Connections found
Apparently learning more about history is excessively “woke.”
The head of the National Trust has said she received anonymous death threats during a “culture war” row over the organisation’s perceived “wokeness”.
Oh no, what did they do? Rename themselves the Critical Race Theory Trust?
The row was sparked by NT efforts to learn more about the history of its properties, including a report published last year that found connections between 93 of its historic places and colonialism and slavery.
Oh. They reported on the fact that the money that built those historic places came from somewhere.
What was the thinking before that? That it’s all just a miracle? Somehow a few men designated “aristocrats” were rewarded with prodigy houses and large estates by means of a secret magic mechanism that has never been explained?
The NT plans to build on work after the report published last year detailing connections between 93 of its properties and colonialism and historical slavery.
“Every day we uncover another bit of history. We have an obligation to tell this huge, complex, layered story of the history of the three countries we’re responsible for. The idea that history stands still is nonsense because you keep finding new things.”
And, it’s interesting. Yes it’s about a hideous historic injustice, as is a lot of history, but that doesn’t make it not worth knowing about.
She insisted: “No one is forcing this down your throat. No one is trying to make you read this stuff. There’s no sense that we’re trying to preach and, certainly, definitely not judge. We’re trying to provide layers of information; we’re taking nothing away. We’re adding to the complexity of the information available. But if [people] want to come along and walk around the garden and have a lovely cup of tea, I am delighted about that. Why would I be prescriptive as to how people should engage with the National Trust?”
A cup of tea AND a biscuit.
The issue of “wokeness” is damaging as it is used to describe everything that used to be called politically correct. It’s overused, it’s a broad brush, and it’s being used as a political cudgel by associating standard normal concepts with true loonyness. And while moderate democrats are lamenting how it will destroy them in the 2022 elections, Republicans are going to win seats despite arguments over who the true successor to “Q” should be.
Is democracy really that great of an idea? Seriously?
It’s the National Trust, that’s a cup of tea and a scone*.
My local NT, Dunham Massey recently removed a statue of an African man (see here) from outside the front of the house and replaced it with an explanatory plaque. A few gammons had a harrumphing fit but, on the whole, I think people around here are OK with it.
*British scone, not American scone, of course. With jam and clotted cream.
OK, links don’t work.
The statue/sundial is here: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Dunham_Massey_Hall_sundial
And in some cases that money came from us, the British taxpayers–the loan the government took out to compensate slave owners for their property wasn’t paid off until 2015.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-s-colonial-shame-slaveowners-given-huge-payouts-after-abolition-8508358.html
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/
Well now I did consider cup of tea and a scone but then decided a biscuit would be more abstemious and dainty.
Oh jeez. That statue.
National Trust is known for serving fantastic food in its cafes.
It’s not just a matter of things being “found” or “discovered.” It’s that new information is being disclosed or officially acknowledged, instead of being hidden, or swept under the rug. It completes the story, telling it more fully and honestly.
On this side of the Atlantic, the official acknowledgement of the foundations of Canada and the United States in genocide, and the disposession of the Original inhabitants, along with the importation of kidnapped, enslaved Africans, is a work in progress.* It’s not that this was every really secret (certainly not to those on the recieving end of colonial power), but these aspects of the founding mythos of the political administrative units concerned have been purposefully left out, ignored, or glossed over. That the perspectives of peoples whose perception of and part in “official” histories differs from, or contradicts these mythologies, is a sign of hope. We are now, belatedly, hearing the voices of people who were forced to pay the price for power and luxuries that they were not permitted to share. This includes not only the examination of historical injustices, but their continuation into the present. It’s not just “history.” Too often the idea of “moving forward” from the past is just a euphemism for ignoring, or running away from it.
I’ve just started reading the book Unreconciled by Jesse Wente, a combination of personal memoire set within a broader picture of the experiences of Indigenous Peoples within Colonial Canada. I’ve already been given one head-slapping reality-check moment from the inner flap of the dust jacket: “Wente argues that ‘reconciliation’ is a flawed concept: peace between First Nations and the state of Canada can’t be recovered through reconciliation because no such relationship ever existed.” Holy shit. I’d never thought of it like this. Of course, I’ve never had to. Now that is White privilege (unironic, without scare quotes) in (in)action. More of the same, please, Mr. Wente.
This more complete disclosure is akin to the relatively recent requirment to provide ingredient lists and nutritional analyses on food products, or the enumeration of the ,totality of a medication’s actions, including so-called “side effects”, which are simply inconvenient, unwanted, yet inevitable consequences of its use. Perhaps, more importantly it is like an attempt to find out a patient’s complete medical history before commiting to a course of treatment for present ailments. Accurate, honest information is more likely to result in an effective outcome. Of course, the first step is admitting you have a problem.
*Not to mention the histoical, and ongoing, exploitation and destruction of other living beings and biomes, redefined as “resources,” in the name of “development.”
It’s amazing how much damaging history you can find without engaging in blatant historical lying (i.e. Nikole Hannah Jones). This is a real example of “do better”, so good on the National Trust.
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A walk around the gardens and a cup of tea AND one of their excellent chocolate brownies is exactly how I like to engage with the National Trust. It’s also the limit of what you can do if you bring a dog. I don’t think the dog minds. He will pose in front of a statue for a photo if required, but he doesn’t care what the historical context is.