Staff Reports
In today’s world where the truth seems as elusive as ever, there’s something refreshingly bold about setting the record straight. It’s incredible to think just how much of history is a tapestry woven with selective threads, often omitting the inconvenient truths that challenge a narrative. Take, for example, the story we’ve all heard about the slave trade. It’s a story that has been drilled into young minds across the nation, but it seems like they conveniently left a few chapters out of the textbooks.
For starters, there’s the often-ignored fact about the vast majority of African slaves who were not shipped to what would become the United States, but rather scattered throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Only a fraction, about four percent, ended up here. What’s often absent from the lesson plans is how it all began. African kingdoms were not passive bystanders in this dark chapter of history. Instead, many were active participants in the trade, with rulers who profited from selling their own people to European traders. The kids aren’t learning about how these kingdoms were vastly different than the noble societies they are so often portrayed as but were often brutal tyrannies lacking any semblance of the cherished freedoms we hold dear.
Of course, the narrative gets even more intriguing when considering the plight of Europeans caught in the crosshairs of slavery. North African pirates captured millions of white Europeans, dragging them into a world of forced servitude while the rest of the world turned a blind eye. This isn’t to deny the very real wounds inflicted by slavery on African Americans, but why is there such an apparent silence on these other victims?
And just when you thought the tale couldn’t twist any further, there’s the seldom-discussed presence of free black slaveholders in the American South. When does school curriculum take a brief break from traditional storytelling to discuss these surprising historical figures who owned slaves themselves? The intricacies of human history are rarely black and white, but the education system seems to prefer a more monochrome portrayal.
Matt Walsh has taken it upon himself to tackle these topics head-on, bringing forward the Real History they don’t teach in public schools. The truths, however uncomfortable, deserve to be heard. The real history of slavery should paint a fuller picture, including all those involved regardless of race or nationality. By brushing aside selective storytelling, the nation can reflect on a past that is as complex and multifaceted as humanity itself. Maybe it’s time to rip up the outdated lesson plans and start fresh with what truly represents history in its unvarnished form.
