Heather Cox Richardson explains:
When Trump says that our history focuses too much on how bad slavery was, he is not simply downplaying the realities of human enslavement: he is advocating a world in which Black people, people of color, poor people, and women should let elite white men lead, and be grateful for that paternalism. It is the same argument elite enslavers made before the Civil War to defend their destruction of the idea of democracy to create an oligarchy. When Trump urges Republicans to slash voting rights to stop socialism and keep him in power, he makes the same argument former Confederates made after the war to keep those who would use the government for the public good from voting.
Related reading:
New York Times, 8/17/2025
Audra D. S. Burch reports:
The first time Sherryreed Robinson remembers noticing the words — “IN APPRECIATION OF OUR FAITHFUL SLAVES” — etched on a Confederate monument in Columbia, N.C., she was a teenager performing with her high school band on the steps of the Tyrrell County courthouse. She remembers approaching the 23-foot Confederate soldier statue and focusing on those six words.
For Ms. Robinson, a high school junior at the time, “faithful” and “slaves” did not feel right together.
About three decades later, with the 123-year-old monument still overlooking the historic town’s Main Street, she joined a federal lawsuit calling for the “faithful slaves” inscription to be removed or covered. It is believed to be the only courthouse monument in the country to “textually express” such a message, according to the lawsuit.
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Donald Trump can't be bothered to hide his racism anymore (Juneteenth edition). (6/21)
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2024
Donald Trumps racist rally: The day, 85 years later, when Madison Square Garden became a dark and rancid hellhole showing America at its worst. (10/29)
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