators who embrace it have more “expertise” than them? And consider: If teachers didn’t back Hannah-Jones, would she defer to their “expertise” then? Ha!
Fact is, parents should always be given a say in their kids’ education; they’re the ones, after all, ultimately responsible for their kids’ futures. And many (rightly) abhor the idea of having their kids taught the divisive, fact-challenged notions of Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project, which claims America was founded on slavery, and critical race theory, which splits Americans into victims and oppressors based merely on their race.
The Times writer and her paper are free, of course, to publish whatever idiocy they want. But Americans are also free to reject it. And fortunately, they seem to be doing just that.