Letters: Hiding history

How do you start a letter about the attempted violation of something so basic to America that the violation goes against everything you and I have been taught, researched and believed since we were in grade school?

Currently, as revealed by The Monitor on July 2, a group of very misguided Texas educators has proposed referring to slavery as “involuntary relocation.”

Why? They claim it is to prevent students from “feeling discomfort.” These educators, who should be intelligent enough to recognize bias and political agendas, were given a copy of and parroted back State Senate Bill 3 that proposes to dictate how issues of slavery are taught in Texas. Then it went back to the State Board of Education, which advises the politicians who created Senate Bill 3. Fortunately, they stopped it. What a loop of politically self-insured approval for a subject that shouldn’t even be near K-2 classes.

But that isn’t the worst part. Our Texas conservatives have proceeded to the point they think they have the right to censor and redefine the English language and history for their own purposes.

Redefining slavery is not the same as calling wieners hot dogs. Slavery was not just “involuntary relocation.” Slavery was a business involving the pursuit, capture, imprisonment, sale and shipping of women, men, children, whole families. That’s why it was called the “slave trade.”

This was not the Jews escaping Egypt to the promised land. This was not the Puritans or the Irish coming to America for a better life. This was cold, heartless kidnapping involving injury and death to many. It did not stop on reaching America. It was not hidden from view.

You can’t hide burning crosses and lynchings every time a black man looked “wrongly” at a white lady. You can’t put aside the Jim Crow laws and ownership/sale of humans as figments of your imagination or as “involuntary relocation.” They happened and it was slavery.

As far as shielding our children from discomfort; at the proper age they should be fully taught about America’s greatness and its mistakes. A little pride, a little discomfort, and a lot of history go a long way in preventing future problems. Conservatives should re-learn that. They knew it, once upon a time.

Ned Sheats

Mission

The past

repeated

Today’s current events seem unprecedented and terribly exciting to many people the world over. They feel compelled to follow the inspiring words of today’s partisan leaders, even though history raises red flags.

The historian Voltaire wrote long ago, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Mr. Vladimir Putin has trained the minds of Russians to believe whatever he says, and consequently they do whatever he wants to innocent people.

Napoleon once said, “When I learned people would lay down their lives for little pieces of colored ribbon, I knew I could conquer the world.” Mr. Donald Trump’s followers, not content with little pieces of ribbon, require a slightly larger piece of cloth in the form of a red MAGA hat, and then they will storm the Capitol with murderous intent.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross, Utah