We have a big problem in this country. Children apparently run the schools — unless we’re talking about resuming in-person classroom learning, then the teachers run the schools. The problem is that both the children and the teachers — in some cases — seem to have a problem with comprehension and maturity.
The Social Justice Club — yes, that’s really a thing apparently — at John Hancock College Prep in Chicago is calling for the school to change its name because John Hancock allegedly owned slaves.
I say allegedly, because this whole controversy is based off of a 1980 biography on Hancock called, “The Baron of Beacon Hill.”
The Chicago Tribune so eloquently wrote the following about Hancock on Tuesday, referencing the aforementioned book: “The great champion of freedom from Britain owned two or three slaves.”
“Two or three.” If someone is going to make such a strong claim in order to change the name of an entire school — and Hancock may very well have owned slaves — wouldn’t you want a little more evidence than a 41-year-old book that isn’t sure how many slaves the person in question owned? I mean, if the person in question owned hundreds of slaves, then I might be able to understand a discrepancy over exactly how many they owned. Owning any number of slaves, even one, is absolutely awful and reprehensible. But when the number is less than the number of fingers on one hand, accuracy might help your argument.
Andrea Castillo, a 16-year-old member of the social justice club, makes a decent argument if it can be proven that Hancock owned slaves.
“…if we’re praising black and brown students for finally casting off statistics and stereotypes, why should we continue to (honor) this man who devalued us?” Castillo argued. “We definitely have better options, and it’s something we really want to fight for.”
The problem comes in when supposedly reputable websites either do or don’t mention Hancock when it comes to which of the Founding Fathers owned slaves. Some websites, like Britannica, list Hancock as a slave owner, but the information was written by an assistant professor of History and Humanities and isn’t sourced. Conversely, Smithsonian Magazine has a very similar article, but does not list Hancock among the Founding Fathers that owned slaves. History.com and Biography.com also don’t detail Hancock as owning slaves.
The alternatives that have been suggested, according to the Tribune, are “pianist Herbie Hancock and singer-songwriter Curtis Mayfield.”
I had to, folks. The joke rights itself.
What happened to cheerleading or chess club? What happened to AV club or magic club? Our students have been so overly indoctrinated with social justice poison that activism now has its own club.
If they want to get rid of Hancock’s name from their school, so be it. That's their choice and the school's choice to do so. But when they don’t understand what’s going on in their lives 20 years from now, they won’t be able to reference history and remember that what they’re going through has most likely happened before in one way or another because they erased it from memory to protect their delicate sensibilities.