Opinion: GOP Doesn’t Want You to Know American History, Just Repeat It with Racist Delight

“I privation to find that out.”

“ . . . I privation to recognize it.”

These are the words of an inquiring, funny caput teachers should emotion to perceive from students successful their classrooms and democracy-loving Americans should emotion to perceive from their chap citizens.

The words exemplify the attack of open-minded individuals seeking to observe the information and recognize the complexities of our satellite without prejudice, without trying to representation connected to the satellite pre-formed conclusions earlier letting facts interaction one’s mind.

Actually, president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley spoke these words during an speech past June with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) during a House Armed Services Committee to sermon the 2022 Defense Department Budget. Gaetz was interrogating Milley connected the teaching and introspection of captious contention theory, the Republicans’ caller favourite governmental bogeyman, successful the U.S. military.

Gaetz shook his caput and smirked with disgust arsenic Milley efficaciously railed against the anti-intellectualism, the solemnisation and enforcement of ignorance, Republicans truthful vociferously beforehand these days.  Milley defended the ngo of seeking to recognize the satellite by exploring the past of thought and governmental perspectives successful the world:

“I’ve work Mao Zedong. I’ve work Karl Marx. I’ve work Lenin. That doesn’t marque maine a communist. So what is incorrect with knowing — having immoderate situational knowing astir the state for which we are present to defend?”

In addressing specifically the contented of contention and racism successful America, making notation to the battle connected the Capitol connected January 6, he told Gaetz,

“I bash deliberation it’s important, actually, for those of america successful azygous to beryllium open-minded and beryllium wide read. And it is important that we bid and we understand. I privation to recognize achromatic rage, and I’m white… What is it that caused thousands of radical to battle this gathering and effort to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America?”

Of course, knowing the events of January 6 which enactment U.S. ideology successful peril is precisely what the Republicans person actively sought to repress.

Senate Republicans voted against adjacent having a statement astir forming a peculiar committee to analyse the battle connected the Capitol successful which rioters overtly threatened the lives of past Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among different legislature personnel, and violently murdered and physically assaulted Capitol police.

This inclination to repress enquiry into and knowing of U.S. past and our modern world is not conscionable antagonistic to democracy, it is simply a definitively Republican argumentation and signifier these days.

Remember erstwhile Attorney General William Barr shamelessly misrepresenting the Mueller study detailing “sweeping and systematic” Russian interference successful the 2016 statesmanlike election? This beauteous large prevarication was besides an effort to forestall the federation and its leaders from afloat knowing and being capable to code a superior and important effort by a overseas power, perchance with assistance from American governmental power-seekers, to undermine American democracy.

Philosopher George Santayana is credited with penning the celebrated phrase, ”Those who cannot retrieve the past are doomed to repetition it.”

Republicans these days don’t spot repeating the American past of racism arsenic doom; rather, they delight successful repressing the memory, the humanities understanding, of racism successful America, particularly the deeply-embedded structural variety, precisely truthful America tin repetition it.

Unlike Milley, they don’t privation to find astir it. They don’t privation to recognize it.

And they don’t privation you to recognize it, either.

Indeed, Milley’s defence to Gaetz of a wide acquisition geared toward discovering the information and knowing the satellite from the galore and aggregate perspectives comprising the past of satellite thought came connected the heels of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signing into law aggregate pieces of authorities aimed astatine repressing the benignant of unfastened enquiry into America’s past Milley is talking about. In aboriginal June, successful performance with a big of authorities legislatures crossed the country, signed authorities banning the teaching of captious contention mentation successful schools connected grounds it “teaches kids to hatred our country.”

Then helium signed a vaguer yet much insidious measure aimed astatine defunding nationalist universities that supposedly “indoctrinate” students. These universities would beryllium surveilled, with faculty, students, and unit being surveyed astir their governmental beliefs, and if they are recovered wanting successful a “diversity” of perspectives, meaning the assemblage is frankincense an indoctrination center, the important authorities backing upon which nationalist universities trust volition beryllium astatine stake.

Of course, DeSantis doesn’t truly look to privation intelligence diversity. He says rather clearly, “We don’t privation mendacious history.”

While it’s existent we don’t privation to beforehand the teaching of falsehood, rational radical recognize that understandings of the world—across the sciences, societal sciences, and humanities—are contested and evolving. One tin work myriad humanities works connected the French Revolution that connection antithetic analyses of its humanities underpinnings and adjacent of “what happened.”  The assemblage should, indeed, let for aggregate advocacies and supply students with divers and contending perspectives.

But that’s not what DeSantis oregon the Republicans want. They privation to repress perspectives they find problematize their satellite view—particularly perspectives geared toward knowing however contention and racism person informed argumentation and signifier successful America’s social, political, and economical organization life.

Earlier this year the Tulsa Race Massacre, successful which achromatic Oklahomans systematically planned the genocide of a thriving Black vicinity with palmy Black businesses, was memorialized. The massacre had been mostly erased and not taught successful schools due to the fact that of what the city’s schoolhouse superintendent called a “conspiracy of silence.”  Shortly earlier the memorial events, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a measure that restricted nationalist schoolhouse teachers from teaching lessons that mightiness marque a pupil “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish oregon immoderate different signifier of intelligence distress connected relationship of his oregon her contention oregon sex.”

Hmmm.

Now knowing the past of Black self-sufficiency and occurrence successful America–and achromatic attempts to thwart it might—offers a past that debunks the myths of radical inferiority that alteration unit and policies and practices that enforce radical inequality.

But Republicans don’t privation you to cognize that.

They beforehand an ignorance that delights successful repeating history, adjacent it results successful deadly massacres.