Stop trying to segregate the American founding



Race relations in the United States have unraveled in recent years, not only because of genuine disagreement, but because many Americans now grow up believing the nation is fundamentally unjust — racist to the core, perhaps even irredeemable.

This idea, once fringe, now enjoys institutional backing. Critical race theory and DEI ideology assert that the U.S. was founded on slavery and white supremacy. And they dominate schools, corporations, and government agencies alike.

Don’t displace the Fourth of July. Don’t divide what should unite us.

As a result, America has seen a quiet comeback of sanctioned segregation. Colleges increasingly host race-based graduation ceremonies. Society encourages people to define themselves first by racial identity, not shared citizenship. That should alarm anyone who once marched for equal rights in the 1950s and ’60s.

When Americans stop thinking of each other as fellow citizens, the glue that holds the republic together dissolves.

Juneteenth and the new segregation

Consider one example of this trend: the push for a separate “independence day” for black Americans.

On June 17, 2021, Joe Biden signed Senate Bill 475 into law, establishing a new federal holiday: “Juneteenth National Independence Day.” The bill commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Texas and issued General Order No. 3, announcing that slaves in the state had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation — two years after it was signed.

Former slaves in Texas celebrated, and in the years that followed, Juneteenth spread across the South. But it never held central importance in the broader civil rights movement.

Juneteenth did not abolish slavery. It merely marked the day slaves in one state learned they had been legally freed. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued in 1863, applied only to states in rebellion — excluding Union-supporting border states like Kentucky and Delaware, where slavery remained legal until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in December 1865.

A false independence narrative

Some activists now argue that Juneteenth should serve as “Black Independence Day.” That’s a mistake.

This view implies that African Americans have no rightful claim to the Fourth of July or to the principles of the Declaration of Independence. But those ideas belong to all Americans — not just the descendants of the signers.

It’s true that many historical figures sought to exclude black Americans from the promise of the Declaration. Chief Justice Roger Taney made that argument explicit in the Dred Scott decision. Confederates like Alexander Stephens and John C. Calhoun claimed that “all men are created equal” never applied to African Americans.

They were wrong.

What Frederick Douglass really believed

Some cite Frederick Douglass’ famous 1852 speech — “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” — to support the idea that black Americans should reject the founding. But they ignore the full context.

Douglass, speaking two years after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, condemned the hypocrisy of a country that declared liberty while tolerating bondage. “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” he asked. “A day that reveals to him ... the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”

But unlike Taney, Stephens, and Calhoun, Douglass didn’t reject the Declaration. He upheld it.

RELATED: Frederick Douglass: American patriot

Photo by Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Douglass took hope from the principles it proclaimed and called on America to live up to them. He dismissed the Garrisonian claim that the Constitution was pro-slavery. “Interpreted as it ought to be interpreted,” he said, “the Constitution is a glorious liberty document.”

He believed America’s founding held the moral resources to defeat slavery — and it did.

The universal promise of 1776

America’s founders didn’t invent slavery; they merely inherited it. At the time of the Revolution, slavery was a global institution, practiced on every continent and defended by every empire. Slavery, including African slavery, was a manifestation of the argument of the Athenians at Melos as recounted by Thucydides in his history of the Peloponnesian War: “Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” Even Africans sold fellow Africans into slavery.

The Declaration of Independence marked a sharp break from that past. It asserted that all human beings possess natural rights — and that no one may rule another without consent.

Thomas Jefferson famously observed that humanity had long been divided into those born "booted and spurred” and those “born with saddles on their backs.” The founders rejected that model. They established a republic based on equality before the law, not the interests of the stronger over the weaker.

They also knew slavery contradicted those ideals. Many believed the institution would die out — an Enlightenment relic destined for extinction. Still, the political compromises they made to preserve the Union allowed slavery to persist, and it took a war to end it.

Why the founding still matters

The Civil War was not a rejection of the founding. It was a fulfillment of it.

As Harry Jaffa wrote, “It is not wonderful that a nation of slaveholders, upon achieving independence, failed to abolish slavery. What is wonderful ... is that a nation of slaveholders founded a new nation on the proposition that ‘all men are created equal,’ making the abolition of slavery a moral and political necessity.”

The Declaration of Independence lit the fuse that ultimately destroyed slavery.

So let Americans celebrate Juneteenth — gratefully, joyfully, and historically. Let the holiday recall the biblical jubilee it was meant to evoke.

But don’t displace the Fourth of July. Don’t segment America’s founding. Don’t divide what should unite us.

As Douglass said: “I would not even in words do violence to the grand events, and thrilling associations, that gloriously cluster around the birth of our national independence.”

He went on: “No people ever entered upon the pathway of nations, with higher and grander ideas of justice, liberty and humanity than ourselves.”

Douglass understood something too many have forgotten: The genius of the American founding lies not in who it excluded but in the promise that, one day, it would include everyone.

NPR Shocked To Learn Segregation Is Over

Instead of trying to generate fake controversy about Trump, NPR should put more faith in humanity, its listeners, and its workers.

Wilsonian Vices

For most of the 20th century, Woodrow Wilson was a progressive icon. America’s 28th president was widely regarded by the left for pioneering reforms he enacted over the course of his tumultuous two terms in office. But recently Wilson’s star has lost its luster. In his new book, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn, Christopher Cox explains why.

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'White Allies May Attend Other Circle Trainings': As Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz Held Racially Segregated Programs for Teachers and Vets

Vice President Kamala Harris says her running mate, Tim Walz, is going to help her "unify this country." As governor of Minnesota, however, Walz explicitly divided people, holding training sessions for teachers and military veterans that were segregated by race, the Washington Free Beacon found.

The post 'White Allies May Attend Other Circle Trainings': As Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz Held Racially Segregated Programs for Teachers and Vets appeared first on .

Seattle Children's Hospital Segregates Doctors by Race, Asks Them To Tap 'Repressed Racial Memories' in Leaked Training

Stomach doctors at Seattle Children's Hospital were forced to attend a racially segregated diversity training that included lessons on "critical race theory," claimed black people are "systematically targeted for demise," and pressed white doctors to "tap into their repressed racial memories" to develop a white "race-consciousness," according to slides from the training obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The post Seattle Children's Hospital Segregates Doctors by Race, Asks Them To Tap 'Repressed Racial Memories' in Leaked Training appeared first on .

Harvard promotes segregated 'Affinity Celebrations' for graduates that it insists are not real graduations



Harvard University is promoting segregated graduate ceremonies that it insists are not hosted by the school and do not serve as actual graduation ceremonies.

The ceremonies were first noted by journalist Christopher Rufo, who listed the school's event dates on his X page.

Documentation for the events is limited and reportedly includes just one public posting at the time of this publication.

Harvard's Office For Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging listed 10 different affinity celebrations in a recently unearthed document.

The first day's events were categorized as: Disability, Global Indigenous, Asian American/Pacific Islander/Desi-American, First Generation-Low Income, and Jewish celebrations.

The second day included: "Latinx," Lavender, Black, Veterans, and Arab celebrations.

Notably, Rufo's original report from December 2023 did not include white or Jewish celebrations and included an "LGBTQ+" celebration.

According to National Review (which obtained the document), the lavender celebration has replaced the aforementioned sexuality-based celebration. A Jewish celebration was also added, but a white celebration remained absent.

EXCLUSIVE: Harvard provided racially segregated "affinity group" celebrations at its commencement event earlier this year. Whites and Jews were the only groups not provided with celebrations.\n\nThe university has now deleted this page from its website.
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Harvard has carefully labeled its documentation as to reflect that it is not the official host of the events and has shielded itself in event descriptions from any claims that the events could be seen as a graduation or any type of sanctioned, discriminatory event.

The event listing cited that the celebrations were hosted by "community partners and Alumni," and are "student lead gatherings" to celebrate the "diverse cultures, communities and identities present at Harvard."

It also stated that the celebrations are "open to all Harvard graduates who pre-register to attend."

One note that accompanied the listings explained that student groups and campus partners were holding the events.

"The Celebration Recognizing Arab Graduates, the Celebration Recognizing Jewish Graduates, and the Celebration Recognizing Veteran Graduates are being planned in collaboration with student groups and campus partners."

The public event page explained that the events "take place prior to Harvard University and School-based commencement programs" and do not serve as "graduations or convocation ceremonies." This was noted on the internally-circulated document, as well.

Still, the university offers a signup on its page and states that anyone interested in attending "one or more of the affinity celebrations" should complete the registration form.

The events are, however, officially listed as a collaboration between the Harvard Alumni Association, the Council of Deans of Students, the Commencement Office, student, staff, and faculty volunteers.

Also included were the new, fresher takes on DEI acronyms. Harvard boasts an Office For Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, which is shortened to OEDIB.

Within its science division, the university also has a Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging center. That sector has a vision to "shape and empower scientific innovation and learning on a foundation of community, inclusion, transparency, and partnership."

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Biden says he prefers his segregationist peers of yesteryear to House Republicans: 'These guys are worse'



President Joe Biden took a trip down memory lane this week in search of a group of people he prefers to House Republicans. He settled on segregationists.

Biden has long demonized the Republicans presently attempting to hold his administration to task for failing to secure the border and for censoring Americans.

In his notorious red-lit September 2022 speech at Independence Historical Park in Philadelphia, Biden claimed, "MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic." The geriatric Democrat has since expanded on this theme, stressing that the success of his top political rival and the Republicans who support him threatens "the brick and mortar of our democratic institutions."

The geriatric Democrat made clear at a fundraising event in San Francisco Wednesday evening that his political opponents are worse than "real racists." While his remarks are not catalogued among the White House's archive of speeches, they were captured in a White House press pool report.

"I've served with real racists," said Biden. "I've served with Strom Thurmond. I've served with all these guys that have set terrible records on race. But guess what? These guys are worse."

According to Biden, House Republicans today are apparently worse than Democrats who sought to tear apart communities on the basis of race because they "do not believe in basic democratic principles."

"By the time Strom left, he did terrible things," Biden reportedly went on to say, according to the New York Times. "I'm not making him more than he was. But my point is, at least you could work with some of these guys."

Strom Thurmond was a segregationist lawmaker and war hero who served as the Democratic governor of South Carolina from 1947 to 1951. After a supposed softening of his controversial stances and a brief flirtation with Republican politics, he unsuccessfully ran for president as a Dixiecrat candidate.

This is not the first time Biden has raised eyebrows reminiscing about his segregationist peers of ages past, and it's also not the first time he's invoked Thurmond to make a questionable point.

Blaze News previously reported that Biden claimed last year he had convinced Thurmond — who opposed the two major versions of the Civil Rights Act passed in 1957 and 1964 — to vote for the Civil Rights Act "before he died." This revisionist history prompted questions both about Biden's cognitive decline and grasp on reality. Not only did Thurmond vote against both versions of the act, Biden did not enter politics until 1971 and did not become a senator until 1973.

Biden and Thurmond apparently were not only close friends but in at least one instance saw eye to eye on segregation. Just as Thurmond opposed mandatory busing aimed at desegregating schools, the Washington Examiner noted that Biden similarly spoke in opposition to the policy in 1975, citing "black pride."

The Times highlighted that Biden's efforts to rehabilitate the reputation of segregationist Democrats of yesteryear also got him in trouble ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

At a New York City campaign fundraiser in June 2019, Biden fondly recalled in an affected Southern accent the "civility" of late Democratic Sens. James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia. Eastland said American blacks were an "inferior race." Talmadge indicated it would be better for schools to be shuttered than integrated.

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