I do not mind criticism. In some ways, I appreciate it. I am plenty confident enough in my own convictions that I have no worries about putting forth my ideas, putting forth someone else’s ideas, and then letting others decide where they themselves fall.
That’s why I don’t mind publishing feedback I receive that is critical of my articles.
So when Denny McCabe, a retired educator who taught Nikole Hannah-Jones (the developer of the fiction-work that is The 1619 Project), emailed me in defense of the radical Leftist teacher Jonathan Grieder and the 1619 Project, I had no qualms about publishing it.
And I also followed up on his letter, which you can read here.
If you are curious, this is the series of articles he was replying to:
***Get to know Grieder: Calls Trump a racist, bigot. Refers to Gov. Reynolds as COVID Kim and calls Sen. Joni Ernst a thief.***
***Examples of Grieder’s radical Leftism: Calling legislation that says biological girls should be the only participants in female sports ‘hateful’ and much more!***
***Mr. Grieder calls Trump Administration ‘liars, thugs’ for enforcing immigration policy, keeping country safe.***
***Never let a crisis go to waste. Grieder tweets about talking to his students about ‘terrorism’ brought about by guns.***
But I followed up with Mr. McCabe in reference to his labeling the idea of American exceptionalism as a “myth.”
I asked Mr. McCabe a few questions:
*If America isn’t “exceptional,” why is he still here?
*Why have millions of Africans made their way across the ocean by choice to live in America if we’re such an evil country?
*If America is not exceptional, then he believes it is average, right?
*What other country or countries would he rather live in?
Mr. McCabe replied that America is indeed exceptional.
“We are exceptionally fragile when it comes to learning an unvarnished history of ourselves,” he wrote. “We are exceptionally and blissfully ignorant when it comes to acknowledging the astonishing amount of white privilege we’ve accumulated. We are exceptionally resistant when alternate versions of our story such as The 1619 Project conflict with our cherished mythologies.”
He said he doesn’t choose to live elsewhere, he just wishes America would live up to the standards we’ve established for ourselves.
“I wish we would live up to the words of one of our founding fathers and enslavers,” he wrote. “That ‘all men are created equal.'”
If Mr. McCabe were still teaching, he said, he would double down on his “antiracist” instruction and emphasize The 1619 Project and would “happily await” Rep. Skyler Wheeler’s “censorship police” to arrest him.
“I’m not teaching, but I’m not remaining silent either,” he said. “I’m encouraging teachers like Mr. Grieder and others to keep fighting the good fight. I believe morality, truth and integrity are on their side. Your agenda appears to be keeping students ignorant.”
