In order to combat the narrative of the Racism-Industrial-Complex (RIC) which argues that America is and has always been a cauldron of unrelenting White Supremacy—a narrative that pervades our cultural institutions and which was recently manifested in the so-called “1619 Project”—a group of mostly black scholars, writers, educators, activists, journalists, and entrepreneurs have assembled to promote a decidedly different vision of America embodied by their “1776 Project.”

Shelby Steele, Robert Woodson, Carol Swain, Clarence Page, and John McWhorter are among the more prominent of the black contributors to this endeavor.

The 1776 Project’s Mission Statement is as follows:

‘1776’ is an assembly of independent voices who uphold our country’s authentic founding virtues and values and challenge those who assert America is forever defined by its past failures, such as slavery. We seek to offer alternative perspectives that celebrate the progress America has made on delivering its promise of equality and opportunity and highlight the resilience of its people. Our focus is on solving problems.

We do this in the spirit of 1776, the date of America’s true founding.

Robert Woodson (pictured above), who is President of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, characterizes the conventional RIC narrative of the 1619 Project as “lethal,” “garbage,” “debilitating and dangerous.”  And he accuses its peddlers of hypocrisy, for “the scholars and writers from 1619…don’t live in communities” that are “suffering.”

Thus, they “don’t have to pay the penalty” that Woodson and his black colleagues at the 1776 Project are convinced is the outcome of buying the tale of endemic White Racism and Black Oppression.  Woodson elaborates: “People are motivated to achieve, and overcome the challenges that confront them, when they learn about inspiring victories that are possible and not barraged by constant reminders of injuries they have suffered.”

The 1776 Project features some remarkable accounts of black perseverance—and success—in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.  Precisely because such stories contradict RIC’s fictions and fantasies, and academia has long since become an arm of the Racism-Industrial-Complex (or “the Racial Grievance Industry,” as it is alternatively referred to by Woodson and others), they will not be appearing in any academic history textbooks anytime soon.  Still, because they serve as powerful testimony to the indomitable spirit, not just of those black Americans from yesteryear that prevailed over the most formidable of obstacles, but that of humanity itself, they need to be recounted.