On Nextdoor, an online place where locals can comment on “local” issues, the hot issue of the day in beautiful Marin County California is about a street and High School named after the British explorer who discovered this part of the world – Sir Francis Drake. Being very “woke” the locals are debating whether to follow the progressive leads like the school board in San Fran Sicko, and do away with all schools named after Washington and even Lincoln. Not sure why we have to get rid of Lincoln since he gave us the Emancipation Proclamation and he freed the slaves, but I guess they took one of his comments out of context. Boom. His school is gone. The following are comments about how Drake was associated with the slave trade and needs to be cancelled:
Jesus (en)slaves! The name of the slave ship that John Hawkins and his cousin Francis Drake went on was called, “Jesus of Lübeck” or “The Good Ship Jesus.” Queen Elizabeth opposed enslaving Africans “without their free consent,“ so Hawkins told them to follow Jesus and promised them land and riches in the New World. They would have church services twice a day aboard the ship. So many Africans were thrown overboard that sharks would follow the ships for hundreds of miles.
response 1
Though the slavery trade was a heinous enterprise, I am not sure of your source for this information – It would be interesting to know. Hawkins had 3 ships initially, not one, named the Saloman, Jonas, and Swallow. Drake captained one. The trade was so lucrative that Queen Elizabeth sponsored his subsequent journeys and provided more ships, supplies and guns. The Jesus of Lübeck was added at this later time – offered by the Queen. She also awarded him a coat of arms picturing a bound slave on it! Hardly “opposed” to the slave trade. In the end, Hawkins made 4 slave trading trips, totaling approximately 1,200. slaves. The slaves were captured mostly in Sierra Leone & Guinea, violently. They were not coaxed into the trip w/ promises of wealth or salvation. They were not subjected to church services or otherwise thrown overboard … consider the loss of revenue. Why would a trader go to all this trouble and expense, and then throw his valuable “stock” overboard and lose the money? Many died from illness enroute. There is a famous drawing, instructing how to best pack slaves into the ship’s hold – like sardines in a can. England did ban the slave trade in the 1700’s, but Hawkins slaving was between 1564-1569. Source: Royal Museums of Greenwich website (includes the British National Maritime Museum). See: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/john-hawkins-admiral-privateer-slave-trader(edited)
response 2
I think I stumbled across the source for your (mis)information above. Was it an article by Michael Eli Dokosi on Face2Face Africa? Reading through it, he’s got several things right and several wrong. Seems he didn’t research his content well, and seems to put stock in things unsubstantiated, referring to one “event” he passes off as fact as “an account holds that …” without saying to whom/what this account can be attributed. He also mixes some historical information up. That’s how misinformation spreads. Someone says something not even factual, someone else picks it up and reuses it. Though the core of it is right on & well intended.
My Response:
So a simple question: Are we going to deny every significant explorer, Columbus, Drake or our founders who had slaves, Washington, Jefferson – ignoring the context of the time in which they lived and become so “woke” we think we can deny their positive contributions that are truly monumental? When we tear down their statues and rename schools and streets – how is this any different that the Taliban blowing up ancient Buddhist relics? Your woke religion is more like the Taliban than our country founded on Judeo Christian values that gave us the Magna Carta, The US Constitution, The Bill of Rights and the 1st Amendment. As a quick reminder the 1st amendment gave us not only freedom of speech but freedom of religion. In this cancel culture both speech and religious freedom are under attack. I am quite afraid that all this revisionist history is turning Cancel Culture and Woke America into nothing more than the Taliban. They too believe that they are morally superior when they destroy the past. Book burning and censorship are not very different. But after a couple of generations of anti-American, anti-West, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic brainwashing in state run indoctrination centers called schools, I guess this new Woke Religion of the illiberal left is not so difficult to understand. Perhaps a good name change for Drake High might be Rashida Talib High – that is, Taliban is plural for Talib – and probably accounts for her anti-American, anti-Semitic diatribes she gives us from her elevated position as a member of the “Squad” in the US congress.
Response 3
who is “you” in your statement? We were just discussing Hawkins, Drake and slave trade. No ulterior motives to political ends. Revisionist history is what painted these guys as glorious heroes, and heroes only. To understanding them honestly in the context of their times (as you point out) leads to a more honest understanding, no? That’s not revisionist. That’s correcting the prior revisioning. Yes, they did remarkable things, but they did very bad things too. Are we suppose to sweep that under the rug? Isn’t that the very squelching of truth and free speech you speak of? But no arguments or conclusions here about whether a boulevard keeps the name of one of these guys or not. To me that is such a secondary thing, relative to an honest, unfiltered understanding of history and historical figures. Yes, they were products of their time. So let’s understand what that is & why. I am not sure we disagree, no?
My response
Maybe I am mistaken that the present discussion does not revolve around the justification and rationale for renaming the street and the High School. Isn’t that the purpose of denigrating the name of Sir Francis Drake? What is revisionist is when you – as in those of you who want to change names, tear down statues, that sort of “revisionism” based on simply taking their less honorable deeds (by 21st Century standards) out of context – and by doing so, you are essentially nullifying their accomplishments. I am quite fine with the fact that some of our greatest men in history were flawed and products of their time. Yes, some had slaves. Perhaps in the 16th Century when the slave trade was “legal”, but yes, morally reprehensible, Drake was not perfect by today’s standards. The problem is when the new Taliban of woke America begins to tear down statues of Columbus – rename Columbus Day to Native American day to appease a tiny minority – essentially, it is an act to turn our history upside down – again to appease a tiny minority of pin heads in the Woke Education and Media establishment – who as I said, hate not just America’s founding, but want to rewrite history. As a reminder, over 600,000 American white people died in the war that freed black slaves – over 300,000 of them fought for the winning North. What followed was the 13, 14 and 15th Amendments which freed and gave citizenship to these slaves. Yes, it took almost another hundred years to get the Civil Rights Act. But the problems of black America today are not due to “racism” or “white supremacy” but rather due to social issues like the fact that over 75% of black babies are raised by single mothers in poverty – social issues caused in large part because of the social programs (like the Great Society) that failed to address that issue. Instead, promoted by an entire party, the Party of Slavery, the Party of Segregation, the Democrat Party – today that party is promoting the hatred of “white” America by labeling us all “white supremacists”. Yes, the democrat Party has always been about “racism”. So, it is easy for blacks raised in this poverty, to give us a situation where 6% (black men) of the population commit 50% of the burglaries and 33% of all murders in America. But let’s blame the fact they are profiled more than whites on bad cops and “white supremacy” instead of failed social programs mostly promoted by the Democrats and Socialists in Congress. To me the Constitution has shown itself to be effective enough to change, to right the wrongs of the past. Not perfect, but it did meet the stated goal of the attempt for a “more perfect union”. What revisionist history and the woke cancel culture is doing is tearing apart America and making a large part of the country literally hate the amazing experiment that is the United States of America. The issue is whether you – those of you who want to tear down statues – rename High Schools and Streets are really any different from the morally superior Taliban? I don’t think so.