It shouldn't ruffle any feathers in our body politic to state that "slavery is bad." In fact, most experts would say that such a statement seriously underplays the harm caused by this institution. Forcibly taking millions of Africans from their homeland and condemning them to a lifetime of servitude isn't good, unless you're siding with the slave owners. But even some enslavers referred to the system negatively. They realized this was an unnatural, immoral system. For example, the slave owning philosopher Thomas R. Dew famously referred to slavery as America's "original sin." While he offered this characterization for selfish reasons — to shift blame onto the founding fathers and away from those wanting to maintain slavery — it's worth noting that some enslavers acknowledged the system's depravity. That's why it's so troubling that some people today are hesitant to recognize the horrors of slavery. Those who endured this dehumanization or bore witness to it know this all too well. Our nation can't adopt a "never again" perspective without first acknowledging the harm caused.
In the past five years, legislators in at least forty-four states introduced bans on so-called "divisive topics," some of which banned critical race theory directly. This makes it less likely for students to discuss chattel slavery in an open, academic forum. Sentencing the topic to obscurity is unjust, especially considering the emphasis on preserving White people's history. Threaten to dismantle a Confederate general's statue in the deep south, and you will quickly see that resistance. While some may have assumed that such censorship would primarily impact students, President Trump's emphasis on targeting museums reveals a broader agenda of limiting the presentation of historical narratives, arguing that exhibits should reflect his personal views. He criticized the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History for focusing on "how bad slavery was." Trump claimed curators didn't put enough "brightness" on display. His criticism is reminiscent of when White visitors go to southern plantations and complain if the tour guide discusses the lives of enslaved people. Such a comment promotes historical erasure.
To attend a museum centered on the legacy of African Americans and suggest that slavery should become a minor footnote is to prioritize pleasant narratives over historical accuracy. The institution lasted for 246 years if you start the clock with African enslavement in Jamestown (1619), and 339 years if you consider those enslaved in the Spanish colony, Florida (1526). Black Americans endured slavery in this land longer than they've been free and continued to face racial persecution after its abolition. For instance, there's a loophole in the 13th Amendment, which permits involuntary servitude for those convicted of a crime. States have used this measure to target Black people and force them into exploitative labor arrangements. Also, given the impact of Jim Crow, an apartheid system of racial segregation and oppression that persisted from 1865 to 1968, it is dishonest to suggest anti-black racism in general, or slavery in particular, had a limited impact. Indeed, the racial wealth gap produced by chattel slavery has never closed. And disparities in the criminal justice, healthcare, and educational systems point to a society still grappling with racial inequality. This, of course, all started with African enslavement. Why, then, should anyone be able to demand that part of their story be removed? In authoritarian regimes, it's common for leaders to keep a tight grip on the messaging the public has access to. In this case, the Trump administration is trying to whitewash the history of chattel slavery, to claim it wasn't that bad, even though, if we listen to those Black people who survived it, it certainly was. Seven years after Fredrick Douglass self-liberated, he told a group of abolitionists about the horrors that enslavers subjected him to, using "the lash, the chain," and "thumbscrew."
Louisiana sugar parishes had a pattern of "deaths greatly exceeding births," Khalil Gibran Muhammad noted in The 1619 Project. "Back-breaking labor and ‘inadequate net nutrition meant that enslaved people in the United States were far less able to resist the common and life-threatening diseases of dirt and poverty." White people who say slavery is no big deal have no interest in enduring the conditions of enslavement, of working all day without pay, of having their cultural practices outlawed, and families separated. So, why do some try to downplay its significance? Doing so is an effort to limit constructive discourse on the lasting impacts of chattel slavery. The Daughters of the Confederacy promoted whitewashed narratives that lionized the actions of slave owners while downplaying the harm they inflicted upon Black people. Similarly, Moms for Liberty, a modern group of conservative women, supports censorship laws that limit or remove black historical narratives.
President Trump claims the Smithsonian is too "woke" for discussing "how horrible our country is, how bad slavery was." Such a critique is a reminder of how conservatives have twisted the term "woke" beyond recognition. Some use it as a slur. Within the black community, the phrase "stay woke" was traditionally used to encourage awareness of racial injustices. Outside of it, however, White people have used this word as a shortcut to disparage any socially conscious individuals, behaviors, laws, and policies. If we concede, for the sake of argument, that it's "woke" to say slavery is bad, then wouldn't that mean "anti-woke" is a pro-slavery movement? At the very least, it's a viewpoint that expresses neutrality toward the enslavement of Black people. While we're always hearing from conservatives how bad "woke" is, our society has yet to hold their feet to the fire in terms of questioning what anti-woke really means to them. Also, it's ironic that the White House was built, in part, by using slave labor, and yet, the chief occupant seems unwilling to commemorate their contributions. The fact that some see anti-slavery as "too woke" is another sign the nation has shifted toward authoritarianism.
Many believe that the problems of racism and fascism are unrelated. But research suggests otherwise. Parker and Towler (2019) noted, "As long as racial threat remains a fixture in American life, the specter of authoritarianism will continue haunting American democracy." Trump expects there to be more "brightness" on display at the Smithsonian. Rather than commemorate the experiences of enslaved Black people in this country, he wants their narratives shoved to the side, tucked somewhere in the archives, condemned to irrelevance. Given the injustices enslaved people faced in this country, the least we can do as citizens is remember their stories; to bestow upon them the humanity white society deprived them of during their lives. Yet, Trump wants the museum curators to create exhibits that play like an endless highlight reel, to perpetuate a façade of endless progress. As Ibram X. Kendi wrote about the subject, "the long sweep of America has been defined by two forward motions: one force widening the embrace of Black Americans and another force maintaining or widening their exclusion." Thus, the true story, the one that isn't bright and shiny, needs to be included. Sadly, this is the type of nuance that will be erased at national museums if the current administration has its way. Racism makes a nation vulnerable to fascism. Anytime society concedes the rights of some, others are also in jeopardy. It's the first shoe to fall.
Detroit-born visual artist Jonathan Harris created a painting in 2021 entitled "Critical Race Theory," which illustrates this social problem of censorship. On the canvas, we can see a portrait of a man using white paint to cover up prominent, black historical figures, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Harriet Tubman. It shows the outcome of whitewashing narratives. The history that is considered common today will become hidden history if Americans fail to resist this trend. Fascist regimes seek total control over public perception. And that means they're hyper-focused on controlling the narrative, going so far as to erase elements that don’t fit their framing.
It's noteworthy that Republicans are not, at this point, accusing a Jewish Museum of focusing too much on the Holocaust or a Japanese museum of focusing too heavily on their internment during World War II. This selective targeting of black history as "too woke" is a continuation of the anti-black policies that have defined so much of American life. Those in power view the experiences of the enslaved as controversial because this challenges the propaganda that positions the founding fathers as benevolent leaders. While there's an effort to preserve the history of other groups, society seems to expect Black people to forget about their history.
Accusing the Smithsonian of being too "woke" for illustrating the harm of slavery is a prime example. Such a policy shows the connection between fascism and racism, of how authoritarian-leaning administrations are tightening the reins of information available to the public. While people who haven't given the topic much thought may casually reduce discussions about slavery to unpaid labor, this was only part of the ordeal. Chattel slavery here was a race-based, hereditary system of forced servitude, perpetuated by human trafficking, economic exploitation, and cultural erasure. Black people lived under the constant threat of violence. It wasn't good. And yet there are some White people in the modern era who claim otherwise.
A few years ago, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suggested Black people benefited from slavery. He authorized a curriculum that reflected that whitewashed narrative, limiting discussions about race and racism in the state. And now that Trump is in his second term in office, he's promoting the same type of rhetoric that whitewashes the legacy of slavery. Yet, this brutal system became the nation's first major industry, providing an economic foundation upon which other industries were built. Before there was a railroad industry, crops such as cotton, tobacco, rice, and sugar were harvested by enslaved Africans, forced to enrich the nation, while facing constant mistreatment. And since abolition, Black Americans have continued to face racial injustices. You can trace the breadcrumbs from the early colonies where enslaved Africans labored tirelessly for the enrichment of White people to the modern era, where Black Americans are still the hardest-working, underpaid group. This silencing is an effort to obscure the nation's failure to engage in restorative justice, to repent for this "original sin." Given that information, you can see why some want to silence discussions on the topic. They're hoping the public won't see slavery as wrong, to frame reparations as a handout, and ignore the gaping racial divide. America's future depends on citizens' ability to make the connection between this ingrained prejudice and the rise of fascism.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Allison Gaines' work on Medium.