Coates: Hillary Clinton Goes Back to the Dunning School

[aikoaiko]

Hillary Clinton Goes Back to the Dunning School
How do you diagnose the problem of racism in America without understanding its actual history?
TA-NEHISI COATES
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/hillary-clinton-reconstruction/427095/

Last night Hillary Clinton was asked what president inspired her the most. She offered up Abraham Lincoln, gave a boilerplate reason why, and then said this:

You know, he was willing to reconcile and forgive. And I don't know what our country might have been like had he not been murdered, but I bet that it might have been a little less rancorous, a little more forgiving and tolerant, that might possibly have brought people back together more quickly.

But instead, you know, we had Reconstruction, we had the re-instigation of segregation and Jim Crow. We had people in the South feeling totally discouraged and defiant. So, I really do believe he could have very well put us on a different path.

Clinton, whether she knows it or not, is retelling a racist—though popular—version of American history which held sway in this country until relatively recently. Sometimes going under the handle of “The Dunning School,” and other times going under the “Lost Cause” label, the basic idea is that Reconstruction was a mistake brought about by vengeful Northern radicals. The result was a savage and corrupt government which in turn left former Confederates, as Clinton puts, it “discouraged and defiant.”

He talks about it some more and makes some more criticism of Bernie, too.

[tularetom]

1. That was drummed into us at school 60+ years ago

[frazzled]

2. He doesn't have kind words for Sanders either

If Hillary gets the story wrong, he describes Sanders as someone who doesn't even want to deal with the story — "a candidate who seems uncomfortable asking whether the history of racist violence, in and of itself, is worthy of confrontation."