Last week at CPAC Dallas, Glenn Beck gave a speech challenging the narrative that America is racist. Who is Glenn Beck and what is CPAC? Glenn Beck is a conservative talk show host who owns his own media company named the Blaze. He used to work at Fox News, but left in 2011. Now his company the Blaze is nationally known and extremely successful. His fame has led him to make multiple speeches, including his speeches at numerous CPAC events. CPAC is a gathering of conservatives from all around the country. This year Glenn Beck’s Speech was the issue of whether America is racist and why it is worth fighting for.
Over the last few years the issue of race has become a common debate and is dividing our country in more ways than one. Conservatives believe our country is welcoming to all, but many on the far left believe our country is rooted in racism. The 1619 Project is a program put together by the New York Times to examine the history of slavery and how it affected America’s founding. The 1619 Project suggests that America is based on racism. Glenn Beck believes that is wrong and that America was founded on the values that all men were created equal. What about slavery, yes slavery was wrong, but there was nobody that tried to stop it as much as America. Is America racist? Here are the facts to show that America is a welcoming and diverse country.
In the mid 1600’s the second slave ship to come to America arrived in Plymouth. The Pilgrims have been considered the first Americans with Plymouth as their home. Were the first “Americans” racist? When the slave ship arrived in Plymouth, the slaves were set free and the ship’s captain and slave owners were arrested. It seems that the first Americans were against slavery and the country continued to pioneer the fight against slavery.
During the founding of America, it was decided when writing the Declaration that all 13 colonies had to agree on every aspect of the declaration. Founders were worried if even one issue was disagreed upon, that the King of England would find a way to tear us apart. When the issue of slavery was discussed, 11 of the 13 colonies voted to stop slavery, but since all colonies had to agree slavery continued. Though when you think of slavery you may think of America, the truth is America was home to only 2 percent of the world’s slaves.
America was one of the first places to ban slavery. The colonies in New England all banned slavery in the 1790’s. England was the first country to ban slavery, but that was thirty years after New England. Not to mention we were the country that fought and gave lives to stop slavery. Now looking back it may seem obvious that slavery was wrong, but back then it was a common practice worldwide. The truth is America was leading the charge to end slavery.
Slavery was a horrible practice commonly viewed as a consequence of racism. It seems as if slavery is not about skin color, but about power. Before the 1600’s most slaves were actually white. Even in the 1800’s when building the railroads of America, many laborers were slaves. Most of those slaves were either Chinese or Irish. It seems as if racism was used as an excuse for slavery, not the reason. The reason for slavery was power. The motivation that was the need for control led to racism and the claim that someone could be less than because of their race. The first registered slave in the United States was actually owned by a black man. It sort of defeats the narrative that slavery was all about hatred towards African Americans’. The truth is racism is a horrible thing, but we cannot act as if America was created and based on racism and slavery. It is just the opposite. America was a country that fought racism, even when slavery and racism was the societal norm. America fought to make the term “All men are created equal” reality.