Why are the utopian Left and our immaculate minorities intent on uprooting Western Civilization? It’s all about “White Supremacy.” You cannot build a utopian society from a fragmented and diverse population unless you control Euro-American history – that includes our ancient history, the ultimate root of the problem.
March 1st marks the day in 222 BC that Italy was unified under the Romans. It should be as familiar to us as October 12, 1492. In fact, both these dates belong together as milestones in human civilization. Unifying Italy was the prerequisite for creating the Roman Empire – that vehicle which preserved and disseminated Greek philosophy and science, and which added Italic humanism and Christianity to Western Civilization. Yes, it was a “White” construct that brought the world republican democracy, replaced superstition with knowledge, set the stage for inventions beyond imagination, capitalism, and so much more that evolved into the Modern Age. As they say, “It was a tough act to follow” – the wellspring of “White privilege.”
Human beings need relevance to feel a part of society. When minorities see history books and movies dominated by White people, it is understandable that they wonder why that is – where are their role-models? Because I was raised in an Italian American universe, even as a pre-teen, I saw the stark differences between my community and the dominant ‘mericán society. It was only in 6th grade, while opening the pages of my new history book, that the differences evaporated. Here was a two-page spread that opened a chapter on Roman history – pictures of Italy, Roman soldiers, aqueducts, and the Colosseum, lining the borders of the page. In short, my connections to the dominate society began with the classics – my people were there from the start.
I have never veered from that classical awakening, but most have never experienced it. In 7th and 8th grades, I was required to take Latin – I was woke to my classical heritage before “woke” was invented. Italian American children rarely have such an awakening, because their parents and grandparents never had one. Roman history is rarely taught as part of Italian history; and Italian American history is taught only with a superficial link to Italian history.
Last month, in a NYTimes Magazine article, there was a parallel to my classical awakening as experienced by Black scholar Dan-El Padilla. Padilla’s family came to the U.S. illegally from the Dominican Republic. One day, while in a homeless shelter, he found a book on life in ancient Greece and Rome – he became hooked on our Classical Age. Eventually, a Euro-American saw his potential and got him a scholarship to an elite prep school. Padilla now teaches Roman History at Princeton, one of the only Black scholars in the field. But, he has taken a darker view of Rome – more in keeping with Hollywood’s – as an empire of slavery. Rome was an inspiration to our Founding Fathers, as a “White” empire, according to Padilla. They may have adopted Roman government, law, and architecture, but they mockingly gave Roman names to many of their slaves and justified slavery as an ancient tradition. Padilla has made it his life’s work to dismantle academia’s august view of the Classical Age, an age that he feels underpins White Supremacy.
Padilla is not alone in the desire to relegate Rome and Greece to the abyss. The terms BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era) have all but replaced the Christian B.C. and A.D. among academics and publishers. A classical ally of Padilla at Brandeis University (a Jewish citadel) considers it his moral responsibility “…to teach [Roman & Greek] classics in a way that exposes its racist history.” Brandeis also offers majors in Islamic, Judaic, African, and Hispanic Studies. Will slavery and racism also be “exposed” in these cultures? Ya think?
Every aspect of Western Civilization is under attack – from ancient to modern, from cultural values to achievements. Armed with slogans like “racism” and “White supremacy,” groups that envy our ancestral legacy need to whittle us down to size. As investigative journalist Chris Rufo puts it: our Left is learning from Communist China how to deprogram Euro-Americans, while that nation has adopted the slogan of White Supremacy in labelling American influence.
I wonder if President Xi knows that Italy was unified one year before China. -JLM
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