New York Times Magazine reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, founder of the 1619 Project, said that the United States is “not an exceptional nation” and that the Founding Fathers actually “did not believe in democracy.”
Speaking at Mount Holyoke College’s Common Read Keynote event, Hannah-Jones said that the 1619 Project, which charges that America was founded to protect the institution of slavery, has been falsely portrayed as anti-American by people who have not read the project. Though she believes America has exceptional ideas, she does not believe those ideas translate into an exceptional nation.
“I don’t think we’re an exceptional nation. I think that’s ludicrous for any nation to make that claim, and we certainly cannot make that claim,” she said, as reported by Fox News. “We’re a nation founded on genocide, and chattel slavery, and classism, and gender discrimination. We’re not. We had exceptional ideas but we’re not an exceptional nation. But if you believe that, then your country can certainly withstand scrutiny.”
On history being taught in schools the way it’s taught, Hannah-Jones said that it does not focus on the truth, and instead services a political agenda, asserting that the United States founders never believed in democracy. – READ MORE
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