Sen. Cotton's bill hits NY Times, 1619 Project as 'racially divisive'

FPI / July 26, 2020

Sen. Tom Cotton has introduced legislation that would prohibit federal funding for schools which use in their curriculum the 1619 Project, a debunked re-telling of American history which claims the colonies revolted from British rule primarily in order to preserve slavery.

Historians have criticized the project, authored by New York Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, for basic “factual errors” and a “displacement of historical understanding by ideology.”

“The New York Times’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,” Cotton said in a statement. “Not a single cent of federal funding should go to indoctrinate young Americans with this left-wing garbage.”

The Times has announced plans to incorporate material from the project in public school curricula. Districts in several major cities including Chicago and Washington, D.C. have adopted some of the project's materials, National Review reported on July 23.

"This distortion of American history is being taught to children in public school classrooms," Cotton's bill says, adding the 1619 Project "claims that 'nearly everything that has truly made America exceptional' grew 'out of slavery.' "

Cotton's bill would not affect funding for the free and reduced price school lunch program or any other program for low-income students and students with disabilities.

Read the senator's bill here

Free Press International