As America Celebrates Juneteenth, Historians and Activists Continue Pushing Back Against Historical Erasure
We must celebrate Juneteenth. However, it is important to remember that historical white supremacist lies are persistent, widely discredited narratives that involves fake history. White supremacist history was intentionally created to justify slavery, white supremacy, segregation, and racial violence. White supremacist education relies on made-up myths to establish a hierarchy based on skin color to protect the dominance of whiteness in society, history, and other disciplines. According to the Legal Defense Fund, “True recognition of Juneteenth requires reckoning with the shameful legacy of slavery, caste, and systemic racism. Juneteenth is a reminder of the power of truth-telling, and as we celebrate this holiday, we must commit to resisting all attempts to rewrite our history.”
How White Supremacist Narratives Shaped American History
White supremacists are trying to create a history based on past lies. Making America great again, is part of the propaganda machine designed to move the needle of truth back to a time when American history was told with rotten intent. Examples of erased history from American history at most schools includes, “Andry’s Rebellion, also known as the German Coast Uprising, was a slave revolt that occurred in the Territory of Louisiana between January 8th and 10th, 1811. The revolt, the largest servile uprising in United States history, was named after the owner of the plantation, Manual Andry, where the uprising originated.
At its peak on January 10, it involved approximately 400 to 500 enslaved men and women along the east bank of the Mississippi River north of New Orleans. Led by a Saint-Domingue-(Haiti) born slave named Charles Deslondes, the uprising was inspired by the Haitian Revolution of 1791.”
Related: City of San Antonio Announces Juneteenth Holiday Schedule for City Services
Forgotten Slave Rebellions and Acts of Resistance
They even lied about “Bacons’s Rebellion. “Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 was the last major uprising of enslaved blacks and white indentured servants in Colonial Virginia. One consequence of the failed rebellion was the intensification of African slavery and the social separation of blacks and whites in Virginia.” This was told from a different angle in most history books to ignore its importance and many white historians are still lying about it. Other rebellions ignored by so-called history teachers includes, the Denmark Vesey Conspiracy of 1822, the Gloucester County Conspiracy of 1663, the Igbo Landing Mass Suicide of 1803, the New York City Slave Uprising of1712, the Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation in 1842, and many more.
These acts of resistance are ignored in order paint a less violent image of slavery and to imply that Blacks passively accepted slavery. All they want to talk about is Martin Luther King, a veiled attempt to deny centuries of resistance before Dr. King.
Modern Battles Over Black History and Education
We must remember these important dates and events while we are observing Juneteenth and not be fooled by racist or ignorant historians that want to ignore real history. In this day and time, we are being attacked in every way by racist Trump officials and agencies. Schools have been forced to get rid of DEI programs, Black soldiers are not being promoted and are being removed, congressional district lines are being redrawn to exclude Blacks from being elected, historical artifacts and signage at museums and state parks have been removed.
We are under attack! If your history teacher is not teaching these important facts, you are being denied an education. By ignoring the injustices of today, and white washing the past, your history teacher is either knowingly teaching white supremacist denial of historical facts or is just plain ignorant.
Double Down!
Double down on demanding the teaching of true history, double down on exposing the injustices of the Trump administration, and make the observation of Juneteenth have real meaning.
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