Republican Sen. Tom Cotton introduced a bill on Thursday cutting federal funds for public schools teaching K-12 the 1619 project, an initiative from The New York Times, which aims to re-examine the legacy of slavery in the United States.
What We Know:
- Cotton created a bill named, “Saving American History Act of 2020”, which will threaten to cut federal funding to K-12 public schools that teach the 1619 Project. Under the bill, secretaries of Education, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture will be required to allocate funding to schools that teach the project based on “how much it costs to plan and teach that curriculum”.
- His introduced bill will make schools who teach 1619 ineligible for federal professional-development grants.
- “The New York Time’s 1619 Project is a racially divisive, revisionist account of history that denies the noble principles of freedom and equality on which our nation was founded. Not a single cent of federal funding should go to indoctrinate young Americans with this left-wing garbage,” said Cotton.
- The 1619 Project creator Hannah Nicole-Jones recently announced, via Twitter, a partnership with Oprah to bring the lessons of The 1619 Project to film and television. Jones responded to the introduction of the bill via Twitter stating:
This bill speaks to the power of journalism more than anything I’ve ever done in my career. The @pulitzercenter curriculum is available for free here: https://t.co/U7FfxIt6ou.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 23, 2020
- Jamelle Bouie from The New York Times tweeted, “as always I am struck by how none of these guys have any actual interest in trying to solve any of the real problems faced by their constituents.” He went on to say, “anyway this left-wing cancel culture is out of control.”
as always i am struck by how none of these guys have any actual interest in trying to solve any of the real problems faced by their constituents https://t.co/sF7Nwlth1P
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) July 23, 2020
Regardless of the major criticism of the project, according to Forbes, schools around the country have begun incorporating the 1619 Project into their curriculum. So far, schools or school districts in Chicago; Newark, N.J.; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Washington, D.C. have all reportedly announced 1619 Project-related programs.
