New York Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones suggested a survivor of Mao Zedong’s Chinese cultural revolution should educate herself by watching an episode of Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project Hulu series.
The interaction occurred after a 3-part thread in which the New York Times writer criticized anti-woke legislation efforts including Florida’s “Stop W.O.K.E.” bill.
Someone asked me why is Black history, specifically, being targeted. I said it's because our history has always been political *by definition*: Our very presence on these lands is the greatest rebuke to the narrative of American exceptionalism. We give lie to the lie.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) February 26, 2023
“Blk history is the most inconvenient to American mythology,” she continued. “In a country founded on ideals of liberty, we were enslaved.”
The greatest democracy in the world violently suppressed democracy amongst its Black citizens for 100 years after the end of slavery. These truths are hard. It’s easier to marginalize, minimize or suppress these truths than deal honestly with them and their modern-day consequences. That’s why we know these efforts in Florida and elsewhere have never been about accurate history, but rather the suppression of it.
“Yourself and I, an immigrant from China with 200 borrowed dollars in my pocket when I arrived more than 30 yrs ago, are the proof of American Exceptionalism,” Xi Van Fleet said, rebutting Hannah-Jones’ statement.
In a terse response, the 1619 Project creator responded to Van Fleet saying, “how so. be specific.”
“Natural rights is unique to American founding. Bc of it we were able to abolish slavery, Jim Crow, anti-Chinese laws … to allow individuals to succeed,” Van Fleet responded. “What is not unique to America is slavery, which still exists today. Ppl fighting for human rights in China are jailed by CCP.”
Hannah-Jones wrote off Van Fleet’s response, saying “1/5 of the population had no ‘natural rights,'” referring to enslaved people. The New York Times writer further claimed protestors in the United States faced violence and arrest.
Ma'am, the idea of natural rights may have been unique, but 1/5th of the population was enslaved at our founding and had no "natural rights." Further, you do not think protesters in the US face state violence and arrest? You think the US has no political prisoners?
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) February 26, 2023
“Please watch episode five of the #1619hulu series called FEAR,” Hannah-Jones followed up. “I’m afraid your vision of America does not match the reality.”
“We were able to abolish slavery after nearly every other country in our hemisphere and only after the slave states rebelled against the U.S.,” Hannah Jones continued in a separate post.
I think it’s highly insulting for you to brag about coming here as an immigrant and then insult the history and struggles of the Black people whose fights allowed you to come to a country where you could no longer be legally discriminated against for your nationality and race.
We weren’t gifted freedom. We fought and died for it against our own country and our own countrymen. And our sacrifice expanded rights for all Americans, including you. I’m done here. Have a good day.
“You’re joking right? Google treatment of Black Americans and violence against Black voters and civil rights activists during the period Mao was the leader of the CCP,” Hannah-Jones retorted. “You can’t actually be serious here.”
Van Fleet cited the United States Declaration of Independence saying “all men are created equal,” to which Hannah-Jones said “this is false.”
“Mine is not a ‘vision’. Mine is ‘lived experience’ under the enslavement of Communism, freedom in America, and the current Woke Revolution aiming to undo America,” Van Fleet continued. “Black Americans are enslaved no more thanks to the persevering principles and humanity of this country.”
Mine is not a “vision”. Mine is “lived experience” under the enslavement of Communism, freedom in America, and the current Woke Revolution aiming to undo America.
Black Americans are enslaved no more thanks to the persevering principles and humanity of this country.
— Xi Van Fleet (@XVanFleet) February 26, 2023
Hannah-Jones replied to Van Fleet’s reference to a woke revolution as a “nonsensical definition.”
Van Fleet, who immigrated to the United States at age 26 after enduring Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, spoke before a Virginia school board in June 2021, arguing Critical Race Theory (CRT) ideology teaches children to “loathe [American] history and [the] country.”
“I just want Americans to know that their privilege is to be here living in America,” she said, recounting her experience in Zedong’s communist China. “That is just the biggest privilege.”
