If you get rid of the perspectives of Black people, of Native Americans, of the Chinese, and so forth, then it's pretty easy to construct a "good, better, best" narrative of history.
If Black people aren't really part of our American community, but an "other" upon whom we can enact our national self-improvement, if they're just extras in the movie of our national life, then Pompeo's criticism of The 1619 Project makes sense.
But if they are part of they community, if they are part of us, then American history is far more tragic than the story we like to tell ourselves.
The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. Loving vs. Virginia was decided in 1967. This is not ancient history. My parents were teenagers when those events occurred. These events were less than a decade before I was born. The history of America as a nation whose laws fulfill the promise of all people being equal is, in the long march of history's sweep, a very recent thing -- and far from perfected.
The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. Loving vs. Virginia was decided in 1967. This is not ancient history. My parents were teenagers when those events occurred. These events were less than a decade before I was born. The history of America as a nation whose laws fulfill the promise of all people being equal is, in the long march of history's sweep, a very recent thing -- and far from perfected.
The 1619 Project had some imperfections, I'm aware. But I'm convinced the main problem people like Pompeo have with it is that it refuses to flatter our collective vanity. The 1619 Project aspires to liberty and democracy -- indeed, its foundational essay asserts that Black people have perfected our democracy despite what has been done to them -- but it won't pretend this country was born in goodness. We earn our goodness. It is not conferred upon us by myth. Pompeo prefers the myth.
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