Hard on the heels of its most awful headline ever, The New York Times has followed up with what appears to be a profound piece of journalism, The 1619 Project. We can tell because although we've just started reading it ourselves, right wingers' heads are already exploding.
The thesis of the project is that America didn't begin in 1776. America began when the first black slaves landed in Virginia 400 years ago this month — because literally and figuratively, enslaved Africans and their descendants built this country. "Black Americans have been, and continue to be, foundational to the idea of American freedom," the opening essay says. "More than any other group in this country's history, we have served, generation after generation, in an overlooked but vital role: It is we who have been the prefecters of this democracy."
It's an interesting reframing, and one we can't wait to read. Not so the right-wing nutjobs of the world, who are apparently too racist to even be willing to entertain the argument for discussion.
We have a lot of problems with The New York Times, from "But her emails!" to "Trump urges unity over racism" — but we're all for telling the truth about our country's history at last. We sure didn't learn it when we were kittens. We cats think we smell a Pulitzer, and we PURR.
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