Another Big Lie: 600,000 White Men Fought and Died in a War to Abolish Slavery

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r all of U.S. history. This should not even be a point of debate. Anyone who has lived here for more than a minute knows that there were laws, rules, and codes implemented for the sole purpose of restricting the social and economic advancement of non-white people. Supposedly color-blind programs that lifted generations of White people into the middle class were systematically denied to others. Even the “bootstrap” is a lie that White people tell themselves so they can feel better by ignoring the truth of how America created its White middle class. The bootstrap lie allows White people to blame oppressed POC for everything that is not perfect… “My people made it on their own, with no handouts! Why can’t you?”Critical Race Theory should make you uncomfortable. Much of our history on race is shameful. Simply learning about the ways POC have been oppressed would cause any thinking, feeling, human being to pause, but White people don’t need to feel guilty. Nor do their children, because that’s not the point.If you understand that your African American neighbor’s great-great-grandparents had their life’s work literally stolen from them, that

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their great grandparents were denied education and lived in a society that relegated them to the most menial of jobs (if they weren’t killed for being successful or saying “good morning” to the wrong person) and refused to employ them in programs like the WPA that lifted so many White Americans out of poverty; that their war-hero grandfathers were denied the benefits of the G.I. Bill in both education and housing, that even their parents who worked hard to achieve were redlined, overcharged, and quarantined by the FHA into certain neighborhoods where even those who purchased real-estate have never realized the great gains in wealth that have benefitted so many White American families… The list goes on and on.It’s not about guilt, though. Few people who are alive today have perpetrated any of these horrors personally. It’s also not necessary to feel guilty for benefitting from these systems. However, if you understand these truths about our nation’s history; and understand how they’ve affected your neighbor, it just might change how you think about the role you want to play as we write today’s story.Thank you for reading…</article></body>

Another Big Lie: 600,000 White Men Fought and Died in a War to Abolish Slavery

While reading “conservative” commentaries on Critical Race Theory, I was struck by a writer claiming that 600,000 men died in a war to abolish slavery. This twisting of the facts, by omission, to support a feel-good narrative really demonstrates the importance of proper presentation of historical facts. The claim was the perfect parallel to most of the arguments being made against Critical Race Theory. The truth: 260,000… almost half of that number died for the opposite cause. Think about this. White men were willing to fight and die to preserve slavery and their “way of life.” They demonstrated their commitment to white supremacy by laying down their lives for it. Even though many did not own slaves personally, they fully supported the system of slavery and the benefits flowing to white people from it.

Our systems and laws have been applied in a racist manner for all of U.S. history. This should not even be a point of debate. Anyone who has lived here for more than a minute knows that there were laws, rules, and codes implemented for the sole purpose of restricting the social and economic advancement of non-white people. Supposedly color-blind programs that lifted generations of White people into the middle class were systematically denied to others. Even the “bootstrap” is a lie that White people tell themselves so they can feel better by ignoring the truth of how America created its White middle class. The bootstrap lie allows White people to blame oppressed POC for everything that is not perfect… “My people made it on their own, with no handouts! Why can’t you?”

Critical Race Theory should make you uncomfortable. Much of our history on race is shameful. Simply learning about the ways POC have been oppressed would cause any thinking, feeling, human being to pause, but White people don’t need to feel guilty. Nor do their children, because that’s not the point.

If you understand that your African American neighbor’s great-great-grandparents had their life’s work literally stolen from them, that their great grandparents were denied education and lived in a society that relegated them to the most menial of jobs (if they weren’t killed for being successful or saying “good morning” to the wrong person) and refused to employ them in programs like the WPA that lifted so many White Americans out of poverty; that their war-hero grandfathers were denied the benefits of the G.I. Bill in both education and housing, that even their parents who worked hard to achieve were redlined, overcharged, and quarantined by the FHA into certain neighborhoods where even those who purchased real-estate have never realized the great gains in wealth that have benefitted so many White American families… The list goes on and on.

It’s not about guilt, though. Few people who are alive today have perpetrated any of these horrors personally. It’s also not necessary to feel guilty for benefitting from these systems. However, if you understand these truths about our nation’s history; and understand how they’ve affected your neighbor, it just might change how you think about the role you want to play as we write today’s story.

Thank you for reading…