Newt Gingrich Opposes New York Times Project 1619: "Slavery Must Be Put in Context"



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Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, on Monday criticized the New York Times' New Slavery Initiative, calling the series "propaganda" and claiming that "placing slavery in context is important".

Gingrich, a Republican in the US House of Representatives from 1979 to 1999, made these comments during an appearance in "Fox & Friends" just a day after "The New York Times Magazine" released the version printed from his project 1619.

The project, launched on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first slave ship in America, aims to "reframe the history of the country, [understand] 1619 as our true founder, and [place] the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of history, we tell ourselves who we are. "

Gingrich disagreed with the interpretation of the project's story, claiming on television Monday that "the whole project is a lie".

"Look, I think slavery is a terrible thing, I think it's important to put slavery into context," Gingrich told Fox & 's animator. Friends ". "We still have slavery in the world today, so we have to recognize that it's a current story." I think, certainly, that if you're an African-American, the only thing you'll ever do is Slavery is central to what you consider to be the American experience, but for most Americans, most of the time, a lot of things happened. "

"Several hundred thousand white Americans died during the civil war to free the slaves," he added.

Gingrich, a former history professor, compared the New York Times to Pravda, the former propaganda newspaper of the Soviet Union. The politician of the day shared similar thoughts via his Twitter account on Sunday.

"The NY Times 1619 Project should make its slogan" All the propaganda with which we want to wash your brain, "tweeted Gingrich. "It's a repudiation of the original NY Times motto."

Nikole Hannah-Jones, who ran the 1619 project, responded directly to Gingrich's critique on Monday, saying that placing slavery in context was "exactly" what the project was doing.

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