An elementary school in the nation’s capital held a spirit week encouraging young students to show up to school wearing colors inspired by Black Lives Matter and the ‘Pride’ flag, according to materials obtained by The Daily Wire.
For the first week of Black History Month, Seaton Elementary School in Washington, D.C., held a “Black Lives Matter at School!” spirit week that urged students to focus on race and sexual identity.
Students were encouraged to wear red to represent “the blood that unites people of Black African ancestry.” On Tuesday, they were told to wear black to represent “members of the black community,” and on Wednesday to wear green to represent “the abundant natural wealth of the continent of Africa.” Students were told on Thursday to “wear colors inspired by the Inclusive Rainbow Flag,” showing an image of the &#8220;Pride&#8221; flag with designation for those who identify as transgender. On Friday, students were told to “wear logos inspired by BLM or historical black colleges and universities.” 
<div id="attachment_692311" style="width: 443px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-692311" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-692311 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-1.37.54-PM-433x576.png" alt="" width="433" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-1.37.54-PM-433x576.png 433w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-1.37.54-PM-225x300.png 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-1.37.54-PM-768x1023.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-1.37.54-PM.png 1065w" sizes="(max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px" />Credit: The Daily Wire</div>
Schools across the country have been criticized by parents for emphasizing identity politics while educational achievement lags. A school in the San Francisco area paid $250,000 to an organization called “Woke Kindergarten” to train teachers about racism and develop curriculums. Despite the money spent on the program, math and reading scores at the school have continued to decline, the San Francisco Chronicle <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/woke-kindergarten-glassbrook-hayward-18635504.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. 
While Seaton has a history of emphasizing diversity and equity, less than half of the students meet either reading or math expectations in the most recent school year, <a href="https://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Seaton+Elementary+School" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to District data. 
Located in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood, the school has about 353 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, most of whom are black or Latino. Only 39% of students at Seaton met math expectations and just 33% met English expectations in the 2022-2023 school year. 
The revelation of the spirit week comes as no surprise as the school’s <a href="https://archive.ph/PRLX1">website</a> makes it clear that it focuses heavily on racial, ethnic, and sexual identity. Seaton’s website has a whole section devoted to “Diversity and Equity @ Seaton.” 
The section features a quote from Learning for Justice, an <a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/about">initiative</a> of the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center, that says: “All oppression — including that of LGBT individuals, refugees, immigrants, Muslims, women, people living in poverty and people with disabilities — negatively affects all lives.”
The school says that it holds a “Black Lives Matter” week every year organized by the BLM at Seaton “to promote the significance [of] the BLM movement and Black History” and to “celebrate black excellence locally (in the DMV area) and throughout history (past, present, and future).”
Last year, Seaton<a href="https://seatondc.org/2023/02/06/black-lives-matter-seaton-february-6th-10th/"> listed</a> guiding principles for “BLM @ School” week, including “unapologetically black,” “diversity,” “black families,” “black villages,” “restorative justice,” “black women,” “queer affirming,” “transgender affirming,” and “globalism.”
For the “unapologetically black” principle, which was listed as applicable to all students, the school said that it was part of the “Black Lives Matter movement.” For “black women,” the guidelines say that “there are some people who think that women are less important than men” and that “all people are important and have a right to be safe and talk about their feelings.” 
&#8220;Queer affirming&#8221; means that “everybody has a right to choose who they love and the kind of family they want by listening to their own heart and mind.” The principle of “transgender affirming&#8221; means that “everybody has the right to choose their own gender by listening to their own heart and mind. Everyone gets to choose if they are a girl or a boy or both or neither or something else, and no one else gets to choose for them.”
Finally, “globalism” means “that we are thinking about all the different people all over the world, and thinking about ways to keep things fair everywhere.”
<div id="attachment_692321" style="width: 516px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-692321" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-692321 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-12.08.28-PM-506x576.png" alt="" width="506" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-12.08.28-PM-506x576.png 506w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-12.08.28-PM-264x300.png 264w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-12.08.28-PM-768x874.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-06-at-12.08.28-PM.png 976w" sizes="(max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px" />Screen Shot: Seaton Elementary.</div>
The school recommends teachers read politically charged books to their students, including reading “Julian is a Mermaid,” a book that appears to allude to transgenderism, and “When We Say Black Lives Matter&#8221; to those in pre-K or younger. 
Kindergarteners are recommended similar books, including “Calvin,” a story about a young girl who identifies as a boy. “Calvin has always been a boy, even if the world sees him as a girl. He knows who he is in his heart and in his mind but he hasn&#8217;t yet told his family,” the book’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Calvin-JR-Ford/dp/0593108671" target="_blank" rel="noopener">description</a> says. 
Teachers are also pointed to give students Black Lives Matter coloring books and teach them Black American Sign Language. 
Seaton previously worked with the leftist Human Rights Campaign on an anti-bullying program that provided “LGBTQ-specific training and resources for elementary teachers.” The HRC has <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/attacks-on-gender-affirming-care-by-state-map" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attacked</a> states that have banned doctors and medical providers from performing transgender procedures on children. 
Later this month, the school is <a href="https://seatondc.org/2024/01/22/january-22nd-family-newsletter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bringing</a> in an organization called SMYAL to teach families how they “can help make our school community even more welcoming for all students, including those who identify as LGBTQ+.”
SMYAL <a href="https://smyal.org/littlesmyals/">says</a> it&#8217;s for “LGBTQ youth ages 6-12 to find a safe(r) space to hang out and meet new people, access resources, and gain support.” The D.C.-based organization puts on programs at schools that “play games, read books, make arts and crafts, learn about the LGBTQ community and its history, and celebrate being wonderfully, uniquely ourselves!”
In June 2023, representatives from the HRC and D.C. Public Schools Supervisor Lewis Ferebee <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtwY17JuSUe/?img_index=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a> up to Seaton to present it with an award for being “one of only 25 schools in the country to be recognized for creating and nurturing an inclusive school community.”
“We believe that it crucial for our students to understand their identities and the world around them,” Seaton <a href="https://seatondc.org/diversity-and-equity-seaton/">states</a>. “Understanding Equity and Diversity is a crucial piece in helping our students grow into scholars. To learn more please click on the different pages below.”
Like many schools in the D.C. area, Seaton <a href="https://seatondc.org/2021/01/28/pto-news-reopen-strong-at-seaton/?fbclid=IwAR0iF5msvJCvVpKV2ib6-YoSHdh_9e0HNDpT4JuI_wmY4MGGajjvnTc7RXE">remained</a> closed for months during the COVID pandemic and did not open for in-person instruction until early 2021. 
Seaton&#8217;s principal Veronica Torres did not respond to a request for comment.

Transgender Symbol and Pencils With The Color of Lgbt Flag

Inside ‘Black Lives Matter’ Spirit Week At The Wokest Elementary School In D.C.

Black History Month

Black Lives Matter

Education

Pride Flag

Transgender

Washington D.C.

Target removed a &#8220;Black History Month&#8221; product from its shelves this week after a TikTok video went viral showing three Civil Rights leaders on the item had been misidentified.
The <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@issatete/video/7329892395485564191" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> posted by Las Vegas high school teacher Tierra Espy showed that photos of Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B. DuBois, and Booker T. Washington in a magnetic learning activity all had the wrong names under them, the Associated Press <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/target-stops-selling-product-dedicated-civil-rights-icons-tiktok-video-rcna137085" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. After Epsy posted her video pointing out the flaws on Tuesday, Target confirmed that it would be removing the item from all its stores and its website. The AP reported that the magnetic activity appeared to be made by Bendon, an Ohio-based children’s publisher.
“We will no longer be selling this product in stores or online,” the retail giant said in a statement. “We’ve also ensured the product’s publisher is aware of the errors.”
Espy told the AP that she bought the learning activity at the end of January hoping to hand it out to her children, but she quickly discovered the error after opening it up at home. Espy pointed out that Woodson’s name appeared under DuBois’ photo, Washington’s name appeared under Woodson’s photo, and DuBois’ name showed up under Washington’s photo.
“These need to be pulled off the shelves immediately,” Espy said in her video. “I teach U.S. History &#8230; and I noticed some discrepancies as soon as I opened this.”
“I get it, mistakes happen, but this needs to be corrected ASAP,” she added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Woke Target can&#39;t even get Black History Month right&#8230;
H/T <a href="https://twitter.com/YourLibertyNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YourLibertyNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/LQFNhw4U4n">pic.twitter.com/LQFNhw4U4n</a>
&mdash; Red Voice Media (@redvoicenews) <a href="https://twitter.com/redvoicenews/status/1753806186976055767?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Last year, Target was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-sales-sink-after-pride-backlash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slammed</a> for its Pride Month collection, which included a kids swimsuit with a tag reading “thoughtfully fit on multiple body types and gender expressions.” Target also featured LGBT-themed books aimed at young children, such as “The Pronoun Book” and “Bye Bye Binary,” a story about a “joyful baby” who “refuses to conform to the gender binary and instead chooses toys, colors, and clothes that make them happy.”
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Following the backlash and boycotts over its Pride-themed products, Target reported that its sales dropped for the first time in six years, falling 5.4% in the second quarter. Then, around the Christmas holidays, the retail giant was criticized again — this time for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-mocked-for-selling-disabled-black-santa-ornament-pride-nutcrackers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">selling</a> an ornament of a black Santa Claus in a wheelchair.

Target

Target Pulls ‘Black History Month’ Product After Viral TikTok Video Calls Out Major Problems

Target Pulls 'Black History Month' Product After Viral TikTok Video Calls Out Major Problems

Civil Rights

U.S.

MSNBC host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/my-money-is-on-the-disney-lobbyists-honey-symone-sanders-says-florida-wont-go-after-disney-finds-out-seconds-later-they-already-did" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Symone Sanders</a> gave a dire warning to her followers on Saturday, claiming that the Supreme Court was poised to make a series of radical decisions — ranging from outlawing Black History to allowing daycares to refuse Jewish children.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/symone-sanders-trump-engaging-in-russian-misinformation-if-he-amplifies-smears-against-biden-and-his-surviving-son" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sanders</a>, who served as a prominent member of Joe Biden&#8217;s campaign before becoming the chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris, argued that it was &#8220;not hyperbole&#8221; to suggest that the current court might use the cases before it to do these things and worse.
&#8220;Last summer, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision, and that was just the opening act for the assault on our fundamental rights and freedoms,&#8221; Sanders <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/uncategorized/this-is-not-hyperbole-symone-warns-supreme-court-could-make-black-history-illegal-and-refusing-to-serve-black-people-legal/">began</a>, and then she went on to lay out some of the cases and extrapolate their potential repercussions.
Referencing the cases brought by the organization Students for Fair Admissions, Sanders noted that the Court was set to weigh in on whether or not race should be considered as a factor when making college admissions decisions.
&#8220;But this court has a habit of overreaching. So, these two cases could actually upend affirmative action across the board,&#8221; she said, adding, &#8220;If the Supreme Court decides that race conscious decision-making and policies are unconstitutional, then everything from special government contracts and programs for minority owned businesses to targeted corporate recruitment at HBCUs would all be in jeopardy &#8230; Lawmakers, they could argue that specialized disciplines like African American or Latin American history are race conscious and therefore, illegal.&#8221;
Sanders then brought up Moore v. Harper, a case focusing on state legislatures&#8217; power to set federal election laws in their own states — up to and including the power to draw congressional maps.
&#8220;So, goodbye to fighting partisan, gerrymandering in state and federal court or a gubernatorial veto. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund or Marc Elias, they won’t win any more voter suppression cases because they won’t even be allowed to sue. Sayonara to mail-in ballots if the state legislature thinks they’re unnecessary,&#8221; Sanders said.
Despite the fact that the Constitution already gave the states <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S4-C1-2/ALDE_00013577/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that power</a> according to Article I, Section 4 — and gave Congress the power to check states that abused their responsibilities.
Sanders went on to argue that the court could use a case about business owners who did not want to be forced to bake wedding cakes or build wedding websites for same sex couples — if that did not align with their religious beliefs — to say that business owners should be allowed to refuse service to anyone.
&#8220;By the way, companies could use the ruling to legally deny service to anyone, not just members of the LGBTQ plus community. So that daycare, you like, it could assert their First Amendment rights to not take Jewish families or black children. A locally owned restaurant could put restrictions on who they allow inside,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;Given the track record of this court, you all, this is not hyperbole. Dr. Maya Angelou said, when people show you who they are, believe them the first time,&#8221; she concluded. &#8220;We have seen the damage that this conservative Supreme Court majority can do, so brace yourselves, folks, the decisions are coming.&#8221;

Black Girls Rock! 2018 – Red Carpet

‘Brace Yourselves, Folks!’: Former Biden Aide Predicts SCOTUS Could Outlaw Black History

Former Biden Aide Simone Sanders Predicts SCOTUS Could Outlaw Black History

Courts

Joe Biden

Supreme Court

Symone Sanders

Academy Award-winning actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Morgan Freeman</a> made his feelings about Black History Month clear during a recent <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/morgan-freeman-interview-it-s-an-insult-to-be-called-african-american-cwdbwqvbf">interview</a>.
The 85-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">Hollywood</a> star made the comments as part of a <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/morgan-freeman-interview-it-s-an-insult-to-be-called-african-american-cwdbwqvbf">profile</a> published in The Sunday Times of London.
“Two things I can say publicly that I do not like. Black History Month is an insult. You’re going to relegate my history to a month?”
Freeman went on to say, “Also ‘<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/race">African-American</a>’ is an insult. I don’t subscribe to that title. Black people have had different titles all the way back to the n-word and I do not know how these things get such a grip, but everyone uses ‘African-American.&#8217; What does it really mean?”
The actor also told The Sunday Times that he is “very envious” of Denzel Washington’s career,  saying he is “in total agreement” with a statement Washington gave regarding race. Washington previously said, “I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all that I am.” Freeman supported that sentiment, saying, “In total agreement. You can’t define me that way.”
Freeman also said, “When I was growing up there was no ‘me’ in the movies. If there was a black man in a movie he was funny. Until Sidney Poitier came and gave young people like me the idea that, ‘OK, yes, I can do that.’”
He said the same is now true of other identity groups. “All people are involved now,” the “Shawshank Redemption” actor continued. “Everyone. LGBTQ, Asians, black, white, interracial marriages, interracial relationships. All represented. You see them all on screen now and that is a huge jump.”
Freeman has a Hollywood career spanning five decades and has earned multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe, the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
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He’s best known for appearing in several films, including “Million Dollar Baby” (2004), “Street Smart” (1987), “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989), “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994), and “Invictus” (2009). Freeman was nominated for an Oscar for each of those titles and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for “Million Dollar Baby.”

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman: ‘Black History Month Is An Insult’

Morgan Freeman: 'Black History Month Is An Insult'

Celebrities

Entertainment

Race

President Joe Biden made a head-scratching remark during a Black History Month event at the White House on Monday when he declared that he was not stupid despite being a &#8220;white boy.&#8221;
&#8220;We hosted a screening because it&#8217;s important to say from the White House, for the entire country to hear, history matters. History matters, and black history matters,&#8221; Biden told the audience while reflecting on his screening of the movie &#8220;Till&#8221; earlier this month. &#8220;We can&#8217;t just choose to learn what we want to know. We learn what we should know, to learn everything, the good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation. That&#8217;s what great nations do, and we are a great nation.&#8221;
Biden then referenced a group of African-American sororities called the &#8220;Divine Nine,&#8221; saying, “I may be a white boy, but I’m not stupid.&#8221;
&#8220;I know where the power is … you think I’m joking,&#8221; Biden continued. &#8220;I learned a long time ago about the Divine Nine.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Do this math:
Biden in 2019: “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”
Biden today: “I may be a white boy, but I&#39;m not stupid.”
What is he trying to say? <a href="https://t.co/mtIOHzps21">pic.twitter.com/mtIOHzps21</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1630352973405597698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Social media users commented on the bizarre nature of Biden&#8217;s remarks and noted past controversial racial remarks that have landed him in hot water.
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In August 2019, Biden said, &#8220;poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids&#8221; while talking about education.
“We should challenge these students, we should challenge students in these schools and have advance placement programs in these schools,” Biden said. “We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Yet another entry added to the long list of Joe Biden&#39;s career of gaffes. 
Today in Iowa, Joe Biden said, “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”<a href="https://t.co/3uUvSK3Xwv">pic.twitter.com/3uUvSK3Xwv</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1159632564593811456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Biden also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-biden-if-you-have-a-problem-figuring-out-whether-youre-for-me-or-trump-then-you-aint-black">said</a> during an interview amid the 2020 presidential race that &#8220;if you have a problem figuring out whether you&#8217;re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”

President Biden Hosts Black History Month Reception

Biden At Black History Month Event: ‘I May Be A White Boy, But I’m Not Stupid’

Executive

History

The College Board announced on Tuesday that the curriculum for AP African American Studies will be publicly released soon. The curriculum garnered backlash among conservatives after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis blocked it from being taught in schools.
The course, currently undergoing <a href="https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/how-ap-develops-courses-and-exams/pilot-ap-african-american-studies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pilots</a> at five dozen high schools across the nation, is centered upon leftist activism rather than the study of black history. The Florida Department of Education recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/contrary-to-florida-law-desantis-rejects-high-school-course-emerging-nationwide-over-wokeness-concerns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">informed</a> the College Board that the course’s content is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” adding that the state would reconsider the course should the organization make the material “lawful” and “historically accurate.”
The College Board referenced the beginning of Black History Month in a statement provided to The Daily Wire announcing the course structure’s public release.
“This framework, under development since March 2022, replaces the preliminary pilot course framework under discussion to date,” the organization said. “We are grateful for the contributions of experts, teachers, and students and look forward to sharing the framework broadly.”
Florida Department of Education Communications Director Alex Lanfranconi said in a statement provided to The Daily Wire that the agency is &#8220;glad the College Board has recognized that the originally submitted course curriculum is problematic&#8221; and expressed hope that &#8220;students across the country will consequentially have access to an historically accurate, unbiased course&#8221; as a result of the state&#8217;s hesitancy to the original version.
The College Board had previously declined to release the AP African American Studies curriculum, asserting that the material contains proprietary information. AP courses are university-level classes offered in some high schools and often translate to college credit once students gain admission to undergraduate programs.
While supporters of teaching African American studies have argued that the courses encourage holistic thinking about American history, skeptics note that such courses often serve as a front for teaching left-wing advocacy and grievance studies. The College Board’s website suggests that a major in African American studies can prepare a student for only <a href="https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/choosing-courses/major-career-results/major/african-american-studies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one</a> career field, community organizing and activism, even as the organization says a history major can prepare students for a <a href="https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/choosing-courses/major-career-results/major/history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multitude</a> of careers, including anthropology, law, and foreign service.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed legislation last year preventing the state’s government schools from teaching discrimination on the basis of race, color, or sex, has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/theyre-advocating-for-things-like-abolishing-prisons-desantis-discusses-why-he-banned-african-american-studies-course" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emerged</a> as a leading skeptic of the new AP African American Studies course. He noted that it submits policies such as prison abolition for student consideration, even though such suggestions are primarily supported by left-wing activists.
“They’re advocating things like abolishing prisons. Now that’s a radical political position,” DeSantis told reporters. “You’re free to take that in your own life, I don’t think very many people think that would actually work, but how is that being taught as fact?”
DeSantis added that he does not view black history as inherently distinct from the overall history of the United States.
“That’s what our standards for black history are: it’s just cut-and-dry history. You learn all the basics, you learn about the great figures,” he remarked. “I view it as American history. I don’t view it as separate history.”

F7760D9A-8C39-4A77-864E-785BD8CF6BC2_1_105_c

College Board Will Release Framework For Controversial African American Studies Course Amid Backlash

College Board To Release AP African American Studies Course Framework On First Day Of Black History Month

College

Politics

Ron DeSantis

On Monday, at a White House celebration of Black History Month, Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking of President Biden’s nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring, insisted, “Because as we all know, elections matter. When folks vote they order what they want. And in this case, they got what they asked for.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NOW &#8211; Kamala Harris: &quot;When folks vote they order what they want. And in this case, they got what they asked for.&quot;<a href="https://t.co/uIE4SM9NK1">pic.twitter.com/uIE4SM9NK1</a>
&mdash; Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) <a href="https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1498391191376875526?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On Friday, President Biden bragged about his decision, tweeting, “I sought a nominee with the strongest credentials, record, character, and dedication to the rule of law. That’s why I’m excited to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the United States Supreme Court.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I sought a nominee with the strongest credentials, record, character, and dedication to the rule of law. That’s why I’m excited to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the United States Supreme Court. <a href="https://t.co/iGHLqqRAD0">pic.twitter.com/iGHLqqRAD0</a>
&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1497260540707713024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
But Biden’s nomination of Jackson to the Court came after he made a pledge in his 2020 presidential campaign for political expediency. Biden’s 2020 campaign pledge to put a black woman on the Supreme Court was made, as has always been characteristic of Biden, as a political move to advance his own political career. As <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/the-inside-story-of-how-biden-promised-to-appoint-a-black-woman-to-the-supreme-court-192146779.html">Yahoo News</a> recollected:
<blockquote>It was Feb. 25, 2020, the night of a crucial Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina — and Biden’s campaign was on the ropes, in serious danger of being knocked out of the race. &#8230; Biden was counting on a promised endorsement from the most powerful figure in the state’s Democratic politics, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, to revive his campaign.
But Clyburn was extracting a firm promise from Biden: that he would name an African American woman to the Supreme Court. &#8230; Clyburn raised the issue with Biden on the night before the debate, and he expected that Biden would make the commitment during the debate.</blockquote>
But Biden did not initially make the pledge during the debate, irritating Clyburn. As journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes noted, during a break in the debate, Clyburn headed for Biden. Allen said Clyburn confronted Biden, saying, “Look, I told you that I wanted you to say that you were going to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court. You haven’t done it yet. You’ve had a bunch of opportunities. Don’t you dare leave this stage without doing it.”
When the break was over, Biden was asked about his personal motto. He answered, “Everyone should be represented. &#8230; The fact is, what we should be doing — we talked about the Supreme Court. I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court, to make sure we in fact get every representation. &#8230; Not a joke.”
Clyburn officially endorsed Biden the next morning, Biden swept to victory, and never looked back as he passed Bernie Sanders and captured the nomination.
In late January, Biden <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-formally-kick-scotus-search-breyer-s-retirement-announcement-n1288092">announced</a> the upcoming retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and reiterated his prior pronouncement that he would nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court if given the opportunity. He stated, “The person I will nominate will be someone of extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity, and that person will be the first black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. I made that commitment during the campaign for president, and I will keep that commitment.”

Candidates Attend Democratic Presidential Forum On Latino Issues At Cal State

Kamala Harris: ‘Elections Matter … In This Case, They Got What They Asked For’

Kamala Harris

Was Karl Marx black?
How about Lenin?
Or Antonio Gramsci?
Marcuse? 
These are the figures behind the kind of black history being promoted by 1619 Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones and her allies. 
The 1619 Project is more accurately a Marxist history than a black history. 
It promotes history through the lens of neo-Marxist Critical Race Theory and the neo-Marxist school of New History of Capitalism, whose practitioners overwhelmingly are <a href="https://www.aier.org/article/the-new-history-of-capitalism-has-a-whiteness-problem/">white</a> male professors at Ivy League universities. 
Ironically, Nikole Hannah-Jones, in a recent <a href="https://twitter.com/PhilWMagness/status/1490906972484694016/photo/1">tweet</a> slamming an anti-1619 Project issue of National Review complained that it did not include any black women and only one black person in an issue intended to “write about a slavery project created by a Black woman.” Economic historian Phil Magness, her frequent target who calls the New History of Capitalism “<a href="https://twitter.com/PhilWMagness/status/1490905093020930051">an error-ridden</a> ideological echo chamber,” posted a group of photos of these New Historians, including Project contributor Matthew Desmond,  that looked like it could have come from a reunion of an Ole Miss fraternity in the 1950s. Ironically, Hannah-Jones continues to <a href="https://twitter.com/PhilWMagness/status/1493588639435079684/photo/1">advance</a> Desmond’s claims, while reserving “most of her <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/nikole-hannah-jones-responds-to-our-1619-and-slavery-issue/">ire</a>” for political science professor Wilfred Reilly, a contributor to the National Review issue, who happens to be black. 
Yet, Hannah-Jones has become a sought-out television pundit who frequently appears on <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/transcript-reidout-2-8-22-n1288893">MSNBC</a> to commiserate with Joy-Ann Reid about what they call censorship laws against the use of The 1619 Project in schools. Recently, she expressed agreement with Reid, as Reid inveighed against Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s Stop WOKE Act. Citing the Act’s language, Reid said that the attempt to prevent feelings of “anguish” or discomfort applies to “white children” only. Hannah-Jones agreed, “We should feel uncomfortable about racial apartheid.” 
Reid played the statement of Rick Stevens of Florida Citizens Alliance, “We want teachers to take sides that slavery was wrong. But they don’t need to take sides that one race purposely did it, and so now that race is forever condemned and another race is forever exalted.” Twisting around his words, Reid claimed that “You cannot teach this history without race.” Hannah-Jones took the cue, stating, “Slavery was a racist, racialized system. You could only be enslaved if you were of African descent. And the enslavers were of European descent.”
True, laws forbade the enslavement of white people. But not all “enslavers were of European descent.” 
In fact, as I point out in <a href="https://www.regnery.com/9781684511778/debunking-the-1619-project/">Debunking The 1619 Project</a>, a significant percentage of free blacks — proportionally a third as many as whites — in the antebellum south were enslavers. Hannah-Jones revealed that she knows this too, when in a <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/newsletter/2021-11-06/book-club-newsletter-nikole-hannah-jones-the-1619-project-book-club">Los Angeles Times</a> interview, she named The Known World, about a black slaveowner in antebellum Virginia, her favorite novel.
Hannah-Jones also pretends that slavery had been invented in Jamestown in 1619. She ignores slavery’s global and transhistorical existence. In response to my challenges on Twitter, she blocked me and then tweeted, “Like, imagine using 1,000-year-old history to justify downplaying 150-year-old history” — thus revealing that she was lying by omission.
Yet, on MSBC she replied to Reid’s prompt about whether black history would even be legal in Florida with, “When you ask, will we see Black History Month being outlawed, we’re already seeing black history programming being challenged in some states . . . because some white parents think that that’s Critical Race Theory. . . .” 
Well. . . . 
Similarly, Keisha N. Blain, professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, who co-edited, with Ibram X. Kendi a collection titled Four Hundred Souls which included essays by Hannah-Jones and other 1619 Project contributors, in a recent article in the communist-sympathizing Nation, equated black history with CRT. She claimed that the “obsession over critical race theory is a new manifestation” of “long-standing efforts to keep Black history—and the perspectives of Black Writers—out of the classroom.” Yet, she cast  conservatives’ opposition to “’critical race theory’ as being “rooted in a desire to shield their children from the uncomfortable aspects of history and evade ‘sensitive’ topics such as racism, white supremacy, and inequality.” 
The “history” pushed by those like Blain and Hannah-Jones does present an anti-white/anti-capitalist perspective, per CRT. It distorts history. It presents white people as uniquely marked with the “original sin” of slavery.   
It follows the diktats of Vladimir Lenin, not the principles of the “father” of black history month, Carter G. Woodson. After Lenin gave orders that “The Negroes in America” were to be used as “a strategically important element in Communist activity,” the Communist Party USA released a statement in 1921 saying that the “sufferings” of “Negroes” were to be fixed on the “bourgeoisie and the Capitalist-Imperialist System!” Slavery represented the quintessence of capitalist exploitation.
Woodson, in contrast, acknowledged the “1,000-year-old history.” In his 1922 book, The Negro in Our History, Woodson stated, “That the Negro should be enslaved was in the halcyon days of the institution no exception to the rule. Slavery was once the normal condition of the majority of the inhabitants of the world.”
Sadly, in the 1920s, a number of black Americans were lured to the Soviet Union. One of these tragic figures was Lovett Fort-Whiteman, a writer and actor, who became an enthusiastic propagandist, only to meet his death in the gulag in 1939 by starvation, overwork, and beatings. But even such horrific deaths cannot dissuade communist-sympathizing historians like Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore. In Defying Dixie: The Radical [i.e, Communist] Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950, Gilmore defies the observations of black writers of the time, such as <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/who-was-george-schuyler">George Schuyler</a>, and asserts that the Communists were the only white people concerned about black people in the South. She describes the excruciating death of this “<a href="https://legalinsurrection.com/2017/11/lovett-fort-whiteman-the-first-african-american-communist/">first black communist</a>” in poetic terms, as evincing “the perfect equality of the gulag.” 
Not surprisingly, Gilmore has become a promoter of The 1619 Project on Twitter. 
The attitude of Gilmore is that individual black lives, like Fort-Whiteman’s, don’t matter.
And that is how Nikole Hannah-Jones felt about the loss of life — black and white — and property during the 1619 Project riots in 2020. 
That is how Communists think.
There is plenty of black history and more can be written, especially about conservatives like George Schuyler. But we should not allow Hannah-Jones and revisionist historians to confuse us about what it is. 
Mary Grabar, Ph.D., a resident fellow at The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization, is author most recently of <a href="https://www.regnery.com/9781684511778/debunking-the-1619-project/">Debunking The 1619 Project</a>: Exposing the Plan to Divide America and is completing a biography of George Schuyler.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Black History

Black History Is Not Marxist History

Marxism

Readers Pass

February is Black History Month.
Why do we need Black History Month? Why don&#8217;t we set aside special occasions to observe the history of other ethnicities in our country?
My answer to this question is that Black history tells a uniquely important story in our nation. It is a story that no other race or ethnicity shares. It is a story that must be grasped and understood if we are to understand our country as a whole, where it has been and where it needs to go.
Unique among a large percentage of Black Americans is a history in which their ancestors did not choose to come to America. They were brought here by force and enslaved. No other ethnicity shares a history in which their ancestors did not come here by choice.
According to the 1790 Census of the United States, of a population of 3,893,635, 17.8%, or a total of 694,280, were slaves.
In a nation founded on the principle of human liberty, almost one-fifth of the population were slaves. How should we understand this?
Some want to tell us that slavery is not just a stain on American history but that it defines America and American history. That America is a nation founded in racism and evil and that the task today is to reinvent and recreate the nation.
This is what &#8220;wokeness&#8221; and DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion programming — is about.
Those who have declared that the nation was evil at its birth now want to seize control and put themselves in charge of deciding what it should be about and what it should look like.
This is a great and dangerous distortion, doomed to add on to, not erase, the sin at America&#8217;s founding.
The proclamation from the White House noting National Black History Month 2022 says, &#8220;Our nation was founded on an idea: that all of us are created equal and deserve to be treated with equal dignity throughout our lives.&#8221;
This, I think, is false.
Our nation was not founded on an idea. An idea is a product of thought.
When slave trader John Newton, composer of the haunting hymn &#8220;Amazing Grace,&#8221; had the horrible confrontation with himself, realizing the grave sin he had committed, he wrote &#8220;I was lost, but now I&#8217;m found. / Was blind, but now I see.&#8221;
Newton did not discover he had a bad idea and decide to replace it with a better idea.
He realized that there is truth in the world, which he gravely violated.
The ideals upon which our nation was founded were rooted in divine principles and recognition that all are created equal because all are the product of the same Creator.
It is for this reason that those who signed the Declaration of Independence concluded saying, &#8220;With a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.&#8221;
&#8220;Sacred&#8221; is not about ideas. &#8220;Sacred&#8221; is about faith and divine truth.
The presence of slavery at our nation&#8217;s founding was about Man&#8217;s ability and willingness to sin.
Slavery was the symptom, not the cause.
Black History is documentation that even in a great nation, sin was present.
The Creator gave man the ability to choose. This is why freedom is important. Men cannot be denied their ability to choose. But they also cannot escape their responsibility to choose good over evil.
This is the lesson we must learn from Black History.
We will not live right, we will not treat our neighbors right, until we recognize that we all are the results of the same Creator.
America is in crisis today because recognition of that Creator has been widely purged.
And like the plantation owners that usurped truth, so today we have a new generation of usurpers.
This is what we must recognize and fix.
The views expressed in this piece are the author&#8217;s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show &#8220;Cure America with Star Parker.&#8221; To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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PARKER: Learning The Lessons Of Black History

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