Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley’s stumble in omitting slavery as the true cause of the Civil War helps illustrate the folly of the national book-banning movement.
The fact that Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, apparently didn’t know — or pretended not to know — that slavery is mentioned front and center in her home state’s declaration of secession in 1861, is alarming enough.
What’s even worse is the effort underway across the country to ban books in elementary and high schools that deal with race, gender and other topics. This is not only a dangerous affront to our democracy but threatens our fundamental right of free speech. It is at its core un-American.
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There is a saying that those who don’t know their history will repeat it. If we genuinely want to live up to our promise as a land of “liberty and justice for all,” we need to learn the whole story about America, the good, the bad and the ugly.
This includes the brutal enslavement of Black people, the injustices done to Native Americans and the rampant discrimination that has occurred throughout our history against Latinos, Asians, gay people, Jews, Catholics, Muslims and, of course, women.
We need to learn it all just as we study our great success stories like the signing of the Declaration of Independence and adoption of the U.S. Constitution, America’s role in liberating Europe from Nazi oppression, the first moon landing and many more.
Only by understanding the injustices that continue to permeate American life can we position ourselves to eradicate them.
Attempts to whitewash the predominant role that slavery played in the Civil War, for example, is not the right way to go.
If young people in elementary and high schools are denied access to books that talk honestly about slavery and other matters, they will never learn the complete story.
As tomorrow’s leaders, they will be seriously hindered in their ability to help America fulfill its promise. Our country and all the people like who come here in search of a better life deserve so much better.
Dominic Calabrese, Des Plaines
Coming up short in honoring late jazz great Wayne Shorter
The failure of the Sun-Times and other media outlets to include the legendary jazz composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter in their lists of 2023 celebrity deaths is perplexing.
Shorter was a true colossus in the music world, with several Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, a Kennedy Center Honoree and the recipient of a handful of honorary degrees, among many other accolades. With no disrespect to some of the of the celebrities who were included, his accomplishments were far greater and will live on for many years to come.
Doug Neuman, Des Plaines
