Biden to dissolve ‘1776 Commission’ via executive order
Donald Trump initiated the order said to establish patriotic learning in response to the award-winning 1619 Project.
President Joe Biden announced plans to sign an executive order to get rid of the 1776 Commission, a project established by Donald Trump to “restore patriotic education” in schools and combat their commitment to teaching an accurate history of slavery.
Read More: Trump defends America’s founding on slavery with ‘1776 report’
According to the New York Times, the executive order is one of several the newly sworn-in POTUS has decided to sign in order to reverse the last administration’s doings.
Biden will also sign executive orders that reverse Trump’s environmental policies and anti-immigration policies. He will address his official coronavirus pandemic response and plans to freeze regulations currently in motion to review before deciding to move forward.
“The Day 1 climate executive orders will begin to put the U.S. back on the right footing, a footing we need to restore American leadership, helping to position our nation to be the global leader in clean energy and jobs,” said Gina McCarthy, Biden’s national climate adviser.
According to the Times, Jen Psaki, Biden’s White House press secretary, said the executive actions signed on Wednesday are only the beginning.
“President-elect Biden will continue to take action over the next 10 days — and over his entire time in office — to address the four crises that he’s laid out,” Psaki said. “In the coming days and weeks, we will be announcing additional executive actions that confront these challenges and deliver on the president-elect’s promises to the American people, including revoking the ban on military service by transgender Americans.”
Read More: After inauguration, Biden-Harris face two crises: COVID-19 and racism
The 1776 Commission ordered by Trump was a 45-page report, which has now been removed from the White House official website. The New York Times reported the memo that drew criticism was issued without historians’ input and did not include a bibliography or list of verified resources. In the longest section of the report, the commission discussed the founding principles of the United States.
“Neither America nor any other nation has perfectly lived up to the universal truths of equality, liberty, justice, and government by consent,” it said, according to the report. “But no nation before America ever dared state those truths as the formal basis for its politics, and none has strived harder, or done more, to achieve them.”
In November, Trump signed an executive order to create the 1776 Commission as a direct response to the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project launched by Nikole Hannah-Jones.
theGrio reported the former POTUS and other Republicans shared disdain for the project due to their perceived portrayal of US history presented. Trump claimed it displayed “America is a wicked and racist nation.” He threatened to cut funding from schools that used the project for educational purposes.
He signed an order to create the Advisory 1776 Commission and cited movements for social justice, calling them one-sided and dismissed the country’s racist history.
“Viewing America as an irredeemably and systemically racist country cannot account for the extraordinary role of the great heroes of the American movement against slavery and for civil rights,” the order stated. “Thus, it is necessary to provide America’s young people access to what is genuinely inspiring and unifying in our history.”
Disbanding the 1776 Commission is a sign of Biden’s commitment to education as he assumes office. theGrio reported Biden selected Connecticut Commissioner of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona as the Secretary of Education during his administration, replacing Betsy DeVos.
“Miguel Cardona is a visionary, humble and experienced educator who will lead the Department of Education out of the DeVosian wilderness and toward excellence,” said Texas Rep. Joaquín Castro.
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