July 11, 2020
The History of Progressives and Slavery
By John Dietrich
Progressives condemn Americans for their alleged role in slavery, but their own past is not as innocent as they believe, and they have some explaining to do about the present.
President Trump's recent visit to Mount Rushmore has given progressives another opportunity to condemn the President and to trumpet their own virtues. MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross described Mount Rushmore as the "most grandiose symbol of U.S. imperialism." She claimed, "Mount Rushmore isn’t exactly the innocent ode to our Founding Fathers as described in our textbooks." MSNBC’s Lawrence O'Donnell claimed, "The place Donald Trump is going to is stolen land." Their Mike Barnicle announced, "He will inevitably and predictably talk about our heritage. In other words, he will talk about he's the protector of White America." Princeton University Eddie Glaude Jr. was invited on to explain, "In some ways Donald Trump is a reflection of the rot that has been at the heart of our fragile experiment since its beginning." CNN's Leyla Santiago declared, "President Trump will be at Mt. Rushmore where he'll be standing in front of a monument of two slave owners and on land wrestled away from Native Americans." "Imperialism," "stolen land," "protector of White America," "the rot," "slave owners." That is quite an indictment. Progressives are so much better than that. Or are they?
Perhaps the outrage is dependent on who is being enslaved. Historically, progressives have had a favorable view of slavery under the right master and right name. Journalist Ann Louise Strong claimed Soviet
"…labor camps have won high reputation throughout the Soviet Union as places where tens of thousands of men have been reclaimed. So well-known and effective is the Soviet method of remaking human beings that criminals occasionally now apply to be admitted.â€
FDR's Vice President Henry Wallace visited the port city of Magadan in Siberia in 1944 and described it as "combination TVA and Hudson's Bay Company." China expert Owen Lattimore who accompanied Wallace came to the same conclusion. Author George Bernard Shaw explained, "In England a delinquent enters the jail as an ordinary man and comes out as a 'criminal type,' whereas in Russia he enters… as a crimianl type and would come out an ordinary man but for the difficulty of inducing him to come out at all." Progressives may have admired the Soviet slave labor system, but they were not responsible for enslaving people. Or were they?
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https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/07/the_history_of_progressives_and_slavery.html
