Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” ― George Orwell, 1984
The Jacksonville ballfield where Henry “Hammerin’ Hank” Aaron played as a 19-year-old minor leaguer in 1953 now bears his name.
It’s where he and two of his teammates, Felix Mantilla, and Horace Garner, endured hostile taunts from fans. Off the field, they received death threats. When the team traveled, they couldn’t stay at the same hotels where other teammates stayed or eat with them at the same restaurants.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis doesn’t want the high school students who play on that field – at least the white ones – to know why. Other governors and elected officials, looking to capitalize on the racial resentment and white grievance DeSantis hopes will propel him into the White House, are following his lead. This insidious campaign is an effort not merely to warp Americans’ view of our past, but to thwart the dismantling of systemic and institutional racism. Read more
