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WaPo published a piece today that cherry-picks Lincoln's statements about slavery to present a leader who didn't give a damn about it, just wanted to save the Union. By so doing, the author, DeNeen Brown, places herself in the dubious category of biased HS textbooks in [cont.]
[p.2] U.S. history. They both quote Lincoln's letter to the NY Tribune in which he writes, “If I could save the union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and [cont.]
[p.3] and leaving others alone, I would also do that.” There, WaPo and the textbooks stop. They withhold Lincoln's next point: "I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all [cont.]
[p.4] men every where could be free." We don't need to know that, because that might teach us that Lincoln indeed cared about slavery. So let's leave that out. Brown also leaves out who the crouching slave was: Archer Alexander, with a fascinating history of his own. In [concl.]
[p.5] short, there's some nuance here. Not EVERY statue needs to come down. A good historical marker next to this one would help immensely. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/27/emancipation-monument-in-washington-dc-targeted-by-protests/
