ABC television network devoting two prime-time hours to 1619 Project 'documentary' arguing for slavery reparations
There seems to be no end to the destructive propaganda emanating from the Walt Disney Company. Tonight, its wholly-owned subsidiary ABC Television will be airing a two-hour documentary created by the infamous 1619 Project. The Twitter account of 1619 Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones, using the pseudonym Ida Bae Wells proudly announced the showing yesterday
TOMORROW, in a one-night-only event, ABC will be airing two episodes of #1619Project docuseries. Ep1: Democracy, and Ep2: Justice. First we will show you how Black resistance democratized America, and then we will spend a full hour laying out why reparations are owed. Join us. pic.twitter.com/wvcAp4TKJ3
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) May 30, 2023
We don't get shows like this on network tv in America anymore and there certainly has never been a full-hour dedicated to a serious argument for reparations for descendants of slavery. So please share and please support so we can open more doors for this type of work. 5/31 8 EDT
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) May 30, 2023
In a series of now-deleted tweets, Hannah-Jones admitted that the project is not history but is about the “narrative” – meaning propaganda intended to influence public opinion, and ultimately lead to anger and pressure for people who never owned slaves to pay money to people who never were slaves. Via Legal Insurrection:
I’ve always said that the 1619 Project is not a history. It is a work of journalism that explicitly seeks to challenge the national narrative and, therefore, the national memory. The project has always been as much about the present as it is the past.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 27, 2020
The crazy thing is, the 1619 Project is using history and reporting to make an argument. It never pretended to be a history. We explicitly state our aims and produced a series of essays. Critique was always expected, but the need to discredit it speaks to something else.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 27, 2020
Further, the curriculum is supplementary and cannot and was never intended to supplant US history curriculum (which is pretty terrible but none of these folks seem concerned about that.)Teachers have used it in English, social studies, art, foods classes.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 27, 2020
The fight here is about who gets to control the national narrative, and therefore, the nation’s shared memory of itself. One group has monopolized this for too long in order to create this myth of exceptionalism. If their version is true, what do they have to fear of 1619?
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 27, 2020
It is hard to think of a more divisive issue. This will only lead to more racial strife.