By Caitlyn McCoy
As I sit in my American History class at the University of Florida, I can’t help but feel disappointed. My professor just finished a lecture on how our founding fathers were racist and that our country was founded on white supremacy. It’s not the first time he’s made these claims, and I find myself increasingly frustrated with this narrative.
Don’t get me wrong. It took a long time to grant equal freedoms and liberties to all citizens, regardless of race or gender. But I don’t think it’s fair to paint our entire nation as a racist, awful place. And I certainly don’t appreciate being told that just because I am white, I am automatically an oppressor.
The course required reading a book called 13 Clocks by Robert Parkinson, which argues that racism, slavery, and white supremacy were the driving forces behind the founding of the 13 colonies. This is critical race theory, and I don’t think it’s helpful to teach it as fact. It’s one thing to acknowledge our nation’s past mistakes and work to correct them, but it’s another thing entirely to tell the next generation of leaders that they are victims of events that happened long before they were born.
I’m also frustrated with the leftist control over higher education. It seems like every day there’s another story of students, faculty, and staff protesting and demanding more freedom over their education. I understand the importance of challenging ideas and engaging in thoughtful discussion, but the constant complaining and demands for socialist policies are exhausting. It’s time to hold our education system accountable and demand a return to a place where freedom of thought and intellectual diversity are valued.
I believe that this situation is more than just a book claiming that our foundation as a country is built on racism. It’s about dividing a nation based on the color of our skin, the very thing that civil rights activists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought so hard to remove. We need to stop looking at each other through a racial lens and start working towards a common goal.
I still believe in the American Dream. We are an exceptional nation built on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Instead of constantly telling us that we are a racist, awful nation, our educators should be celebrating the progress we’ve made and encouraging us to continue working towards a more perfect union.
