Mike Pompeo Attacks New York Times’ Project Examining Slavery, Calls It ‘Marxist’

The Wrap

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashed out at the New York Times’ “1619 Project,” which takes a deep look at slavery in America, calling it “a disturbed reading of history.”

According to multiple reports, Pompeo attacked the newspaper’s project during a Thursday speech as he revealed a new draft report by the Commission on Unalienable Rights.

“The New York Times’ 1619 project, so named for the year the first slaves were transported to America, wants you to believe that our county was founded for human bondage, they want you to believe that America’s institutions continue to reflect the country’s acceptance of slavery at our founding, they want you to believe the Marxist ideology that America is only the oppressors and the oppressed,” said Pompeo.

*Also Read:* Oprah and Lionsgate to Develop New York Times' 'The 1619 Project' for Film and TV

He added, “The Chinese Communist Party must be gleeful when they see the New York Times spout this ideology.”

Overall, he spoke out against the Times’ project and recent moves to tear down statues and monuments in America to slaveholders or figures otherwise considered racist.

“I reject it, it’s a disturbed reading of America’s history, it is a slander of our great people, nothing could be further from the truth of our finding,” he said.

*Also Read:* NY Times Wins 3 Pulitzer Prizes, Including for Nikole Hannah-Jones' 1619 Project

His attack came just days after it was reported that Oprah and Lionsgate are developing “The 1619 Project” for film and television.

“The 1619 Project” was a landmark undertaking for the Times that connected the centrality of slavery in history with an unflinching account of the brutal racism that endures in so many aspects of American life today. It was launched in August 2019 on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the English colonies that would become the United States, and it examines the legacy of slavery in America and how it shaped all aspects of society, from music and law to education and the arts, including the principles of our democracy itself.

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