Though conservatives, in general, have never been big fans of the National Public Radio network otherwise known as NPR, one thing they have appreciated about them over the years is their annual reading of the Declaration of Independence on or around the 4th of July on-air, which they’ve done for over three decades.
They sometimes tweeted the DoI line-by-line on Twitter, in addition to including the information in their day’s programming.
NPR’s recitation of this historic document will change in 2021. At the beginning of their Twitter thread (and their reading of it) that year, NPR included a “disclaimer” of sorts on how the Declaration of Independence was, in their words, “a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies.”
“The document also includes a racist slur against Indigenous Americans,” they also proclaimed.
A year later, instead of tweeting it out and reading it on air, NPR decided to further wokeify the day by discussing “what equality means”:
On this July 4th, NPR celebrates the Declaration of Independence by reading key passages, discussing them w historians & referring to different groups of Americans who’ve quoted this founding document to argue for equality as soon as 1791 & to this dayhttps://t.co/jZIo86FrAB
— Isabel Lara (@isalara) July 4, 2022
On July 4, we will break with tradition. We will not be reading from the Declaration of Independence. @NPRinskeepThis document examines the meaning and history of equality. Important segment about our pastAnd future…produced by @marcarivers and @bgordemer https://t.co/MxlgNaWpC1
— Leila Fadel (@LeilaFadel) July 4, 2022
NPR celebrates the Declaration differently this year – reading key passages aloud, and also reading the words of Americans through 246 years who’ve quoted and called on the national creed. @NPR https://t.co/S1DAtpvi49
— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) July 4, 2022
The calls were answered almost instantly defund NPRMany conservatives feel that it’s long past due. Some others said that although they enjoyed the segmentEven so, it is possible and necessary to read the Declaration of Independence. One woke senior investigative “reporter” at NBC News, however, was seriously impressed with NPR’s decision to reframe Independence Day.
“After years & years of Indigenous people, and Indigenous journalists, asking NPR to stop reading this document every year, they finally put a stop to it,” Graham Lee Brewer wrote. “For the first time in over 30 years, Native listeners don’t have to wake up today and hear an NPR host call them a slur.”
On the saner side of things, however, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley lamented NPR’s move and noted why it would have been a good idea to keep the tradition going.
“[This] is another lost opportunity to share a common article of faith of all citizens from 1776 that is renewed annually by every generation,” Turley tweeted. “Even with our divisions, we should be able to have one day to remember a historic and bold leap of faith in each other.”
Evidently, just one hour of NPR programming where America isn’t being bashed seems too little.
Flashback:Following fake news about the Louisville incident involving a car and protesters, #DefundNPR trends
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