1619 Genuflect: NPR ‘Fresh Air’ Offers Fawning Tongue Bath to Nikole-Hannah Jones

NPR hosts a daily talk program called Fresh AirWHYY-FM Philadelphia. Its leftist tilt is legendary, and the legend was strongly underlined on Wednesday with an incredibly servile interview with Nikole Hannah-Jones, organizer of the “1619 Project” agitprop at The New York Times.

Terry Gross was the white (regular) host. Instead, Arun Venugopal asked the questions. Arun Venugopal is an NPR specialist on race and gender at WNYC.

In total, 15 questions are asked over the course of 36 minutes. In the introduction, the conservatives will be hammered. 

VENUGOPAL: There was also aConservatives are facing backlashThe 1619 Project would not be allowed in classrooms. They were also challenged by historians. Many students, even Black ones, have adopted the idea contained in this project. Arterah Griggs from Chicago was a Black student who felt the project made her think. She said that we were the Founding Fathers.

Hannah Jones’s brief acknowledgement of some historians challenging Hannah Jones was all that I knew about the history manipulation in the 1619 Project. These were the opening questions. 

You set out to find the answer. [the new book] A new origin story: The 1619 Project?

…. This 1619 year is familiar to many Americans because of your project. It’s something you’ve sat with and considered since you were a youngster, isn’t it?

…. We read in your book, that you went to a Waterloo public high school and were able to attend a class taught by Mr. Ray Dial, called the African American Experience. This sounds to us like an interesting school. It was?

There was more about the conservative “backlash.” 

VENUGOPAL: Let’s now discuss the backlash that is at the heart of an even larger effort to stop the teaching of American History in an unvarnished venue to school-going children.You will see in the book that in July 2020, Tom Cotton (a U.S. Senator) introduced the Saving American History Act. This bill sought federal funding for public schools which teach The 1619 Project. This is the exact same Tom Cotton that called for a massive federal force to stop the Black Lives Matter protests in 2017. In a New York TimesEmployees immediately criticized the op-ed. The New York Times This led to the resignation by the editor The New York TimesEditor’s page. I am just curious.Are you able to see how the anti-George Floyd protests and backlash towards teaching American History are connected?

NIKOLE HANNAHJONES (Yes). In Florida and Texas specifically, the 1619 Project cannot be taught. There are also many other states which have passed, or are currently considering, larger anti-critical race theories laws.My argument is that they are anti-history laws and memory laws.

Venugopal further asked if “woke” was being lost. He suggested that critics of The 1619 Project and others might use a term such as social justice fighters to denigrate the anti-racist movement. They are more inclined to now call progressives “woke”. Tom Cotton declared The Timesis controlled by a woke mob. Joel Anderson, of Slate and himself Black, responds to this. The term “woke” is now a racist slur.Is he right?

She claimed that “woke” means lazy and “dog whistle” now refers to “woke”. 

Venugopal implied that conservatives could inspire violence against Venugopal:You are being attacked not only by The 1619 Project but also yourself. Is it possible to just walk out and live your daily life in safety?She said “Always yes.”

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