Letters

John Neely, in the December 16 edition, responds to comments made by myself and another reader, Ed Surgan, about critical race theory and other progressive tropes currently in vogue [“Crowding Out Issues,” Letters]. I would like to address his comments concerning my recent letter; Mr. Surgan is more than adept at supporting his own ideas.

Mr. Neely agrees with me that slavery still exists throughout the world. He then takes my words out of context to use them to defend progressive awareness of the historical issue by referencing newly proposed Democrat legislation.

Congress just passed a law requiring U.S. corporations to guarantee they are not importing products produced from slave labor. He cites that the only House vote against the bill was a Republican. Such a “gotcha” statement ignores what other progressive wish list items they may have been packed into that legislation that the dissenting congressperson found offensive to their ideals. These bills are almost never stand-alone pieces of law.

Such legislation is not uniquely Democrat. In 2020, Donald Trump signed the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act. This legislation authorizes the imposition of sanctions against the Chinese officials responsible for the “reeducation camps” of the Muslim Uighur ethnic group, where forced labor, i.e., slavery, is endemic. Practitioners of Falun Gong in China, a recent religious organization, are similarly imprisoned for their beliefs. Among the atrocities these groups are experiencing is organ harvesting, an extremely lucrative business in China. I was referencing this practice of selling organs when I wrote “where is the outrage?” Mr. Neely ignored that part of the quote entirely.

Yes, slavery does still exist, as it has worldwide for millennia. America did not invent slavery as CRT implies. It was part of a cruel worldwide system of finance that worked its way to our country. Free Blacks even owned slaves — a 1670 statute from the Commonwealth of Virginia acknowledges this.

CRT and the 1619 Project are a corruption of our present educational system. Instead of promoting critical mathematics or critical science, the goal is to dilute education to the lowest common denominator. Under the guise of “equity” in education, AP calculus has been removed from some school curriculums, because the underprivileged apparently found it too difficult to grasp. Classical literature has been removed from school library shelves by school boards, and even certain Dr. Seuss stories could not withstand the progressive movement’s sensitivities for nonoffensive literature by being removed by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to protect the author’s legacy. I imagine they did not want to see any Dr. Seuss statues toppled in our progressive cities; Jefferson or Lincoln are worthy targets, though.

To quote George Orwell: “Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.”

John Porta

Westhampton